— combat operations of the troops of the Northern and Karelian (since September 1, 1941) fronts, the Northern Fleet and the White Sea military flotilla against German and Finnish troops on the Kola Peninsula, in North Karelia, on the Barents, White and Kara Seas in June 1941 - October 1944.
Murmansk is the world's largest city located beyond the Arctic Circle. Murmansk is located on the rocky eastern coast of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea. One of the largest ports in Russia.
For defense against German troops during the Great Patriotic War, Murmansk was awarded the title of Hero City on May 6, 1985. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Gold Star medal.
The Russians called the Norwegians and Normans “Murmans”, “Urmans”. Later, this name was transferred to the land where events took place with the participation of foreigners. “Murman” began to be called the coast of the Barents Sea, neighboring Norway, and then the entire Kola Peninsula. Accordingly, the name “Murmansk” means “city on Murman”. (A. A. Minkin. Toponyms of Murman)
Pre-war years
By the early 1920s, Murmansk had less than two and a half thousand inhabitants and was in decline. Industry was represented mainly by handicraft cooperatives, and fishing fell into decline. The urban landscape consisted of two or three streets of one-story houses, overcrowded workers' barracks, a disorderly cluster of shacks, railway carriages adapted for housing, and "suitcases" abandoned by the interventionists - houses made of corrugated iron with a semicircular roof. One of the city’s districts received the nickname “red village” because of the red-colored heated cars adapted for housing.
From the second half of the 1920s, the city began to develop rapidly, as the Soviet Union had a strategic need to develop a large port, transit through which would not depend on relations with neighboring countries. Since 1933, Murmansk has been one of the supply and ship repair bases for the Northern Fleet. In addition to military-strategic goals, the port provided maritime communication with the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Complex under construction; the development of the Murmansk port also pursued the task of increasing fish catches: in the city, on the site of a former military enterprise for fish processing and ship repair, a fishing port was created, which began to develop rapidly, and only after for several years it provided supplies of two hundred thousand tons of fish annually to other regions of the USSR.
Streets were laid out with wooden sidewalks and rows of one- and two-story log houses. In 1927, the first multi-storey brick building appeared, which has survived to this day. In 1934, the first route bus ran across Murmansk - from the northern outskirts to the southern part of the city. At the same time, the Polar Arrow express began to run along the railway line to Leningrad. In 1939, for the first time in the city, asphalt laying began on Leningradskaya Street. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were already several dozen brick and stone buildings in Murmansk, and the city’s population reached 120 thousand inhabitants.
In the 1920-1930s, due to changes in the administrative-territorial division, the city repeatedly changed its status. In 1921, Murmansk became the center of the province of the same name, and since 1927 - the district of the same name within Leningrad region, and since 1938 - the Murmansk region.
Panorama of the central part of Murmansk (photographed from an airplane), 1936.
Defense of the Arctic
The German command planned to capture an important strategic point in the North - Murmansk and the Kirov Railway, destroy the bases of the USSR Northern Fleet and take possession of the Kola Bay. To do this, German and Finnish troops attacked in three directions: Murmansk, Kandalaksha and Loukhi.
Planned operations of Germany and Finland in the Kola Arctic
The Wehrmacht command viewed the Arctic as an auxiliary (albeit important) sector of the Eastern Front. The German command developed in advance plans for combat operations for the mountain army “Norway”, giving them code names: “Renntier” (“Reindeer”, beginning June 22, 1941) - capturing the nickel mine area in the Petsamo Region, carrying out activities (road construction, etc. .) to carry out the next operation - “Platinfuchs” (“Silver Fox”, beginning June 22, 1941 + 7 days) - an attack on Port Vladimir, Polyarny along the Arctic coast to Murmansk. The XXXVI Army Corps of the Wehrmacht was supposed (according to the plan “Polarfuchs” - “Arctic fox”), moving from Rovaniemi (Finland), where it ended up by June 14, 1941 as a result of a maritime transport operation from Norway (“Blaufuchs 2”), to take Salla, Kandalaksha, then turn north and, advancing along the Kirov railway, unite with the Norway mountain rifle corps to capture Murmansk. The joint actions of the German and Finnish armies north of the Oulu-Belomorsk line until June 5, 1941 were codenamed “Silberfuchs” (“Silver Fox”). It was planned to capture the Kola Peninsula in two weeks.
German troops enter Petsamo (Pechenga) as part of Operation Silberfuchs. June 1941.
On the northern flank, the Soviet troops were opposed by the German army “Norway” (from January 1942 - “Lapland”, from June 1942 - XX Mountain) under the command of Colonel General N. von der Falkenhorst, consisting of 3 army corps, the mountain corps “Norway” , who were considered the elite of the German ground forces and had valuable combat experience in mountain warfare, including in high latitudes; operationally subordinate to the III Finnish Army Corps; part of the forces of the German 5th Air Fleet and a small navy. The Finnish Karelian Army had the task of capturing the southern regions of Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus and after reaching the river line. Svir in the Leningrad region to unite with the troops of the German Army Group North. The enemy group numbered 530 thousand people, 4.3 thousand guns and mortars, 206 tanks, 547 aircraft, 80 ships and 6 submarines.
On the part of the Red Army, which was part of the Northern Front (formed on June 24, 1941), the 14th Army (commander until August 23, 1941, Lieutenant General V.A. Frolov) covered the Murmansk, Kandalaksha and Ukhta directions. The Northern Fleet provided defense against invasion from the sea and protected northern sea communications. To protect transport in the White Sea, in the eastern regions of the Barents Sea and the Northern Sea Route, the White Sea Military Flotilla was created in August 1941, which provided passage for more than 2,500 transports during the war years. The troops of the Northern Front under the command of Lieutenant General M. M. Popov, together with the Northern Fleet, numbered 420 thousand people, 7.8 thousand guns and mortars, 1.5 thousand tanks, 1.8 thousand aircraft, 32 ships and 15 submarines.
On June 29, 1941, German and Finnish troops launched an offensive, delivering the main blow in the Murmansk direction and secondary ones in the Kandalaksha and Loukha directions. By July 4, Soviet troops retreated to the defensive line on the Zapadnaya Litsa River, where the Germans were stopped by the 52nd Infantry Division and marine units. The landing in the Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay (1941) played a huge role in disrupting the German offensive on Murmansk. In the Kandalaksha and Loukh directions, Soviet troops stopped the advance of German-Finnish troops, who were unable to reach the railway and were forced to go on the defensive.
Military operations in the Arctic resumed on September 8, 1941. Having failed to achieve success in the Kandalaksha and Loukh directions, the command of the Army of Norway, in accordance with the order of the Wehrmacht headquarters, transferred the main blow to the Murmansk direction. But here, too, the offensive of the reinforced German mountain rifle corps failed. The northern group of Germans advancing on Polyarny was able to advance only 4 km in 9 days. The southern group, with the support of aviation, managed to cut the Titovka-Murmansk road by September 15 and create a threat of access to the Murmansk area. However, the 14th Army, with part of its forces (1st Polar Rifle Division), with the support of aviation and artillery of the Northern Fleet, launched a counterattack on September 17, defeated the 3rd Mountain Rifle Division, throwing its remnants across the Zapadnaya Litsa River, and turned the tide of military operations for the defense the city of Murmansk in favor of the troops of the Karelian Front. After this, the German command stopped the attack on Murmansk. The Germans, having failed to break through the defenses of the Red Army in the area of the peninsulas, entrenched themselves on the plateau of the same name and the Musta-Tunturi ridge, 40 kilometers in the direction of Murmansk, turning their citadel with a deeply echeloned (four rows of fortifications and barriers) defense. Full-length trenches and trenches were cut into the body of the ridge, bomb shelters, ammunition depots, headquarters, hospitals, etc. were built. Fortifications in a monolithic granite rock about four kilometers long, in some places rising 260 meters above the sea: there were guns, mortars, pillboxes, stationary, remote-controlled flamethrower installations. Roads were built along the plateau to the coast. For more than three years there were continuous fierce and bloody battles.
