HITLER'S BRANDENBURGERS by Lawrence Paterson

Author:Lawrence Paterson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781784382292
Publisher: Greenhill Books
Published: 2018-08-29T23:00:00+00:00

Brandenburgers in Finland

Finland had declared war on the Soviet Union three days after the launch of Operation ‘Barbarossa’ and in the Arctic Circle they played a major role in Operation ‘Silberfuchs’ (‘Silver Fox’) that comprised a two-stage pincer attack to take and hold the vital Soviet port of Murmansk. The first phase began on the opening day of ‘Barbarossa’ when, in the Arctic Circle, Germany committed two Gebirgs Divisions (2nd and 3rd, who together constituted the Wehrmacht’s Norwegen Armee Korps) to move east from Kirkenes and occupy the Finnish nickel mines at Petsamo. From there, they began the second phase on 29 June together with Finnish forces, making initial headway before becoming bogged down in an entrenched stalemate that would remain virtually stagnant for the next three years.

To the south, the Wehrmacht’s XXXVI Army Corps (169th Division and 6th SS Gebirgs Division ‘Nord’) attacked towards Kantalahti on 1 July, launching a frontal attack on Salla that was taken within a week while the Finnish II Corps advanced from Kuusamo in support, their goal being to cut the Murmansk railway at Kandalaksha. However, once again despite initial success, the offensive eventually stalled by September in the face of strong Soviet defences as well as unexpected diplomatic pressure from the United States. While the Finnish military was keen to retake territory lost to the Soviet Union during the 1940 ‘Winter War’, it appears that they had far less appetite for any kind of war of conquest beyond their original borders. Whatever motivation may have existed for such an undertaking was surely subdued following receipt of a diplomatic note from the United States to Finland’s President Risto Heikki Ryti in which Finland was urged to ‘stop all offensive operations and withdraw to the 1939 border’. Furthermore, the note declared, ‘should material of war sent by the United States to Soviet territory in the north by way of the Arctic Ocean be attacked en-route either presumably or allegedly from territory under Finnish control, in the present state of opinion in the United States, such an incident must be expected to bring about an instant crisis between Finland and the United States’.1 Though they loudly protested such an ultimatum, Ryti’s government knew that they could not risk antagonising the United States and Finnish troops were quietly reined in, demands also being made to the Wehrmacht that any Finnish units ‘on loan’ should be immediately placed back under direct Finnish military command. Both Murmansk and the Murmansk railway continued their operations unimpeded.

The double-track railway line that linked Leningrad to Murmansk was a major conduit of Allied Lend-Lease supplies during the first year of the Soviet war, predominantly, though not wholly, American. Indeed, by December 1941 British tanks landed in Soviet Arctic ports comprised over 25 per cent of the Red Army’s medium and heavy tank strength. Luftwaffe attacks on the line periodically managed to cut the track, but these breaks were soon repaired and were a nuisance rather than a serious threat. In Berlin, the Abwehr’s

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