page_title: XII Squadriglia MAS
section_title: Formation
hierarchical_section_title: XII Squadriglia MAS / Formation
caption_attribution_description: Suomi: MAS 529 ja MAS 526 Punkasalmella. Punkasalmi 1942.06.15 English: MAS 529 and MAS 526 at Punkasalmi. Punkasalmi 1942.06.15
context_page_description: The XIIª Squadriglia Squadriglia MAS was a formation of the Italian Royal Navy which served on Lake Ladoga as part of the Axis siege of Leningrad during World War II.
context_section_description: Following the request to the RM for assistance in the lake operations the RM formed the XII MAS as a section of the Decima MAS. This took place in April 1942 at La Spezia, on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
  XII MAS comprised four MAS boats and their crews and support staff, a total of 99 men, under the command of Capitano di Corvetta Bianchini.
  In May 1942 the force began the journey to the lake, loading the boats onto transports for the journey overland via the Brenner Pass and Innsbruck to Stettin, and by ship to Helsinki. The final leg was by road to Sortanlahti on Lake Ladoga, which served as the XII MAS's base of operations. The squadron  arrived on 22 June 1942, 12 months to the day after the opening of Barbarossa.
  Already on the lake was the Finnish torpedo boat Sisu, and a German force, Naval Detachment K, composed of a number of minesweepers (KM) and armed barges (Siebel ferries). The whole force was under the overall command of Colonel E I Järvinen, of the Finnish Army.
caption: MAS 529 and MAS 526.
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