Border sign A-36 (apparently a copy) in the Museum of Defense of the Sredny and Rybachy Islands
The height of the ridge 115.6 has its own given name The border sign is better known as the place where throughout the war our soldiers kept intact the border sign A-36 of the former Soviet-Finnish border.
Marine reconnaissance officers of the Northern Fleet on the Musta-Tunturi ridge.
The offensive of the German mountain rifle corps, which began on September 8, 1941 in the Murmansk direction, was stopped by a counterattack by the 14th Army. On September 23, the enemy was thrown back across the river. Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa, where the front stabilized until October 1944. The Polar Division, which became a necessary reserve for the bloodless Soviet troops, was of great importance in thwarting the plans to capture Murmansk. The German troops were exhausted, but due to Hitler’s desire to ensure the safety of Norway at any cost from being captured by Britain, they did not receive the necessary forces to carry out the operation. The German command's underestimation of the enemy and the terrain also had an impact. By October 1941, the Norwegian Civil Corps, having lost 10,290 people killed and wounded, had advanced only 24 km towards Murmansk.
Defensive battles of Soviet troops in the Murmansk direction in 1941-1944
The fighting in the Kandalaksha direction, where a larger number of enemy troops were concentrated than in Murmansk, began on July 1, 1941 and proceeded with particular ferocity: the fighting here was carried out by the 101st border detachment, the 42nd rifle corps (122nd, 104th rifle divisions). On July 7, Soviet troops began retreating to the second line of defense, which was defended by the 104th Infantry Division. On September 17, spacecraft troops occupied a line along the Verman River (90 km from Kandalaksha), where hostilities stabilized for three years. “Silberfuchs” (the attack on Kandalaksha), according to German generals, was just an “expedition” (F. Halder), the main military operations took place to the south (although this “expedition” cost the Finns alone 5 thousand killed and wounded soldiers by mid-September 1941).
In the southern direction, the Finns, having created a great superiority in forces and means in the direction of the main attack, captured the city of Olonets on September 5, 1941, and reached the river. Svir, cut the Kirov railway, captured Petrozavodsk on October 2, but did not achieve success in the offensive in the Medvezhyegorsk direction. A plan to combine German and Finnish troops to create a second blockade ring around Leningrad was averted. The active actions of the Red Army troops pinned down more than 20 enemy divisions, exhausting and bleeding them. The losses of Soviet troops in this defensive operation were: irrevocable - over 67 thousand people, sanitary - about 69 thousand people, as well as 540 guns and mortars, 546 tanks, 64 aircraft, 8 ships.
The huntsmen are protected by the seid. May 1942
From 1942, the main fighting moved to the sea, where the German Navy and Air Force tried to disrupt maritime transport by Allied convoys. The importance of Murmansk increased after the failure of the blitzkrieg and the start of allied assistance under Lend-Lease (the Wehrmacht command, of course, did not count on such a development of events in its plans).
Attack of the Soviet Marines on the Northern Front. 1942
The enemy concentrated his efforts on destroying Murmansk and its port from the air in order to paralyze work on processing and sending goods to the center of the country. The city was burned almost completely (despite the fact that at the beginning of the war the USSR had 4 times more aircraft in the North than Germany), but the Nazis failed to complete the task - the port continued to operate even in those conditions that made it possible to call Murmansk a “city-city”. front." In Murmansk and the region, life was tense: fish were being caught for the front and rear of the country, all enterprises were working for victory.
Murmansk residents watch the air battle over the city. 1943
The Luftwaffe carried out up to fifteen to eighteen raids on some days, dropped a total of 185 thousand bombs and carried out 792 raids during the war years.
Among Soviet cities, Murmansk is second only to Stalingrad in terms of the number and density of bomb attacks on the city.
As a result of the bombing, three-quarters of the buildings were destroyed, wooden houses and buildings were especially damaged. The heaviest bombing was on June 18, 1942. German planes dropped mostly incendiary bombs on the predominantly wooden city; To make it difficult to fight fires, mixed bombing was used using fragmentation and high-explosive bombs. Due to dry and windy weather, the fire spread from the center to the northeastern outskirts of Murmansk.
Fire after the bombing of the city, 1942
The feat of the volunteer builders who restored the city during the war is immortalized in the monument “In honor of the builders who died in 1941-1945,” opened in 1974.
Monument “In honor of the builders who died in 1941-1945”
During the first year of the war, 7 convoys (PQ-0 ... PQ-6) were carried out from England and Iceland to the ports of the White Sea. 53 transports arrived, including Soviet ones. 4 convoys (QP-1 ... QP-4) were sent from our ports to England. A total of 47 transports left.
Since the spring of 1942, the German command launched active operations at sea. The Germans concentrated large naval forces in Northern Norway. Since March 1942, the Germans carried out a special naval and air operation against each allied convoy. However, the British Navy, with the support of the Northern Fleet of the USSR, as well as American ships, thwarted the plans of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe to isolate the USSR in the North from Great Britain and the USA.
In total, during the Second World War, the Northern Fleet provided passage to the GDP of 1,471 convoys, which included 2,569 transport ships, while the merchant fleet lost 33 ships (19 of them from submarine attacks).
Throughout 1943 there was a stubborn struggle for air supremacy, which was ultimately won by Soviet aviation. The Northern Fleet managed to ensure the passage of allied convoys in its area of responsibility and began operations to destroy enemy combat and transport ships - the crews of submarines and torpedo boats especially distinguished themselves in performing these tasks.
The TKA-12 torpedo boat, which was commanded by twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Osipovich Shabalin during the Great Patriotic War, is installed on a pedestal on Muzhestvo Square in the city of Severomorsk, Murmansk Region.
In 1944, as a result of the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation successfully carried out by Soviet troops (06/10-08/09/1944), which led to Finland’s withdrawal from the war (09/19/1944), the Wehrmacht command decided to withdraw its troops operating in the Kandalaksha and Kestenga directions and strengthen the defense in the Arctic. On September 3, 1944, the German command approved a plan for a withdrawal operation (codenamed Birke - “Birch”): break away from Soviet troops in the Louhi and Kandalaksha sectors, transfer the liberated troops through Rovaniemi to the north of the Kola Peninsula and gain a foothold there. The September offensives of the 19th and 26th armies in the Kandalaksha and Ukhta directions, despite the well-echeloned defense of German troops, were successful: Alakurtti was taken on September 14, 1944, in the last ten days of September the divisions of the 19th Army reached the state border with Finland, liberating 45 populated areas, putting 7 thousand German soldiers and officers out of action; The 26th Army, which was opposed by the XVIII German Mountain Corps, advanced 35 km into Finnish territory by the end of September. Nevertheless, at the direction of the Supreme Command Headquarters, the troops went on the defensive, preserving forces for the primary task in the Arctic - the liberation of the Pechenga region. Thus, it became possible to successfully carry out the time-shortened Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive operation (07.10-29.10.1944).
