Baltic Sea Gulf of Riga, and the Bay of Gdańsk. The Baltic Proper is bordered on its northern edge, at the latitude 60°N, by the Åland islands and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga, and in the west by the Swedish part of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula. The Baltic Sea is connected by artificial waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal and to the German Bight of the North Sea via the Kiel Canal. Administration The Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the
White Sea–Baltic Canal the USSR in 1941, supported by Finland in the Continuation War, the route of the canal became the front line. On June 23, 1941, the day after the German invasion of the USSR, 16 Finnish commandos were brought to the canal by two German Heinkel He 115 seaplanes, which had taken off in Oulujärvi. The commandos were Finnish volunteers recruited by the German Major Schaller. They wore German uniforms and had German weapons, as the Finnish General Staff did not want to have anything to do with the operation. The commandos' task was to blow up the canal's locks, but,