Finland's Continuation War
Against Russia 1940-45

1941: Co-Belligerence in the North

by Brian R. Train, Victoria, British Columbia

At the time of the German attack, the arrangement of forces was as follows: To the north of a line drawn at the level of Oulu, Finnish forces would form part of Armee Oberkommando Norwegen (AOK, headquarters at Rovaniemi), composed of three corps. The Gebirgskorps (Mountain Corps, formed of the German 2 and 3 Mountain Divisions) would advance on Murmansk across some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world, while the German XXXVI Corps (consisting of the German 169 Infantry Division and SS Battle Group Nord (an SS unit formed from German and Austrian police and security units the year before, it contained almost 8,000 well-equipped but poorly trained men organized as a reinforced brigade), plus 6 Finnish Division) would advance through Salla with the ultimate objective of cutting the Murmansk Railway at Kandalaksha.

Finally, the Finnish III Corps (consisting of 3 Finnish Division, reinforced with some extra units and divided into Groups J and F) would advance on Kestenga. To the south of the AOK boundary, the Finnish Karelian Army (consisting of II, IV, VI, and VII Corps, totaling 13 Finnish and one German divisions) was expected to engage the Russians around Lake Ladoga and on the Karelian Isthmus north of Leningrad, and to retake Hanko.

Gunboats on Lake Lakota

On 29 June AOK Norwegen began its advance, after the Mountain Corps had spent a week marching across northern Finland to the border. By mid-July the Corps had secured a bridgehead across the Litsa River, about 15 miles into Russia. However, stiffening resistance (the corps even had to be reinforced by the Finnish 14 Infantry Regiment after the Soviets landed troops behind the lines) and the difficult terrain, as well as the need to detail large numbers of troops to haul supplies forward from Petsamo, made it impossible for the Corps to advance further. Murmansk lay 30 miles to the east, and the Germans would get no closer to it during the rest of the war.

On 1 July the XXXVI Corps opened its attack on Salla, defended by 20,000 men of the 42 Rifle Corps (main units were 104 and 122 Rifle Divisions, later to be reinforced by 1 Tank Division which was then in Kandalaksha). The plan was to take Salla by a concentric assault and then cut the Murmansk Railway 90 miles to the east at Kandalaksha. The plan was risky in that it involved attacks on several widely spaced axes by units moving across difficult, unroaded terrain. One regiment of the 169 Infantry Division was to attack east across the border and try to take Salla directly; meanwhile, the division's other two regiments and Battle Group Nord would approach the town from north and south respectively. The Finnish 6 Division was sent on a long outflanking move to cross the border 45 miles south of Salla and swing north to cut the road back to Kandalaksha at the village of Allakurtti.

As it turned out, the frontal attack on Salla bogged down when it ran into the field fortifications the Soviets had built just inside the border, and recoiled at the strength and energy of the Red Army counterattacks. General Feige, the corps commander, asked for and got a motorized machine gun battalion and a regiment of the German163 Infantry Division (then located far to the south, in the rear of the Karelian Army) as reinforcements, though they did not arrive until the battle for Salla was over. The encircling forces to the north and south were delayed by hills and dense forests.

The SS battle group performed badly when it was hit by a Soviet counterattack: the men were inexperienced and good leaders were almost completely lacking. However, by 6 July a concentric attack was underway and Salla was captured on the following day.

The remnants of the Soviet 42 Corps withdrew ten miles to the east, to the village of Kairala, astride a gap in the Maaseljaen Hills. Frontal assaults did not work and it took more than a month for the German and Finnish units to get far enough through the woods and hills on either side of the road to move the Soviets from their positions. On 21 August elements of the Finnish 6 Division blocked the road between Kairala and Allakurtti, the last town on the road to Kandalaksha. The Russians tried to break out several times and withdrew to the north and east, digging in again at Allakurtti. By 1 September they were forced out of the town and fell back a short distance to the east where their southern flank was covered by Lake Wermann. They held there for two more weeks against the German encirclement from the north. However, by the time the XXXVI Corps had dislodged them from this position, the Corps, could not exploit beyond the Verma River due to exhaustion and its weakened state from having had to send detachments to the attack on Kestenga. Like the attack on Murmansk, the drive for Kandalaksha had stalled thirty miles short of its ultimate prize of cutting the Murmansk Railway.

Further to the south, the Finnish III Corps had had an easier time of things at first. Group J, consisting of a reinforced infantry regiment from the Finnish 3 Division, had taken the northern route from Kuusamo to Kestenga, with the ultimate objective of cutting the Murmansk Railway at the town of Loukhi. By July 18, Group J had penetrated 40 miles into Russia, taking advantage of logging boats and rafts to move much faster than through the woods. To reinforce their success, AOK Norwegen detached elements of Battle Group Nord (the 6 SS Motorized Infantry Regiment, one of the Group's two artillery battalions, and a flak company).

On 7 August the group captured Kestenga and started to run into serious resistance from several "scratch battalions" the Soviet 14 Army had thrown together from its support units, including a training unit and the Army headquarters guard battalion. By the middle of August the Soviet 88 Rifle Division had arrived from Archangel and the Finnish advance decisively stalled, despite receiving more reinforcements from the SS unit (a battalion of the 7 SS Motorized Infantry Regiment, the Group's other artillery battalion, and other support units). They had halted just a short distance beyond Kestenga and, again, about 30 miles short of cutting the Murmansk Railway at the town of Loukhi.

Meanwhile, Group F (consisting of the remaining two infantry regiments from the Finnish 3 Division) had taken the southern route from Suomussalmi to Uhtua, crossing the border on 1 July. The Group ran into the main body of the Soviet 54 Rifle Division near Uhtua and dug in near the end of August.

More Finland Continuation War 1941-45

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© Copyright 2000 by David W. Tschanz.
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