Musta-Tunturi Ridge
Soviet scouts on the slope of the Musta-Tunturi ridge. 1943.
On the stormy night of October 10, 1944, the assault on the German fortifications on Musta-Tunturi began from several directions, including a detour. The most difficult task fell to the 614th separate penal company, which was equal in size to a battalion or regiment: 750 people. In difficult weather conditions, in order to divert the enemy's attention, she had to storm height 260.0 from below, from the sea, from the side of the Sredny Peninsula, climbing up a sheer wall through barbed wire and machine-gun fire, in order to capture the peak dominating the Small Ridge. Almost all the company’s soldiers died in the gorge between the heights, but gave the opportunity to other units to capture the ridge and, through the joint efforts of Soviet troops, clear the western part of the Kola Peninsula from invaders. From here, from the banks of the Zapadnaya Litsa River, troops of the Karelian Front began to expel fascist German troops from the Kola Arctic and liberate the territory of northern Norway.
German military grave in Petsamo.
On October 7, 1944, Soviet troops went on the offensive, delivering the main attack from the area of Lake Chapr on the right flank of the 19th German Corps in the direction of Luostari - Petsamo. Pursuing the retreating German troops, the 14th Army, with the support of naval forces, drove the Germans out of Soviet territory, crossed the Finnish border and began to capture Petsamo. On October 22, Soviet troops crossed the Norwegian border and liberated the Norwegian city of Kirkenes on October 25. By November 1, the fighting in the Arctic ended, the Petsamo area was completely liberated by Soviet troops.
By Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council On December 5, 1944, the USSR established the medal “For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic” (awarded to 307,000 people). During the war, the army, navy and workers of industrial enterprises and agriculture in the region were able to carry out the most important strategic task: they thwarted the plans of the German command to isolate the USSR from the allies, did not allow the Northern Sea Route to be cut and ensured an ever-increasing supply of equipment, military equipment and food that came to country under the Lend-Lease program.
Losses of Soviet troops and civilians for 1941-44. - OK. 200 thousand people (killed, missing, wounded). For the courage and heroism shown by the residents of Murmansk, the city received the honorary title “Hero City” (1985), Kandalaksha was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (1984).
Memorial “Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War” (“Alyosha”) - memorial Complex in the Leninsky district of the city of Murmansk.
The main figure in the memorial is the figure of a soldier in a raincoat, with a machine gun over his shoulder. The height of the monument’s pedestal is 7 meters. The height of the monument itself is 35.5 meters, the weight of the hollow sculpture inside is more than 5 thousand tons. The statue of “Alyosha” is second in height in Russia only to the Volgograd statue of “Motherland”. The monument is one of the highest monuments in Russia.
The warrior’s gaze is directed to the west, towards the Valley of Glory, where during the Great Patriotic War the most fierce battles took place on the outskirts of Murmansk. There is a podium in front of the monument " Eternal flame", which was made of black natural stone blocks. A little higher, next to the figure of a soldier, there is a sloping triangular pyramid. According to the authors, this is a battle flag lowered at half-mast as a sign of grief for fallen soldiers. Next to it is a polished granite stele with the inscription:
Defenders of the Arctic - soldiers of the 14th Army, 19th Army, Red Banner Northern Fleet, 7th Air Army, border detachments No. 82, 100, partisan detachments“Soviet Murman”, “Bolshevik of the Arctic”, “Polar Explorer”, “Stalinist”, “Bolshevik”. Glory to those who defended this land!
A little to the side of the monument there are two anti-aircraft guns. During the fighting, anti-aircraft batteries were located on this peak, covering the city of Murmansk from the air. Two capsules are walled up at the foot of the monument. One with sea water from the site of the heroic death of the legendary ship “Fog”, the other - with land from the Valley of Glory and from the battle area at the Verman line.
According to Directive No. 21 Supreme Commander The Wehrmacht, better known as the Barbarossa plan, the capture of Murmansk and the entire Kola Peninsula was one of the top priorities of the German command. To carry it out, the Army “Norway” was created, staffed by German and Finnish soldiers who had undergone special training for operations in the Far North.
Thus, the main strategic task The enemy in this sector was to capture in the shortest possible time the city of Murmansk with its ice-free port, which would have threatened the existence of the entire Soviet Northern Fleet. The Reich was also attracted by the peninsula's vast natural resources, mainly nickel deposits, so necessary for the war industry.
Even before the start of the offensive, the occupation administration of Murmansk was appointed, and on July 20, 1941, a parade of German troops was planned at the central stadium of the city. From the first days of the War, German planes began massive air raids on Murmansk and other key bases of the Northern Fleet. On June 29, 1941, German-Finnish troops crossed the northern border of the USSR. This date is considered to be the beginning of the Battle of the Arctic.
The German offensive on the Kola Peninsula began in three directions. The main forces were concentrated to attack Murmansk, while at the same time 2 more groups launched an offensive in the Kandalaksha and Loukha directions, with the goal of disrupting communications between the peninsula and the rest of the country.
On the way to MurmanskArmy "Norway" was opposed by the 14th separate army under the command of Colonel General Valerian Aleksandrovich Frolov, with the support of ships and aviation of the Northern Fleet, under the leadership of Vice Admiral A.G. Golovko.
From the very first days the fighting became extremely fierce. The Germans achieved the greatest success in the Murmansk direction. Part of the forces of Frolov’s army was blocked by the enemy on the Sredny Peninsula, but the enemy was unable to advance further than the Musta-Tunturi ridge, connecting the peninsula with the mainland. On the third day after the start of the offensive, having covered 30 kilometers, Wehrmacht troops managed to seize a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Zapadnaya Litsa River, in the area of the Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, creating a real threat to Murmansk.
The Germans failed to expand and transfer significant forces to the bridgehead, but the possibility of striking from the bridgehead at any moment greatly worried the Soviet military leaders. The headquarters of the 14th Army, together with the command of the Northern Fleet, developed a plan to pin down enemy forces on the bridgehead, and, if circumstances were favorable, to completely eliminate enemy units. The essence of the plan was to land operational troops on the coast occupied by German troops in order to disrupt the supply of the bridgehead.
On July 6 and 7, 1941, the first two landings were landed on the southern and western banks of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay. The tactical landings seriously worried the German command, as key German supply routes were under threat. The leadership of the Army “Norway” was forced to suspend the offensive on Murmansk and transfer part of its forces to eliminate the threat in its rear.
On July 9, 1941, Soviet landing forces were removed from the bridgeheads. On July 14, using the experience of the first two landings, the Red Army launched a third, larger landing operation.
With the help of the 325th Infantry Regiment and a Marine Battalion under the overall command of A.A. Shakito, Soviet troops managed to gain a foothold on the western bank of the Zapadnaya Litsa River. Thus, a unique situation was created - on the same river, literally a few kilometers from each other, two bridgeheads, Soviet and German, were formed.
For two weeks, having pulled together significant forces, the Soviet bridgehead continued to hold. On August 2, 1941, the still unbroken paratroopers were transferred to the mainland to strengthen the ground group.
By this time, the German offensive had foundered on both the Kandalaksha and Loukha directions. The Kirov Railway, the main route of communication on the Kola Peninsula, remained under our control, which means the Germans were unable to block the supply of both the city of Murmansk and the Northern Fleet. After this, the front stabilized for some time.
