continuation war, finland

Finnish III Corps (Continuation War) - Wikiwand The underwater offensive carried out by the Soviets convinced the Germans to lay anti-submarine nets as well as supporting minefields between Porkkala Peninsula and Naissaar, which proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for Soviet submarines. This price was set at 15 billion US dollars. [165][174][175] Resisting the Soviet offensive had exhausted Finnish resources. [87], In the evening of 21 June 1941, German mine-layers hiding in the Archipelago Sea deployed two large minefields across the Gulf of Finland. [46], On 23 June, shortly after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states began, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov contacted the Finnish government to demand that a mining licence be issued to the Soviet Union for the nickel mines in Pechengsky District (Russian: Pechengsky raion) or, alternatively, permission for the establishment of a joint Soviet-Finnish company to operate there. [192] Henrik Lunde noted that Finland survived the war without losing its independence, unlike many of Germany's allies. Military history of Finland during World War II The Soviet breakthrough on the Karelian Isthmus forced the Finns to reinforce the area, thus allowing the concurrent Soviet offensive in East Karelia to meet less resistance and to recapture Petrozavodsk by 28 June 1944. [69][Note 8] The Commonwealth nations of Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand soon followed suit. Finland held off Russian invasion in Winter War, won moral victory After the ceasefire, the Soviets insisted for the payments to be based on 1938 prices, which doubled the de facto amount. Despite the name "Karelian question", the term may refer also to the return of Petsamo, ceded parts of Salla and Kuusamo, and four islands in the Gulf of Finland. [119] Mannerheim refused to assault Leningrad, which would inextricably tie Finland to Germany; he regarded his objectives for the war to be achieved, a decision that angered the Germans. [97] The USSR struggled to contain the German assault, and soon the Soviet high command, Stavka, pulled all available units stationed along the Finnish border into the beleaguered front line. [97][98][69] By 16 July, the VI Corps had reached the northern shore of Lake Ladoga, dividing the Soviet 7th Army, which had been tasked with defending the area. He argued that there is no documentary evidence for such claims and that the Soviet government was always open for negotiations. The peace terms that ended the Winter War in March 1940 were quite harsh to Finland. [81] The Finnish Air Force (Ilmavoimat) had 235 aircraft in July 1941 and 384 by September 1944, despite losses. [176][177][178] On 1 August, Ryti resigned, and on 4 August, Field Marshal Mannerheim was sworn in as the new president. [Note 7], The Finnish Army of Karelia started its attack in East Karelia towards Petrozavodsk, Lake Onega and the Svir River on 9 September. In any case, the step from contingency planning to actual operations, when it came, was little more than a formality". [3] From September to October in 1941, a total of 39 Hawker Hurricanes of No. [4] On 28 November, the British government presented Finland with an ultimatum demanding for the Finns to cease military operations by 3 December. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the MolotovRibbentrop Pact in which both parties agreed to divide the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania into spheres of interest, with Finland falling within the Soviet sphere. German Army Group North advanced from the south of Leningrad towards the Svir River and captured Tikhvin but were forced to retreat to the Volkhov River by Soviet counterattacks. If the inhabitants were allowed to stay in their homes, Finland would receive a few hundred thousand new Russian-speaking people with no experience of living in Finnish society. [99], The Finnish II Corps started its offensive in the north of the Karelian Isthmus on 31 July. [123] On 25 October 1941, the US demanded that Finland cease all hostilities against the USSR and to withdraw behind the 1939 border. [164][165], On 9 June 1944, the Soviet Leningrad Front launched an offensive against Finnish positions on the Karelian Isthmus and in the area of Lake Ladoga, timed to coincide with Operation Overlord in Normandy as agreed during the Tehran Conference. The Finnish Parliament accepted those terms in a secret meeting on 2 September and requested for official negotiations for an armistice to begin. Finland purchased and received donations of war materiel during and immediately after the Winter War. [187], Evidence of the Soviet leadership's intentions for the occupation of Finland has later been uncovered. Karelian question Murmansk was the only year-round ice-free port in the north and a threat to the nickel mine at Petsamo. The morally acceptable purpose of the Continuation War, which began in 1941, was to seek retribution for the wrongs that Finland had suffered. [65] Finland primarily aimed to reverse its