Finnish conquest of East Karelia (1941)

Finnish conquest of East Karelia

Part of Continuation War and World War II

Date	10 July 1941 – September 1941
Location	Eastern Karelia, Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, Svir River
Result	Finnish victory

Belligerents

Finland

Nazi Germany

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Strength

Army of Karelia

7th Army

71th Rifle Division
168th Rifle Division
198th Motorised Rifle Division

The Finnish conquest of East Karelia (1941) refers to a military campaign carried out by Finland in 1941. It was part of what is commonly referred to as the Continuation War. Finnish troops occupied Soviet East Karelia and held it until their retreat in 1944.

For over a month after the outbreak of the Continuation war, the Karelian Army had stayed in place, replenished its forces and prepared for the continuation of its offensive while the Finns had recaptured the Karelian Isthmus. Also the Soviets had prepared new fortifications and brought new troops to the front. When encirclements on the western shore of Lake Ladoga were resolved, the Finnish 7.D was transferred to the junction of VI and VII Corps where it could assist both of them.

The Finnish offensive started on the early hours of September 4 at Tuloksa, when the largest artillery barrage so far in Finnish history was unleashed. This artillery barrage, its effectiveness, leading practices and ammunition usage was carefully inspected right after the battle, and prompted numerous improvements which were honed to perfection in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala. Closely following the barrage, the 5.D crossed the River Tuloksa 7 km from the mouth of the river at 5am. The river crossing was easy, but soon the Soviet defence strengthened. The Finnish armored battalion followed the spearhead and helped to destroy enemy strongpoints, and finally the coastal road was severed at 11am. The Soviet counterattack started at 1pm, and managed to encircle the Finns who had advanced to the coastal road. At 2pm when situation seemed dangerous to Finns, Col. Karhu committed the reserve division, the light detachment 4 to the battle, and together with tanks they managed to break the encirclement at 17:30, and in the ensuing battle scattered the defending forces and reached the coast of Lake Ladoga, thus cutting the retreat route of the forces still between them and River Tuloksa. During the night the encircled forces were destroyed. In the battle Soviet 3. Marine Br., IR452 and IR419 were shattered and partially destroyed; the road to Olonets was open.

As soon as the breakthrough was secured, Detachment Lagus rushed through the 5.D towards Olonets which it captured on September 5 with only a short firefight. From there it advanced through the night towards the River Svir which the first units reached at 5am on September 7. The Marttinen Detachment was separated from the Lagus Detachment and armored battalion, and it advanced east from Olonets and captured the northern end of the railroad bridge over the Svir and severed the western branch of the Murmansk railroad on the morning of September 8.

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Wikipedia