Operation Platinfuchs

Operation Platinum Fox

German soldiers in the Arctic

Date	29 June – 21 September 1941
Location	Petsamo, Litsa River, Rybachy Peninsula
Result	Soviet victory

Belligerents

Nazi Germany

Finland

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Eduard Dietl

Valerian A. Frolov

Strength

2nd Mountain Division
3rd Mountain Division
2 additional SS regiments
Finnish 14th Infantry Regiment
Finnish Ivalo Border Guard Battalion
27,500 men (initially)

14th Rifle Division
52nd Rifle Division
Polyarny Division
Soviet Northern Fleet

Casualties and losses

10,300 overall

unknown

Operation Platinum Fox (German: Unternehmen Platinfuchs) was a German and Finnish military offensive launched during World War II. Platinum Fox took place on the Eastern Front and had the objective of capturing the Barents Sea port of Murmansk. It was part of a larger operation, called Operation Silver Fox (Silberfuchs).

At the launch of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, German units of Army of Norway (AOK Norwegen), commanded by Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, were sent east from Norway to secure Petsamo at the Finnish-Soviet border as part of Operation Reindeer (Rentier). There they joined Finnish forces poised on the border of Soviet territory. These divisions consisted, for the most part, of elite mountain troops mostly from Austria specially trained to operate above the Arctic Circle. As part of Barbarossa, the Finnish-German forces were to launch Operation Silver Fox (Silberfuchs), aimed at attacking Murmansk from two directions. The first assault from Finnish Petsamo directly towards the port of Murmansk was codenamed Platinum Fox (Platinfuchs). The second attack was aimed first to attack Kandalaksha from Salla and then threaten to Murmansk from the south by cutting off the Murmansk railway. This parallel operation was codenamed Operation Arctic Fox (Polarfuchs).

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Wikipedia