territorial losses from the March 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty and, depending on the success of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, to possibly expand its borders, especially into East Karelia. [32], In October 1939, the Soviet Union attempted to negotiate with Finland to cede Finnish territory on the Karelian Isthmus and the islands of the Gulf of Finland, and to establish a Soviet military base near the Finnish capital of Helsinki. Vyborg and the rest of the ceded Karelia outside the Republic of Karelia nowadays contain very few ethnic Finns, and is almost exclusively inhabited by people who moved there during the Soviet era and their descendants. Story . The Soviet Union insisted the ceded areas . After the Winter War, Karelian municipalities and parishes established Karjalan Liitto (the Karelian Association) to defend the rights of Karelians in Finland. [14] In addition to the original peace terms of restoring the 1940 border, Finland was required to pay war reparations to the USSR, conduct domestic war-responsibility trials, cede the municipality of Petsamo and lease the Porkkala Peninsula to the Soviets, as well as ban fascist elements and allow left-wing groups, such as the Communist Party of Finland. By November, the operation had stalled 30km (19mi) from the Kirov Railway due to unacclimatised German troops, heavy Soviet resistance, poor terrain, arctic weather and diplomatic pressure by the United States on the Finns regarding the lend-lease deliveries to Murmansk. Presidentti Risto Ryti ja everstiluutnantti Aladar Paasonen tutkivat karttaa 5.7.1941. This process would continue during the Continuation War. [24] Support for regaining the ceded areas is also strong among minor nationalist right-wing groups. During the winter between 1941 and 1942, the Soviet Baltic Fleet decided to use their large submarine fleet in offensive operations. According to a news piece on 8 December 1941 by. [7][8][9][10] Andrei Fyodorov, an advisor of Boris Yeltsin, told the Helsingin Sanomat that he was part of a group that was tasked by the government of Russia in 19911992 with calculating the price of returning Karelia to Finland. [34] The USSR was expelled from the League of Nations and was condemned by the international community for the illegal attack. The offensive and its three sub-operations failed to achieve their objectives. Trni is famous because of his courage in the Continuation War (1941-44) between the Soviet Union and Finland. Hitler inquired how the Soviets planned to settle the "Finnish question" to which Molotov responded that it would mirror the events in Bessarabia and the Baltic states. By September 1941, Finland had regained its postWinter War concessions to the Soviet Union: the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia. Finnish Lieutenant General Paavo Talvela proposed on 17 May 1942 to create a joint FinnishGermanItalian unit on the lake to disrupt Soviet supply convoys to Leningrad. [194] Mannerheim agreed and secretly instructed General Hjalmar Siilasvuo and his III Corps to end the assault on the Kirov Railway. According to an article by the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in August 2007, the Russian president Boris Yeltsin unofficially offered to sell ceded Karelia to Finland in 1991 but was declined. Finland's official stance is that the borders may be changed through peaceful negotiations, although there is currently no need to hold open talks, as Russia has shown no intention of returning the ceded areas, or discussing the question. In Helsinki, decoy searchlights and fires were placed outside the city to deceive Soviet bombers into dropping their payloads on unpopulated areas. [20] In a poll by Taloustutkimus and Karjalan Liitto conducted in May 2005, support was 26% while 58% were opposed. He also reminded the Germans of the 1939 pact. In January 1942, the Soviet Karelian Front attempted to retake Medvezhyegorsk (Finnish: Karhumki), which had been lost to the Finns in late 1941. Historian William R. Trotter stated that "it has so far proven impossible to pinpoint the exact date on which Finland was taken into confidence about Operation Barbarossa" and that "neither the Finns nor the Germans were entirely candid with one another as to their national aims and methods. During 1941-44 Continuation War they were mainly issued to coastal troops as there were enough DP-27s and domestic LS-26s for the front line. Casualties were 63,200 Finns and 23,200 Germans dead or missing during the war and 158,000 Finns and 60,400 Germans wounded. To date, it is the largest battle in the history of the Nordic countries. In Finland, a WWII film epic spurs praise, introspection Ambassador Ivan Stepanovich Zotov[ru] was replaced with the more flexible Pavel Dmitrievich Orlov[ru]. Infantry Regiment 200, called soomepoisid ("Finnish boys"), mostly comprised Estonians, and the Swedes mustered the Swedish Volunteer Battalion. The Continuation War (Finnish language: jatkosota Swedish language fortsttningskriget 25 June 1941 - 19 September 1944) refers to the hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II, from 1941 to 1944. [66], The matter of when and why Finland prepared for war is still somewhat opaque. Defensive victory led the way to peace - thisisFINLAND [Note 4] Germany regarded its operations in the region as part . The front on the Isthmus stabilised and the siege of Leningrad began. [92][93][69] Although the USSR claimed that the airstrikes were directed against German targets, particularly airfields, in Finland,[94] the Finnish government used the attacks as justification for the approval of a "defensive war". After the armistice, Finland was forced to return the evacuees. 