Chapter 7. Karelian Front (winter 1942 - summer 1944)

As already mentioned, the position of the troops of the Karelian Front from the winter of 1942 to the summer of 1944 was extremely stable. Although both sides made several unsuccessful attempts to improve their position. In this regard, we will not go into a general description of the fighting on the Karelian front; we will only note a few interesting points.

Let's start with the position of the German troops. In February 1942, German troops operating in northern Finland and northern Norway were separated from the Army of Norway into the Army of Lapland. On June 20, 1942, the Lapland Army was renamed the 20th Mountain Army.

In September 1941, the German 6th Mountain Rifle Division arrived from Greece in the Murmansk direction. In February 1942, the 7th Mountain Rifle Division, formed on the basis of the 99th Light Infantry Division, arrived from the Balkans to the Murmansk direction. As a result of these events, the number of German troops in Finland by July 1, 1942 increased to 150 thousand people. In September 1942, the 210th stationary infantry division was formed in Norway, which was also sent to the Murmansk direction. Thus, from the end of 1942 to the beginning of 1944, the 163rd and 169th infantry divisions, the 2nd, 6th and 7th mountain rifle divisions, the 210th stationary infantry division and many separate regiments.

In 1941 - February 1942, the Karelian Front also received significant reinforcements. These included the 152nd, 263rd and 367th rifle divisions, eight marine brigades, fifteen separate ski battalions, a battalion of tanks and two divisions of rocket launchers (M-13 launchers). A significant part of the newly arrived reinforcements - two divisions, four brigades of marines, eight separate ski battalions - was transferred by the Military Council of the front to the southern section of the front - to the area of ​​the Maselskaya - Povenets station.

On December 27, 1941, the Military Council decided to create the Masel task force. On January 3, 1942, units of the Masel group went on the offensive. The 290th Regiment of the 186th Division attacked the village of Velikaya Guba without artillery preparation and took it on the move. Regiment commander Major N.V. Azarov skillfully used the 227th tank company subordinate to him during the operation. Tanks quickly burst into the village, followed by infantry. The enemy was driven out of Velikaya Guba. However, half a kilometer west of the village, two heights remained in the hands of the Finns. From here the Finns looked through the entire village and the approaches to it from the east. On the same day, the 1046th Regiment of the 289th Division began to advance in the direction of Lake Pettel. The regiment advanced more than a kilometer, pushing the Finns back from the eastern shore of Lake Redu.

The 367th Division moved from the 14th junction in the direction of Lake Kommunarov and, successfully repelling counterattacks, advanced 2-3 km on the first day. The 65th Marine Brigade advanced on the village of Lisya Guba, but was unable to occupy it. Throughout the first day, the Marines fought a fierce battle, and the enemy suffered heavy losses. On the night of January 3–4, the Finns brought up the nearest reserves and in the morning launched counterattacks throughout the entire sector. On January 5, they brought into battle the second echelons of their divisions and the reserves of the II Rifle Corps. From Kondopoga, the 1st Infantry Division, which was in the reserve of the Karelian Army, moved to the battle area. Intense fighting in the Masel direction continued until January 11.

Troops of the Medvezhyegorsk operational group began their offensive on January 6. Artillery preparation before the offensive lasted 40 minutes. Then the 1-26th and 367th regiments of the 71st division crossed the canal and occupied the outskirts of Povenets. On the left flank, two regiments of the 313th division crossed the canal. In Povenets they met stubborn enemy resistance. The ski brigade, created from five ski battalions, reached Cape Gazhiy Navolok on the night of January 5-6 across the ice of the Povenets Bay. Having knocked out the enemy from the shore and leaving one company to cover the convoys and guard the coast, the skiers moved to the north with the task of cutting the Medvezhyegorsk-Povenets highway. They managed to advance 2-2.5 km from Cape Gazhiy Navolok. A stubborn battle took place here on January 6 and 7. The enemy raided the brigade's covering company and convoys.

After stubborn oncoming battles, our troops on January 11 were forced to retreat to their original lines in the Povenets direction. Units of the Masel task force occupied the village of Velikaya Guba and improved their positions in a number of places. In general, the Red Army's offensive can be assessed as unsuccessful. However, the Finns suffered serious losses, and the Finnish command abandoned plans for an offensive in 1942 on the Karelian Front.

In March 1942, the troops of the Maselsky and Medvezhyegorsk operational groups united into the 32nd Army. In June, F.D. became its commander. Gorelenko. The army headquarters was located in the forest near the village of Aita-Lyambi. Commander of the Medvezhyegorsk group, Lieutenant General S.G. Trofimenko took over the 7th Army.

One of the most important tasks of the Karelian Front was to ensure the uninterrupted operation of the Kirov Railway. After the front line stabilized and the fighting took on a positional nature, the enemy held in his hands a section of the railway with a length of 310 km from the Svir station to the Maselskaya station. In the north, from Murmansk to Maselskaya (850 km) there were six independent operational directions. In the first half of 1942 alone, 15 thousand wagons (approximately 230-240 thousand tons) of imported cargo passed along the road from Murmansk through Soroka-Obozersky to the center of the country. In total, several million tons of cargo were transported during the war. To combat the sabotage detachments of the Finns, who periodically penetrated the rear, the railway workers of the Kirov Railway equipped seven armored trains (seven armored locomotives and nineteen armored platforms).

Back in September 1941, Goebbels said on the radio: “The Kirov road is out of order - it does not work and cannot be restored.”

However, in December 1941, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden arrived in Murmansk by sea, and from there traveled by rail to Moscow. Returning to London, he announced on the radio on January 4, 1942: “Due to the fact that flying conditions were very bad, we headed to Moscow by train. Part of our journey took place along the railway about which Goebbels says that it was cut. From my own experience I can say that Goebbels is wrong - the railway is in perfect order, not damaged and running smoothly, well.”

