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Chapter 9 Operation SILBERFUCHS Chapter 9 Operation SILBERFUCHS (II) POLARFUCHS (Operations of XXXVI Corps and Finnish III Corps) Thirty miles above the Arctic Circle, in the point of a flattened spearhead formed by the Finnish-Soviet border of 1940, lay Salla, flanked on the north by the Kuola River, which joins the westward flowing Salla River at the western edge of the settlement, and on the south by the 2,000-foot-high Salla Mountain. The bare slopes of the mountain afforded a clear field of observation across the tangled evergreen forest stretching up to and beyond the border three miles to the west. By June 1941 the Soviet Union had completed a railroad from Kandalaksha to the border; the Finnish connecting line to Kemiyarvi was not finished but was being pushed rapidly as the Finns gained enthusiasm from the knowledge that the railroad could now be put to a use quite different from that which the Russians had intended. In their 15 months' occupation the Russians had fortified the border and the flank approaches to Salla, making it a major defensive strongpoint held by an infantry division (the 122d Rifle Division) and, according to German estimates, 50 tanks. In the last week of June the Army of Norway main force, the XXXVI Corps, assembled its two German divisions opposite Salla. The Finnish 6th Division was already in position north of Kuusamo. The corps planned to take Salla in a double envelopment and so open the way for a quick thrust to the Murmansk Railroad at Kandalaksha. It placed the weight of its initial attack on the north flank, where the 169th Infantry Division was to commit three combat teams of approximately regimental strength. The first would advance along the Tennio River eight miles north of Salla where it would screen the corps' left flank and become the northern arm of a second pincers directed against Kayrala. The second was positioned five miles north of Salla for a thrust southeastward to the Salla-Korya road and then south along the road to complete the encirclement. The third, stationed on and north of the Savukoski-Salla road, would mount a frontal attack against the border fortifications. On the south flank of the corps, the two regi- ments of the SS-Division "Nord' would cross the border along and 157 south of the Rovaniemi-Kandalaksha road and advance up to and behind Salla from the south.' The Finnish 6th Division, crossing the border 45 miles south of Salla and advancing northwestward, was to send a detachment to attack Kayrala from the south while its main force thrust deep in the Russian rear toward Allakurtti. 2 The Finnish III Corps, on the Army of Norway right flank, in June 1941 held a 60-mile front between Kuusamo and Suomussalmi. In the last two weeks of the month the corps reorganized its one division (the 3d) into two groups, Group F and Group J, each with one rifle regiment and a small number of attached troops including border guards. The corps held one regiment in reserve and had at its disposal one German tank company and a battalion detached from the Finnish 6th Division., Group J assembled south of Kuusamo for an attack in the direction of Kesten'ga while Group F, its first objective Ukhta, drew its forces to- gether east of Suomussalmi. The ultimate objectives of III Corps were Loukhi and Kem on the Murmansk Railroad.3 As the XXXVI Corps and the III Corps prepared for the attack, one great doubt remained: it concerned the military capability, if any, of the SS-Division. Its officers of all ranks had no more military training than they had been able to absorb during a short course of lectures and demonstrations given them in the previous winter. The division had fired its artillery only once, and proficiency in the use of small arms was so low that provision had to be made for target practice while the division moved up to the front. The march from northern Norway had been so poorly executed and revealed such a profound ignorance of military procedures that it resulted in the relief of the comma ding general and his operations officer. The new commanding gendral, after looking over his troops, reported on 23 June that he could not assume respon- sibility for committing them in battle. The Commanding General, XXXVI Corps, Feige, was reluctant to use the SS-Division against Salla and did so only at the insistence of the Army of Norway which was more optimistic than the corps in its assessment of the SS-Division and held a lower opinion of the enemy's defensive capabilities. Salla Two hours after midnight on 1 July the Finnish 6th Division crossed the border near the northwestern tip of Pana Lake. At 1600, after a 1 The SS-Kampfgruppe was renamed SS-Division "Nord" in June 1941. 