There was already a story about the days of the war in the Arctic: The cable car of death. The polar transport of the Nazis, but fortunately there are a lot of materials, and therefore I decided to continue.
On the Kola Peninsula, there was the only section of the Soviet-German front where the enemy troops were already stopped a few tens of kilometers from the line of the Soviet State border, and in some places the Germans were not even able to cross the border.
Write about the Murmansk Valley of Death (since 1965 - the Valley of Glory) in isolation from the events of 1941-42. does not seem possible. The result was a voluminous article that will cover both a significant period and various sections of the battles. From Titovka and the Musta-Tunturi ridge to the eastern bank of the Western Litsa River - this was the main direction of the strike of the German-Finnish troops, because. it was here that the road to the village of Polyarny (the base of the Northern Fleet) and the city of Murmansk lay.
SUMMER 1941
On the night of June 28-29, German regular units crossed the USSR state border in the Titovka area. After an hour and a half of artillery shelling and bombing, in which more than a hundred Junkers-88 and Heinkel-111 aircraft took part, at 4 o'clock in the morning the enemy's mountain infantry divisions went on the offensive.
Until the last bullet, until the last grenade, the border guards fought, taking the first blow from the enemy. The 6th frontier post of the Ozerkovsky detachment had a particularly hard time, which, under the leadership of Lieutenant Yakovenko, repelled the furious onslaught of rangers. German planes dived into the trenches of the border guards, the outpost was fired from cannons and mortars. With each passing hour, the fighters became less and less, but the battle continued. The enemies offered the survivors to surrender, but the answer was machine-gun bursts. The outpost fought to the end.
Many years later, a farewell note from party organizer Goltunov was found:
“We are three communists here. And as long as at least one is alive, the Nazis will not pass.
The inscription on the obelisk to the soldiers of the 6th frontier post.
By the beginning of World War II, the 100th border detachment consisted of 8 border outposts and 5 combat posts: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th border outposts and 5 combat posts guarded the coast of the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas , 6th, 7th, 8th border outposts guarded the border with Finland on the mainland. The headquarters of the border detachment was in the village. Western Ozerko (Sredny Peninsula), hence its first name - Ozerkovsky. During the Great Patriotic War, the detachment's border guards performed various tasks: they fought on the front lines, acted behind enemy lines, guarded the rear of the Soviet troops as part of the 181st separate border battalion formed on the basis of the border detachment in 1941.
On June 29 and 30, 1941, the Red Army soldiers of the 95th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Major S. I. Chernov, fought bravely on June 29 and 30, 1941 in the Titovka area. The enemy, using the tactics of bypass, struck where they were not expected. This caused confusion at first. The situation was aggravated by two more circumstances. The wire communication was broken in the defending troops. The commander of the 14th Infantry Division, Major General A. A. Zhurba, did not know in detail the situation in his subordinate units and was forced to leave for the battlefield. During the afternoon of June 29, he tried to organize the defense of troops retreating from the border near Titovka, and the next day - on the outskirts of the Sredny Peninsula. Several hundred recruits arrived in Titovka by sea. The unfired newcomers were confused and could not provide real assistance to the fighters holding the defense in this sector of the front. 
The most intense battles unfolded at the junctions of the Red Army units, on the flanks. The rangers bypassed the border outposts and unfinished pillboxes, the entire system of fortifications and hit the battalions of the 95th Infantry Regiment, whose defense front stretched for three dozen kilometers. Soon the advanced units of the enemy managed to force the Titovka River. Heavy, bloody battles continued along the border line, in which divisional and regimental artillery inflicted considerable damage on the enemy, although they often had to fight in semi-encirclement conditions. 
Crossing the German rangers across the Titovka River on improvised boats. 1941
TITOVSKY FORTIFIED AREA- a strip of terrain prepared for defensive operations. It consisted of 8 buto-concrete bunkers (half-caponiers, 7 - two-machine-gun, one - three-machine-gun) at an altitude of 255.4 (Angular) and 5 bunkers at an altitude of 189.3 on the western bank of the river. Titovka. The fire system of semi-caponiers: at a height of 189.3 - in a ledge, in three echelons; at a height of 255.4 - according to the principle of all-round defense, but in both cases, taking into account the most probable direction of the advance of the enemy from the border. By the beginning of hostilities in the Murmansk direction, the bunkers were not covered with earth and camouflaged, minefields and barbed wire were not installed, and they were not covered by crossfire. On June 22, 1941, the 2nd Battalion of the 95th Infantry Regiment of the 14th Infantry Division took up defensive positions in the Titovsky defensive area. During the German offensive that began on June 29, 1941, the pillboxes were blocked by units of the German mountain corps "Norway". Already by 9 o'clock in the morning, with the use of flamethrowers, a height of 189.3 was taken (with particularly stubborn resistance from the spacecraft fighters), by the evening - a height of 255.4. It is believed that part of the soldiers of the 4th company of the 95th joint venture escaped from the encirclement.
Titovsky defensive line and Height 189.3. Dot.
German tankers at the pillbox on Titovka. 1941
The Nazis did not succeed in a lightning-fast breakthrough of defense. Soviet border guards, infantrymen and artillerymen fought selflessly. Many enemy soldiers were destroyed here, but a lot of Red Army soldiers and commanders were killed. They departed from the border on orders in two directions: to the north - to the Sredny Peninsula and to the east - to the Zapadnaya Litsa River. They retreated fighting, inflicting tangible blows on the attacking rangers, knowing that help was already coming towards them - regiments of the 52nd rifle division and units of the 23rd fortified area, covering Rybachy from the south.
In the diary of Admiral A. G. Golovko in those days it was noted:
“Our units continue to withdraw. Titovka submitted. The commander of the section, Major General Zhurba, died along with the adjutant. Only one battalion approached the bay, led by the commander; moreover, this commander has more than ten wounds. I saw him and marveled at how he managed to get there. Even more surprising is the discrepancy between his physical condition - the man could hardly stand on his feet - with his will. Unfortunately, I don't remember his last name.
The enemy failed to defeat the Soviet troops at the border. The 95th Rifle Regiment, which had received the first blow at Titovka, retreated east in squads and platoons. The regiment retained the main personnel, headquarters, Battle Banner.
Mountain rangers, rushing to Murmansk, tried to force the Zapadnaya Litsa on the move and overcome the Musta-Tunturi ridge. The Finns, who crossed the border near the Lotta River, advanced in the reticent direction (the second direction to Murmansk was from the southwest). Thus, already in the first month of the war in the battles for Murmansk, the Soviet ground forces, with the support of the Northern Fleet and aviation, fought in three independent, moreover, separated sectors. 
Four Wehrmacht mountain rangers at the entrance to a cave on a hill in the Arctic.
The 23rd fortified area (commanded by Colonel D. E. Krasilnikov), together with the 100th border detachment (headed by I. I. Kalenikov), defended the approaches to the Rybachy Peninsula. Here, on rocky salts and in marshy lowlands, the 135th rifle regiment (commander Colonel M.K. Pashkovsky) of the 14th rifle division, the second division of the 241st howitzer artillery regiment, two separate machine-gun battalions and coastal batteries of the Northern Fleet occupied combat positions. In July, infantrymen, machine gunners and artillerymen defended a narrow (about 6 kilometers) isthmus between Malaya Volokovaya and Kutovaya bays - the southern gate to Rybachy. This section of the front was supplied by the sea, had the support of the Northern Fleet and fulfilled its task - did not let the enemy take Rybachy on the move. The Nazis, apparently, expected that the 135th Infantry Regiment and machine-gun battalions would go to the aid of the 95th Infantry Regiment, which was fighting near Titovka, they would expose the Musta-Tunturi ridge and the rangers behind the backs of the troops who had gone to Titovka would break into the Sredniy and Rybachy peninsulas. But that did not happen. Commander V. A. Frolov sent reinforcements from the west to the 95th Regiment, and ordered D. E. Krasilnikov to stand to the death, not to go beyond the line of defense. And the front line, established on the isthmus between the mainland and the Sredny Peninsula in the summer of 1941, held out throughout the war.
“... who owns Rybachy and Sredny, he holds the Kola Bay. The Northern Fleet cannot exist without the Kola Bay. The most important thing is that the state needs the Kola Bay. Murmansk is our ocean port, one of the most important, it is a window to the world.”
Commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral A. G. Golovko.
The first attempts to stop the enemy were unsuccessful. He overcame the resistance of the Soviet troops and by the morning of July 2 reached the Western Litsa River. While the Red Army men hastily dug in on the right bank of a narrow but fast-flowing river, the rangers tried to overcome it on the move. The only bridge across the river was blown up, and V. A. Frolov ordered artillery to be placed at the places of possible forcing. As soon as the mountain rangers began the crossing, the artillerymen brought down deadly fire. 
Valley of Glory - view from the memorial. Rare for these places flat landscape.
Early in the morning of July 6 - again on Sunday - the Nazis resumed their attack on Murmansk from the line of Western Litsa. The main blow hit the positions of the 58th Infantry Regiment. It was here that the mountain rangers sought to break through to the Kola Bay at all costs. There suddenly appeared two battalions of rangers of the 137th mountain rifle regiment of Colonel Hengl. The battalion commissar Ivannikov skillfully organized the defense, and in a heavy battle by the end of the day both battalions of rangers were defeated, losing about 200 people killed and wounded. Our losses are 28 fighters and commanders. The Nazis carried away their dead and wounded from the battlefield.
The prisoners testified that they crossed the Western Face in its lower reaches along the shallows at low tide. Since our two battalions defended a large section of the river 25 kilometers long, there were not enough fighters for a continuous line of defense. The rangers, under the cover of fog, went to our rear at the unguarded junction between the 1st and 3rd battalions.