In February-March 1942, the command of the Karelian Front received information that the Germans were preparing an offensive in the Kesteng direction, and decided to strike a counter-attack to the enemy. After the bloody November battles of 1941, the 88th Division was on the defensive in the Kesteng direction (in March 1942 it became the 23rd Guards Division). Its units successfully completed the tasks assigned to them. But now, in order to disrupt the enemy’s offensive, the Front Military Council decided to transfer the 263rd and 186th divisions, two marine brigades and one ski brigade, formed in February 1942 from separate battalions, to the Kesteng direction.

The offensive from the main line of defense of the Soviet troops began on April 26 with artillery preparation, which involved 33 batteries of 76-mm cannons. But their shells could not destroy the enemy’s long-term fortifications, and there were no larger caliber guns there. On the same day, the 186th Division and the 80th Marine Brigade went on the offensive on the right flank. For two days they successfully advanced towards Kestenga, overcoming the resistance of the rear and reserve units of the SS Nord division, which continually launched counterattacks. Stubborn fighting took place here for several days. On the third day, the 307th Regiment of the 163rd Division of the enemy entered the battle. The Germans suffered heavy losses. They threw more and more battalions against our units, throwing them directly from their vehicles, without giving us time to rest and look around, without giving their commanders the opportunity to get used to the terrain.

Simultaneously with our advance on the flank, the 263rd Division and Marine Brigade launched several attacks from the front. The SS Division Nord had been defending here for almost six months. The Germans built long-term firing points and dug trenches in full view. The fighting in the Kesteng direction lasted 10 days. The result was the same as in the January battles on the Masel and Povenets directions. Both sides suffered heavy losses and remained in their positions. The Germans suffered serious damage to the 163rd and 169th Infantry Divisions, as well as the SS Division Nord.

On April 27, 1942, units of the 14th Army went on the offensive in the Murmansk direction. For the first two days, the 10th Guards Division (formerly the 152nd Rifle Division) successfully advanced forward. She forced the Germans to abandon the first line of defense. The 14th Marine Division and the Marine Brigade were active in the coastal area. The Germans strengthened their defense by moving second echelons to the front line. On the third day of fighting there was some hiccup. Soviet troops regrouped, and a marine brigade went on the offensive. The fleet ships opened intense fire on the enemy defenses. On May 2, 3 and 4, stubborn fighting took place along the entire front of the 14th Army. Having moved forward several kilometers, units of the 10th Guards Division reached the flank of the Germans defending the bridgehead on the banks of the Zapadnaya Litsa River.

To develop success, the army commander decided to bring into battle the reserve 152nd division, which was concentrated 30 km from the front line. To overcome this distance, it was necessary to make a day's march. It was planned that on the evening of May 5 the division would approach its starting lines, rest for the night and enter battle on the morning of May 6. But these plans were not destined to come true. On the morning of May 5, a strong storm arose in the tundra. The wind knocked people down. Even cars couldn't move. They were ordered to dig holes in the snow, cover themselves with raincoats and sit out. The storm lasted six hours. As a result, the division became ineffective. 1,200 people had to be hospitalized. Many of those who remained in the ranks were also frostbitten. Three people died.

The division had to be returned to the concentration area, where good dugouts were built, and put in order. The troops of the 14th Army received orders to stop attacks and retreat to their old lines. Only where the captured terrain improved our positions did they begin to build new defensive structures.

By mid-May 1942, the Karelian Front had sufficient forces. The front reserve included two divisions, two marine brigades and three light brigades, formed from separate ski battalions. In addition, the Military Councils of the armies had their own reserves. In March 1942, the commander of the Karelian Front V.A. Frolov and commander of the 7th Army F.D. Gorelenko was summoned to Headquarters. Stalin instructed them to think over a plan for an offensive to the southwest from Maselskaya station with the ultimate task of going behind the Finnish troops on the Karelian Isthmus and breaking through the blockade of Leningrad from the north with the forces of the 32nd, 7th Separate and 23rd armies of the Leningrad Front. However, he warned that the front headquarters should not yet be instructed to develop all the details of such an operation.

Note that the soldiers and commanders of the Karelian Front did everything they could to help the residents of besieged Leningrad. So, in March 1942, 300 of the best deer were selected from the Loukhsky reindeer herding state farm. The deer and two wagons of frozen fish were delivered by rail to Tikhvin. There the reindeer were divided into two groups: one went across the ice of Ladoga in sleds with fish loaded on sleds, and the other was sent in a herd. As a result, not a single car was needed all the way to Leningrad. Leningraders received 300 heads of deer (about 15 tons of meat) and 25 tons of fish in March, in excess of what could be delivered to the city by road transport along the ice road. This is more than two months of the official norm per 10 thousand people.

Needless to say, the command of the Karelian Front enthusiastically accepted the idea of ​​releasing Leningrad from the north. On June 17, 1942, member of the Military Council of the Karelian Front G.N. Kupriyanov reported to the Chief of the General Staff A.M. Vasilevsky that it is planned to break through the Finnish defenses in the Medvezhyegorsk direction and, passing north of Lake Ladoga, strike in the rear of the Finnish troops on the Karelian Isthmus. In a straight line it was 320 km. To successfully carry out the operation, the front command asked to allocate eight rifle divisions, three to four battalions of tanks, two regiments of large-caliber artillery, five road construction battalions and two engineering brigades from the General Headquarters reserve.

However, due to the defeat of Soviet troops near Kharkov and the subsequent German offensive on Stalingrad, the operation to relieve Leningrad was postponed. Moreover, at the end of June - beginning of July 1942, the Headquarters took the 71st and 263rd rifle divisions from the Karelian Front. The front command literally begged Headquarters to leave the 71st Division in place and send the 289th Division instead, since the 71st consisted more than half of Finns and Karelians and fought well in such difficult climatic conditions. But the 71st Division could have been taken a few days earlier, and this decided the matter. As a result, there were no major operations in 1942 and 1943 on the Karelian Front.

