Sitting still north of Leningrad is telling the Russian he can ignore the area and keep his troops on the main front. Therefore, the Axis should pursue a aggressive campaign in Finland to cause as much consternation and draw as much attention as possible.

Above the "A" weather line the axiom should be maneuver, as each attack costs resource points and the defender will usually be in terrain which insures a negative modifier. Being out of supply is usually not a problem unless isolated. In fact, unless your opponent has a lot of RPs to burn, it will be advantageous to send several small units forward to outflank him He will have to either screen any intruder until isolated supply status kills it or burn an RP to remove it.

Most offensives stall up here as soon as the weather turns foul, so getting off to an early start is of paramount importance. Given a reasonable allocation of resource points to this sector, I would advise putting the Ju87R up here to take advantage of the Naval Interdiction Rule and keep troops from flowing into Murmansk via the single DD flotilla the Russian Navy possesses. An Me110C with an Me109F for escort is also cost effective here. The Me110C and the Ju87R can lend tremendous hitting power to any attack and the Stuka is very good at hitting the very vulnerable rail to Murmansk.

The defense of Murmansk begins in earnest only after the Soviets move their ground forces into better defensive positions than allowed in the initial deployment. Many Russian players will use some of their precious 45 RE rail capacity allotted on the first turn to reinforce the Arctic front on the approaches to Kandalaksha. The Russians have only one rail line into the arctic until the Belomorsk line is upgraded, and on the first turn or two the Russian will be sending all he can spare to keep an aggressive Axis player from interdicting the line with ground units. Therefore air attacks against the line should be continuous, the Russian simply doesn't have enough construction units available this early in the game to both complete essential main front forts, keep lines open into Leningrad and repair the Arctic lifeline.

To complement the air offensive against the single rail line it's necessary for the Axis to advance overland toward the line on a very broad front with a variety of units. Without an overland offensive to Murmansk the Russianca-n simply screen the Germans here and send troops elsewhere. Begin with a modest advance directly on Murmansk from Petsamo with a few mountain divisions and a little air support - here is a good spot to deploy the air units mentioned earlier. The air can cover the ground offensive, interdict naval operations into Murmansk, and reach most of the northern part of the rail line. Commit the 2-1-8 panzer battalions here as they are most effective in attacks against the predominantly rough terrain, negating the negative modifier. Two mountain divisions, two regiments or brigades, the panzer battalions, some artillery and a little air cover is a very effective pinning force to use on the overland drive toward Murmansk and the Russian will be hard pressed to ignore it. The Arctic Ocean is the beginning of the right flank of the Soviets, an having this flank turned can cost the Soviet the Arctic.

Further down the line in fhe middle of nowhere is a good spot to put a single Finnish ski brigade (around 6A:1925, or 2025) to use in a dash toward the rail line. Ski units move as mountain units through rough terrain so a Finnish ski brigade can reach the rail line in two turns unless stopped. It w take the Soviet more than a single unit to stop the brigade from reaching the line.

Brigades and regiments have ZOC in the arctic so just being next to the line will put Murmansk out of supply and halt rail traffic even if the brigade's ZOC is reduced. A Ju52 transport can drop supplies on the brigade as it dashes toward the rail line - being in supply will allow the unit to continue moving at full speed. When the brigade goes U2 it will or should be killed by a smart Russian, so on the critical turn before attack is eminent add some DAS to the brigade This presents the Russian a real problem and he'll probably have to settle for screening the unit until a turn when you don't send DAS or supply.

Try to keep Russian resource points out of the Kandalaksha area. Unless Russian resource points are already in the Arctic, there are only two ways to get them into position to use for an attack - air or sea. Operational rail is out of reach of Leningrad or Arkhangelsk and strategic rail would make it ineligible for use in the combat phase. Bombing the airbases at Kandalaksha and Kirovsk eliminates both annoying VVS interception and patrol over the region and prohibits air transport of RPs into the area. Also without air cover the DD flotilla will probably put in few appearances at Kandalaksha.

A third offensive should be launched along the Kandalaksha rail line to the White Sea, the drive here should include the best Finnish artillery along with German 7-6 Infantry Divisions, as the attacks along the road will be mostly a slugging match where high maneuver units would be wasted.

Use Finnish fighters in this sector to chase away any DAS the Soviet may use to slow your advance. Move along the road quickly at any cost in German, not Finnish lives, to capture Salla and Allakurtti - taking these cities early will allow the Axis to gain air superiority very early in the Arctic campaign. Keep the pressure up on this drive, because once the White Sea is reached, Murmansk is doomed.

At least one division with one resource point should be used along the two remaining roads in the Arctic leading to the Murmansk rail line. Breaking down a division into its unsupported elements can be effective here. When a division is broken down unsupported you gain an additional unit in the HQ which can be used as an extra screening unit between the two regiments - the regiments still have ZOCs so an enemy won't be able to overrun the HQ.

The HQ can also be used to garrison one of the reference cities if the Soviet units in the Ukhta region are NKVD border regiments unable to attack. Ju52 transports can be used to fly additional resources into Ukhta (if taken boldly and quickly) to help support either drive along these roads. Counter attacks will be few because of the negative modifiers and paucity of enemy forces - and in any case, the quality of your unit probably isn't worth the cost of an RP!

Be sure not to allow the Soviet units to slip past your units into Finland as they will be hard to kill given the few troops in this area and they will most likely cut your supply.

With five individual drives on the Murmansk rail line in the Arctic alone, the Soviet player will likely be very short of troops to meet all the threats. Containing a powerful drive along the Kandalaksha road, which is sure to cause casualties, plus a moderate drive overland to Murmansk may prove to be more than they can cope with.

German Play in 1941 Part One Hints on Playing Fire in the East

Introduction
Panzers and Breakthroughs
Complicating the Red Retreat
The Northern Campaign
The Finnish Theater

German Play in 1941 Part Two Army Group North and the Leningrad Campaign

Army Group North
Clearing the Way
Dash to the Luga
The Parnu Parameter

Germany Play in 1941 Part Three The Final Chapter

Army Group Center
Army Group South
The Rumanian Army