One of the bloodiest battles was the attack of the first battalion of the 137th mountain rifle regiment of German troops on the height of 183.6 held by the Red Army. More than 300 people from both sides died in this battle. According to some reports, it was the foot of the height of 183.6 that the soldiers called Death Valley. 
The foot of height 183.6.
Having superior forces, reliable aviation and artillery support, engineering means of crossing and automatic weapons, the enemy managed to force the Zapadnaya Litsa and penetrate into the disposition of our troops for 2-3 kilometers. But the fighters of the 52nd Infantry Division under the command of Colonel G. A. Veshchezersky (Major General N. N. Nikishin took over the 14th Division) counterattacked the enemy and forced him to retreat. 
Defensive battles in the Murmansk direction. Valley of Glory.
MUSTA TUNTOURI
The Musta-Tunturi ridge (or Mustatunturi - from the Finnish "musta" - black, gloomy; "tunturi" - a treeless mountain) was the northernmost section of the front in the Great Patriotic War. The Mustatunturi Ridge is the only place where German troops could not cross the land border of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War, the front line passed in this place for more than three years. At the same time, German troops were located on the southern slopes of the ridge, and Soviet troops were located on the northern ones.
In this place, the events described by K. Simonov in the poem "The son of an artilleryman" take place.
"Border Sign" - it was here that the old border between the USSR and Finland passed.
The garrison of the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas was armed with: 5613 rifles, 144 heavy machine guns, 98 PPSh assault rifles, 83 guns of various calibers, 2 tanks, 779 carbines, 210 light machine guns, 11 anti-aircraft guns, 101 mortars, 62 vehicles. The force is considerable, but it was scattered over a large area. 
View from the ridge to the Sredny Peninsula.
By June 29, 1941, the 15th separate machine-gun battalion and the 55th, 56th and 57th separate machine-gun companies were located on the section from Kutovaya to Volokovaya. All of them were hastily formed from recruits - residents of the Murmansk region. The 4th machine-gun company of Nikishin was also stationed here. 
Of the other units in the named area, there was a reconnaissance detachment of the 135th regiment, a post of an observation and communication station of the Northern Fleet, a small unit of sappers and the 6th outpost of the 100th border detachment. There were also two auxiliary units - a club and an auxiliary farm of the 2nd battalion.
On the border section from Lake Titovsky to Varanger Fjord, the Germans went on the offensive on June 29. By the end of the day, the first groups of fascists appeared on Musta-Tunturi. They were stopped. From then until the end of the war, the front line along the ridge remained unchanged! 
On this sector of the front, the Nazis had more advantageous strategic positions. As a rule, they occupied the tops of mountains and hills and controlled all the approaches to our outposts. The Germans used more advanced technology for the construction of defensive structures. Headquarters, barracks, infirmaries were hidden in catacombs specially dug into the rocks. Electricity, compressor installations, metal structures and concrete were used during construction work.
Fortifications in a monolithic granite rock about four kilometers long, in some places towering 260 meters above the sea: there were guns, mortars, pillboxes, remotely controlled stationary flamethrower installations. 
The dugouts and firing points of our outposts were built of stone, moss and logs. Former sapper Nikolai Mitrofanovich Abramov said:
These points were given to us by blood. The Germans held all approaches at gunpoint. For each log delivered to Musta-Tunturi, the fighters paid with their lives or wounds. And how do you build a stronghold fifty meters from the enemy’s defense line? Any knock - and then a mine on the head. I had to distract the huntsmen with false explosions and attacks.
Veteran fishermen remember one story related to the construction of firing points on Musta-Tunturi:
In the fall of 1942, the telephone operator Foma Shapiro crawled to the stronghold. He was a joker and an inventor, an unsurpassed master of writing letters to girls. Having repaired the telephone sets and having tested the connection, Foma baited jokes to the resting guards. Then one of the sailors complained to him:
- It's good for you, Thomas, you will amuse us and crawl away to the rear, and here we paint the stones with blood. The German pillboxes heaped up, and we are hiding behind the bullets with our elbows.
- What's stopping you from doing the same? Foma asked.
- Of course, German. As soon as you move, he, the bastard, fumbles with a machine gun, and even treats you with a mine.
Foma thought for a moment, then asked:
- Do you have a couple of sheets and a couple of poles?
Climbing back to the strong point, Foma pulled a white cloth between the poles and a firebrand, painted a portrait of Hitler on it. The Fuhrer turned out well: with a mustache, signature hairstyle, bulging eyes and a demanding look.
At dawn, the mountain rangers saw before them the image of their commander in chief. What to do? You can't shoot at the Fuhrer. The Russian machine gunners don't let us shoot. For two days the drawing of Thomas on Musta-Tunturi flaunted. During this time, under his cover, the sappers managed to build two excellent pillboxes. And today it is clear that they turned out to be better than others.
Diorama of the front line along the Musta-Tunturi ridge with the designation of Soviet (asterisk) and German (cross) positions, strong points (OP), communication lines (arrows). It is a long-term work of the former Marine G.M. Vozlinsky. The author completed the work in 1991, being bedridden.
Behind the outposts was the first line of defense, followed by the main one. Our bases were located as follows:
1st - on the northern slope of the ridge, opposite Lake Peräjärvi. This strong point had 5 firing points and two mortars.
2nd - on the northern slope of a height of 187.0 (Middle Tunturi), opposite the western tip of Lake Jaukhonokanjärvi. The stronghold had 5 firing points and one mortar.
3rd - on the northern slopes of a height of 121.0, opposite the eastern tip of Lake Jaukhonokanjärvi. Here was the headquarters of the military guard. The stronghold had 10 firing and 2 mortar points. From the rear to the foot of the height was the only way of communication. It was on it that the supply of our units went. Under cover of the rock, large blockhouses, warehouses and a medical aid station were arranged.
4th - at a height of 115.6, known as the place where our soldiers kept intact the border sign of the former Soviet-Finnish border throughout the war. The stronghold had 11 firing and 2 mortar points.
5th - at an altitude of 93.0, which is opposite Lake Kairajärvi. This hill ends the Musta-Tunturi ridge. The stronghold had 7 firing and 2 mortar points.
6th - at the height of "Nameless", located in the foothills of height 122.0. The stronghold had 8 firing points and 1 mortar point. There was a remote observation post of the command.
7th - at a height of 40.1, on the banks of the Kutovaya Bay. The stronghold had 6 firing points. From the direction of Kutova, the course of communication approached him.
8th - at the height of "Damn", the eastern lake Chernyavka. It was a rear stronghold in case the enemy broke through at the junctions of the 5th, 6th and 7th strongholds. The point had 4 firing and 2 mortar points.
LANDING OPERATIONS 1941
In general, the situation in the Murmansk direction was extremely unfavorable for the Soviet troops. Losses in manpower in border battles, lack of reserves, enemy superiority in aviation and maneuverability, disunity and poor communication between individual sectors of the front further complicated the task of defending Murmansk.
In this situation, the command of the 14th Army and the Northern Fleet decided to land detachments of border guards, Red Army and Red Navy troops from the sea behind enemy lines in order to divert enemy forces, to force Ditl to send troops aimed at Murmansk to eliminate the landing forces. The main task of this operation was to delay the offensive of the Nazi troops, to enable the defending divisions to receive reinforcements and strengthen their positions on the line of Western Litsa. 
Naval landing of the Northern Fleet.
On July 6, 1941, to assist units of the 52nd Infantry Division in conducting a counterattack against enemy troops on the bridgehead they occupied, a tactical assault force was landed on the southern coast of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, consisting of one infantry battalion (529 people) from this division. The landing was carried out by an amphibious detachment of the Northern Fleet (commanded by Vice Admiral A. G. Golovko of 3 patrol ships, 2 minesweepers, 4 patrol boats and 3 "small hunter" boats. The artillery support detachment included the Kuibyshev destroyer, 3 patrol boats, also coastal batteries of the fleet were allocated for support.Air cover - 12 fighters.The commander of the landing forces - the commander of the protection of the water area of the main base of the Northern Fleet, Captain 1st Rank V.I. thus assuming full responsibility, this battalion sowed panic in the enemy defenses, destroyed several enemy positions and broke through to join the main forces.
On July 7, a battalion of border guards (up to 500 people) was landed on the western coast of the Zapadnaya Litsa Bay for the purpose of reconnaissance and demonstration of large forces. The troops landed from 2 patrol ships, 3 patrol boats, 4 motorboats. Large enemy forces were transferred to the landing site, his attempt to break through to the main forces ended unsuccessfully. During July 9, the landing force was removed from the enemy coast by ships of the fleet (2 patrol ships). 
Signalers of one of the units of the Marine Corps of the Northern Fleet on the Sredny Peninsula.
Fearing for their left flank, the rangers weakened the onslaught in the center. Taking advantage of this, the 52nd Infantry Division drove the enemy across the river with energetic counterattacks. In just two days of fighting, the enemy lost more than a thousand soldiers and officers on Zapadnaya Litsa, more than 2,500 rangers ended up in hospitals.
The decision to land these two landings was pure improvisation (all preparations for operations were carried out within one day), calculated on the surprise of such actions for the enemy and his sensitivity to the threat of few communications linking the forces advancing on Murmansk with supply bases on the border. In general, this decision turned out to be justified. Both landings played a positive role in the development of the battle and diverted part of the enemy forces. 
Marines of the Northern Fleet on the Kola Peninsula pose with Lenl-Lease Tommy Guns.
But the enemy did not change plans to break through to Murmansk. On July 11, the rangers resumed their offensive on the northernmost section of the polar front. On captured fishing boats and their own inflatable boats, they crossed the Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, landed at its southern end and began to go deeper towards the southeast.
For the third time since the beginning of the war, there was a threat of a breakthrough by the Nazis to Murmansk and the main base of the Northern Fleet - Polyarny. Further aggravation of the situation forced the command of the 14th Army and the Northern Fleet to land larger forces in the rear of the Nazis.