The role of aviation in the fighting of the Karelian Front in 1941-1944 was more modest than on other fronts of the Great Patriotic War. On June 22, 1941, the 7th Army had only a regiment of I-16 fighters (28 aircraft) and nine SB bombers. At the same time, seven SBs were lost in early July 1941 during a raid on the Finnish railway station of Ionsu. The 14th Army had slightly more aircraft. The Northern Fleet aviation had 49 fighters (28 I-15bis, 17 I-153, 4 I-16), 11 SB bombers and 56 seaplanes (49 MBR-2, 7 GST).

At the end of September 1941, the Karelian Front received a regiment of I-16 fighters, a regiment of Pe-2 dive bombers and 50 British Hurricane fighters specifically to cover Murmansk. On August 29, 1941, the Northern Fleet received 42 fighters and 19 DB-ZF bombers from the Baltic and Pacific fleets. During 1942 and 1943, the aviation of the Karelian Front was replenished with Airacobra fighters and Il-2 attack aircraft, and at the end of 1943 - with Yak-7 and Yak-9 fighters. At the beginning of 1944, an air division armed with Tu-2 bombers arrived at the front. At the beginning of 1942, the Air Force transferred the 95th Air Regiment, armed with Pe-3 long-range fighters, to the Northern Fleet. On July 1, 1943, the Northern Fleet had 185 aircraft (of which 104 were fighters), on June 1, 1944 - 258 aircraft (of which 150 were fighters). By mid-1943, Soviet pilots managed to gain air superiority in the Murmansk region.

Among the military operations of the aviation of the Karelian front, I would like to note two episodes. In November 1941, the fighter of Senior Lieutenant N.F. Repninova (152nd Fighter Regiment) died after ramming a Finnish plane. On the night of March 5, 1942, a PS-84 plane flew over the whole of Finland to the Gulf of Bothnia and scattered 200 thousand leaflets near the cities of Oulu, Suomokalmi and Kemijärvi. If the Finns had carefully read the leaflets in March 1942, they would not have had to be outraged by the bombing of their cities in 1944.

Despite the weak population of Karelia before the war and the evacuation of the majority of the population in the fall of 1941, a partisan movement developed in the occupied territories. Thus, by October 10, 1941, 12 partisan detachments with a total number of 710 people were operating behind the Karelian front line. By this time, the partisans had killed 500 Finnish soldiers, destroyed 45 cars and one armored car, blew up 66 bridges, burned 2 seaplanes on the water and interrupted the communications wires of the Finnish troops 15 times.

Intelligence officer Dmitry Egorovich Tuchin can rightfully be called the “Karelian Stirlitz.” Before the war, 28-year-old Tuchin worked as the commandant of the Council of People's Commissars building in Petrozavodsk. In August 1941, “for systematic drunkenness,” he was expelled from the party and kicked out of work. “Repressed by the regime,” Tuchin left for his native village of Gornoe Sholtozero. In October, the village was occupied by Finnish troops. A couple of days later, Tuchin became the head of the village. He zealously took on his responsibilities and often went on business trips. The headquarters of the Karelian Front received detailed information about the movements of Finnish troops. In particular, it was thanks to intelligence received from Tuchin that on October 5-6, the 272nd Division was transferred by water from Kondopoga to the Ascension area, which played an important role in the battles at the source of the Svir.

At the beginning of 1942, Tuchin was invited to Helsinki for a meeting of the leadership of the occupied territories. After the meeting, Tuchin was received by Finnish President Ryti. They talked for a long time, and then Ryti awarded Tuchin a medal.

At the beginning of June 1944, Tuchin formed a large partisan detachment. Machine guns and machine guns were delivered to the detachment by plane. On June 21, when the Soviet offensive began on the Svir River, and Finnish troops were retreating from Voznesenye through the Sholtozero region, Tuchin’s detachment began hostilities. He destroyed a dozen cars with retreating Finns and liberated several villages in the Sholtozero region.

On January 1, 1944, there were 1,557 people in the partisan detachments of Karelia. From February 1942 to June 1944, partisans killed 1,364 Finnish military personnel, derailed 7 steam locomotives, 31 passenger and 107 freight cars, and blew up 2 railway and 7 highway bridges.

Despite the fact that in 1943 and the first half of 1944 the Karelian Front did not conduct large offensive operations, it became clear to the Finns that the initiative had finally passed to the Soviet troops.

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Karelian Front formed on September 1, 1941 on the northern wing of the Soviet-German front on the basis of the directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters of August 23, 1941 by dividing the Northern Front into two fronts - Leningrad and Karelian. The front included the 7th and 14th armies, individual formations and units that fought from the first days of the war in the Arctic and Karelia from the Barents Sea to Lake Ladoga. The Northern Fleet was quickly subordinated to the front.

In September 1941, the 7th Army was renamed the 7th Separate Army and was subordinated directly to the Supreme Command Headquarters. By the middle of 1942, the 19th, 26th and 32nd armies were formed, respectively, on the basis of the Kandalaksha, Kem, Maselsk and Medvezhyegorsk operational groups, and by the end of the year, the 7th Air Army was formed on the front air force base. In February 1944, the 7th Separate Army, defending on the Svir River, again became part of the Karelian Front.

The front's combat operations are conventionally divided into three main periods.

In the first period (June-December 1941), front troops stopped the enemy in the Arctic and Karelia in stubborn defensive battles.

In the second period (January 1942 - June 1944), front troops, during defensive battles and private offensive operations carried out in January-May 1942 in the Medvezhyegorsk, Kestenga and Murmansk directions, finally thwarted the plans of the German and Finnish command in the north , bled the enemy forces dry and created the conditions for going on the offensive.

In the third period (June-November 1944), front troops carried out the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk strategic operation from June 10 to August 9, in cooperation with the troops of the Leningrad Front, the Baltic Fleet, the Ladoga and Onega military flotillas.

October 7 - October 29, 1944 in cooperation with the Northern Fleet - Petsamo-Kirkenes strategic operation.

During the operations carried out by front troops in 1944, the Arctic and Karelia were liberated and the state border with Norway and Finland was restored.