1944 in Finland: Continuation War, Vyborg-Petrozavodsk Offensive Within two months Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated into the USSR and by mid1940, the two remaining northern democracies, Finland and Sweden, were encircled by the hostile states of Germany and the Soviet Union. The unit was named Naval Detachment K and comprised four Italian MAS torpedo motorboats of the XII Squadriglia MAS, four German KM-type minelayers and the Finnish torpedo-motorboat Sisu. After the incident, the Finnish government refused to transfer any more Jews to German detainment. [120], Finland maintained good relations with a number of other Western powers. [100] Other Finnish forces reached the shores of Lake Ladoga on 9 August, encircling most of the three defending Soviet divisions on the northwestern coast of the lake in a pocket (motti in Finnish); these divisions were later evacuated across the lake. [64] Finland wished to re-enter the war mainly because of the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War, which had taken place after Finnish intentions of relying on the League of Nations and Nordic neutrality to avoid conflicts had failed because of lack of outside support. Finland bought hundreds of them during Winter War, but like a lot of the foreign equipment they arrived too late to see action then. As the front lines stabilised, Finland attempted to start peace negotiations with the USSR. Years of uneasy trench warfare followed, known as the Continuation War, during which Finland desperately sought a way out, German dreams of victory were dashed, and the Soviet Union built the strongest army in the world. Continuation War 1942 and Soviet assaults Finnish.jpg 449 628; 111 KB. The third one, the Lapland War in 1944-1945, followed the signing of an armistice agreement with the Allied Powers, which stipulated . The Soviet division of occupied Poland with Germany, the Soviet annexation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War are described as elements in the Soviet construction of a security zone or buffer region from the perceived threat from the capitalist powers of Western Europe. [28][29] In a 2008 poll of 28 Finnish historians carried out by Helsingin Sanomat, 16 said that Finland had been an ally of Nazi Germany, six said it had not been and six did not take a position. [42], The Soviet Union had received the Hanko Naval Base, on Finland's southern coast near the capital Helsinki, where it deployed over 30,000 Soviet military personnel. [61], In January 1941, Moscow demanded Finland relinquish control of the Petsamo mining area to the Soviets, but Finland, emboldened by a rebuilt defence force and German support, rejected the proposition. The attack accomplished little except the loss of one Norwegian ship and three British aircraft, but it was intended to demonstrate British support for its Soviet ally. [Note 9] American historian David Glantz, writes that the Finnish Army generally maintained their lines and contributed little to the siege from 1941 to 1944,[139] whereas Russian historian Nikolai Baryshnikov[ru] stated in 2002 that Finland tacitly supported Hitler's starvation policy for the city. A detailed list of Finnish dead is as follows: This number includes only those field artillery pieces which were captured in full condition or were later repaired to full condition and used by Finnish artillery. Thus, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop offered German hand-held Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck antitank weapons in exchange for a guarantee that Finland would not seek a separate peace with the Soviets. The Red Army followed suit a day later. [133][135][189][14] Germany suffered approximately 84,000 casualties in the Finnish front: 16,400 killed, 60,400 wounded and 6,800 missing. [108] For example, Finland maintained diplomatic relations with the exiled Norwegian government and more than once criticised German occupation policy in Norway. YLE Uutiset 16.08.2007, Venlispoliitikko uhkaa haastaa Kainuun Sanomat oikeuteen YLE Uutiset 21.08.2007, Koivisto: Venj ei tarjonnut Karjalaa Suomelle Helsingin Sanomat 23.8.2007. [196][197], The war is considered a Soviet victory. [61] On 18 December 1940, Hitler officially approved Operation Barbarossa, paving the way for the German invasion of the Soviet Union,[62] in which he expected both Finland and Romania to participate.
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