Intelligence Briefing for Finnish Forces Facing the Germans in the Lapland
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intelligence Briefing for Finnish forces facing the Germans in the Lapland War 1944 to 1945 By Scott Elaurant, Jyrki Saari, Dion Holswich and Wayne Turner UPDATED ON 25 AUGUST 2014 1 Lapin Sota – The Campaign Against Germany BY SCOTT ELAURANT AND JYRKI SAARI The terms of the armistice required Finland to expel or intern The commander of III Corps, General Siilasvuo carried all troops of her former partner Germany in two weeks. This out a daring plan. On 1 October the Finnish JR11 from was difficult in the south, downright impossible in remote 3rd Division was transported by ship to Tornio, a port town Lapland where the 200,000 man German 20th Mountain on the Finnish – Swedish border. They managed to surprise Army could not have left the country in two weeks if it had the Germans from Division Group Kräutler, captured a withdrawn at full speed, assuming the Germans had even supply depot there, defeated the small garrison and cut the wanted to do so. withdrawal route of German troops to Muonio. However, the attack stopped when Finnish troops found a considerable This situation led to the Lapin Sota – the war in Lapland, liquor store in the supply depot and started a victory cel- against German troops remaining in Finland. Although ebration. The situation was rapidly brought under control, much less than the Continuation War in intensity and but the Germans still gained valuable time as the whole II number of troops involved, the Lapin Sota still ran over Battalion and part of I Battalion was temporarily unfit for seven months, included pitched battles, and cost the Finnish combat. Siilasvuo then shipped in the rest of 3rd Division army 3940 casualties, of which 774 were KIA and 262 MIA infantry (JR53) and 1st Company of 1st Tank Battalion (T-26 by April 1945. tanks). Germans had also received reinforcements and coun- On 15 September, shortly before the deadline for German terattacked furiously with two Kampfgruppen, Kampfgruppe troops to leave Finland, German troops tried to invade Steets (MG Ski Brigade Finland reinforced with Gebirgsjäger Suursaari Island in the Gulf of Finland to secure their battalions) and Kampfgruppe Tornio (two battalions, one SS lines of retreat. The attempt failed with over 1000 German recon battalion and Pz.Abt 211). They took the initiative troops taken prisoner. It gave a perfect excuse to motivate Lapin Sota - Lapland War Finnish troops to take arms against their former comrades in arms. At first Finnish troops were in no hurry to take up arms against their former “co-bel- ligerent”. Much of the Finnish army was being moved behind the new border and it took time to pull even an adequate amount of troops out of the front line. In addition, the demobilisation of the army was supposed to start at the same time, as demanded by the Soviets. III Corps staff was sent north and the troops included the Panssari Division, 3rd Division, 6th Division, 11th Division, 15th Brigade and the Rajajääkäri Brigade. 6th Division and the Rajajääkäri Brigade were sent to Kajaani while the rest were sent to Oulu. The Finnish troops pursued at the same rate as the German 20th Mountain Army withdrew, avoiding combat. However, soon the Purple arrows indicate Soviets were pressing Finland Finnish movement to take firmer military action and Red Soviet and presented an ultimatum movement. Grey lines to the Finnish government are German positions. on 30 September. 2 and pushed the Finns back a short distance along the roads was easy to calculate the place of the blocking position so to Muonio and Kemi. Only when 11th Division and the ar- that the pursuers reached it in the evening. On the destroyed tillery of both divisions had been shipped in could the Finns roads most of the artillery was usually left far behind so there regain initiative and press further, surrounding the MG Ski was no choice but to try and go around the position. When brigade. The battle of Tornio ended on 8 October when the flanking force got to a threatening position during the the surrounded German brigade broke off the encirclement night the Germans simply boarded their trucks and left with heavy losses. Kampfgruppe Tornio had already been to establish another position where the same game started ordered to withdraw on 7 October. all over again. Destroyed bridges were kept under artillery and rocket fire for as long as possible so that repairs started Meanwhile 15th Brigade advancing from Oulu attacked late. Combined with the destroyed and mined roads this Kemi. It tried to surround the two German battalions meant that heavy equipment and supply columns were left there, but a German counterattack broke the encirclement far behind of the advancing infantry while the broken roads and most escaped. Kemi was secured on 8 October. The took a heavy toll on the already worn trucks. Panssari