The front was disbanded on November 15, 1944 on the basis of a directive of the General Staff of November 7, 1944. Its troops became part of other fronts. The field command of the front was transferred to the Far East, where on its base in 1945 the field command of the Primorye Group of Soviet Forces in the Far East was created, which was then renamed the 1st Far Eastern Front.

Front commanders: Lieutenant General, from April 1943 - Colonel General V. A. Frolov (September 1941 - February 1944); General of the Army, from October 1944 - Marshal of the Soviet Union K. A. Meretskov (February - November 1944)

Members of the Military Council of the Front: Corps Commissar Zheltov A.S. (September 1941 - July 1942); divisional commissar G.N. Kupriyanov (July-November 1942); divisional commissar, from December 1942 - Major General P.K. Batrakov (November 1942 - February 1944); Lieutenant General, from November 1944 - Colonel General T. F. Shtykov (February-November 1944)

Chiefs of the front headquarters: colonel, from November 1941 - Major General Skvirsky L.S. (September 1941 - May 1943); Major General, from October 1943 - Lieutenant General B. A. Pigarevich (May 1943 - August 1944); Lieutenant General A. N. Krutikov (September-November 1944)

What do we know about the Karelian Front? Almost nothing. The only thing that comes to mind is Stanislav Rostotsky’s amazing film “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet...”

1941. Attack

9 days after Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union, on the night of June 30 to July 1, 1941, Finnish troops crossed the state border of the USSR in a number of areas. Finnish operational reports reported these events as follows: “6th Army Corps. City Olonets captured on September 5, at 20 o'clock they reached the northwestern part of Megrega. The promotion continues. Invaded Nurmolitsa. There are battles going on. About half Olonets is burning." Finnish officer M. Haavio made the following entry in his diary: “September 10. This day became a holiday. In the morning there was a parade in Olonets, on Kuttuev Square. The parade took place the same way as in peacetime in Helsinki in front of St. Nicholas Cathedral. The columns stood in even rows. The orchestra performed a march. General Paavo Talvela said: “Soldiers! Two days ago our brave troops occupied Olonets and turned the front towards Svir. Thus a dream was fulfilled, which only a few dared to dream about and only the brave did deeds for its sake.”

Militia... In this word one immediately hears something civilian, untrained, one imagines intellectuals hastily dressed in overcoats and wearing glasses. Meanwhile, the real St. Petersburg elite joined the ranks of the Leningrad militia in July 1941, voluntarily, not by conscription: workers, scientific and educational, engineering and technical. Thus, the 2nd Primorsky and 2nd Vyborg regiments of the division were formed from students and teachers of the Polytechnic and Technological Institutes, the Forestry Academy, the Academy of Communications, workers and engineers of the famous plants and factories of the Vyborg side and the Primorsky region. Veterans of the 1st Cavalry stood in the ranks next to green Komsomol members. Fathers joined the militia with their sons, and Tekhnolozhka professor Zubritsky joined the division along with his students.

Several dozen young Spaniards, grown-up children of the defenders of the republic, evacuated to the USSR in the 30s, also joined the division. The commander, Lieutenant Colonel Kvyatkovsky, wrote: “In terms of combat, the fighters are growing before my eyes, literally every hour. The Spanish guys formed the core of the reconnaissance company. Jose Ortes, Ignacio Moro, and Marcelino Pena distinguished themselves with bold attacks. Angel Madera was captured by the enemy and brutally tortured. Heroism was massive, and we had to fight against an enemy skilled in forest battles, with three-line rifles against Suomi machine guns. The people's militia division found itself in a difficult situation. The enemy pushed it north of the Ilyinskaya Zavod road - Olonets. From Nurmolits she tried to break through to Olonets and connect with other units, but the enemy blocked her path to the south and forced a battle near the village Nurmolitsy. The heavy, bloody battle lasted two days. From the diary of a militiaman: “September 5 (76th day of the war). The first regiment of the people's militia division, straight from the march, entered the battle near the village of Novy Bor, on the way to Dyatlitsy. During the day, the militia repelled three enemy attacks. Fierce battle between the second and third regiments Nurmolitsy" By throwing large forces against the people's militia division, the enemy thereby weakened the pressure on units of the 67th and 314th divisions. They crossed the Svir almost without losses, and the 3rd Marine Brigade entrenched itself on the northern bank of the Svir. The commander of the people's militia division, Alekseev, decided to retreat from Nurmolits to the east, to the area of ​​the Tarzhepol station of the Kirov Railway, and then to the north, to Petrozavodsk. We had to cover about 150 km along forest paths. The division set off. We walked for 11 days. The division had no communications. People ate mainly pasture - mushrooms, berries, potatoes not harvested from the fields. On September 16, the division reached the railway between the Tarzhepol and Ladva stations. Came out in perfect order, retaining the artillery and convoys. During five months of fierce battles, the 7th Army, with limited forces, exhausted and bled the Finnish Karelian Army and stopped its advance in all directions. After December 8, 1941, the troops of the Karelian Front took up a strong defense in a vast area from the Rybachy Peninsula to the Svir River. Neither the Finns nor the Germans managed to advance a single step.

An occupation

The occupation policy of the Finnish authorities assumed different approaches to local residents depending on their origin. Ethnically related to the Finns, the Karelians and Vepsians were supposed to remain on their territory and become future citizens of Greater Finland. Ethnically unrelated to the Finns, the local residents, the bulk of whom were Russians, were viewed as immigrants, foreign nationals who had to leave Karelia forever after the defeat of the USSR. To isolate foreign nationals, by order of Marshal Mannerheim on July 8, 1941, concentration camps were created in the occupied territory. Local residents were prohibited from having any weapons and radio equipment, being on the street from 21 to 6 a.m., appropriating or damaging remaining state property, and storing or distributing prohibited books. Violation was punishable by death. An integral part of the Finnization policy was also the renaming of settlements. So, Petrozavodsk began to be called Aanislinna, Olonets- Aunuslinna.