Realizing that it would not be possible to break through the Soviet defense by scattering forces, the German command headquarters decided to focus on the Murmansk direction.
Having completed the regrouping, on September 8, 1941, the Germans launched a new offensive. But it also ended in complete failure. In 9 days of fighting, the Army of Norway advanced only 4 kilometers, and on September 17, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive, during which the 3rd Mountain Division was completely destroyed, and the Wehrmacht troops were thrown back beyond Western Litsa. This circumstance forced the Wehrmacht leadership to completely abandon offensive actions on this section of the front.
In the spring of 1942, as part of the Murmansk operation, the Red Army attempted to push German troops back from their positions and at the same time forestall the attack being prepared by the enemy. If the first task could not be solved, then the second was completed - the spring offensive on Murmansk never happened. From that time on, the front finally stabilized along the Zapadnaya Litsa River until the fall of 1944.
If we briefly summarize the results of the defensive battles in the Arctic, they can be considered the most successful on the entire Soviet-German front. The German troops failed to solve a single task assigned to them. The strategically important Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas, although they were blocked from land, remained under the control of Soviet troops. In the direction of Murmansk, the enemy managed to cover only 30 kilometers from the border. The greatest advance of German troops from the Soviet-Finnish border did not exceed 80 kilometers, and in some areas the enemy did not manage to enter Soviet territory at all.
The fact that the defenders of the Soviet North managed to thwart the ambitious plans of the Wehrmacht in the Arctic was of great importance and had an impact on the entire course of the Great Patriotic War, since it was through the ports of the Arctic that allied aid supplies were subsequently delivered, and the Northern Fleet was preserved.
While there has been relative calm in the land theater of military operations, in the area of the Kola Peninsula, the same cannot be said about the northern seas. On the contrary, naval battles began to become more and more fierce. Initially, the German command attached little importance to sea communications along the Northern Sea Route and across the North Atlantic, so the concentration of the German fleet in this region was insignificant. The reason for this neglect lies in the fact that, in the hope of a lightning victory, the German leadership believed that the USSR simply would not be able to use the capabilities of the northern ice-free harbors, since they would be in the hands of the Reich. The situation began to change rapidly by 1942, when the first convoys of ships (the so-called polar convoys) from England, the USA and Canada arrived at the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The Allies supplied our country with tanks and planes, fuel and shells, food and medicine. The USSR, in turn, sent various raw materials (fuel, metal, timber, etc.) in the opposite direction.
When the first deliveries of foreign equipment arrived in Murmansk, in particular, British Hurricane aircraft, British pilots also arrived there to instruct and train our pilots. This is how the 151st Squadron of the British Air Force appeared on our front, commanded by Henry Neville Guinness Ramsbottom-Isherwood. It brought together people from all over the world. The commander himself was from New Zealand; Australians, Canadians, Scots, Welsh and Irish, natives of Rhodesia, the Union of South Africa and the West Indies also served in the air wing. Their activities were by no means limited to teaching. British pilots, together with our pilots, fought bravely and skillfully shot down enemy planes, calling the Germans “Jerry” behind their backs.
Early in the morning of June 29, 1941, the enemy hit strong points in the northern part of the Soviet-Finnish border with an avalanche of fire. The artillery preparation lasted an hour and a half. At 4:20 a.m., after a raid by 120 bombers, units of the German mountain rifle regiments “Norway” went on the attack. The offensive was carried out in separate accessible directions with a gap between them of 5-8 kilometers. Despite the heroism of individual soldiers and entire units, the enemy, having absolute superiority in infantry, artillery and aviation, reached the river line by evening. Titovka. On the night of June 30, they captured the southern bridge across the river in good condition and a small bridgehead on its right bank.
Enemy units advancing in the direction of Ivari and Kutovaya by the end of June 29 reached the isthmus of the Sredniy peninsula, where they were stopped.
Having abandoned the offensive on his right flank, the enemy concentrates his efforts on defeating our units defending the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas. All enemy attacks were repulsed with heavy losses, and he was forced to go on the defensive.
By the morning of July 2, with the support of artillery and aviation, German troops reached the Western Litsa River. An attempt by the enemy's advanced units to cross the water barrier on the move was repulsed. The mountain rifle corps spent five days regrouping units and repairing the road. During this time, our units on the other side managed to organize a defense.
But by the end of July 7, individual enemy units were able to cross the river and reach the firing positions of our artillery, breaking through to the area where the regimental rear and command posts were located. To weaken the Nazi pressure in this direction, on the night of July 8, the ships of the Northern Fleet in the Bolshaya Zap Bay. Persons landed troops as part of a battalion of border guards. This made it possible to eliminate the bridgehead captured by the enemy, and by the end of July 8, push the enemy back to the western bank of the river. Zap. Persons
On July 9 and 10, the enemy was not active. On the morning of July 11, the main forces of the mountain rifle division resumed the offensive on both inflatable and fishing boats crossed the Bolshaya Zapad Bay. Faces.
During the 12 days of the offensive, the enemy captured only a small bridgehead (6m-4m) on the eastern bank of the river. Zap. Faces. During this time, the Nazis lost about 3 thousand soldiers and officers killed and wounded
The landing played a major role in disrupting the July offensive. The German historian W. Hess was forced to admit that “thanks to the landings, the initiative was retained in the rivers of the Soviet troops for a long time.”
After the landing, the landing units struck in the direction of the Big West. The individuals advanced 6-8 kilometers and attracted forces intended to strengthen the offensive group of the mountain rifle corps.
Units intended to strengthen the mountain rifle corps were transferred from Greece. New squadrons of bomber and fighter aircraft were concentrated at the airfields.
Fierce fighting took place on the isthmus of the Sredny Peninsula. Artillery and the air fleet were used to storm the isthmus. But they never managed to take possession of a single meter of our land.
June 14 To the northwestern coast of the Bolshaya Zapad Bay. Litsa and on Cape Pikshuev another landing force of 1,350 people was landed under the command of Major A. A. Shkita and a volunteer detachment of sailors (150 people) of the Northern Fleet. For half a month, the paratroopers waged a heroic fight behind enemy lines.
By July 20, with the joint forces of artillery, infantry and aviation, the enemy was knocked out of the area of the dominant height 314.9 and thrown back to the border of the village of Bolshaya Zap. Faces. During the defensive battles, which lasted almost 20 days, the divisions of the mountain rifle corps were bled dry. To resume the offensive on Murmansk, the enemy needed a long preparation - more than a month. At the same time, attacks on German positions led to a new offensive on Polyarnoye and Murmansk.
Our troops tried to liquidate the bridgehead on the shore of the Bolshoi Zap. Persons, but due to poor preparation of frontal attacks, the command gave the order to go on the defensive.
On August 23, 1941, the Northern Front was divided into two parts: the Leningrad and Karelian fronts. Karelian included all the troops from Lake Onega to the Arctic Ocean.
After the regrouping, the German mountain rifle corps this time built its battle formation in one echelon. There were no reserves. The offensive was supported by 10 field artillery battalions and 280 aircraft.
At 3:50 a.m. on September 8, the enemy went on the offensive under the cover of fog. Units of the northern group suddenly attacked the weakened vigilance of the rifle regiment units and threw them back in a south-eastern direction. On September 9, the enemy was stopped and then thrown back to the line of height 173.7, the northern slopes of height 314.9. On September 15, the enemy was hit again, but advanced only 1-2 kilometers. Further enemy attacks were also unsuccessful. Over the course of 10 days of fighting, despite their 3-fold superiority in strength, the enemy’s northern groups expanded their bridgehead by only 2-3 kilometers and were forced to go on the defensive.
