Raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo

Raids on Kirkenes and Petsamo
Part of the Continuation War of World War II
Date 30 July 1941 Location Kirkenes, Norway and Petsamo, Finland Result Axis victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany  Finland
Commanders and leaders
John Tovey Frederic Wake-Walker
Strength
38 strike aircraft (29 Albacores and 9 Swordfish) 15 Fulmars (escorts) 4 Hurricanes and 3 Fulmars (Fleet defence) 2 aircraft carriers 2 cruisers, 6 destroyers	5 cargo vessels Luftwaffe fighters Anti-aircraft guns
Casualties and losses
13 killed 25 captured 16 aircraft destroyed	1 cargo ship sunk 1 cargo ship damaged 1 small steamer sunk 2 aircraft shot down several jetties destroyed

38 strike aircraft (29 Albacores and 9 Swordfish)
15 Fulmars (escorts)
4 Hurricanes and 3 Fulmars (Fleet defence)
2 aircraft carriers
2 cruisers, 6 destroyers

The raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo (Operation EF, 30 July 1941) took place during the Second World War. Fleet Air Arm aircraft flew from the aircraft carriers HMS Victorious and Furious to attack merchant vessels owned by Germany and Finland in support of the Soviet Union after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of 22 June 1941.

During the Russian Civil War, Finland declared independence from the Soviet Union and acquired the north port of Petsamo under the Treaty of Tartu (1920). In the Winter War (1939–1940), the Soviet Union occupied all of Petsamo. However, in the following peace agreement, only the Finnish part of the Rybachy Peninsula (fin. Kalastajasaarento) was ceded to the Soviet Union (321 km²/124 mi²). In 1941, during the Continuation War, Petsamo was used by Nazi Germany as a staging area for the attack on Murmansk.

War officially broke out between Britain and Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939. In November, Joseph Stalin ordered the invasion of Finland and, although they put up a stubborn defence, the Finns had to give up 10% of the country's total territory after they agreed to sign an armistice in March 1940. Subsequently, Norway was invaded by the Germans in April 1940, and Kirkenes was occupied.

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