1944. Strike Back

By mid-1944, the enemy had created an exceptionally powerful and deeply echeloned defense line. There were 4-5 pillboxes and dozens of bunkers per 1 km of the fortified area front. On the morning of June 23, 1944, the Ladoga flotilla landed troops between the Tuloksa and Vidlitsa rivers in the rear of the Finnish defense to assist the troops advancing from the front. With the support of ships and naval aviation, the paratroopers had to cut the railway and highways coming from Olonets to Pitkäranta. The landing was successful. The Finns urgently sent units of the 15th Infantry Brigade and a separate Jaeger battalion to the landing site. With strong counterattacks, the Finns tried to drive the landing force into the lake, but they failed. The next day, the 3rd Marine Brigade also landed here. The Ladoga flotilla supported the paratroopers with artillery fire. All Finnish attacks were repulsed. The landing of a large landing in the rear of the Finnish troops and bypassing their main defense line created a real threat of encirclement of the 5th and 8th Finnish infantry divisions. Therefore, the enemy command was forced to withdraw its units to the western bank of Vidlitsa on the night of June 24. Pursuing the retreating Finns, units of the 37th Guards Corps occupied Olonets, and the next day - Nurmolitsy. And already on July 21, 1944, the advanced units of the 176th Infantry Division reached the state border of the USSR. Lieutenant Koshkarov recalls: “We stopped at the junction of the borders of three states - Russia, Finland and Norway. After the end of the war, I continued to serve in the training company of Captain Turishchev. The battalion commander was Major Putin. At first our unit was in the village Nurmolitsy, and then the battalion was transferred to the city of Lakhdenpokhya. This is where I demobilized.”
And finally - a message on one of the forums on the Internet: “I went to my wife’s homeland, Karelia, and while going for mushrooms in the area of ​​the village. Nurmolitsy in the forest, unexpectedly for myself, I recognized in what I had previously considered ordinary mossy pits - dugouts, artillery positions, trenches and craters without counting...”

Command staff of the Karelian Front, Northern Fleet and 14th Army. 1941
From the book: Zhurin L.V. Farewell, rocky mountains. - Murmansk, 2010

KARELIAN FRONT, an operational-strategic association of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War, created on 09/01/1941 by the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters on 08/23/1941 by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad and Karelian fronts. The front included the 7th and 14th armies, separate formations and units that fought in the Arctic and Karelia. It was operationally subordinated to the Northern Fleet. In September 1941, the 7th Army was renamed the 7th Separate Army and was subordinated directly to the Supreme Command Headquarters. In mid-1942, on the basis of the Kandalaksha, Kem, Maselga and Medvezhyegorsk operational groups, the 19th (see Nineteenth Army), 26th and 32nd armies were formed, and by the end of the year the 7th Air Army was formed at the front air force base. Under the military council of K. f. The headquarters of the partisan movement was created, which coordinated and planned, in particular, the actions of the partisans of the Kola Arctic. In February 1944, the 7th Separate Army again became part of the Karelian Front.
The front existed, in comparison with others, for the longest time (3.5 years) and was the longest (about 1600 km from the Barents Sea to Lake Ladoga). In June–December 1941, he stopped the advance of German troops trying to capture the Arctic, forcing the enemy to go on the defensive. From January 1941 to June 1944, front troops were on the defensive at the line Western Litsa - Verman - Lake Onega - r. Svir, having carried out a series of private offensive operations, bleeding the enemy and creating conditions for launching a general offensive.
Conducted 7 offensive operations:
1. Medvezhyegorsk offensive operation of the Maselga and Medvezhyegorsk defensive group of forces (01/03–10/1942).
2. Kesteng offensive operation of the 26th Army (04/24–05/11/1942).
3. Murmansk offensive operation of the 14th Army and Northern Fleet (04/10–05/18/1942).
4. Svirsk-Petrozavodsk offensive operation of the 7th and 32nd armies (06/21–08/10/1944).
5. The offensive of the 26th Army in the Kestengsky, Ukhtinsky, Rebolsky directions (05–27.09.1944).
6. Offensive of the 19th Army in the Kandalaksha direction (05–30.09.1944).
7. Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive operation of the 14th Army and the Northern Fleet (07–29.10.1944) with the liberation of the Arctic and Karelia and access to the state border with Norway and Finland.
Commanders: Lieutenant General, from 04/28/1943 Colonel General V. A. Frolov (09/01/1941–02/21/1944); General of the Army, from 10/26/1944 - Marshal of the Soviet Union K. A. Meretskov (02/22–11/15/1944). The front headquarters was located in Belomorsk (due to the occupation of Petrozavodsk by the Finnish army).
The combined regiment of K.F. opened the Victory Parade on Red Square on June 24, 1945. During the war years, 146 officers and soldiers of K.F. received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Human losses amounted to: total - 420,260 people, of which irrevocable - 110,435, sanitary - 309,825 people. Disbanded 11/15/1944. His troops became part of other fronts, and field control was transferred to the Far East.
See Soviet-Finnish War 1941–1944, Defense of the Kola Arctic.

Lit.: Karelian Front in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. - M., 1984; On both sides of the Karelian Front, 1941–1944: Documents and materials. - Petrozavodsk, 1995; Fronts, fleets, armies, flotillas of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945: Directory. - M., 2003; Great Patriotic War 1941–1945: Active Army. - M., 2005, Dashchinsky S.N. Partisans of the Karelian Front during the Great Patriotic War // 55 years of victory in the Arctic (1944–1999): Materials of the regional scientific and practical local history conference. - Murmansk, 2000. pp. 66–74.

Scouts I. I. Borodkin and A. I. Denisov transmit information using light signals
From the book: Karelian Front

The only front on one of the sections of which (in the Murmansk region) the enemy was unable to violate the state border of the USSR. At the Victory Parade, the combined regiment of the Karelian Front walked first and since then, traditionally, at parades on May 9, the banner of the Karelian Front is carried first among the banners of the fronts.

Formed by directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters on August 23, 1941 from the 14th and 7th armies of the Northern Front. The Northern Fleet was subordinate to the front. The front was created to provide a northern strategic flank of defense in the north of the country. By September 1942, the 19th, 26th and 32nd armies were formed as part of the front, and by the end of the year the 7th Air Army was formed. In February 1944, the 7th Army was reintroduced into the front, which was withdrawn from the army in September 1941.