Using the experience gained, the command of the front and fleet decided to expand the tasks performed by the landing forces. The purpose of the new, third landing, was the task of capturing and holding a bridgehead on the western coast of the bay. Thus, a unique situation would be created - a few kilometers from each other on the banks of the same river flowing into the bay, there is a German bridgehead on the eastern bank and a Soviet one on the western. There is a threat to the highway, along which the Germans supply their bridgehead and its complete blockade, and with a favorable development of the operation, the possibility of its complete destruction. The position of the Soviet troops on the western coast is more stable, since the Northern Fleet has dominance in this sector of the sea and can provide sea supplies and support for the troops landed. This operation was already carefully prepared. To support the landing operations on the eastern coast of the bay, several artillery batteries were hastily built. 
Marine scouts under the command of junior lieutenant A.A. Petrova in ambush. 1942
On July 14, a tactical assault force was landed by the fleet on the western coast of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay as part of the 325th Infantry Regiment of the 14th Infantry Division and a marine battalion (1,600 people, commander - battalion commissar A. A. Shakito). The landing detachment included 3 patrol ships, 3 minesweepers, 5 patrol boats, the artillery support detachment - 1 destroyer, 1 patrol ship, 4 patrol boats, the cover detachment - 3 destroyers. Simultaneously with the main landing, a distracting reconnaissance group of 50 people landed in the area of \u200b\u200bCape Pikshuev.
The landing party managed to occupy a fairly significant bridgehead. The enemy really hastily began to draw strength to the Soviet bridgehead, including from the land front. On July 15, the enemy made the first attempt to drop troops into the bay, but was repulsed. On July 16, another 715 Marines were landed to reinforce the landing force. Having strengthened, the fighters carried out a stubborn defense, repelling several enemy attacks a day. Fleet ships and artillery provided artillery support to the landing force. On July 18, the enemy launched a decisive attack on the bridgehead and pushed the Soviet troops back. The German offensive on Murmansk was suspended, and on July 24-26, units of the 14th Army managed to push the German troops back.
The landing force and the ships coming out in support of it were attacked by enemy aircraft, small ships were periodically killed and damaged. Nevertheless, the supply of the landing force and the transfer of reinforcements were not interrupted. Aviation of the Northern Fleet tried to support the ground forces, but less successfully. 
Soviet marines under fire.
On August 1, the Germans launched another attack on the bridgehead, once again pushing the Soviet troops back. It has already become obvious that on the land front, without additional forces, it is impossible to drive the enemy out of Zapadnaya Litsa. Therefore, on this day, it was decided to evacuate the landing force. The operation was carried out on August 2 by forces of 15 patrol boats and 9 motorized boats under the cover of a smoke screen. The personnel (1300 people), all weapons and equipment, as well as food and horses were transferred to the eastern coast of the Zapadnaya Litsa Bay to reinforce the land front, the wounded (240 people) were delivered to Polyarny. The operation was carried out under the cover of naval aviation. However, when, after landing troops on the east coast, the ships returned empty to the fleet base and there was no air cover, enemy aircraft struck and sank 1 patrol boat and 4 motorboats.
The department of senior sergeant V.P. Kislyakov, during the landing of the third assault force, received the task of gaining a foothold on the Nameless Hill and delaying the advance of the enemy. The complexity of the task was that a reinforced platoon of mountain shooters was advancing against ten soldiers of the volunteer detachment of the Northern Fleet. The sailors were acutely short of ammunition. And when most of the fighters ran out of ammunition and many were wounded, the senior sergeant ordered everyone to move away:
- Tell our people that the order will be carried out - I will keep the hill to the end.
Only Kislyakov remained at the top. He has at his disposal a light machine gun with four discs, six grenades and a rifle with a bayonet. And below, behind the stones - the Nazis, armed with machine guns. Again, the officers raise the soldiers to attack, and Kislyakov meets them with fire and uses ammunition very economically: who knows how long the battle will have to be fought. But now the discs ran out, the machine gun fell silent. The fascists revived, began to buzz and again went on the attack. While they were at a distance, Vasily beat them with a rifle. An experienced hunter and well-aimed shooter from the Komi region never missed - several dozen enemies found a grave in a stone placer. And when the huntsmen got closer, grenades went into action. And help arrived. An important stronghold of defense was preserved. For courage and steadfastness, Vasily Pavlovich Kislyakov, one of the first warriors of the Arctic and the first among the North Seas, was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
This operation is one of the best Soviet landing operations of the first year of the Great Patriotic War. The interaction of the landing force, fleet, front, coastal artillery and aviation was organized at a fairly good level. A significant number of landing forces allowed him to organize a stable defense and successfully repel enemy attacks for a long time. For unparalleled exploits on the bridgehead, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to political instructor S. D. Vasilisin, senior sergeant V. P. Kislyakov and sailor I. M. Sivko (posthumously). 
On August 2, 1941, on the northwestern approaches to Murmansk, another soldier of the Marine Corps, Red Navy sailor Ivan Sivko, accomplished a feat.
Having landed as part of the landing force, Sivko carried out the tasks assigned by the commander. When the unit was ordered to withdraw, Sivko began to cover the retreat of his comrades. The hero fought to the last bullet, defending the hill dominating the coast. When the enemies tried to take the Red Navy soldier prisoner, he blew up a grenade. I. M. Sivko died, destroying a large group of Nazis.
By order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR of September 1, 1959, Sivko was permanently included in the lists of the training unit of the Northern Fleet. Streets in the cities of Murmansk, Severomorsk, Polyarny, Nikolaevsk, the settlement of Solovetsky, Polyarnye Zory are named after him.
In 1948, in the city of Severomorsk, the name of the hero was given to secondary school No. 1, the name of Sivko Ivan Mikhailovich is secondary school No. 2 in the city of Nikolaevsk, Volgograd Region (his place of birth), in 1965 the USSR Ministry of Communications issued a postage stamp depicting Sivko and his feat , in 2007 a memorial plaque was installed in Murmansk.
It is important to emphasize that the soldiers of the 14th Army, border guards and Severomorsk in the summer of 1941 not only defended themselves, but also often launched counterattacks, putting the enemy to flight. In July, a combined detachment of the 14th Army and border guards inflicted a major defeat on the advancing enemy battalion and captured rich trophies. In the valley of the Tuloma River, the Restikent border detachment under the command of Major Ya. A. Nemkov distinguished himself, throwing the Finns out of Soviet territory.
In Russia, speaking of the Great Patriotic War, they recall the defeats of 1941-1942, the battle of Moscow, the blockade of Leningrad, the battle for Stalingrad, the North Caucasus, the Fiery Arc and a number of other famous operations. But they can say little about the war in the North, on the Kola Peninsula, if they even heard about this page of the Great War.
The Kola Peninsula occupied a large place in the aggressive plans of the German military-political command. Firstly, Berlin was interested in the city of Murmansk - an ice-free port, the base of the Northern Fleet of the USSR. In addition, the Kirov railway connected the Murmansk port with the main part of the country, which made it possible to receive military cargo and quickly deliver them to Central Russia. Therefore, the Germans planned to capture the port and cut the railway as soon as possible. Secondly, Hitler was attracted by the rich natural resources of the Kola Land, and especially the deposits of nickel, a metal very necessary for the German military-industrial complex and the economies of Germany's allies. Thirdly, these lands were of interest to the Finnish elite, according to their plans, the Kola Peninsula was to become part of the "Great Finland".
To capture the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic theater of operations, the army "Norway" was concentrated (it was formed in December 1940) as part of 3 corps - two mountain German corps and one Finnish corps. It was led by Colonel General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst. The army had 97 thousand people, 1037 guns and mortars, 106 tanks. This army was supported by part of the forces of the 5th Air Fleet and the Navy of the Third Reich.
They were opposed by the Soviet 14th Army, which took up defense in the Murmansk and Kandalaksha directions, under the command of Valerian Frolov. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities, the army included: 4th Rifle Corps (10th and 122nd Rifle Divisions), 14th, 52nd Rifle Divisions, 1st Tank Division, 1st Mixed Air Division, 23 th fortified area and a number of other formations. The 23rd fortified area (UR) was located on the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas and occupied a defense zone along the front of 85 kilometers, a depth of 5 kilometers, having 7 defense units, consisting of 12 built and combat-ready long-term defensive structures, and 30 located on construction stage. The UR was defended by two machine-gun battalions (two more were planned to be deployed), in addition, one of the regiments of the 14th Rifle Division operated in its zone. The army had 52.6 thousand personnel, 1150 guns and mortars, 392 tanks. From the sea, the 14th Army was covered by ships and aviation of the Northern Fleet (8 destroyers, 7 patrol ships, 15 submarines, 116 aircraft).
It must be said that in the future the composition of the forces of the two armies was constantly changing, because the parties constantly increased them.
Colonel General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst.
The failure of the Arctic Blitzkrieg
The Great War in the Arctic began on the night of June 22, 1941 with massive air raids on cities, towns, industrial facilities, frontier posts and naval bases.
The Germans, after the occupation of Norway, began to develop a plan for waging war in the Arctic. Planning for the operation began on 13 August 1940 and was completed in October of the same year. The Murmansk operation (Blaufuks plan or Silberfuks plan, German Unternehmen Silberfuchs - "Polar Fox") was an integral part of the Barbarossa plan. It was divided into several stages. During the first - Operation Renntir ("Reindeer") - the German 2nd mountain rifle division and the 3rd mountain rifle division from the Norway mountain corps invaded the Petsamo area (nickel mines were located there) and captured it.