Things were more serious on the left flank of the 14th Army's defense. The enemy quickly crossed the undefended section of the Western River. Faces and quickly went around the flanks. The units that arrived in time were forced to retreat with heavy fighting. Developing the offensive, the enemy crossed our only communication line in the area of the 42nd kilometer - the Murmansk, Bolshaya Zap road. Faces.
In connection with the current situation, a people's militia division called "Polar" was created. On September 15, it entered the enemy's right flank and struck from the rear. During the fighting, the enemy lost 1,500 soldiers and officers killed and several thousand wounded. The regiment's headquarters was destroyed, Large trophies and valuable documents of the German command were captured.
In the Kandalaksha direction, the Nazis managed to advance somewhat deeper into our territory with heavy fighting, but they were never able to reach the Kirov railway.
Murmansk offensive operation (April 28 - May 10, 1942). The idea of the planned offensive operation of the Soviet troops in this direction was to pin down the enemy from the front and break through the defenses south of Lake with a strike group of the army. Charp, cover its left flanks in cooperation with the landing force of the Northern Fleet, encircle and destroy units west of the river. Zap. Persons.hereinafter
The army must develop a blow to the rear of the enemy, who was located on the isthmus of the Sredny Peninsula, in order to destroy him and reach the state border in the area from the coast of Malaya Volokovaya Bay to Lake. Charp.
A marine brigade under the command of V.V. Rassokhin was assigned to participate in the operation. It was intended for landing troops on the southern coast of Motovsky Bay.
Air support for the troops was assigned to the army, front and Northern Fleet air forces. Air defense of the troops was entrusted to aviation and anti-aircraft artillery of the 14th Army and the Murmansk air defense region. In addition, to combat enemy aircraft, units and formations used crews of heavy machine guns and anti-tank rifles specially trained for this purpose.
In all rifle units, assault groups were created and trained for action. On the eve of the operation significant work were carried out to prepare the starting area for the offensive.
The control of all forces of the ground forces, navy and aviation involved in the operation was carried out by the commander and headquarters of the front. To ensure interaction, representatives of aviation units were present at the division command posts. Their task was to guide aircraft to the target. There was a representative of the fleet at the command post of the 14th Army. But the preparations were not entirely successful; the army was unable to provide ammunition. Instead of 3-5 rounds of ammunition, it had the following reserves: mines - 1.5-1.0 rounds of ammunition, shells - 2-3 rounds of ammunition. The issues of food and fodder supply were resolved somewhat better.
During the defensive battles in 1941 and the offensive operation in the spring of 1942, the front line finally stabilized and remained largely unchanged until the troops of the Karelian Front went on the offensive in the summer of 1941. Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, Military Council of the front since September 1941. took all measures to create an insurmountable defense.
The basis of the defensive lines were battalion defense areas. The front headquarters demanded that in the engineering equipment of the area, the main attention be paid to covering the main directions, and primarily roads, for which purpose blockhouses with all-round defense were created on the supply and evacuation routes every 5-6 kilometers, rubble and abatis were widely used, and anti-personnel obstacles were experienced. Great difficulties were experienced warriors in the Arctic while creating defensive structures in rocky soil. Here it was often necessary to lay out shelters for firing points, trenches, trenches and communication passages from stones, fastening them with cement mortar. In general, powerful defensive structures were built. Front headquarters and army headquarters paid great attention ensuring joints and flanks. For this purpose, strongholds and barriers were created at the junctions between the formations. The front experienced a great shortage of anti-aircraft weapons.
Unable to break through to Murmansk, the Germans spent the winter on the Musta-Tunturi hills. to his air force Hitler's command set the task of systematically striking Murmansk and being ready to support the actions of ground troops and offensives. In addition, aviation was supposed to monitor and control the northern Norwegian and Finnish coastal strips, the air defense of the Petsamo area, ports and fleet bases.
In seven months, German troops created a deeply layered defense, consisting of a system of strongholds up to 20 kilometers deep. The most developed was the main line of defense, consisting of two positions, saturated with a large number of stone and earthen structures, mine explosives and wire barriers.
The offensive of the 14th Army began on the morning of April 28 after a 3-hour artillery preparation. But the artillery was unable to destroy the enemy’s fortifications and suppress his firing points, since the targets were not detected by reconnaissance. The aircraft dropped several bombs on strong points, but did not provide significant assistance to the troops.
The troops of the army's strike group failed to complete their assigned tasks. By May 3, our advancing forces managed to capture only enemy strongholds on cutting edge. The landing troops landed in Motovsky Bay were also unsuccessful.
On the evening of May 4, the temperature dropped sharply and a snowstorm began, which forced our troops to stop active operations. The delivery of food and ammunition to all army units stopped.
From 1941 to 1944, a positional war unfolded on the Kola Peninsula. Taking into account the nature and peculiarities of the theater of military operations, the insufficient number of personnel and military equipment, the troops of the Karelian Front used such forms and methods of military operations in defense that exhausted the enemy’s forces, and also ensured the capture of new territories. The most typical of them were battles to improve the front line, destroy the enemy’s defensive structures and destroy his manpower and military equipment, reconnaissance in force, raids by units and subunits behind enemy lines, and the use of snipers. Reconnaissance in force was carried out not only for reconnaissance purposes, but also pursued the goal of destroying defensive structures and disabling enemy military equipment. Special reconnaissance was widely practiced, organized by the heads of military branches and services in order to obtain data necessary for the use of troops in battle.
Ski troops were also put to good use. The harsh winter and long polar nights, the presence of open flanks and joints between the enemy formations, favored their actions. Typically, the detachments sent on raids numbered from 150 to 300 people, and sometimes more. The skiers were behind enemy lines for 10 to 12 days, covering enormous distances during this time. They had to carry the entire set of ammunition, as well as mines for sabotage operations. In some cases, reindeer sleds and drag boats were used to transport machine guns, sick and wounded people.
The main target of attack in the rear were enemy garrisons. Usually the raids were carried out at night or at dawn, when the Nazis were least ready for battle. The front command also practiced other forms of fighting behind enemy lines. starting from 1942, miners began to be systematically sent behind enemy lines in small groups to blow up rails, blow up bridges, undermine communications, etc.
On the Karelian Front, in conditions of rough terrain, convenient for camouflage, the sniper movement became widespread. The front commander, during the transition of the front troops to a stable defense, demanded that the commanders of formations and units pay more attention to the training of snipers, and reward the best of them with a personalized sniper rifle. Snipers usually acted in pairs. Each pair equipped a main, reserve and false position. In the conditions of the mountain-tundra Arctic, mountain paths, passes, gorges, and mountain valleys were under the special control of snipers.
Given the significant extension of the front line, it was important to create an impression among the enemy that the positions were highly saturated with firepower and manpower. For this purpose, “Nomadic” guns, mortars, and even machine guns and machine guns were used.
The artillery of the Northern Fleet also operated effectively. On the Rybachy Peninsula from first to last day During the war, Battery No. 221 successfully fought the enemy, striking enemy ships as they entered Petsam Bay. To suppress this battery, the Nazis fired 17 thousand large-caliber shells and dropped 7 thousand aerial bombs. But the battery continued to fight.
