Lapland War Part of World War II German withdrawal From Finland 1944 Date 15 September 1944 – 25 April 1945 Location Lapland, Finland Result Finnish victory Belligerents Germany Finland Commanders and leaders Lothar Rendulic Matthias Krautler August Krakau Hjalmar Siilasvuo Aaro Pajari Ruben Lagus Strength 214,000[Notes 1][1] 75,000[Notes 2][2] Casualties and losses ~1,000 dead ~1,300 POW ~2,000 wounded[3] 774 dead 262 missing 2,904 wounded[3]

v t e Finland 1939–1945 Winter War Continuation War Lapland War v t e Lapland War Nordlicht Suursaari Island Tornio Rovaniemi

The Lapland War (Finnish: Lapin sota, Swedish: Lapplandskriget, German: Lapplandkrieg) was fought between Finland and Nazi Germany from September 1944 to April 1945 in Finland's northernmost Lapland Province. While the Finns saw this as a separate conflict much like the Continuation War, German forces considered their actions to be part of the Second World War. A peculiarity of the war was that the Finnish army was forced to demobilise their forces while at the same time fighting to force the German army to leave Finland. German forces retreated to Norway, and Finland managed to uphold its obligations under the Moscow Armistice, although it remained formally at war with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, one government in exile in London, and the British Dominions until the formal conclusion of the Continuation War was ratified by the 1947 Paris peace treaty.

Prelude[link]

Germany and Finland had been at war with the Soviet Union since June 1941, co-operating closely in the Continuation War. However as early as the summer of 1943, the German High Command began making plans for the eventuality that Finland might make a separate peace agreement with the Soviet Union. The Germans planned to withdraw their forces northward in order to shield the nickel mines near Petsamo.^[4]

During the winter of 1943–1944, the Germans improved the roads from northern Norway to northern Finland by extensive use of prisoner of war (POW) labour on certain areas.^[5] Casualties among these POWs were high, in part because many of them had been captured in southern Europe and were still in summer uniform. In addition, the Germans surveyed defensive positions and made plans to evacuate as much material as possible from the region and made meticulous preparations for withdrawing their forces.^[6] In 9 April 1944 German withdrawal was named as Operation Birke.^[6] While Germans started in June 1944 actively construct fortifications against enemy advance from the south^[7] the accidental death of Generaloberst Eduard Dietl on 23 June 1944 brought Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic to command of 20th Mountain Army.^[8]

Change of Finnish leadership led Germans already in early August 1944 to believe that Finland would attempt to achieve separate agreement which the Soviet Union.^[9] Finnish announcement of the cease fire triggered frantic efforts in German 20th Mountain Army which immediately started Operation Birke and other material evacuations from Finland. Large amounts of material was evacuated from southern Finland and harsh punishments were set for any kind of hindering of the withdrawal.^[10]

Baltic[link]

Already on 2 September 1944, after Finns informed Germans from the cease fire between Finland and the Soviet Union, Germans started seizing Finnish shipping. However since this action resulted in Finnish decision not to allow ships to sail from Finland to Germany and nearly doomed the material evacuations of Operation Birke it was rescinded. After the order was rescinded Finns in turn allowed Finnish tonnage to be used to hasten the German evacuations.^[11] First German naval mines were laid to Finnish seaways on 14 September 1944 allegedly against Soviet shipping, though since Finland and Germany were not yet in open conflict at the time Germans warned Finns of their intent.^[12]

On 15 September 1944 the German navy attempted to seize the island of Hogland in Operation Tanne Ost. This immediately prompted Finns to remove their shipping from the joint evacuation operation. Last German convoy departed from Kemi on 21 September 1944 and was covered with both submarines and later (south of Åland) also by German cruisers.^[13] After the landing attempt Finnish coastal artillery fort prevented German netlayers from passing into Baltic Sea at Utö on 15 September as they had been ordered to intern the German forces. However already on 16 September a German naval detachment consisting of heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen escorted by 5 destroyers arrived to Utö. German cruiser stayed out of range of the Finnish 152 mm guns and threatened to open fire with its artillery that outdistanced the Finnish guns unless Finns allow the German netlayers to pass. In order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed Finns allowed the netlayers to pass.^[14]