It should be noted that the Soviet troops were not taken by surprise, as the beginning of the Great Patriotic War often shows. Already on June 14-15, the 122nd Rifle Division from the 14th Army, by order of the commander of the Leningrad Military District M. M. Popov, was advanced to the state border. The division was supposed to cover the Kandalaksha direction. It was of strategic importance - if successful, the enemy troops would go to the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea and cut off the Kola Peninsula from the central regions of the country. On the 19th, the 1st Panzer Division began to advance to the border, on the 21st, the 52nd Rifle Division was alerted, it was deployed in Murmansk, Monchegorsk and Kirovsk. On the night of June 22, two regiments and a reconnaissance battalion of the 14th Rifle Division were transferred to the border. In addition, the success of the defense was accompanied by the factor of difficult terrain.
On June 28-29, 1941, active hostilities began in the Murmansk direction (the main blow). This was the second stage - Operation Platinfuks (German: Platinfuchs - "Platinum Fox"), German forces advanced through Titovka, Ura-Guba to Polyarny (the main base of the Northern Fleet) and Murmansk. The Nazis planned to capture the bases of the Northern Fleet, blockade and capture Murmansk, and then go to the coast of the White Sea and occupy Arkhangelsk. In the course of the second phase of the operation, they were going to carry out the third one - to carry out the operation "Arctic fox" (it. "Polarfuchs"). The 2nd German mountain division was advancing on Polyarnoye, and one Finnish division and one German division were to go east from Kemijärvi.
On April 28, the 2nd and 3rd mountain rifle divisions, the 40th and 112th separate tank battalions went on the attack in the Murmansk direction. They had a 4-fold advantage in the decisive direction - the 95th rifle regiment of the 14th rifle division could not withstand the blow and retreated, breaking the orders of the 325th rifle regiment of the same division that came to the rescue. But the Nazis failed to defeat the garrison of the 23rd URA on the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas. The garrison, relying on powerful fortifications and coastal batteries (3 x 130 mm and 4 x 100 mm guns), repelled all attacks.
By June 30, the 52nd Rifle Division entrenched itself on the Western Litsa River (“Valley of Glory”) and throughout July repelled all German attempts to force a water barrier. On the right flank, the regrouped units of the 14th Rifle Division held the defense. In September, the defense was reinforced by the 186th Rifle Division (Polar Division), after which the front in this sector stabilized until 1944. For 104 days of fighting, the Germans advanced 30-60 km and did not solve the assigned tasks. Marines of the Northern Fleet also played a positive role - attacks on the enemy's flank were delivered on July 7 and 14. And also the "unsinkable battleship of the Arctic" - the Rybachy Peninsula, in the area of the 23rd UR and the 135th rifle regiment of the 14th rifle division, the Nazis did not manage to cross the border sign No. 1.
On the Kandalaksha direction, the first blow was repulsed on June 24. On July 1, 1941, the Germans, using the 36th Army Corps, which included the 169th Infantry Division, the SS Nord mountain rifle brigade, as well as the Finnish 6th Infantry Division and two Finnish Jaeger battalions, launched a general attack on Kandalaksha. The enemy was opposed by the 122nd Rifle Division, the 1st Panzer Division (until mid-July 1941, then it was taken to another sector of the front) and the 104th Rifle Division, which was later transferred to the Kairaly area (without the 242nd Infantry Regiment, which was located in the Kestenga direction ). Until the beginning of August, there were fierce battles with little advance of enemy units. In early August 1941, a reinforced Finnish battalion penetrated the rear of the Soviet forces. The Finns saddled the road near the Nyamozero station, as a result, the Soviet group had to fight for two weeks in a strange environment. Only one enemy battalion blocked five rifle regiments, three artillery regiments and other formations. This case speaks of the complexity of the theater of operations, the lack of a developed road network, the difficult terrain among forests and swamps. When the road was unblocked two weeks later, the enemy delivered a strong blow from the front and forced the Red Army units to withdraw. Soviet troops entrenched four kilometers east of Alakurtti, and there the front line stabilized until 1944. The maximum advance of the enemy was about 95 kilometers.
On the Kestenga direction, the 242nd Rifle Regiment of the 104th Rifle Division held the defense. Active hostilities began in early July 1941. By July 10, the Germans managed to reach the Sofyanga River, and in November capture Kestenga and move east from it for about 30 km. By November 11, 1941, the front line had stabilized 40 km west of Loukhi. By that time, the grouping of Soviet troops in this sector of the front had been reinforced by the 5th Rifle Brigade and the 88th Rifle Division.
German ski unit in the Arctic.
Results of the 1941 campaign. By the autumn of 1941, it became clear that the plan for a blitzkrieg in the Arctic had been thwarted. In fierce defensive battles, showing courage and stamina, Soviet border guards, soldiers of the 14th Army, sailors of the Northern Fleet bled the advancing enemy units and forced the Germans to take a break and go on the defensive. The German command failed to achieve any of the goals set in the Arctic. Despite some initial successes, the German troops failed to reach the Murmansk railway in any area, as well as to capture the bases of the Northern Fleet, reach Murmansk and capture it. As a result, there was the only section of the Soviet-German front where the enemy troops were already stopped a few tens of kilometers from the line of the Soviet State border, and in some places the Germans were not even able to cross the border.
Marines of the Northern Fleet on the deck of the MO-4 project boat.
The role of the rear in the defense of the Arctic
Residents of the Murmansk region rendered enormous assistance to the formations of the Red Army and the Navy of the USSR. Already on the first day of the Great War, martial law was introduced in the Murmansk region, the military commissariats began to mobilize those liable for military service, and the military registration and enlistment offices received up to 3.5 thousand applications from volunteers. In total, every sixth inhabitant of the region went to the front - more than 50 thousand people.
Party, Soviet and military bodies organized general military training for the population. In districts and settlements, units of the people's militia, fighter detachments, sanitary squads, and local air defense formations were formed. Thus, in the first few weeks of the war alone, the Murmansk fighter regiment went on missions 13 times that were associated with the destruction of enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups. The fighters of the Kandalaksha Fighter Battalion directly participated in the fighting in Karelia in the area of the Loukhi station. The fighters of the fighter formations of the Kola and Kirov regions served to protect the Kirov railway.
In the summer of 1942, at the initiative of the regional party committee, partisan detachments "Bolshevik of the Arctic Circle" and "Soviet Murman" were formed in the region. Given the fact that the Murmansk region was practically not occupied, partisan formations were based on their territory and went into deep raids behind enemy lines. The Rovaniemi-Petsamo road became the main object of the actions of the partisan detachments, it was used to supply the German troops located in the regions of Northern Finland. During raids, Murmansk partisans attacked enemy garrisons, disrupted lines of communication and communication, carried out reconnaissance and sabotage activities, and captured prisoners. Several partisan detachments also operated in the Kandalaksha direction.
Approximately 30 thousand people were mobilized for military construction work. These people on the outskirts of Murmansk and Kandalaksha created several defensive lines. With the participation of the civilian population, the mass construction of trenches, cracks, bomb shelters was carried out. From the end of June 1941, a mass evacuation of the civilian population and industrial equipment began from the region. Initially, it was carried out with the help of railway transport, then with the help of ships and vessels they were transported to Arkhangelsk. They took out children, women, the elderly, stocks of strategic raw materials, equipment from Severnickel, the Tuloma and Nivsky hydroelectric stations. In total, 8 thousand wagons and more than 100 ships were taken out of the Murmansk region - this evacuation became part of a larger operation that was carried out in all the western regions of the Soviet Union. Those enterprises that were left in the region were transferred to a military footing and focused on fulfilling military orders.
All fishing trawlers were transferred to the Northern Fleet. Ship repair enterprises carried out work on re-equipping them into warships, weapons were installed on them. Shipyards also repaired warships and submarines. Since June 23, all enterprises of the region have switched to a round-the-clock (emergency) mode of operation.
The enterprises of Murmansk, Kandalaksha, Kirovsk, Monchegorsk in the shortest possible time mastered the production of automatic, grenades, mortars. The Apatit plant began producing a mixture for incendiary air bombs, ship repair shops made boats, drags, mountain sledges, a furniture factory produced skis for soldiers. Artels of trade cooperation produced reindeer teams, soap, portable stoves (bourgeois stoves), various camping utensils, sewed uniforms, and repaired shoes. Reindeer-breeding collective farms handed over reindeer and sleds to the army, supplied them with meat and fish.
The women, teenagers and old people who remained in the region were replaced in the production of men who had gone to the front. They mastered new professions at various courses, fulfilled the norms not only of healthy men, but also set records. The working day at enterprises has grown to 10, 12 hours, and sometimes even 14 hours.
Fishermen resumed fishing in the autumn of 1941, catching fish necessary for the front and rear in combat conditions (they could be attacked by enemy aircraft, submarines). Although the region itself experienced a shortage of food, but still several echelons with fish were able to send besieged Leningrad. In order to improve the food supply of the population of the Murmansk region at industrial enterprises, subsidiary farms were created, gardens were cultivated by people. A collection of berries and mushrooms, medicinal herbs, needles was organized. Teams of hunters were engaged in the extraction of game - elk, wild deer, birds. Fishing for lake and river fish was organized in the inland waters of the Kola Peninsula.
In addition, residents of the region took an active part in raising funds for the Defense Fund: people handed over 15 kg of gold, 23.5 kg of silver. In total, over the years of the Great War, more than 65 million rubles were received from the inhabitants of the Murmansk region. In 1941, 2.8 million rubles were transferred to the creation of the squadron "Komsomolets of the Arctic", and the railway workers built the squadron "Soviet Murman" at their own expense. More than 60,000 gifts were collected and sent to the front for the soldiers of the Red Army. School buildings in settlements were converted into hospitals.