Commanders of the Karelian Front- from September 1941 to February 1944 - Colonel General V.A. Frolov

In August - September 1941, front troops stopped the enemy, who was attempting to seize the Arctic, and forced him to go on the defensive. From September 1941 to June 1944, front troops held defense along the line: the Zapadnaya Litsa River (60 kilometers from Murmansk), Ukhta, Povenets, Lake Onega, and the Svir River. Private operations were carried out periodically (Medvezhyegorsk offensive operation).

In the second half of 1944, front forces, with the support of the Ladoga and Onega military flotillas, carried out the Svir-Petrozavodsk operation, and with the support of the Northern Fleet, the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation.

On November 15, 1944, after Finland's withdrawal from World War II, the front was disbanded. The core of the commanding staff was transported to the Far East in April 1945, where the formation of the 1st Far Eastern Front (initially the Field Directorate of the Primorsky Group of Forces) was carried out on its base.

Prerequisites for the conflict.

In September 1940, Finnish General Paavo Talvela was sent to Germany, authorized by Mannerheim to conduct negotiations with the German General Staff. As V.N. Baryshnikov writes, during the negotiations an agreement was reached between the German and Finnish General Staffs on the joint preparation of an attack on the Soviet Union and waging war against it, which on the part of Finland was a direct violation of Article 3 of the Moscow Peace Treaty.

On November 12 and 13, 1940, negotiations between the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR V.M. Molotov and Adolf Hitler took place in Berlin, during which both sides noted that the transit of German troops led to a surge in pro-German, revanchist and anti-Soviet sentiments in Finland, and this “Finnish question " between the two countries may require a settlement. However, the parties agreed that a military solution does not satisfy the interests of both countries. Germany was interested in Finland as a supplier of nickel and timber. In addition, a military conflict, according to Hitler, would lead to military intervention from Sweden, Great Britain or even the United States, which would prompt Germany to intervene. Molotov said that it is enough for Germany to stop the transit of its troops, which contributes to anti-Soviet sentiments, then this issue can be resolved peacefully between Finland and the USSR. Moreover, according to Molotov, new agreements with Germany are not needed for this settlement, since, according to the existing German-Russian agreement, Finland is included in the sphere of interests of the USSR. Answering Hitler's question, Molotov stated that he envisioned a settlement within the same framework as in Bessarabia and in neighboring countries.

On June 24, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Ground Forces sent an instruction to the representative of the German command at the headquarters of the Finnish Army, which stated that Finland should prepare for the start of an operation east of Lake Ladoga.

In the early morning of June 25, Soviet aviation forces, under the leadership of the commander of the Leningrad Military District Air Force A. A. Novikov, launched an air strike on Finnish territory, mainly on Luftwaffe bases, using about 300 bombers. While repelling the raids that day, 26 Soviet bombers were shot down, and on the Finnish side, “the losses in people, not to mention the material damage, were great.” Novikov’s memoirs indicate that on the first day of the operation, Soviet aviation destroyed 41 enemy aircraft. The operation lasted six days, during which 39 airfields in Finland were hit. According to the Soviet command, 130 aircraft were destroyed in air battles and on the ground, which forced Finnish and German aircraft to be pulled to distant rear bases and limited their maneuver. According to Finnish archival data, the raid on June 25-30 did not cause significant military damage - only 12-15 Finnish Air Force aircraft received various damage. At the same time, civilian objects suffered significant losses and destruction - the cities of Southern and Central Finland were bombed, on which several series of raids were carried out, including Turku (4 waves), Helsinki, Kotka, Rovaniemi, Pori. One of the oldest architectural monuments in Finland, Abo Castle, was seriously damaged. Most of the bombs were thermite incendiaries. Due to all this, Finnish politicians and historians believed that the targets of Soviet bombing were cities, not airfields. The raid had the opposite effect on public opinion in Finland and predetermined the further actions of the Finnish leadership. Western historians view this raid as militarily ineffective and a gross political mistake.

The number of targets bombed on June 25 allowed Air Force specialists to assume that such massive raids required many weeks of study. For example, in Turku, a power plant, port, docks, and airfield were scouted as targets.

A session of the Finnish parliament was scheduled for June 25, at which, according to Mannerheim’s memoirs, Prime Minister Rangel was supposed to make a statement about Finland’s neutrality in the Soviet-German conflict, but Soviet bombing gave him reason to declare that Finland was again in a state of defensive war with THE USSR. However, troops were prohibited from crossing the border until midnight on July 28, 1941. On June 25, Prime Minister Rangell in parliament, and President Ryti the next day in a radio address, stated that the country had become the target of an attack and was actually in a state of war.

On August 28, 1941, Wilhelm Keitel sent Mannerheim a proposal to take Leningrad by storm together with the Wehrmacht. At the same time, the Finns were asked to continue the offensive south of the Svir River in order to connect with the Germans advancing on Tikhvin. Mannerheim replied that Svir's transition did not correspond to the interests of Finland. Mannerheim’s memoirs say that after hearing a reminder that he had made refusal to storm the city a condition of his tenure as commander-in-chief, Finnish President Ryti, who arrived at headquarters, responded to German proposals on August 28 with a categorical refusal to storm, which was repeated on August 31.

On August 31, the Finns reached the old Soviet-Finnish border near Leningrad, thereby closing the half-ring blockade of the city from the north. The Soviet-Finnish border, which existed since 1918, was crossed by Finnish troops in places to a depth of 20 km, the Finns were stopped at the line of the Karelian fortified area. Mannerheim gave the order to the troops on the Karelian Isthmus to go on the defensive.

On September 4, 1941, the Chief of the Main Staff of the German Armed Forces, General Jodl, was sent to Mannerheim's headquarters in Mikkeli. But even then he received a refusal from the Finns to participate in the attack on Leningrad. Instead, Mannerheim led a successful offensive in the north of Ladoga. On the same day, the Germans occupied Shlisselburg, closing the blockade of Leningrad from the south.