On September 4, 1941, the Finnish government announced its break with Nazi Germany. At the same time, the Finnish army ceased hostilities. The German army found itself without support in this direction.
On September 29, 1944, the Supreme Command headquarters approved an offensive operation in the Arctic. The idea of the operation was to break through the defenses on a narrow 9-kilometer section of the front southeast of Luostari, then capture the city of Pechenga and develop an offensive towards the Norwegian border. The 7th Air Army was supposed to suppress enemy defenses in close cooperation with artillery. It was entrusted with covering the front's main communications from air strikes, directly supporting formations and units during the offensive, and, if necessary, delivering them ammunition, fuel and food.
On the morning of October 7, the weather in the combat area began to deteriorate. Due to fog and clouds, visibility was reduced, so the aviation was unable to fully complete its mission.
Command "Fire!" was served at 8 o'clock. The artillery preparation was powerful and covered strong points on the front line and in the immediate depths, covered enemy headquarters, communications centers, reserves, artillery and mortar batteries.
At 9:30 a.m., due to even worse weather conditions, the fire rate decreased. At 10:30 a.m. our troops repelled the enemy.
As a result of the 1st day of the offensive, the troops of the 14th Army broke through the main enemy defense line on a front of about 6 kilometers, crossed Titovka and captured a bridgehead on its northern bank. On the afternoon of October 8, the troops of the 14th Army continued their offensive. The greatest success this time was achieved on the right flank. The troops advanced 5-7 kilometers in off-road conditions. During two days of fighting in the territory liberated by our troops, the enemy left over 1.5 thousand corpses of soldiers and officers, 14 guns, 48 mortars, 79 machine guns, 9 warehouses with various property, thousands of rifles and machine guns. During this time, 210 soldiers and officers were captured.
At the same time, the light rifle corps made a deep detour around the right flank of the enemy’s defensive line. Their successful movement in the direction of Luostari put the enemy group defending on the Western line at risk of encirclement. Faces. Fearing this, the command of the mountain rifle corps gave the order for the withdrawal of its units from this line. Our command has set a goal here to prevent this from happening. But due to the lack of roads, the operation was delayed, and the enemy was able to withdraw some of his troops. Due to poor meteorological conditions, lack of artillery, and a very large lack of ammunition, the enemy was able to withdraw troops from the river line in a relatively calm environment. Zap. Face your main forces and launch fierce counterattacks against our units that cut the Western road. Faces, Pecheneg.
From October 10 to 12, our troops entered the Luostari area, thereby dividing the enemy group into two parts and creating favorable conditions for developing an offensive in the direction of Nikel and north towards Pecheneg. On October 9, at 23:30, a landing force with a total number of 411 people was landed on the southern coast of Malaya Volokovaya Bay. His task was to prepare for the main landing. Then at 0 o'clock the main landing force of 1,628 people was landed. The landing was successful, and the troops began to storm the Musta-Tunturi ridge.
Having been defeated in the area of the ridge, and fearing encirclement, the enemy at 12 o'clock on October 10 began to retreat from the isthmus of the Sredny Peninsula to the Pechenga area. During October 12 and 13, units of the Marines pursued the enemy along the road to Porovara.
On October 13, troops were landed in Linnahamari. Under heavy enemy fire, Captain Shabalin's boats broke into the port and at 11 p.m. landed the soldiers ashore. By 12 o'clock on October 13, they captured the main bastion of defense - the 210-mm battery. By 19 o'clock the port was completely captured.
During the period of fighting from September 9 to 14, the Northern Fleet inflicted significant losses on the enemy: more than 3 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were killed, various weapons and military equipment were destroyed and taken as trophies, including 39 warehouses with fuel, ammunition and food.
By the evening of October 14, German units with a total number of 3,500 people in the Pechenga area were surrounded. On October 15 at 2 o'clock, fierce street fighting in the city ended in the complete victory of the Soviet troops.
Over five days of intense fighting (October 18-22), the troops of the 14th Army advanced 20-30 kilometers. An important nickel production area with large settlements - Nikel and Akhmalakhti - was completely liberated from the Nazi invaders. Soviet troops entered Norwegian territory.
Thus, the September offensive was not successful. The enemy failed to complete the assigned tasks. Having suffered heavy losses, he was stopped and forced to switch to trench warfare. By December 1941, front troops were occupying defenses on the river. Zap. Litsa, not a system of rivers and lakes (90 kilometers west of Kandalaksha), 40 kilometers west of Loukha, 10 kilometers west of Ukhta, Rugozero, Maselskaya station, Povenets, Lake Onega, r. Svir.
During the first 12 days of the offensive, the enemy captured only a small bridgehead on the eastern bank of the river. Zap. Faces. During this time, the Nazis lost about 3 thousand soldiers and officers killed and wounded. The offensive operation did not achieve the result that the German government expected from it.
In accordance with the instructions of the headquarters, the troops of the 14th Army from mid-May went on the defensive at the Great Western line. Faces, south of height 314.9, height 180.4.
The purpose of the offensive operations carried out in 41-42. was not achieved, but the troops of the 14th Army and the Northern Fleet gained rich combat experience in preparing and conducting a major offensive operation.
For about 3 years, troops of the Karelian Front and sailors of the Northern Fleet fought active defensive battles in the Arctic. The leadership of Nazi Germany kept large forces here, as they feared an offensive by the Karelian Front to the west of Murmansk. It was afraid of losing the Nickel mines in the Petsamo (Pechengi) region, which provided 32% of the pan-European production of nickel, which is a strategic raw material. The defense of the troops was very active. Day or night, in any season or weather, the front soldiers exhausted the enemy, forced him to keep his forces in constant tension, prohibited him from defensive work, constantly disrupted his rest, suppressed the morale of the enemy troops, and weakened his combat effectiveness.
Having gathered enough of this, the Soviet command in September 44 went on the offensive and by November completely cleared the Arctic of the enemy.
The defense of the Arctic lasted from June 1941 to October 1944. The plans of Nazi Germany and its allies included the rapid seizure of the Soviet north, where many strategically important objects were located. Through the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, cargo was delivered from Siberia and the Far East. And great importance had the Kirov Railway - having established control over it, the Germans could cut off the central regions of the USSR from supplies.
Finland was interested in annexing the Kola Peninsula, which local Nazis considered part of “Greater Finland.” This region contained significant nickel deposits, which were needed by German industry.
The battles took place on the Kola Peninsula, in North Karelia and in the waters of the White, Caspian, Kara and Barents seas.
Balance of power
Back in 1941, Germany formed the Army of Norway, consisting of German and Finnish units and intended to capture the Soviet Arctic.
In Northern Norway, Germany had parking lots for warships, where the fleet was based. During the period of hostilities, the enemy had to repeatedly reinforce the army with troops that were previously in reserve. The number of German aircraft in the theater of operations reached 500, there were more than 50 ships, and up to 25 submarines.
The defense was carried out by troops of the 14th Army with the assistance of the Northern Fleet. The Soviet command prepared for the enemy's attack in the north, so part of the forces of the 14th Army was transferred to the border in mid-June.
Combat on land: June 1941 - October 1944
The Germans began active hostilities on June 29, 1941. The first to cross the border were 2 German and 1 Finnish corps. According to the “Polar Fox” plan developed at the Wehrmacht headquarters, the enemy’s mountain rifle and tank units launched an offensive, delivering the main blow in the Murmansk direction. Part of the enemy troops advanced to the Kandalaksha and Ukhta directions. The auxiliary German 36th Army Corps was supposed to capture Kandalaksha, and then link up with the Norway Mountain Rifle Corps in the Murmansk area. The Wehrmacht headquarters allocated 2 weeks to capture the Kola Peninsula.