And all this was done in the most difficult conditions of the frontline zone, settlements were subjected to constant air strikes. So, since the summer of 1942, Murmansk was subjected to severe bombing, only on June 18, German planes dropped 12 thousand bombs, the fire destroyed more than 600 wooden buildings in the city. In total, from 1941 to 1944, 792 raids by the German Air Force were carried out on the main city of the region, the Luftwaffe dropped about 7 thousand high-explosive and 200 thousand incendiary bombs. In Murmansk, more than 1,500 houses (three quarters of the entire housing stock), 437 industrial and service buildings were destroyed and burned. German aircraft regularly attacked the Kirov railway. During the hostilities in the Arctic, for every kilometer of the railway, the German Air Force dropped an average of 120 bombs. But, despite the constant danger of falling under bombardment or shelling, Murmansk railway workers and port workers did their job, and communication with the mainland was not interrupted, trains went along the Kirov railway. It should be noted that 185 enemy planes were shot down by air defense forces over Murmansk and the Kirov railway in 1941-1943.
Murmansk after the bombing. In terms of the number and density of bombings inflicted on the city, Murmansk is second only to Stalingrad among Soviet cities. As a result of German bombardment, three-quarters of the city was destroyed.
Arctic and allies
A big battle in 1942 unfolded in the sea zone. The allies of the USSR in the Anti-Hitler coalition began the supply of military equipment, equipment, and food. The Soviet Union supplied the Allies with strategic raw materials. In total, during the Great War, 42 allied convoys (722 transports) came to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, 36 convoys were sent from the Soviet Union (682 transports reached the ports of destination). The first allied convoy arrived at the port of Murmansk on January 11, 1942, and in total during the Great Patriotic War, up to 300 ships were unloaded in it, more than 1.2 million tons of foreign cargo were processed.
The German command tried to disrupt the supply of goods, to cut off this strategic communication. To combat the Allied convoys, large forces of the Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and surface forces were involved, which were located in Norwegian bases. The main burden of protecting the convoys was assigned to the forces of the British fleet and the Soviet Northern Fleet. Only for the protection of convoys, the ships of the Northern Fleet made 838 exits. In addition, she conducted reconnaissance from the air, and naval aviation covered the convoys. The Air Force also attacked German bases and airfields, enemy ships on the high seas. Soviet submarine forces went to sea and kept a combat watch at German naval bases and on possible routes for the passage of large surface ships of the Reich naval forces. The combined efforts of the British and Soviet covering forces destroyed 27 enemy submarines, 2 battleships and 3 destroyers. In general, the protection of the convoys acted successfully: under the cover of sailors and pilots of the Northern Fleet and the British Navy, sea caravans lost 85 transports, reached their target more than 1400.
In addition, the Northern Fleet was active in combat off the coast of the enemy, trying to disrupt the German sea transportation along the coast of Northern Norway. If in 1941-1942 the submarine fleet was mainly involved in these operations, then from the second half of 1943 the naval aviation forces began to play the first violin. In total, in 1941-1945, the Northern Fleet, mainly through the efforts of the Northern Fleet Air Force, destroyed more than 200 enemy ships and auxiliary vessels, over 400 transports with a total tonnage of 1 million tons and about 1.3 thousand aircraft.
Project 7 destroyer of the Soviet Northern Fleet "Grozny" at sea.
Front line in 1942-1944
In the zone of operations of the 14th Army, the front line in the period from autumn 1941 to autumn 1944 was very stable. Both sides experienced the same difficulties. Firstly, natural and climatic conditions interfered with a quick, maneuverable war. There was no solid front, battle formations replaced stone ridges, swamps, rivers, lakes, forests that were insurmountable by large formations. Secondly, the defensive orders of the German and Soviet troops were constantly improved. Thirdly, neither the Soviet command nor the Germans had a decisive superiority in forces.
Basically, the armies opposing each other carried out reconnaissance, sabotage (including with the help of partisans), and improved defense. Of the most significant actions, one can note the counteroffensive of the Red Army at the end of April 1942 in the Kestenga direction. Soviet troops actually thwarted the German offensive, intelligence revealed the concentration of enemy forces in this direction. But after a 10-day battle, the situation stabilized at the same positions. At the same time, the Red Army tried to go on the offensive in the Murmansk direction - at the turn of the Western Litsa River. Soviet troops were able to break through several kilometers ahead, but soon the Germans restored the front.
After that, there were no more or less large-scale hostilities in the zone of the 14th Army until October 1944.
Soviet submarines of the "C" series in the port of Polyarny.
The defeat of the Germans in the Arctic
By the autumn of 1944, Soviet troops firmly held the strategic initiative along the entire length of the Soviet-German front. The time has come to defeat the enemy in the northern sector of the front.
The 14th Army became the main fighting force in the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation (held from October 7 to November 1, 1944). The army received the task of destroying the main forces of the 19th German mountain rifle corps (corps "Norway"), which fortified in the Petsamo region, and in the future to continue the offensive in the direction of Kirkenes in Northern Norway.
The 14th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Vladimir Shcherbakov, consisted of: 8 rifle divisions, 5 rifle divisions, 1 tank and 2 engineering brigades, 1 brigade of rocket launchers, 21 artillery and mortar regiments, 2 regiments of self-propelled guns. It had 97 thousand soldiers and officers, 2212 guns and mortars, 107 tanks and self-propelled gun mounts. The army was supported from the air by the 7th Air Army - 689 aircraft. And from the sea, the Northern Fleet under the command of Admiral Arseny Golovko. The fleet participated in the operation with detachments of ships, 2 brigades of marines and 276 naval aviation aircraft.
In the German 19th mountain corps there were: 3 mountain divisions and 4 brigades (53 thousand soldiers and officers), 753 guns and mortars. It was commanded by General of the Mountain Rifles Ferdinand Jodl. From the air, the forces of the 5th Air Fleet covered up to 160 aircraft. The German Navy operated at sea.
The situation was complicated by the factor that in three years the Germans built the so-called. Lapland defensive rampart. And after Finland left the war (September 19, 1944), military construction work took on a very active character. At the 90-kilometer front, minefields, wire fences, anti-tank ditches and gouges stretched, reinforced concrete and armored firing points, shelters, trenches, and communication passages were erected. The fortifications intercepted all the passes, hollows, roads, dominating heights. From the side of the sea, the positions were strengthened by coastal batteries and anti-aircraft positions arranged in caponiers. And this despite the fact that the terrain was already impassable - rivers, lakes, swamps, rocks.
On October 7, 1944, after the artillery preparation, the offensive began. Even before it began, engineering units were abandoned behind enemy lines in order to destroy the enemy's fortifications. On the right flank of the strike force, the 131st Rifle Corps was advancing, its target was Petsamo, it was supported by a distracting task force and two brigades of marines. On the left flank, the 99th Rifle Corps went on the attack, it had the task of advancing in the direction of Luostari. On the left flank, the 126th light rifle corps performed a deep detour maneuver (its target was also Luostari).
The 131st Corps by 1500 broke through the first German defense line and reached the Titovka River. On October 8, the bridgehead was expanded, and movement began in the direction of Petsamo. The 99th Corps was unable to break through the German defenses on the first day, but did so in a night attack (on the night of October 7-8). In the zone of his offensive, a reserve was brought into battle - the 127th light rifle corps, on October 12 they captured Luostari and began moving towards Petsamo from the south.
The 126th light rifle corps, making a heavy detour maneuver, by October 11 came out west of Luostari and cut the Petsamo-Salmiyarvi road. With this, the Soviet command did not allow the approach of German reinforcements. The corps received the following task - to saddle the Petsamo-Tarnet road from the west with a new roundabout maneuver. The task was completed on October 13th.
On October 14, the 131st, 99th and 127th corps approached Petsamo, and the assault began. October 15 Petsamo fell. After this, the army corps regrouped and on October 18 the second stage of the operation began. Parts of the 4 corps already participating in the battle and the new reserve 31 rifle corps were thrown into the battle. Basically, during this stage, the enemy was pursued. The 127th Light Rifle Corps and the 31st Rifle Corps were advancing on Nikel, the 99th Rifle Corps and the 126th Light Rifle Corps were advancing on Akhmalakhti, and the 131st Rifle Corps was advancing on Tarnet. Already on October 20, the coverage of Nikel began, on the 22nd it fell. The rest of the corps also reached the planned lines by October 22.
Amphibious landing, 1944.
On October 18, the 131st Rifle Corps entered Norwegian soil. The liberation of northern Norway began. On October 24-25, Yar Fjord was crossed, the forces of the 14th Army fanned out on Norwegian territory. The 31st Rifle Corps did not cross the bay and began to move deep south - by October 27 it reached Nausti, reaching the border of Norway and Finland. The 127th Light Rifle Corps was also moving south along the western bank of the fjord. The 126th light rifle corps moved westward, and on October 27 reached Neiden. The 99th and 131st rifle corps rushed to Kirkenes and occupied it on October 25th. After that, the operation was completed. A large role in the operation was played by amphibious assaults and the actions of the Northern Fleet. It was a complete victory.
Operation results
With the expulsion of German troops from Kirkenes and reaching the line of Neiden, Nausti, the Soviet 14th Army and the Northern Fleet completed their tasks in the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation. On November 9, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the 14th Army to stop the movement and go on the defensive. During the 19-day battles, the army troops advanced westward up to 150 km, liberating the Petsamo-Pechenga region and Northern Norway. The loss of these territories severely limited the actions of the German Navy in the Soviet northern communications and deprived the Third Reich of the opportunity to receive nickel ore (a strategic resource).
German troops suffered significant losses in manpower, weapons and military equipment. So, Jodl's 19th mountain rifle corps lost only about 30 thousand people killed. The Northern Fleet destroyed 156 enemy ships and vessels, and the Soviet aviation forces destroyed 125 Luftwaffe aircraft. The Soviet army lost more than 15 thousand people killed and wounded, including more than 2 thousand soldiers and officers in Norway.
During the offensive of the Soviet troops in the Far North, the high military art of the Soviet military command was shown. The operational-tactical interaction of the ground forces with the forces of the Northern Fleet was organized at a high level. The Soviet corps carried out the offensive in the conditions of the difficult nature of the terrain, often without elbow communication with neighboring units. The forces of the 14th Army skillfully and flexibly maneuvered, used specially trained and prepared light rifle corps in battle. A high level was shown by the engineering units of the Soviet army, the formations of the Navy, and the Marine Corps.