Also on September 4, the Finnish army began an operation to occupy eastern Karelia, and by the morning of September 7, the advanced units of the Finnish army under the command of General Talvel reached the Svir River. On October 1, Soviet units left Petrozavodsk. Mannerheim writes in his memoirs that he canceled the renaming of the city to Jaanislinna (“Onega Fortress”), as well as other settlements in Karelia that were not part of the Grand Duchy of Finland. He also issues an order prohibiting Finnish planes from flying over Leningrad.

The Soviet command, in connection with the stabilization of the situation on the Karelian Isthmus, on September 5 transferred 2 divisions from this area to the defense of the southern approaches to Leningrad.

On September 6, Hitler, with his order (Weisung No. 35), stopped the advance of the Nord group of troops on Leningrad, which had already reached the suburbs of the city, calling Leningrad a “secondary theater of military operations.” Field Marshal Leeb had to limit himself to blockading the city and, no later than September 15, transfer all Gepner tanks and a significant number of troops to the Center group in order to launch an attack on Moscow “as quickly as possible.”

On November 6, the Finns began construction of the Vammelsuu-Taipale defensive line (VT line) on the Karelian Isthmus.

On November 11, the troops on the Olonets Isthmus received an order for such construction.

On November 28, England presented Finland with an ultimatum, demanding a cessation of hostilities by December 5. Soon, Mannerheim received a friendly message from Churchill with a recommendation to de facto withdraw from the war, explaining this by the onset of winter cold. However, the Finns refused.

By the end of the year, the strategic plan of the Finnish command became clear to the Soviet leadership: to gain control over the “three isthmuses”: Karelian, Olonetsky and the isthmus between Onega and Segozero and gain a foothold there. At the same time, the Finns managed to capture Medvezhyegorsk (Fin. Karhumäki) and Pindushi, thereby cutting the railway to Murmansk.

On December 6, the Finns captured Povenets at a temperature of −37° C, thereby stopping communication along the White Sea-Baltic Canal

On the same day, Great Britain declared war on Finland, Hungary and Romania. In the same month, the British dominions - Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the Union of South Africa - declared war on Finland.

German failures near Moscow showed the Finns that the war would not end soon, which led to a drop in morale in the army. At the same time, it was not possible to exit the war through a separate peace with the USSR, since such a step would lead to a worsening of relations with Germany and the possible occupation of Finland.

Finland mobilized about 16% of its population, setting a kind of record in world history. This had an extremely difficult impact on all aspects of the life of the state. In the fall of 1941, demobilization of older soldiers began, and by the spring of 1942, 180,000 people had been demobilized.

By the end of 1941, the front line had finally stabilized. Finland, having carried out a partial demobilization of the army, switched to defense on the achieved lines. The Soviet-Finnish front line stabilized until the summer of 1944.

The actions of Finnish and German troops blocked the city from almost all communications connecting Leningrad with the rest of the USSR. Together with Germany, a naval blockade of the city was established, cutting off its connection with neutral states. On land, Finnish troops blocked the routes of communication between Leningrad and the country: along the railway that went through the Karelian Isthmus and north of Lake Ladoga to Petrozavodsk, and later the Kirov railway connecting the city with Murmansk and Arkhangelsk was cut; supply routes by inland waterways were blocked - along the White Sea-Baltic Canal and the Volga-Baltic Route, which before the war was the main route for delivering goods by inland waters to Leningrad.

By the end of August 1941, Finnish troops reached the old Soviet-Finnish border along its entire length. A further offensive in September led to conflicts within the army itself, in the government, parliament and society

International relations deteriorated, especially with Great Britain and Sweden, whose governments in May-June received assurances from Witting (the head of the Finnish Foreign Ministry) that Finland had absolutely no plans to conduct a joint military campaign with Germany, and Finnish preparations were purely defensive in nature.

In July 1941, the countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations declared a blockade of Finland. On July 31, the RAF launched an airstrike against German troops in the Petsamo sector.

On September 22, 1941, the British government, under the threat of declaring war, demanded that the Finnish government clear Finnish territory of German troops and withdraw Finnish troops from eastern Karelia to the 1939 border. Due to failure to comply with this requirement, war was declared by the mother country on December 6, 1941 on Independence Day of Finland, by Canada and New Zealand on December 7, 1941, and by Australia and South Africa on December 9, 1941.

Finland began an active search for ways to conclude peace in February 1943, after the German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad. On February 2, the remnants of the 6th German Army capitulated, and already on February 9, the top leadership of Finland held a closed meeting of parliament, at which, in particular, it was stated:

The German forces are undoubtedly beginning to dry up... over the winter, Germany and its allies lost almost 60 divisions. It is unlikely that it will be possible to make up for such losses. Until now, we have linked the fate of our country with the victory of German weapons, but in connection with the development of the situation, it is better to get used to the possibility that we will once again be forced to sign the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland does not yet have the freedom to pursue its own foreign policy and must therefore continue to fight.

In January-February, Soviet troops, during the Leningrad-Novgorod operation, lifted the 900-day blockade of Leningrad by German troops from the south. Finnish troops remained on the approaches to the city from the northern direction.

In February, Soviet long-range aviation launched three massive air raids on Helsinki: on the nights of February 7, 17 and 27; in total over 6000 sorties. Damage was modest - 5% of the bombs dropped within the city limits.

On March 16, US President Roosevelt publicly expressed his wish for Finland to withdraw from the war.

On March 20, German troops occupied Hungary after it began sounding out the Western powers about the possibility of peace.

On April 1, with the return of the Finnish delegation from Moscow, the demands of the Soviet government became known:

  • Border under the terms of the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940;

  • Internment, by the Finnish army, of German units in Finland until the end of April;

  • Reparations of US$600 million to be paid over 5 years.

The stumbling block was the issue of reparations - after a hasty analysis of the capabilities of the Finnish economy, the size and timing of reparations were considered completely unrealistic. On April 18, Finland refused the Soviet proposals.

