The Lapland War is a name used for the hostilities between Finland and Germany between September 1944 and April 1945. It carries its name since it was fought in the northernmost province of Finland, Lapland.
As early as the summer of 1943, the German high command began making plans for the eventuality that Finland might make a separate peace agreement with the Soviet Union. The Germans planned to withdraw their forces northward in order to shield the nickel mines near Petsamo. During the winter of 1943-1944, the Germans improved the roads from northern Norway to northern Finland by extensive use of POW labour (many captured in southern Europe and still in summer uniform; casualties were high), and they accumulated stores in that region. Thus the Germans were ready in September 1944, when Finland made peace with the Soviet Union.
The conditions set by the Soviet Union for the cease fire included a paragraph stating that the Finns had to drive the German forces out of Finland in two weeks. This demand gave rise to several difficulties for the Finns. Firstly, they had to start disarming and demobilize their own armed forces (once again according to the ceasefire terms). Secondly, two weeks was a very short time and the Germans would not allow themselves to be dislodged that easy in an eventual conflict.
The Finns as well as the Germans were under the impression that the coming conflict would be handled in a civilized manner, keeping the collateral and military losses to a minimum. The scorched earth policy were to be adopted sparsely with only bridges and railroads being destroyed during the German retreat.
Waldemar Erfurth, the German liaison at the Finnish Headquarters, received insurances that the German Mountain Army would have the Finns support in their retreat. Colonel Usko Sakari Haahti was dispatched to the German HQ in Rovaniemi in order to get the operations to run smoothly. A demarcation line was set up running along Ule river and on to the southeast. All German units south of this line were to be withdrawn quickly, while the Finnish 15th brigade and 6th division followed without making contact with the "enemy".
By mid-September 1944 things started to look somewhat bleaker. The negotiators in Moscow were put under increasing pressure. The demands in the ceasefire act were changed and now the Finns had to intern the German forces still in northern Finland. After a German attempt to capture the island Hogland in the southern parts of Finland, Mannerheim demanded that the German forces left the costal areas around the Gulf of Bothnia as well as the areas around Suomussalmi. On September 17 the Germans agreed. Two days later the interim peace treaty was signed in Moscow and the Finnish troops withdrew to the other side of the new border. An allied control commission were sent to the Finnish headquarters in St Michel and the pressure was increased on the Finns to push the Germans out and intern those that did not leave. This pressure more or less forced the Finnish high command into action. The Finnish Armored division were sent to Lapland together with the 3rd, 6th and 11th divisions and the Border Jaeger brigade. By the 21st, none of the above units were involved in any fighting, but they followed the German retreat as best they could.
On the night of September 30, the Finns set off for Tornio with boats and the next day they disembarked in the harbor. A small detachment of Germans were captured by elements of the Jaeger company. The event took place to the north of the agreed upon "demarcation line" and the German commander Rendulic, demanded that the prisoners should be released immediately or the agreement between the two sides would be annulled, and a full scale war would be the consequence. The deadline for the release of the Germans passed and as a consequence large parts of Lapland would be destroyed according to the principles of the scorched earth tactics.(?)
In addition to the property losses, estimated as equivalent to about US$ 300 million (in 1945 dollars), about 100,000 inhabitants became refugees, a situation that added to the problems of postwar reconstruction
The German evacuation of Rovaniemi began on October 14 and when the Finnish forces captured the city two days later, fires were still raging everywhere.
As November approached, even more Finnish soldiers had to be sent home due to the peace treaty with the Russians. The final act of the Lapland war had to be played out by conscripts and regular officers. After a careful advance the Finns arrived in front of the German "Sturmbock" position defended by the 7th Gebirgsdivision. Due to the abysmal personel situation on the Finnish side, the operations virtually ceased after a few attempts to negotiate the German defenses, and it wasn't until the Germans pulled back on January 16 1945 that the position was overrun. From the "Sturmbock" line the Germans retreated to the Lynge position in Norway. The defense line did stretch into Finnish territory, but by the end of April, they started to abandoning these positions too, and on April 25 the Lapland war was officially over.
Finnish losses in the Lapland war 15.9.1944 - 25.4.1945:
Killed or mortally wounded 774
Captured or missing 262
TOTAL 1 036
German losses in the Lapland war
The German losses in the Lapland war amounted to approx. 1 000 killed, 2 000 wounded and 1 300 taken prisoner.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapland_war
http://www.skalman.nu/third-reich/awards-lapland.htm
http://www30.brinkster.com/huttunen/laplos.htm