Finnish landing operation started on 30 September 1944 when three transport ships (SS Norma, SS Fritz S and SS Hesperus) without any escorts departed from Oulu towards Tornio. They arrived on 1 October and managed to disembark the troops without any interference. Also second wave of four ships on 2 October and third - three ships strong - wave managed to disembark largely without trouble with only single ship being lightly damaged by German dive bombers. On 4 October bad weather prevented Finnish air cover from reaching Tornio which left the fourth landing wave vulnerable to German Stuka dive bombers which scored several hits sinking SS Bore IX and SS Maininki alongside the pier. Fifth wave on 5 October suffered only light shrapnel damage despite of being both shelled from shore and bombed. First Finnish naval vessels Hämeenmaa, Uusimaa, VMV 15 and VMV 16 arrived with sixth wave just in time to witness German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor bombers attacking the shipping at Tornio with Henschel Hs 293 glide bombs without results. Arrival of naval assets made it possible for the Finns to safely disembark heavy equipment which played important role during the Battle of Tornio.^[15]

Sailors on Finnish ships in German-held ports, including Norway, were interned, and German submarines sank several Finnish civilian vessels. German submarines also had some success against Finnish military vessels, including the sinking of minelayer Louhi. Most dire result of the Finland concluding the Moscow Armistice with the Soviet Union was that now Soviet naval forces could circumvent the existing German naval mine barriers located on the Gulf of Finland by using the Finnish coastal seaways. This allowed Soviet submarines now based in the Finnish archipelago to an early access to the German shipping in the southern Baltic Sea.

Lapland[link]

The cease fire agreement between Finland and the Soviet Union contained a requirement for the Finns to break diplomatic ties with Germany and publicly demand German troops to withdraw from Finland by the 15 September 1944, and disarm and hand over to the Soviet Union any German troops that remained there after the deadline.^[16] Even with massive efforts in evacuation of materials by the Germans in Operation Birke this was not possible as Finns estimated it would take Germans three months to fully evacuate.^[17] The Finns' task was complicated by the Soviet demand that the major part of Finnish armed forces be demobilized at the same time^[18], even while conducting a military campaign against the Germans.

Autumn manoeuvres[link]

As Finns wanted to avoid devastation of their country and Germans wished to avoid hostilities, both sides wanted the evacuation to be performed as smoothly as possible.^[19] By 15 September 1944 a secret agreement was made by which Germans informed their timetable to the Finns who then allowed Germans to destroy roads, railroads and bridges.^[20] However some friction from both the destruction caused by the Germans and by the pressure exerted on the Finns by the Soviets was created which caused several incidents between the armies.^[21]

Initial clashes[link]

First open violence between the Finnish forces and the 20th Mountain Army took place 20 km southwest from church of Pudasjärvi around 0800 on 28 September 1944 when advance Finnish units first issued surrender demand and then opened fire on small German rearguard.^[22] This took Germans by surprise since Finns had previously promised to warn the Germans should Finns be forced to take hostile action against the withdrawing Germans but had not issued no such information to the Germans.^[22] After the incident partial contact with Germans was restored who told Finns that they had no interest in fighting but they would not surrender.^[22] Next incident took place at bridge crossing the Olhava river between Kemi and Oulu where Finns had been issued orders to take the bridge intact on 29 September 1944. Attempt failed with Finns suffering minor losses when Germans demolished the bridge - including the company commander who had been leading the attempt to disarm the explosives rigged to the bridge.^[23] On the 30 September Finns attempted to encircle the Germans at Pudasjärvi by flanking through the forests and managed to cut the road leading to north. However, by then the bulk of the Germans at Pudasjärvi had already left. Small German detachments had been left behind to demolish a munitions dump first. They warned Finns that they were destroying the munitions dump, and immediately after the explosions Finns detained them.^[24]