On June 10, 1944 (four days after the Allied landing in Normandy), the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive operation began. The Finnish direction was of secondary importance for the Soviet command. The offensive in this direction pursued the goals of pushing Finnish troops away from Leningrad and withdrawing Finland from the war before the attack on Germany.

Soviet troops, through the massive use of artillery, aviation and tanks, as well as with the active support of the Baltic Fleet, broke through one after another the Finnish defense lines on the Karelian Isthmus and took Vyborg by storm on June 20.

Finnish troops retreated to the third defensive line Vyborg-Kuparsaari-Taipale (also known as the “VKT Line”) and, due to the transfer of all available reserves from eastern Karelia, were able to take up a strong defense there. This, however, weakened the Finnish group in eastern Karelia, where on June 21 Soviet troops also went on the offensive and liberated Petrozavodsk on June 28.

On June 19, Marshal Mannerheim addressed the troops with a call to hold the third line of defense at all costs. " A breakthrough in this position,” he emphasized, “could decisively weaken our defensive capabilities.”

Throughout the Soviet offensive, Finland was in dire need of effective anti-tank weapons. Such funds could be provided by Germany, which, however, demanded that Finland sign an obligation not to conclude a separate peace with the USSR. On June 22, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop arrived in Helsinki with this mission.

On the evening of June 23, while Ribbentrop was still in Helsinki, the Finnish government, via Stockholm, received a note from the Soviet government with the following content:

Since the Finns have deceived us several times, we want the Finnish government to convey a message signed by the President and the Foreign Minister that Finland is ready to surrender and appeal to the Soviet government for peace. If we receive this information from the Finnish government, Moscow is ready to receive the Finnish delegation.

Thus, the Finnish leadership was faced with a choice - it was necessary to choose either unconditional surrender to the USSR, or signing an agreement with Germany, which, according to Gustav Mannerheim, would increase the possibilities for an acceptable peace without conditions. The Finns preferred the latter, but the Finns did not want to take on obligations not to conclude a separate peace with the USSR.

As a result, on June 26, Finnish President Ryti single-handedly signed a letter in which it was stated that neither he (the president) nor his government would act to conclude a peace that Germany would not approve of.

At the front, from June 20 to 24, Soviet troops unsuccessfully tried to break through the CGT line. During the battles, a weak point in the defense was revealed - near the village of Tali, where the terrain was suitable for the use of tanks. From June 25, the Soviet command massively used armored vehicles in this area, which made it possible to penetrate 4-6 km deep into the Finnish defense. After four days of continuous fighting, the Finnish army pulled the front line back from both flanks of the breakthrough and took up positions on the convenient, but not fortified Ihantala line ( English).

On June 30, the decisive battle took place near Ikhantala. The 6th Division - the last Finnish unit transferred from Eastern Karelia - managed to take up positions and stabilized the defense - the Finnish defense stood, which seemed to the Finns themselves “a real miracle.”

The Finnish army occupied a line that was 90 percent across water obstacles ranging in width from 300 m to 3 km. This made it possible to create a strong defense in narrow passages and have strong tactical and operational reserves. By mid-July, up to three-quarters of the entire Finnish army was operating on the Karelian Isthmus.

From July 1 to July 7, an attempt was made to land troops through the Vyborg Bay on the flank of the VKT line, during which several islands in the bay were captured.

On July 9, the last attempt was made to break through the VKT line - under the cover of a smoke screen, Soviet troops crossed the Vuoksu River and captured a bridgehead on the opposite bank. The Finns organized counterattacks, but were unable to eliminate the bridgehead, although they did not allow it to be expanded. Fighting in this area continued until July 20. Attempts to cross the river in other directions were repulsed by the Finns.

On July 12, 1944, the Headquarters ordered the Leningrad Front to go on the defensive on the Karelian Isthmus. The troops of the Karelian Front continued the offensive, and by August 9 reached the line of Kudamguba, Kuolisma, Pitkyaranta.

On August 1, 1944, President Ryti resigned. On August 4, the Finnish parliament swore Mannerheim in as president of the country.

On August 25, the Finns requested from the USSR (through the Soviet ambassador in Stockholm) conditions for a cessation of hostilities. The Soviet government put forward two conditions (agreed with Great Britain and the USA):

  1. immediate severance of relations with Germany;

  2. withdrawal of German troops by September 15, and in case of refusal - internment.

On September 2, Mannerheim sent a letter to Hitler with an official warning about Finland's withdrawal from the war.

On September 4, the order of the Finnish high command to cease hostilities along the entire front came into force. The fighting between Soviet and Finnish troops ended. The ceasefire came into force at 7.00 on the Finnish side, the Soviet Union ceased hostilities a day later, on September 5. Within 24 hours, Soviet troops captured the parliamentarians and those who laid down their arms. The incident was attributed to a bureaucratic delay.

On September 19, an Armistice Agreement was signed in Moscow with the USSR and Great Britain, acting on behalf of the countries at war with Finland. Finland accepted the following conditions:

  • return to 1940 borders with additional cession of the Petsamo sector to the Soviet Union;

  • leasing the Porkkala Peninsula (located near Helsinki) to the USSR for a period of 50 years (returned to the Finns in 1956);

  • granting the USSR rights to transit troops through Finland;

  • reparations of US$300 million, to be repaid in goods over 6 years

A peace treaty between Finland and the countries with which it was at war was signed on February 10, 1947 in Paris.

During this period, according to Mannerheim’s recollections, the Germans, whose forces of 200,000 people were in northern Finland under the command of General Rendulic, did not leave the country within the ultimatum set by the Finns (until September 15). On September 3, the Finns began transferring troops from the Soviet front to the north of the country (Kajani and Oulu), where German units were located, and on September 7, the Finns began evacuating the population from the north of Finland to the south and Sweden. On September 15, the Germans demanded that the Finns surrender the island of Hogland, and after refusal they tried to seize it by force. The Lapland War began and lasted until April 1945.