Plan "Polar Fox"
Soviet units managed to detain the enemy 20-30 km from the border. The enemy was almost 4 times superior to the Soviet troops in manpower and military equipment, but the defenders of the Arctic took advantage of the previously created defensive fortifications and the natural conditions of the area. The landings launched into the German rear on July 7 and 14 played a big role.
On September 8, the Murmansk operation was resumed. But the troops of the 14th Army stopped the enemy advance. On September 23, the defenders of the Arctic pushed German troops beyond the Zapadnaya Litsa River, where the front line lay until the fall of 1944. Historians attribute the failure of the operation in the Arctic to the German command’s underestimation of the natural conditions of the far north.
Naval battles in September 1941 - October 1944
In 1941, the number of ships of the USSR Northern Fleet was increased due to fishing vessels that had undergone conversion. On July 10, the German flotilla relocated to the port of Kirkenes and began active hostilities. At the end of 1941, the Germans carried out their first successful attack on the ships of the British convoy PQ-13. After shelling from Soviet destroyers escorting the cargo ships, the German ship was forced to flee. But after some time, the enemy resumed the attack and disabled the British cruiser.
The Wehrmacht command set the fleet the goal of preventing the delivery of aid from the Allies along the Northern Sea Route. German Navy ships attacked fishing, cargo and military vessels. The Germans launched a naval and air operation against each Allied convoy.
In August, the Admiral Schreer, the most famous German cruiser-raider, entered the Arctic waters to intercept British and Soviet ships. All efforts of the enemy army and navy were aimed at blockading the external relations of the Soviet Union. But Despite all the efforts of the enemy, during the war years more than 2.5 thousand transport ships successfully passed to the ports of the North.
Activities of Soviet sabotage groups in northern Norway
During almost the entire war, until the entry of Soviet troops into Norway, partisan units operated in the German and Finnish rear. Some of them were immigrants from Norway who were trained in the USSR, the other part were units of the Red Army.
The partisan units monitored the movements of the enemy's military flotilla and transmitted information to the headquarters located in Murmansk. The scouts enjoyed widespread support from the local population.
Results
Attempts at a counteroffensive by the Soviet armies in 1942 did not lead to the desired result, but the German “Northern Blitzkrieg” plan was a complete failure. Thanks to the competent actions of the command of the ground forces and the Northern Fleet, the position of the Soviet troops was less difficult than on other fronts. The resistance of the defenders of the Arctic pinned down significant enemy forces for a long time. Hitler's Germany was unable to use the armies deployed on the Northern Front to strengthen the blockade of Leningrad.
The civilian population provided significant assistance to the front. Despite frequent airstrikes, as a result of which three-quarters of the city were destroyed, residents of Murmansk continued to work in enterprises that switched to producing military products. Fishing crews continued to catch fish. Railway communication with the mainland was maintained. Help continued to arrive from the Lend-Lease allies.
In 1944, Soviet troops went on the offensive. During the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, the enemy was expelled from the Soviet Arctic. The Finnish army suffered a crushing defeat. Soon after the Red Army offensive, Finland began peace negotiations and withdrew from the war.
Awards
On December 5, 1944, the medal was established "For the defense of the Soviet Arctic". The list of awardees included more than 300 thousand military personnel and 24 thousand logistics workers. One hundred thirty-six defenders of the northern regions of the country were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The ships participating in the hostilities received awards. The most distinguished units were awarded the title of guards. The USSR awarded the Order of Lenin to 4 British pilots from the Allied squadron based in Murmansk. British pilots, who arrived to train the Soviet military in handling foreign equipment, actively participated in air battles and shot down enemy aircraft.
"We walked, without knowing defeat, through forests, swamps and snow and, breaking through steel fortifications, defeated the evil enemy!“- this bravura song ends the documentary about the war with the “White Finns”. The film was released on the screens of the Land of the Soviets in the spring of 1940, shortly after peace was concluded with Finland.
The main theater of military operations was the Karelian Isthmus, which was crossed by a strip of fortifications known as the Mannerheim Line. The film of the same name was dedicated to the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line. It, unsurprisingly, said nothing about the enormous losses suffered by the Red Army in frontal attacks.
The battles in the Arctic were much less intense and bloody than the battles on the Karelian Isthmus, north of Lake Ladoga and in Karelia and were not mentioned in newsreels. But it was on the northernmost sector of the front that Soviet troops achieved the greatest successes with the least losses.
In the north, the struggle was for the ice-free port of Petsamo (now Pechenga), nickel deposits and fleet bases. Both the USSR and Finland were interested in them. Germany and its Western allies, Britain and France, showed interest in the ports and mines.
Petsamo Liinahamari, Finnish photograph, 1939
Polar surprise
Combat operations on all sectors of the Soviet-Finnish front began on November 30, 1939. The Soviet 14th Army was advancing in the Far North. It was commanded by division commander Valerian Frolov. The 52nd Division advanced south along the only Petsamo-Rovaniemi road. The 13th and 104th divisions and forces of the Northern Fleet were tasked with protecting the coast.
The Finns, the researchers note, did not assume that Soviet Union will throw an entire combined arms army into the tundra, consisting of three divisions, five attached artillery regiments, an anti-aircraft division and two tank battalions.
On December 2, Soviet troops captured the port of Petsamo and cut off Finland from the Barents Sea and occupied the Rybachy and Sredniy peninsulas. The offensive was soon stopped. The battles boiled down to repelling raids by Finnish skiers.
“There was no continuous front line at all north of Lake Ladoga,” says Finnish historian Karl-Frederik Geust. “There was nothing like the “Mannerheim Line” in the north. It was a surprise for the Finnish command that the Red Army was advancing with the same massive forces there, where there are no roads. The Finns thought that it was impossible to conduct offensive battles with large forces in the conditions of the roadless tundra. But the Kremlin thought differently."
The deployment of the Soviet 9th Army in Karelia was also a surprise for the Finns, according to Russian historian Bair Irincheev. “The appearance of the 52nd division, as well as three divisions of the 9th Army, the 122nd, 163rd and 44th, was a very big surprise for the Finns. Finnish pre-war plans did not provide for the possibility of deploying such large formations in the tundra.”
Historian Mikhail Meltyukhov describes the situation in the Arctic in November-December 1939: “The Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas were separated by a border. These peninsulas were the objects of territorial claims. The offensive began, and it turned out that there were simply no Finns there.”
As a result, says Mikhail Meltyukhov, the 52nd Division occupied Petsamo and took possession of the nickel mines. Having lost Petsamo, Finland lost the opportunity to receive assistance from friendly states. In addition, the 14th Army was supposed to prevent a possible landing, as Meltyukhov says, of troops from “third countries.”
Fortitude, local knowledge, dexterity
In the summer of 1939, the Red Army, despite the failures of the first stage of fighting, convincingly defeated the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol. In the second half of September, the Red Army made a successful campaign in Eastern Poland.
These victories played a cruel joke on the Soviet command. The People's Commissariat of Defense, the General Staff and the Kremlin believed that Finland could be dealt with quickly and with minor losses.