2 Gen. Kdo. XXXVI A.K., K.T.B., Nr. 3 (9.5.-2.9.1941) Textband, Einsatz in Nordfinnland (hereafter cited as XXXVI A.K., K.T.B., 3). 16 Jun 41. XXXVI AK 22102/3. Gen. Kdo. XXXVI A.K., la, Nr. 654/41, Korpsbefehl fuer den Angriff am Y-Tag, 27.6.41, in XXXVI A.K., K.T.B. 3, Anlagenband A 1. XXXVI AK 22102/4. 3 III AKE, No. 10/III/3b, Dem Chef des Gen. Stabes, Abloesungsstab A.O.K. Norwegen, 18.6.41, in Anlagen zum K.T.B. des III finn. A.K., 10.6.-31.12.41. III finn AK 19654/2. III Armeekorps Stab, Nr. 2/III/2b/L5616, Entfaltungsbefehl des AK, 17.6.41., in A.O.K. Norwegen, Anlagen zum K.T.B., Band I. AOK 20 19070/2. A.O.K. Norwegen, K.T.B., 4 16 and 25 Jun 41. XXXVI A.K., K.T.B. 3, 9 May-29 Jun 41 (passim). 158 ten-minute preparatory bombardment by a dive-bomber group, the SS- Division and the 169th Division began their advance. The timing of the attacks demonstrated one of the peculiarities of arctic warfare: with 24 hours of summer daylight the distinction between night and day did not exist, and the two German divisions were able to open their attack late in the afternoon, thus gaining the advantage of having the sun at their backs. The day was hot, with the temperature in the high 80's, which brought out swarms of mosquitos. After the air bombardment Salla and Salla Mountain disappeared in clouds of smoke, and the ar- tillery fire soon started numerous forest fires which reduced visibility and in places threatened to block the advance of the troops. Before midnight the XXXVI Corps had a clear indication of the kind of opposition it was going to meet. The right-flank regiment of the 169th Division, advancing on the border fortifications on either side of the Savukoski-Salla road with two battalions, was stopped about 500 yards east of the border and was then thrown back by a sharp counter- attack which touched off a brief panic in the rear echelon of the German regiment. That brought to a quick end the planned frontal attack on Salla. The regiment in the center, on the other hand, had made good progress and at the end of the day was drawing up to the Salla-Korya road. Along the Tennio River the left-flank regiment had gained about two miles. Shortly after midnight the question concerning the effectiveness of SS-Division "Nord" was answered: SS stragglers came streaming past corps headquarters on the Rovaniemi-Salla road, and the corps artil- lery commander urgently requested the SS-Division to clear its men out of his artillery positions. On the division front confusion reigned; the operations officer could give the positions of only two of his six battalions. Later in the morning, after the division commander had declared his troops incapable of continuing the attack, Feige ordered the division to assemble on the border and take up defensive positions. Meeting the SS general at corps headquarters several hours later, Falkenhorst with heavy irony "congratulated him on the behavior of his troops." 5 The second day also brought a crisis in the 169th Division area. The Russians, seeing an encirclement developing, counterattacked against the center regiment and, with tank and air support, forced it back off the road. In the morning the division sent up a battalion of infantry and a company of tanks (one company was already committed) and later in the day drew on the divisional reserve for another battalion of infantry. By mid-afternoon the division had concluded that it could not take Salla with one regiment and decided to abandon the projected advance of the left-flank regiment to Kayrala, ordering it instead to turn south along the Salla-Korya road. 5 XXXVI A.K., K.T.B. 3,2 Jul 41. 159 Mountain troops picking their way through the forest east of Salla. Note edelweis badge of the mountain troops on cap of man in foreground. On the following day, while the left regiment moved south, the center regiment regained the road and pushed down to the Kuola River. The division, meanwhile, had decided also to commit its third regiment in the river crossing and assault on Salla. The wearing effect of unending daylight was beginning to tell on the troops as they worked their way into position north of the river during the next two days in preparation for a crossing on 6 July. Early on the morning of the 4th the XXXVI Corps headquarters staff witnessed an astonishing scene as the motorized SS-Division came streaming down the road toward Rovaniemi swearing Russian tanks were at its heels.
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