During the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, Soviet troops liberated the occupied regions of the Soviet Arctic and provided tremendous assistance in the liberation of Norway.
Finally, Norway was also liberated with the help of the USSR. On May 7-8, 1945, the German military-political leadership agreed to complete surrender and the German group in Norway (it consisted of about 351 thousand soldiers and officers) received an order to surrender and laid down their arms.
General Vladimir Ivanovich Shcherbakov.
ctrl Enter
Noticed osh s bku Highlight text and click Ctrl+Enter
"We passed, not knowing defeat, through forests, swamps and snow, and breaking through the steel fortifications, we defeated the evil enemy!"- this bravura song ends the documentary film about the war with the "White Finns". The picture was released on the screens of the Country of Soviets in the spring of 1940 shortly after the conclusion of peace with Finland.
The main theater of operations was the Karelian Isthmus, which was crossed by a strip of fortifications known as the Mannerheim Line. The breakthrough of the "Mannerheim Line" was dedicated to the film of the same name. It, not surprisingly, said nothing about the huge losses suffered by the Red Army in frontal attacks.
The battles in the Arctic were much less intense and bloody than the battles on the Karelian Isthmus, north of Lake Ladoga and in Karelia and were not honored with a mention in newsreels. But it was on the northernmost sector of the front that the Soviet troops achieved the greatest success with the least losses.
In the north, the struggle was for the ice-free port of Petsamo (now Pechenga), nickel deposits and fleet bases. Both the USSR and Finland were interested in them. Interest in ports and mines was shown by Germany and Western allies - Britain and France.
Petsamo Liinakhamari, Finnish photography, 1939
Polar surprise
The fighting on all sectors of the front of the Soviet-Finnish front began on November 30, 1939. The Soviet 14th Army was advancing in the Far North. It was commanded by division commander Valerian Frolov. The 52nd Division moved south along the only Petsamo-Rovaniemi road. The 13th and 104th divisions and the forces of the Northern Fleet were tasked with protecting the coast.
The Finns, the researchers note, did not expect the Soviet Union to throw into the tundra an entire combined arms army consisting of three divisions, five attached artillery regiments, an anti-aircraft division and two tank battalions.
On December 2, Soviet troops captured the port of Petsamo and cut off Finland from the Barents Sea, occupied the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas. Soon the offensive was stopped. The battles were reduced to repulse raids by Finnish skiers.
“There was no solid front line at all north of Lake Ladoga,” says Finnish historian Karl-Frederick Geust. “There was nothing like the Mannerheim Line in the north. For the Finnish command, it was a surprise that the Red Army was advancing with the same orgomic forces there where there are no roads. The Finns thought that it was impossible to conduct offensive battles with large forces in the conditions of a roadless tundra. But the Kremlin thought differently."
A surprise for the Finns, according to Russian historian Bair Irincheev, was the deployment of the Soviet 9th Army in Karelia. "The appearance of the 52nd division, as well as three divisions of the 9th Army, the 122nd, 163rd and 44th was a very big surprise for the Finns. The Finnish pre-war plans did not provide for the possibility of deploying such large formations in the tundra."
Historian Mikhail Meltyukhov describes the situation in the Arctic in November-December 1939 as follows: "The Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas were separated by a border. It was these peninsulas that were the objects of territorial claims. An offensive began, and it turned out that there were simply no Finns there."
As a result, says Mikhail Meltyukhov, the 52nd division occupied Petsamo and captured the nickel mines. Having lost Petsamo, Finland lost the opportunity to receive assistance from friendly states. In addition, the 14th Army was supposed to prevent the possible landing, as Meltyukhov says, of the troops of "third countries."
Fortitude, knowledge of the area, dexterity
In the summer of 1939, the Red Army, despite the failures of the first stage of the fighting, convincingly defeated the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol. In the second half of September, the Red Army made a successful campaign in Eastern Poland.
These victories played a cruel joke on the Soviet command. The People's Commissariat of Defense, the General Staff and the Kremlin believed that Finland could be dealt with quickly and with minor losses.
Many units and formations that fought in Mongolia and Poland were transferred to the Leningrad Military District. However, the war in the north turned out to be completely different.
The Finnish army, according to the historian Karl-Fredrik Geust, had at least three advantages. "Firstly, the Finns defended their country. Secondly, the Finns were to a certain extent prepared for war in the Arctic conditions, in particular, they all knew how to ski. And thirdly, - this was a secret for a long time - The Finnish army had very effective radio intelligence."
Thanks to a well-established radio interception service, says Geust, the Finns had a complete understanding of the intentions of the Soviet command and were able to successfully maneuver their small forces, throwing them into the most threatened sectors of the front. This partly explains the seemingly paradoxical circumstance that the Finns during the war more than once managed to surround units and formations of the Red Army.
"The 54th Mountain Rifle Division, whose pre-war stationing was the city of Kandalaksha, was staffed by local residents, the division was good. If the Finns managed to defeat the 163rd and 44th divisions and force them to retreat, then the 54th, although it hit a encirclement, held out until the end of the war and diverted the entire 9th Infantry Division of the Finnish Army," says Bair Irincheev.
The 44th division, defeated near Suomusalmi, as well as the 52nd division operating in the Petsamo region, which suffered minor losses, were among those formations of the Red Army that took part in the Polish campaign in September 1939.
On December 2, 1939, the 52nd division occupied Petsamo, - Mikhail Meltyukhov restores the course of events, - "and by December 18 it is advancing to Rovaniemi ... And the 44th division found itself in a very unpleasant situation, panic began there, and a significant part of the losses connected precisely with panic. It is clear that the losses of the 44th were simply incomparable with the losses of the 52nd. "
Finnish D.O.T. on Rybachy, July 2009 globant.narod.ru
“The open area in the tundra,” notes Bair Irincheev, “did not allow the Finns to strike with impunity and retreat. In addition, Frolov, the commander of the 14th Army, very quickly gave the order to set up sidings, bolkhouses, checkpoints along the road in the tundra in order to secure communications of the 52nd division and its entire army from raids by Finnish skiers.
“We must not forget,” continues Bair Irincheev, “that the entire 9th division of the Finns was deployed against the 44th division. It is often found in literature, especially in Western literature, that the Finns destroyed the 44th division with almost one battalion. This is not so. After the Finns forced the 163rd division to withdraw, the 44th found itself in front of a comparable Finnish grouping."
Exotic General
The actions of the Finnish troops in the area of Petsamo and Salla were led by the commander of the Lapland group, General Kurt Wallenius, known for his sympathies for the Nazis. The Lapland group, together with the North Karelian group, was part of the North Finnish group.
In the Salla area, the Finns had four separate battalions, an infantry regiment and an artillery battery. Their forces in the vicinity of Petsamo were even more modest: three separate companies, a separate artillery battery and a reconnaissance group.
"Mannerheim, the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, at the beginning of March 1940 sent Wallenius to the Vyborg Bay area. It was believed that since Wallenius organized a very strong defense in Lapland, he would also be able to successfully organize the defense of Vyborg. However, nothing came of it, and a day later - two after the arrival of Wallenius near Vyborg, he was removed,” says Karl-Fredrik Geust.
Bair Irincheev says that the reason for the disgrace was very prosaic: "Wallenius, when he was called from Lapland to the Karelian Isthmus, went into a binge three days later, and was dismissed by Mannerheim."
“Since the 52nd division received an order to stop and actually stood still for most of the war, the Finnish commander probably also distinguished himself somehow. But I can hardly imagine what he would have done if the 52nd division had received an order move on. He simply did not have the strength to stop her, "says Mikhail Meltyukhov.
The American newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in its issue of December 18, 1939 cites excerpts from an interview with General Wallenius to Swedish journalists. He argued that the war could last at least a year, and so characterized the enemy:
“The Soviet artillery is good, the tanks are nothing, and the planes are piloted ineptly,” the general said. “Some captured Soviet pilots were found printed multiplication tables, with which they had to solve technical problems.”
Swedish ally
Foreign volunteers arrived to help Finland throughout the war - Hungarians, Norwegians, Danes, British, Estonians. Few of them managed to visit the front line. The largest contingent was put up by the Swedes, who really had to smell the gunpowder.
In northern Finland, a Swedish volunteer corps was operating with a total strength of about eight thousand people. The volunteers were commanded by General Ernst Linder. With the permission of the Swedish government, a volunteer squadron was formed, which had 12 light bombers and 12 fighters.
“Valleinus had a Swedish volunteer corps, which arrived at the front in Salla in the last days of February 1940. The Swedish squadron arrived in Lapland in January. It was the only squadron in Lapland,” says Carl-Fredrik Geust. “The Swedish squadron fought for two months, and Swedish infantry and artillery only two weeks."
According to a Finnish historian, before the arrival of the Swedish squadron, Finland had no aircraft in Lapland. Soviet bombers operated without fighter escort. According to Karl-Fredrik Geust, Swedish pilots shot down 9 Soviet aircraft. The losses of the Swedes amounted to 5 aircraft. Three pilots were killed and two were captured.
“The Swedish infantry went on the defensive and freed the Finnish 40th Infantry Regiment, which was sent in full force to the Karelian Isthmus. The Swedes took over the front from the 40th Infantry Regiment on February 28, 1940,” says Bair Irincheev.
"The Swedes provided real help. Not only stew, as they say. They supplied the Finns with weapons, there were a lot of volunteers there. For the Swedes, Finland has always been the front line of defense. That is, the farther the Soviet border from Sweden, the better. That is why the Swedes provided the greatest assistance," explains Mikhail Meltyukhov.