Many units and formations that fought in Mongolia and Poland were transferred to the Leningrad Military District. However, the war in the north turned out to be completely different.
The Finnish army, according to historian Karl-Fredrik Geust, had at least three advantages. “Firstly, the Finns defended their country. Secondly, the Finns were to a certain extent prepared for war in Arctic conditions, in particular, they all knew how to ski. And thirdly - this was a secret for a long time - they The Finnish army had very effective radio reconnaissance."
Thanks to a well-established radio interception service, says Geust, the Finns had a complete understanding of the intentions of the Soviet command and could successfully maneuver their small forces, throwing them at the most threatened areas of the front. This partly explains the seemingly paradoxical circumstance that during the war the Finns more than once managed to encircle units and formations of the Red Army.
“The 54th Mountain Rifle Division, the place of pre-war deployment of which was the city of Kandalaksha, was staffed by local residents, the division was good. If the Finns managed to defeat the 163rd and 44th divisions and force them to retreat, then the 54th, although it was hit, encirclement, held out until the end of the war and distracted the entire 9th Infantry Division of the Finnish Army,” says Bair Irincheev.
The 44th Division, defeated near Suomusalmi, as well as the 52nd Division operating in the Petsamo area, which suffered minor losses, were among those Red Army formations that took part in the Polish campaign in September 1939.
The 52nd Division occupied Petsamo on December 2, 1939,” Mikhail Meltyukhov restores the course of events, “and by December 18 it was advancing to Rovaniemi... And the 44th Division found itself in a very unpleasant situation, panic began there, and a significant part of the losses is connected precisely with panic. It is clear that the losses of the 44th were simply incomparable with the losses of the 52nd."
Finnish D.O.T. on Rybachy, July 2009 globant.narod.ru
“The open terrain in the tundra,” notes Bair Irincheev, “did not allow the Finns to strike and retreat with impunity. In addition, Frolov, the commander of the 14th Army, very quickly gave the order to set up patrols, brewhouses, and checkpoints along the road in the tundra to protect communications of the 52nd division and its entire army from raids by Finnish skiers."
“We must not forget,” continues Bair Irincheev, “that the entire 9th Finnish division was deployed against the 44th division. It is often found in literature, especially in the West, that the Finns destroyed the 44th division with almost one battalion. This is not So, after the Finns forced the 163rd division to retreat, the 44th found itself in front of a comparable Finnish group."
Exotic General
The actions of the Finnish troops in the area of Petsamo and Salla were led by the commander of the Lapland Group, General Kurt Wallenius, known for his sympathies towards the Nazis. The Lapland group, together with the North Karelian group, was part of the North Finnish group.
In the Salla area the Finns had four separate battalions, an infantry regiment and an artillery battery. Their forces in the vicinity of Petsamo were even more modest: three separate companies, a separate artillery battery and a reconnaissance group.
“Mannerheim, the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, sent Wallenius to the Vyborg Bay area at the beginning of March 1940. It was believed that since Wallenius had organized a very strong defense in Lapland, he would also be able to successfully organize the defense of Vyborg. However, nothing came of this, and a day later two after Wallenius arrived near Vyborg, he was removed,” says Karl-Fredrik Geust.
Bair Irincheev says that the reason for the disgrace was very prosaic: “Wallenius, when he was called from Lapland to the Karelian Isthmus, three days later went on a drinking binge and was dismissed by Mannerheim.”
"Since the 52nd Division received orders to stop and actually most the war stood still, then, probably, the Finnish commander also distinguished himself somehow. But I have a hard time imagining what he would have done if the 52nd Division had been ordered to move on. He simply didn’t have the strength to stop her,” says Mikhail Meltyukhov.
The American newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in its issue dated December 18, 1939, cites excerpts from an interview with General Wallenius to Swedish journalists. He argued that the war could last at least a year, and characterized the enemy as follows:
“The Soviet artillery is good, the tanks are nothing, and the planes are piloted ineptly,” the general said. “Some captured Soviet pilots were found to have printed multiplication tables with which they were supposed to solve technical problems.”
Swedish ally
Throughout the war, foreign volunteers came to help Finland - Hungarians, Norwegians, Danes, British, Estonians. Few of them managed to visit the front line. The largest contingent was fielded by the Swedes, who really had to smell gunpowder.
A Swedish volunteer corps with a total strength of about eight thousand people operated in northern Finland. The volunteers were commanded by General Ernst Linder. With the permission of the Swedish government, a volunteer squadron was formed, which had 12 light bombers and 12 fighters.
“Walleinus had a Swedish volunteer corps, which arrived at the front in Salla in late February 1940. The Swedish squadron arrived in Lapland in January. It was the only air squadron in Lapland,” says Karl-Fredrik Geust. “The Swedish squadron fought for two months, and Swedish infantry and artillery only for two weeks."
According to the Finnish historian, before the arrival of the Swedish squadron, Finland did not have aviation in Lapland. Soviet bombers operated without fighter escort. According to Karl-Fredrik Geust, Swedish pilots shot down 9 Soviet aircraft. Swedes lost 5 aircraft. Three pilots were killed and two were captured.
"The Swedish infantry went on the defensive and liberated the Finnish 40th Infantry Regiment, which in full force was sent to the Karelian Isthmus. The Swedes took over the front from the 40th Infantry Regiment on February 28, 1940,” says Bair Irincheev.
"The Swedes have provided real help. Not just stew, as they say. They supplied the Finns with weapons, and there were plenty of volunteers serving there. For Swedes, Finland has always been the front line of defense. That is, the further the Soviet border is from Sweden, the better. That’s why the Swedes provided the greatest help,” explains Mikhail Meltyukhov.
The landing is canceled
The port of Petsamo, nickel mines and fleet bases were of interest to almost everyone - the USSR, Germany, the British, the French, the Americans.
The capture of Petsamo for the Soviet command was explained by strategic considerations. Karl-Fredrik Geust recalls that the Western powers - Britain and France - planned to land troops on the coast of the Barents Sea.
Bair Irincheev believes that the threat of a British-French landing was one of the factors that prompted the Soviet command to “finish the matter peacefully,” although the Finnish army was holding out with all its might.
“The Soviet-Finnish war, to put it mildly, was not very interesting to the British and French,” says Mikhail Meltyukhov. It’s one thing to verbally support the Finns and send them something, quite another to get involved in a war because of them. It was more about to quietly seize the iron ore deposits in Sweden, which supplied 75 percent of Germany with ore."
Britain and France, continues Meltyukhov, could try, on the one hand, through Norway and Narvik, and on the other, through Petsamo, to occupy this region and control it. The Western allies, the Russian historian believes, firstly, were not in too much of a hurry to land. They expected that the war would drag on, and contributed in every possible way to this.
However, for the Franco-British landing, a request from the Finnish government was required, as well as the consent of Norway and Sweden. The operation was supposed to begin on March 20. The peace treaty between Finland and the USSR was concluded on March 12.
The British, French and Polish units, which did not have the chance to land at Petsamo, had to fight not with Soviet, but with German troops near Narvik in Norway in April. The Germans did not need permission to carry out Operation Weserubung.
The Soviet Union, which was linked with Germany after the conclusion of the non-aggression pact and the treaty of friendship and border partnerships, provided the German navy with a supply point at Zapadnaya Litsa on the Kola Peninsula.
Documentation:
- Memorandum of the USSR to the Government of Finland, October 14, 1939
- “New provocations of the Finnish military,” Pravda, November 29