Fighting intensified when the Finns launched a risky invasion from the sea on 1 October 1944 near Tornio, on the border with Sweden.^[25] Initially the landing was intended to take place at Tornio but instead at Kemi where Finnish battalion size Detachment Pennanen (fi. Osasto Pennanen) was already controlling the important industrial facilities at island of Ajos. However various considerations including far more stronger German garrison of Kemi as well as possibility that Germans would already have been aware of the landings made Finns change the target to Röyttä (outer port of Tornio) instead just diversionary landing planned to take place at the location.^[25] Finns initially landed the 11th Infantry Regiment (JR 11) to Tornio which together with Civic Guard led uprising at Tornio managed to secure both the port and the town as well as the important bridges over the Torne River but were bogged down due to bad intelligence and because sizable number of troops got intoxicated with alcohol captured from German supply depot. During the ensuing Battle of Tornio Finns steadily reinforced the troops (with two infantry regiments, JR 50 and JR 53)^[26] and managed to keep the hold of the area and in the end beat counterattacking Germans back. Germans on the other hand tried to retake Tornio since it formed an important transportation link between the two roads running parallel to Kemijoki and Tornionjoki rivers respectively. German forces initially consisted of roughly reinforced regiment strong Division Kräutler^[27] which was later reinforced with armored company (2nd company of Panzer Abteilung 211), two infantry battalions, and the Machine Gun Ski Brigade Finnland.^[28] Heavy combat lasted for a week until 8 October 1944, and the Germans were forced to withdraw.^[29]

Meanwhile Finnish troops were also advancing overland from Oulu towards Kemi with 15th Brigade however its progress was very slow even in face of only meager German resistance.^[30] Main obstacles were the efficient destruction of roads and bridges by the withdrawing Germans as well as the lack fighting spirit in both the Finnish troops and their leaders.^[31] Finns attacked at Kemi on 7 October 1944 in attempt to encircle the Germans by attack from the front with the 15th Brigade and from the rear with Detachment Pennanen.^[32] Strong German resistance, civilians in the area and 'liberated' alcohol prevented Finns from fully succeeding in trapping all the Germans. Though Finnish forces were able to capture several hundred Germans as POW they failed to prevent Germans from demolishing the important bridges crossing the Kemijoki river.^[33]

Further action in Lapland War[link]

As Allied war efforts against Germany continued leadership of both 20th Mountain Army as well as the OKW believed it to be perilous to maintain positions in Lapland and in northern Norway east of Lyngen and started preparations for withdrawal. Hitler accepted the proposal after long delays on 4 October 1944 and it was named Operation Nordlicht on 6 October 1944.^[34] Instead of gradual withdrawal from southern Lapland into fortified positions further to the north while evacuating all material as in Operation Birke the Operation Nordlicht called for rapid and strictly organized withdrawal directly behind Lyngen fjord in Norway while under pressure from harassing enemy forces.^[34]

As the Germans withdrew, movement was mostly limited to the immediate vicinity of Lapland's three main roads, which constricted military activities considerably. In general the actions followed a pattern in which advancing Finnish units would encounter German rearguards and attempt flanking them on foot, the destroyed road network preventing them from bringing up artillery or other heavy weapons. As Finnish riflemen slowly picked their way through the dense woods and marshland, the motorized German units would simply drive away and take up positions further down the road.^[35]

Finnish forces advancing from Kemi towards Rovaniemi did not see any real action, as Finnish troops on foot were not able to keep up with withdrawing motorized German units; however, on the road leading from Ranua towards Rovaniemi there were several small battles, first at Ylimaa, then Kivitaival, then Rovaniemi. North of Rovaniemi the Finns encountered heavily fortified German Schutzwall positions at Tankavaara. On the road running along the Torne and Muonio rivers, the German withdrawal went so smoothly that there was no fighting until the Finns reached the village of Muonio.

