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Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation

 
Petsamo Kirkenes Operation

 
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Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation
 
 
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The Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive was mounted by the Red Army
Red Army

The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
 against the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
 in 1944 in northern Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
 and Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
. The offensive defeated the Wehrmacht's forces in the Arctic
Arctic

The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctica region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Greenland , Russia, the United States , Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland....
, driving them back into Norway, and was called the "Tenth Shock" by Stalin.






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Kirkness Petsamo Offensive Plan
The Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive was mounted by the Red Army
Red Army

The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
 against the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
 in 1944 in northern Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
 and Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
. The offensive defeated the Wehrmacht's forces in the Arctic
Arctic

The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctica region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Greenland , Russia, the United States , Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland....
, driving them back into Norway, and was called the "Tenth Shock" by Stalin. It later liberated the northern part of Norway from German occupation and seized the nickel
Nickel

Nickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge....
 mines of Peschenga.

Situation

Following the failure of the Wehrmacht’s Operation Silver Fox
Operation Silver Fox

Operation Silver Fox was a joint Germany-Finland military operation during World War II. Its main goal was the capture of the key Soviet Union port at Murmansk through attacks from Finnish territory....
 in summer 1941, the frontline in the Arctic had seen little change. The environmental and supply conditions made it difficult, if not impossible, to undertake major military operations, and as far as land warfare was concerned, the Arctic had become a back-water. Sizable German forces were kept in the sector to protect the Finnish nickel mines of Petsamo
Petsamo

Petsamo may refer to one of the following*A former area of Finland, which is now Pechengsky District of Russia*Finnish name for the Pechenga settlement...
, which produced a metal that was of high importance to German armour plate fabrication, and to protect the coast of northern Norway against an Allied landing operation.

Following the armistice between the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 and Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
 on 4 September 1944, the Finnish government agreed to remove the remaining German forces from its territory by 15 September. During the retreat operations of the German 20th Mountain Army called Operation Birke, a decision was taken by the German Armed Forces Command to withdraw completely from northern Norway and Finland in Operation Nordlicht. During the preparations for this retreat operation, the Karelian Front
Karelian Front

The Karelian Front was a Front of the Soviet Union Red Army during World War II, and operated in Karelia....
 went over to the offensive.

The preparations

Following the highly successful offensive operations along the whole of the frontline, the Stavka
Stavka

Stavka was the term used to refer to commander-in-chief of armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus', more formally during the history of Military history of Imperial Russia as Staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the Military history of the Soviet Union....
 decided to move against the German forces in the Arctic in late 1944. The operation was to be undertaken jointly by Karelian Front
Karelian Front

The Karelian Front was a Front of the Soviet Union Red Army during World War II, and operated in Karelia....
 under the command of K.A. Meretskov
Kirill Meretskov

Kirill Afanasievich Meretskov was a Soviet Union military commander.He was born in the Ryazan province, southeast of Moscow. His parents were peasants and lived in a rural village....
 and Northern Fleet
Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet

The Red Banner Northern Military Fleet , a part of the Soviet Navy, created in 1933 for the purpose of defending Soviet territory beyond the Arctic circle ....
 under Admiral Golovko
Arseniy Golovko

Arseniy Grigoriyevich Golovko was a Soviet admiral, whose naval service extended from the 1920s through the early Cold War.He entered the Soviet Navy in 1925 and graduated in 1928 from the naval officer school in Leningrad....
. The main operations were to be conducted by 14th Army
14th Army (Soviet Union)

The 14th Army was formed in October 1939 in the Leningrad Military District. It participated in the Winter War, during which its 52nd Rifle Division and 104th Rifle Division Rifle Divisions fought in the Battle of Petsamo ....
, which had been in the Arctic since the beginning of the war.

The offensive

The offensive can be divided into three phases
Phase (combat)

A Phase in combat is usually a period within a military operation of a longer duration that is a part of a serial chain of logically connected activities planned to culminate in a defined Objective or goal....
, the breakthrough
Breakthrough (military)

A breakthrough occurs when an offensive force has broken the enemy defensive line, and is rapidly exploiting the gap.Usually, large force is employed on a relative small portion of the front to achieve this....
 of the German position, the pursuit to Kirkenes
Kirkenes

is the centre of the municipality of S?r-Varanger in Finnmark county, Norway....
, and the battle
Battle

Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, wherein each group will seek to defeat the others within the scope of a military campaign, and are well defined in duration, area and force commitment....
 for Kirkenes including by the southward pursuit following it. During the offensive several amphibious landings were conducted by the naval infantry and army units.

Outcome

The offensive ended in a complete victory for the Red Army. The Soviet commander Meretskov was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union
Marshal of the Soviet Union

Marshal of the Soviet Union was the de facto highest military rank of the Soviet Union. . Stalin, however, refused this honor, and was always depicted wearing Marshal's insignia....
, and was given a prominent command during the Red Army's attack on Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese held Manchuria
Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within People's Republic of China, or is divided between China and Russia....
, in August 1945.

The Petsamo–Kirkenes Operation is notable in that it was the last, major successful offensive in an Arctic environment. It has been studied intensively in the Red Army for this reason.

Forces involved


Soviet

  • 14th Army
    14th Army (Soviet Union)

    The 14th Army was formed in October 1939 in the Leningrad Military District. It participated in the Winter War, during which its 52nd Rifle Division and 104th Rifle Division Rifle Divisions fought in the Battle of Petsamo ....
    , total ca. 96,000 men
    • 31st Rifle Corps
    • 99th Rifle Corps
    • 131st Rifle Corps
    • Corps Pigarech
    • 126th (light) Rifle Corps
    • 127th (light Rifle Corps


German

  • 20th Mountain Army
    • XIX Mountain Corps, total ca. 56,000 men
      • 2nd Mountain Division
      • 6th Mountain Division
        • Grenadier Regiment 388 attached
      • 210th Infantry Division (a fortress division)
      • Division Group van der Hoop (regiment strength)
      • Bicycle Brigade Norway (regiment strength)


Recommended reading

  • Meretskov, K.A. ‘Im Dienste des Volkes’ (memoirs of the commander of Karelian Front)
  • Khudalov ‘Am Rande des Kontinents’ (memoirs of the commander of 10th Guards Rifle Division)