Continuation War
| Continuation War | |||||||||
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| Part of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||||
 Finnish soldiers, VT-line in 1944, Karelian offensive. "Alarm in VT-line positions." |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Finland Germany Italy1
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 Soviet Union United Kingdom2
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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G. Mannerheim N. von Falkenhorst (until 7 November 1941) E. Dietl †(7 November 1941 – 23 June 1944) Lothar Rendulic(from 28 June 1944) |
M. Popov V. Frolov K. Meretskov L. Govorov
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 530,000 Finns 220,000 Germans |
In June 1941: 450,390 (Northern Front and Baltic Fleet) In June 1944: 650,000 |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Finnish: 14,000 dead or missing 37,000 wounded unknown non-combat casualties Total 275,000+ casualties |
Finnish estimate based on Soviet data: 305,000 dead(including 64,000 captured) 385,000 wounded 190,000 hospitalized due to sickness 4,361 civilian deaths 697 tanks destroyed 55 tanks captured 673 trucks captured 306 artillery pieces captured 300 tractors captured 303 aircraft destroyed Multiple ships sunk Total ~835,000 casualties |
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1 Italy provided four motor torpedo boats to Lake Ladoga. 2 The United Kingdom declared war on Finland but conducted no operations after that. |
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Finnish:
63,204 dead or missing
158,000 wounded
939 civilians in air raids
190 civilians by Soviet partisans
2,377–3,500 captured
The Continuation War (Finnish: jatkosota; Swedish: fortsättningskriget; 25 June 1941 – 19 September 1944) consisted of hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944. The Continuation War began shortly after the end of the Winter War, which also was fought between Finland and the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, the war was considered part of the Great Patriotic War. Germany regarded its operations in the region as part of its overall war efforts on the Eastern Front, and it provided Finland with critical material support and military cooperation.
Acts of war between the Soviet Union and Finland recommenced on 22 June 1941, the day Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union, with covert Finnish operations. Open warfare began with a Soviet air offensive on 25 June. Subsequent Finnish operations undid its post-Winter War concessions to the Soviet Union on the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, and captured East Karelia by September 1941. On the Karelian Isthmus, the Finns halted their offensive 30 km from Leningrad, at the pre-World War II border between the Soviet Union and Finland. Finnish forces did not participate in the siege of Leningrad directly, holding their pre-World War II territory on the Karelian Isthmus for two and a half years instead. In 1944, Soviet air forces conducted air raids on Helsinki and other major Finnish cities. Eventually, in mid-1944, the Soviet strategic offensive drove the Finns from most of the territories they had gained during the war, but the Finnish Army later brought the offensive to a standstill in July 1944. A ceasefire ended hostilities on 5 September and was followed by the Moscow Armistice on 19 September. The 1947 Paris peace treaty concluded the war formally. Finland ceded Petsamo Province to the Soviets, leased Porkkala peninsula to them, and paid reparations, while retaining its independence.
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