At Ylimaa the Finns captured documents detailing German positions, forcing them to fight a delaying action off their pre-set timetable; however, as the forces were roughly even numerically, the Finnish lack of heavy weapons, and exhaustion from long marches, prevented them from trapping the defending German regiment before it received permission to withdraw.^[36] At Kivitaival the tables were turned and only a fortuitous German withdrawal saved a Finnish regiment from being mauled. The German withdrawal allowed the Finns to surround one of the delaying battalions, but a full German regiment arrived and managed to rescue the stranded battalion.^[37]

Finnish demobilization and difficult supply routes began to take their toll, and at Tankavaara barely 4 Finnish battalions attempted, unsuccessfully, to dislodge a German division entrenched in prepared fortifications. ^[38]At Muonio the Germans again had numerical and material superiority which prevented the Finns from gaining the upper hand, despite initially fairly successful flanking operations.^[39]

German retreat to Norway[link]

Germans put up a bitter sign in Muonio that reads "As a thanks for not demonstrating a brotherhood of arms".

Siilasvuo pursued the Germans, who consistently fought back so as to cover their retreat towards Norway. Motorized German troops were left behind to secure the main forces, defending their positions with heavy firepower. When the Finns arrived, they tried to bypass German posts with time-consuming and back-breaking marches through marshland and forests. Knowing this, the Germans quickly pulled out, destroying bridges and moving to the next defensive post that they had planned and equipped beforehand.

Most of the civilian population of Lapland, totaling 168,000 persons, was evacuated to Sweden and Southern Finland, with the exception of the inhabitants of Tornio area. The civilian evacuation had been carried out as a cooperative effort of German military and Finnish authorities prior to the start of the hostilities.^[40] Hundreds of Finnish women who had been engaged to German soldiers or working for the German military left with the German troops, meeting diverse fates.^[41]

'Victory in Lapland', Finnish soldiers setting up a Finnish flag on the Norwegian border

Consequences[link]

In their retreat the German forces under General Lothar Rendulic devastated large areas of northern Finland with scorched earth tactics. As a result, some 40–47% of the dwellings in the area were destroyed, and the provincial capital of Rovaniemi was burned to the ground, as were the villages of Savukoski and Enontekiö. Two-thirds of the buildings in the main villages of Sodankylä, Muonio, Kolari, Salla and Pello were demolished, 675 bridges were blown up, all main roads were mined, and 3,700 km of telephone lines were destroyed.

In addition to the property losses, estimated as equivalent to about US $300 million in 1945 dollars (US$ 3.87 billion in 2012), about 100,000 inhabitants became refugees, a situation that added to the problems of postwar reconstruction. After the war the Allies convicted Rendulic of war crimes, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, although charges concerning the devastation of Lapland were dropped. He was released after six years.

The last German troops were expelled in April 1945. By that time, as a result of the Soviet demand for the demobilisation of the Finnish army, only 600 Finnish troops, mostly fresh recruits, were left facing them. Because of this, the latter half of the Lapland War is known in Finland as the Children's Crusade.^{[citation needed]}

The military casualties of the conflict were relatively limited: 774 killed in action (KIA), 262 missing in action and about 3,000 wounded in action (WIA) for the Finnish troops, and 1,200 KIA and about 2,000 WIA for the Germans. 1,300 German soldiers became prisoners of war, and were handed over to the Soviet Union according to the terms of the armistice with the Soviets.^[42] The extensive German land mines caused civilian casualties for decades after the war, and almost 100 personnel were killed during demining operations.

See also[link]

• History of Germany
• History of Finland
• Operation Tanne Ost
• World War II
• Lapplandsender

Notes[link]

References[link]

Citations[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Ahto, Sampo (1980) (in Finnish). Aseveljet vastakkain - Lapin sota 1944-1945 [Brothers in arms against each other - Lapland War 1944-1945]. Helsinki: Kirjayhtymä. ISBN 951-26-1726-9. 
• Kijanen, Kalervo (1968). Suomen Laivasto 1918–1968 II. Helsinki: Meriupseeriyhdistys/Otava. 
• Leskinen, Jari; Juutilainen, Antti (ed.) (2005) (in Finnish). Jatkosodan pikkujättiläinen (1st ed.). WSOY. ISBN 951-0-28690-7. 
• Lunde, Henrik O. (2011). Finland's War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Alliance in World War II. Newbury: Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-61200-037-4. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lapland War

• Pictures from Wars during Finland´s independence: The War of Lapland (maps, photos from front, songs and radio speeches)