Vesa Nenye - Finland at War - The Continuation and Lapland Wars 1941-45

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In September 1941 SS-Battle Group North was converted into a division and renamed SS-Mountain Division ‘North’.

After the formation of I Army Corps for the capture of Sortavala, the VII Army Corps headquarters had been transferred to Ladoga Karelia, where the VII Army Corps was re-formed from new divisions under Major-General Woldemar Hägglund.

Colonel Aarne Snellman was mortally wounded in an air raid in Vaaseni on 12 April 1942. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of major-general.

The Finnish high command also used this situation as a reason to begin the transfer of the 163rd Infantry Division from the Syväri front back to the direct command of the German Army. It had now become politically urgent to cease the co-belligerent status and to distance the Finnish nation from the Germans.

In November 1941, a consensus was reached to relieve the Finnish troops under Army Command Norway. This had led to the formation of the new, mostly German, Army Command Lapland on 14 January 1942 under Dietl. Later the same year his forces were renamed Twentieth Mountain Army. By the end of 1942, only four separate Finnish battalions and Task Force S remained under Dietl’s command.

The attack was supported by over 40 artillery batteries, which roughly translated into over 230 barrels aimed at each kilometre of the defences.

After the Soviet preliminary bombardment began, all of the infantry, who were exhausted and shell-shocked, withdrew from the area, leaving the front completely undefended.

Later, on 7 July, Mannerheim demoted Blick to lead the 2nd Division on the Karelian Isthmus and promoted its commander Martola to replace Blick.

Before the fall of Tornio, the Germans had predominantly tried to conserve civilian targets and followed much more lenient orders for destruction; only near the eastern border had some villages been put to the torch.

The 1st and 2nd Class were awarded to only Mannerheim and Heinrichs. The 2nd Class was awarded twice to: Pajari, Aho, Juutilainen and Wind.

It was not until 1954 that the Finnish parliament formally concluded that the war with Germany, which had begun on 15 September 1944, was now over.

‘SKDL’ translates as the Finnish People’s Democratic League. This party was founded to unite the country’s left-wing elements when anti-communist laws in Finland were abolished in 1944. The party remained active until 1990.