Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation

Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive
Part of World War II
Soviet landing party heading for Kirkenes, Norway.
Date 7–29 October 1944 Location Arctic Region, Petsamo and northern Norway 69°25′40″N 31°13′41″E / 69.42778°N 31.22806°E / 69.42778; 31.22806Coordinates: 69°25′40″N 31°13′41″E / 69.42778°N 31.22806°E / 69.42778; 31.22806 Result Soviet victory Successful German retreat
Belligerents
Soviet Union  Finland	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Soviet UnionK.A. Meretskov	GermanyLothar Rendulic
Strength
14th Army 133,500 men 110 tanks 2,100 guns	20th Mountain Army 45,000 men 145 guns
Casualties and losses
6,084 killed or missing 15,149 wounded 21,233 overall	8,263 overall (whole of October)

The Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive was a major military offensive during World War II, mounted by the Red Army against the Wehrmacht in 1944 in northern Finland and Norway. The offensive defeated the Wehrmacht's forces in the Arctic, driving them back into Norway, and was called the "Tenth Shock" by Stalin. It later expelled German forces from the northern part of Norway and seized the nickel mines of Pechenga/Petsamo.

Following the failure of the Wehrmacht's Operation Silver Fox in 1941, the frontline in the Arctic had seen little change. Environmental and supply conditions in the remote, nearly roadless region made it difficult, if not impossible, to undertake major military operations, and as far as land warfare was concerned, the Arctic had become a backwater. Sizable German forces were kept in the sector to protect the Finnish nickel mines of Petsamo, which were of importance to German armour plate fabrication, and to guard the coast of northern Norway against an Allied landing operation.

After the armistice between the Soviet Union and Finland on 4 September 1944, the Petsamo region (though still largely occupied by the Germans) again became part of the Russian SFSR, and the Finnish government agreed to remove the remaining German forces from its territory by 15 September (leading to the Lapland War). During the retreat of the German 20th Mountain Army, called Operation Birke, the decision was made by the German Armed Forces Command to withdraw completely from northern Norway and Finland in Operation Nordlicht. During the preparations for this operation, the Soviets went over to the offensive on the Karelian Front.

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