Landing is canceled
The port of Petsamo, nickel mines and fleet bases were of interest to almost everyone - the USSR, Germany, the British, the French, and the Americans.
The capture of Petsamo for the Soviet command was explained by strategic considerations. Karl-Fredrik Geust recalls that the Western powers - Britain and France - planned to land troops on the coast of the Barents Sea.
Bair Irincheev believes that the threat of a British-French landing was one of the factors that prompted the Soviet command to "finish the matter in peace", although the Finnish army was already holding out with all its might.
“The Soviet-Finnish war was, to put it mildly, not very interesting for the British and French,” says Mikhail Meltyukhov. stealthily seize the iron ore deposits in Sweden, which supplied Germany with 75 percent of the ore."
Britain and France, continues Meltyukhov, could try, on the one hand, through Norway and Narvik, and on the other, through Petsamo, to occupy this region and control it. The Western allies, the Russian historian believes, firstly, were in no hurry to land. They expected that the war would drag on, and in every possible way contributed to this.
However, the landing of the Franco-British troops required the request of the government of Finland, as well as the consent of Norway and Sweden. The operation was supposed to start on March 20. The peace treaty between Finland and the USSR was concluded on March 12.
The British, French and Polish units, which did not have a chance to land in Petsamo, had to fight in April not with the Soviet, but with the German troops near Narvik in Norway. The Germans did not need permission to carry out the Weserubung operation.
The Soviet Union, which had partnered with Germany after the conclusion of the non-aggression pact and the treaty of friendship and border, provided the German naval forces with a supply point at Zapadnaya Litsa on the Kola Peninsula.
Documentation:
- Memorandum of the USSR to the Government of Finland, October 14, 1939
- "New provocations of the Finnish military", Pravda, November 29
September 19, 1944 Finland and the Soviet Union sign the Moscow Armistice. Two weeks before the signing of this document, Mannerheim officially announced a complete break in relations with Germany. In addition, the territories of Karelia and the Pechenga region, which at that time was called Petsamo, went to the USSR.
However, a rather large grouping of Nazi troops continued to hold their positions.
Berlin entrusted the execution of tasks to Lothar Rendulich and Ferdinand Jodl, the commander of the 20th Army and the 19th Mountain Jaeger Corps.
The importance of the region, which was still under German control, was enormous. The German fleet, including the battleship Tirpitz, which, although it did not take an active part in the hostilities, but constantly threatened the Arctic convoys and fettered part of the forces of the British fleet, was based in ice-free ports, and strategically important nickel and copper were mined in the Petsamo area and Kirkines.
The German formations stationed in the Arctic were among the most combat-ready in the Wehrmacht. By the beginning of October, about 56,000 soldiers and officers of the 20th Army were stationed in the Arctic. The ground grouping was supported by the aviation of the 5th air fleet of the Luftwaffe.
In the Arctic, the enemy created a defense in depth, consisting of several defensive lines and lines. The main line of defense, laid in difficult terrain, had a length of more than 60 kilometers. In addition, defenses were also prepared on the coast.
To liberate the Arctic, the troops of the Karelian Front, commanded by General of the Army K.A. Meretskov and formations of the Northern Fleet under the command of Admiral A.G. Golovko. The Soviet troops were to destroy the main enemy forces, the 19th Mountain Jaeger Corps, liberate Petsamo and, developing the offensive, reach the Soviet-Norwegian border.
According to the plan of the operation, the main blow on the left flank was to be delivered by the 14th Army under the command of Lieutenant General V.I. Shcherbakov. The strike grouping of the Karelian Front was supposed to go on the offensive in the direction of Lowstari - Petsamo, go to the rear of the enemy grouping, intercept the escape routes, and then, interacting with the amphibious assault of the Northern Fleet, destroy the encircled enemy grouping.
In front of the operational group of Lieutenant General B.A. Pigarevich, operating on the right flank, was tasked with diverting enemy reserves.
On the morning of October 7, 1944, a powerful two-hour artillery preparation began, after which formations of the 131st and 99th rifle corps went on the offensive.
By the middle of the day, in the offensive zone of the 131st Rifle Corps, the main line of defense of the Nazi troops was broken through.
In the offensive zone of the 99th Rifle Corps, the situation was much more complicated: the advancing troops were stopped at wire obstacles and during the first day of the operation they could not advance a kilometer. However, already at midnight, without preliminary artillery preparation, the formations went on the attack and by morning were able to break the resistance at the main strongholds.
By the end of the second day of the operation, Meretskov set the task for the command of the 14th Army - by increasing the pace of the offensive, to capture Luostari and Petsamo, and to prevent the withdrawal of German units from the occupied lines.
On the same day, the Northern Fleet also joined the fighting.
On October 12, Soviet troops cleared Luostari of the enemy. After that, the main forces of the Soviet troops were sent to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping based in the Petsamo area as soon as possible. Three days later, the encircled enemy grouping was completely destroyed.
On October 15, 1944, the Headquarters of the Supreme Command received from the commander of the troops of the Karelian Front considerations on the continuation of the operation.
It was assumed that the Soviet troops would clear the areas west and northwest of Petsamo from the enemy and continue to pursue the retreating units of the Wehrmacht in Norway.
The persecution of the enemy began only after the negotiations between Stalin and Churchill - the territory of Norway was included in the sphere of interests of the Allies, and not the USSR.
On October 18, 1944, units and formations of the 14th Army resumed hostilities. Three days later, the 131st Rifle Corps reached the border area with Norway, and the very next day the first Norwegian settlement was liberated.
The remaining units and formations of the army reached the border with Norway after five days of heavy fighting.
Six days later, the divisions of the 131st Rifle Corps reached the Kirkenes area and within 24 hours, crossing the Bekfjord bay, captured the city and port.
The Petsamo-Kirkenes operation ended on October 29, 1944: it was on this day that Soviet troops completely cleared the Soviet Arctic and put an end to the Nazi occupation of Norway
In Russia, speaking of the Great Patriotic War, they recall the defeats of 1941-1942, the battle of Moscow, the blockade of Leningrad, the battle for Stalingrad, the North Caucasus, the Fiery Arc and a number of other famous operations. But they can say little about the war in the North, on the Kola Peninsula, if they even heard about this page of the Great War.
The Kola Peninsula occupied a large place in the aggressive plans of the German military-political command. Firstly, Berlin was interested in the city of Murmansk - an ice-free port, the base of the Northern Fleet of the USSR. In addition, the Kirov railway connected the Murmansk port with the main part of the country, which made it possible to receive military cargo and quickly deliver them to Central Russia. Therefore, the Germans planned to capture the port and cut the railway as soon as possible. Secondly, Hitler was attracted by the rich natural resources of the Kola Land, and especially the deposits of nickel, a metal very necessary for the German military-industrial complex and the economies of Germany's allies. Thirdly, these lands were of interest to the Finnish elite, according to their plans, the Kola Peninsula was to become part of the "Great Finland".
To capture the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic theater of operations, the army "Norway" was concentrated (it was formed in December 1940) as part of 3 corps - two mountain German corps and one Finnish corps. It was led by Colonel General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst.
Colonel General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
The army had 97 thousand people, 1037 guns and mortars, 106 tanks. This army was supported by part of the forces of the 5th Air Fleet and the Navy of the Third Reich.
They were opposed by the Soviet 14th Army, which took up defense in the Murmansk and Kandalaksha directions, under the command of Valerian Frolov. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities, the army included: 4th Rifle Corps (10th and 122nd Rifle Divisions), 14th, 52nd Rifle Divisions, 1st Tank Division, 1st Mixed Air Division, 23 th fortified area and a number of other formations. The 23rd fortified area (UR) was located on the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas and occupied a defense zone along the front of 85 kilometers, a depth of 5 kilometers, having 7 defense units, consisting of 12 built and combat-ready long-term defensive structures, and 30 located on construction stage. The UR was defended by two machine-gun battalions (two more were planned to be deployed), in addition, one of the regiments of the 14th Rifle Division operated in its zone. The army had 52.6 thousand personnel, 1150 guns and mortars, 392 tanks. From the sea, the 14th Army was covered by ships and aviation of the Northern Fleet (8 destroyers, 7 patrol ships, 15 submarines, 116 aircraft).
It must be said that in the future the composition of the forces of the two armies was constantly changing, because the parties constantly increased them.
The failure of the Arctic Blitzkrieg.
The Great War in the Arctic began on the night of June 22, 1941 with massive air raids on cities, towns, industrial facilities, frontier posts and naval bases.
The Germans, after the occupation of Norway, began to develop a plan for waging war in the Arctic. Planning for the operation began on 13 August 1940 and was completed in October of the same year. The Murmansk operation (Blaufuks plan or Silberfuks plan, German Unternehmen Silberfuchs - "Polar Fox") was an integral part of the Barbarossa plan. It was divided into several stages. During the first - Operation Renntir ("Reindeer") - the German 2nd mountain rifle division and the 3rd mountain rifle division from the Norway mountain corps invaded the Petsamo area (nickel mines were located there) and captured it.
It should be noted that the Soviet troops were not taken by surprise, as the beginning of the Great Patriotic War often shows. Already on June 14-15, the 122nd Rifle Division from the 14th Army, by order of the commander of the Leningrad Military District M. M. Popov, was advanced to the state border. The division was supposed to cover the Kandalaksha direction. It was of strategic importance - if successful, the enemy troops would go to the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea and cut off the Kola Peninsula from the central regions of the country. On the 19th, the 1st Panzer Division began to advance to the border, on the 21st, the 52nd Rifle Division was alerted, it was deployed in Murmansk, Monchegorsk and Kirovsk. On the night of June 22, two regiments and a reconnaissance battalion of the 14th Rifle Division were transferred to the border. In addition, the success of the defense was accompanied by the factor of difficult terrain.