Division and 6th Division had started to advance towards Rovaniemi on 1 October. To clear the command At Portimojärvi Group Lagus met German defensive structure Siilasvuo combined the divisions of III Corps into position built for protecting Rovaniemi. It was defended by two major groups, Group Lagus with Panssari Division and Gebirgsjäger Regiment 218 from 7. Gebirgsdivision, charged 6th Division and Group Pajari with 3rd and 11th Divisions. with keeping the Finns on the south side of River Kemi until at least 14 October. Jääkäri Battalions 2, 3 and 4 were sent In reprisal for the attacks, the German northern army to outflank the German position from the west while Jääkäri adopted scorched earth tactics. Everything was booby- Battalion 5 would advance to contact the defensive position. trapped, buildings were burned, roads were mined and The Jääkäri Battalions managed to cut the road to Rovaniemi destroyed and anything even resembling a bridge was blown but soon started to run low on ammunition as supply had to up. With the arctic winter approaching and the need for be carried through rough wilderness terrain. The Germans shelter critical, this would prove a bitter blow to local ci- broke out to the north on 9 October. Group Lagus then con- vilians, who would suffer great hardship in the winter of tinued to advance fighting the rearguards until the Germans 1944-45. withdrew to Rovaniemi and destroyed the Bridges of River During the battles at Kemi and Tornio, Group Lagus, Kemi behind them. spearheaded by the Jääkäri Brigade, continued to advance Finnish troops were ordered to surround Rovaniemi to cut towards Rovaniemi fighting German rearguards. Group off the German troops there. The vanguard of Group Lagus Pajari sent 11th Division towards Muonio to the north while crossed River Kemi east of Rovaniemi and cut the railway 3rd Division and 15th Brigade were directed to Rovaniemi. to Kemijärvi. They could not cross River Ounas between However, many difficulties would beset the pursuers. The roads were few and had many unbridged creek crossings, and in any case all of the bridges had usually been destroyed by Germans, so that the Sturmi assault guns and many other vehicles with low clearance had to be left behind. Mines were everywhere and continued to cause casualties. Finally the difficult nature of the northern terrain asserted itself, making movement difficult, while the rocky slopes of northern hills made ideal blocking positions. Plentiful swamps and water obstacles made outflanking and going around destroyed road sections difficult. The battles with the withdrawing Germans usually followed the same frustrating pattern throughout the Lapland War. The Germans would set up a blocking position with a mobile rearguard of a couple of motorised infantry battalions supported by strong artillery and pioneers. The position was flanked by a river (the roads in Lapland usually ran parallel to one of the plentiful rivers) on one side and was extended as far into the wilderness as possible on the other. Furthermore, Source: Sotatoimet p.290 as the pursuing Finns were on foot it 3 them and Rovaniemi as the western bank was heavily defended. The vanguard of Group Pajari, battle group Halsti, was ordered to outflank Rovaniemi from the northwest and cut the road to Muonio. The outflanking succeeded and the battlegroup attacked into a German column on the march and cut the road on two places. However, as the Germans brought reinforcements from Rovaniemi ammunition once again started to run low and the battle group had to withdraw. Rovaniemi had been thoroughly destroyed and mined by the Germans. Meanwhile 11th Division was advancing towards Muonio in the Tornio River valley. If Muonio could be occupied an important withdrawal route of Germans from Rovaniemi would be cut. The Germans knew this well enough and offered tough resistance. The Finns managed to outflank and surround the German rear- guard a few times but the Germans always had sufficient strength to break out as the outflanking troops lacked both ammunition and artillery support. After the battles at Rovaniemi were over 3rd Division was ordered towards Muonio as it was planned to catch the Germans between 11th and 3rd Division. 3rd Division had to cross the River Ounas and that delay meant it could not effectively tie down the retreat- ing Germans. Muonio was occupied by 6. SS-Gebirgsdivision “Nord” protect- ing the evacuation of a local supply base. 11th Division couldn’t break the defences and outflanking attempts only managed to Source: Sotatoimet p.294 trap elements of 6. SS. The Germans managed to breakthrough the encirclement with minor losses. Muonio was thoroughly destroyed by the Germans. 3rd Division only reached Muonio when the Battle was effectively over and the Germans had disengaged. Meanwhile Group Lagus pressed after German troops retreating north-east on the Arctic Sea Road towards North Cape via Sodankylä and Ivalo.