Wednesday, October 14, 1942. Sinking of the Caribou.

The SS Caribou was sunk by a German submarine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, leading to the loss of 137 lives.  It was one of the most significant shipping losses in Canadian waters during World War Two. 

Today in World War II History—October 14, 1942: Hitler orders halt in east except in Stalingrad and the Caucasus to prepare for winter defense. Australians and Japanese battle for Templeton’s Crossing.

So notes Sarah Sundin.

Also noted, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was formed on this day. The UPA was thought of by its organizers, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist, as a national Ukrainian Army. 

Originally, it was loosely aligned with the Germans, and the OUN offered its services, before it was formed, to the Germans and it was formed as a reaction to Soviet partisans in Ukraine.  In February 1943, however, it also went to war with the Germans.  Ultimately it would fight the Soviets, the Germans, and the Poles, the latter of which it committed terrible atrocities against.

UPA Poster

The UPA is emblematic of the ambiguous nature of the wars within the Second World War that were fought in the east.  By this point, the Ukrainians had fought the Russians in the Russian Civil War, and the Poles at approximately the same time. They'd established an independent state with more territory than Ukraine currently has, only to lose it in Soviet incorporation.  The Soviets had subjected the Ukrainians to mass starvation intentionally. When the Germans arrived, many Ukrainians greeted them with the traditional gift of bread and salt.  At this point in the war, it wasn't yet clear to Ukrainian nationalist that the Germans had no intention of further enslaving Ukraine, but it soon would be.

The thought that an insurgent army of this type could prevail against the Germans and the Soviets was naive.  That the UPA also thought that it had to reengage in a sometimes genocidal war with the Poles was inexcusable.