On June 28-29, 1941, active hostilities began in the Murmansk direction (the main blow). This was the second stage - Operation Platinfuks (German: Platinfuchs - "Platinum Fox"), German forces advanced through Titovka, Ura-Guba to Polyarny (the main base of the Northern Fleet) and Murmansk. The Nazis planned to capture the bases of the Northern Fleet, blockade and capture Murmansk, and then go to the coast of the White Sea and occupy Arkhangelsk. In the course of the second phase of the operation, they were going to carry out the third one - to carry out the operation "Arctic fox" (it. "Polarfuchs"). The 2nd German mountain division was advancing on Polyarnoye, and one Finnish division and one German division were to go east from Kemijärvi.
On April 28, the 2nd and 3rd mountain rifle divisions, the 40th and 112th separate tank battalions went on the attack in the Murmansk direction. They had a 4-fold advantage in the decisive direction - the 95th rifle regiment of the 14th rifle division could not withstand the blow and retreated, breaking the orders of the 325th rifle regiment of the same division that came to the rescue. But the Nazis failed to defeat the garrison of the 23rd URA on the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas. The garrison, relying on powerful fortifications and coastal batteries (3 x 130 mm and 4 x 100 mm guns), repelled all attacks.
By June 30, the 52nd Rifle Division entrenched itself on the Western Litsa River (“Valley of Glory”) and throughout July repelled all German attempts to force a water barrier. On the right flank, the regrouped units of the 14th Rifle Division held the defense. In September, the defense was reinforced by the 186th Rifle Division (Polar Division), after which the front in this sector stabilized until 1944. For 104 days of fighting, the Germans advanced 30-60 km and did not solve the assigned tasks. Marines of the Northern Fleet also played a positive role - attacks on the enemy's flank were delivered on July 7 and 14. And also the "unsinkable battleship of the Arctic" - the Rybachy Peninsula, in the area of the 23rd UR and the 135th rifle regiment of the 14th rifle division, the Nazis did not manage to cross the border sign No. 1.
On the Kandalaksha direction, the first blow was repulsed on June 24. On July 1, 1941, the Germans, using the 36th Army Corps, which included the 169th Infantry Division, the SS Nord mountain rifle brigade, as well as the Finnish 6th Infantry Division and two Finnish Jaeger battalions, launched a general attack on Kandalaksha. The enemy was opposed by the 122nd Rifle Division, the 1st Panzer Division (until mid-July 1941, then it was taken to another sector of the front) and the 104th Rifle Division, which was later transferred to the Kairaly area (without the 242nd Infantry Regiment, which was located in the Kestenga direction ). Until the beginning of August, there were fierce battles with little advance of enemy units. In early August 1941, a reinforced Finnish battalion penetrated the rear of the Soviet forces. The Finns saddled the road near the Nyamozero station, as a result, the Soviet group had to fight for two weeks in a strange environment. Only one enemy battalion blocked five rifle regiments, three artillery regiments and other formations. This case speaks of the complexity of the theater of operations, the lack of a developed road network, the difficult terrain among forests and swamps. When the road was unblocked two weeks later, the enemy delivered a strong blow from the front and forced the Red Army units to withdraw. Soviet troops entrenched four kilometers east of Alakurtti, and there the front line stabilized until 1944. The maximum advance of the enemy was about 95 kilometers.
On the Kestenga direction, the 242nd Rifle Regiment of the 104th Rifle Division held the defense. Active hostilities began in early July 1941. By July 10, the Germans managed to reach the Sofyanga River, and in November capture Kestenga and move east from it for about 30 km. By November 11, 1941, the front line had stabilized 40 km west of Loukhi. By that time, the grouping of Soviet troops in this sector of the front had been reinforced by the 5th Rifle Brigade and the 88th Rifle Division.
German ski unit in the Arctic
By the autumn of 1941, it became clear that the plan for a blitzkrieg in the Arctic had been thwarted. In fierce defensive battles, showing courage and stamina, Soviet border guards, soldiers of the 14th Army, sailors of the Northern Fleet bled the advancing enemy units and forced the Germans to take a break and go on the defensive. The German command failed to achieve any of the goals set in the Arctic. Despite some initial successes, the German troops failed to reach the Murmansk railway in any area, as well as to capture the bases of the Northern Fleet, reach Murmansk and capture it. As a result, there was the only section of the Soviet-German front where the enemy troops were already stopped a few tens of kilometers from the line of the Soviet State border, and in some places the Germans were not even able to cross the border.
Marines of the Northern Fleet on the deck of the MO-4 project boat
Residents of the Murmansk region rendered enormous assistance to the formations of the Red Army and the Navy of the USSR. Already on the first day of the Great War, martial law was introduced in the Murmansk region, the military commissariats began to mobilize those liable for military service, and the military registration and enlistment offices received up to 3.5 thousand applications from volunteers. In total, every sixth inhabitant of the region went to the front - more than 50 thousand people.
Party, Soviet and military bodies organized general military training for the population. In districts and settlements, units of the people's militia, fighter detachments, sanitary squads, and local air defense formations were formed. Thus, in the first few weeks of the war alone, the Murmansk fighter regiment went on missions 13 times that were associated with the destruction of enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups. The fighters of the Kandalaksha Fighter Battalion directly participated in the fighting in Karelia in the area of the Loukhi station. The fighters of the fighter formations of the Kola and Kirov regions served to protect the Kirov railway.
Partisans of the Arctic
In the summer of 1942, at the initiative of the regional party committee, partisan detachments "Bolshevik of the Arctic Circle" and "Soviet Murman" were formed in the region. Given the fact that the Murmansk region was practically not occupied, partisan formations were based on their territory and went into deep raids behind enemy lines. The Rovaniemi-Petsamo road became the main object of the actions of the partisan detachments, it was used to supply the German troops located in the regions of Northern Finland. During raids, Murmansk partisans attacked enemy garrisons, disrupted lines of communication and communication, carried out reconnaissance and sabotage activities, and captured prisoners. Several partisan detachments also operated in the Kandalaksha direction.
Approximately 30 thousand people were mobilized for military construction work. These people on the outskirts of Murmansk and Kandalaksha created several defensive lines. With the participation of the civilian population, the mass construction of trenches, cracks, bomb shelters was carried out. From the end of June 1941, a mass evacuation of the civilian population and industrial equipment began from the region. Initially, it was carried out with the help of railway transport, then with the help of ships and vessels they were transported to Arkhangelsk. They took out children, women, the elderly, stocks of strategic raw materials, equipment from Severnickel, the Tuloma and Nivsky hydroelectric stations. In total, 8 thousand wagons and more than 100 ships were taken out of the Murmansk region - this evacuation became part of a larger operation that was carried out in all the western regions of the Soviet Union. Those enterprises that were left in the region were transferred to a military footing and focused on fulfilling military orders.
All fishing trawlers were transferred to the Northern Fleet. Ship repair enterprises carried out work on re-equipping them into warships, weapons were installed on them. Shipyards also repaired warships and submarines. Since June 23, all enterprises of the region have switched to a round-the-clock (emergency) mode of operation.
The enterprises of Murmansk, Kandalaksha, Kirovsk, Monchegorsk in the shortest possible time mastered the production of automatic weapons, grenades, mortars. The Apatit plant began producing a mixture for incendiary air bombs, ship repair shops made boats, drags, mountain sledges, a furniture factory produced skis for soldiers. Artels of trade cooperation produced reindeer teams, soap, portable stoves (bourgeois stoves), various camping utensils, sewed uniforms, and repaired shoes. Reindeer-breeding collective farms handed over reindeer and sleds to the army, supplied them with meat and fish.
The women, teenagers and old people who remained in the region were replaced in the production of men who had gone to the front. They mastered new professions at various courses, fulfilled the norms not only of healthy men, but also set records. The working day at enterprises has grown to 10, 12 hours, and sometimes even 14 hours.
Fishermen resumed fishing in the autumn of 1941, catching fish necessary for the front and rear in combat conditions (they could be attacked by enemy aircraft, submarines). Although the region itself experienced a shortage of food, but still several echelons with fish were able to send besieged Leningrad. In order to improve the food supply of the population of the Murmansk region at industrial enterprises, subsidiary farms were created, gardens were cultivated by people. A collection of berries and mushrooms, medicinal herbs, needles was organized. Teams of hunters were engaged in the extraction of game - elk, wild deer, birds. Fishing for lake and river fish was organized in the inland waters of the Kola Peninsula.
In addition, residents of the region took an active part in raising funds for the Defense Fund: people handed over 15 kg of gold, 23.5 kg of silver. In total, over the years of the Great War, more than 65 million rubles were received from the inhabitants of the Murmansk region. In 1941, 2.8 million rubles were transferred to the creation of the squadron "Komsomolets of the Arctic", and the railway workers built the squadron "Soviet Murman" at their own expense. More than 60,000 gifts were collected and sent to the front for the soldiers of the Red Army. School buildings in settlements were converted into hospitals.
And all this was done in the most difficult conditions of the frontline zone, settlements were subjected to constant air strikes. So, since the summer of 1942, Murmansk was subjected to severe bombing, only on June 18, German planes dropped 12 thousand bombs, the fire destroyed more than 600 wooden buildings in the city. In total, from 1941 to 1944, 792 raids by the German Air Force were carried out on the main city of the region, the Luftwaffe dropped about 7 thousand high-explosive and 200 thousand incendiary bombs. In Murmansk, more than 1,500 houses (three quarters of the entire housing stock), 437 industrial and service buildings were destroyed and burned. German aircraft regularly attacked the Kirov railway. During the hostilities in the Arctic, for every kilometer of the railway, the German Air Force dropped an average of 120 bombs. But, despite the constant danger of falling under bombardment or shelling, Murmansk railway workers and port workers did their job, and communication with the mainland was not interrupted, trains went along the Kirov railway. It should be noted that 185 enemy planes were shot down by air defense forces over Murmansk and the Kirov railway in 1941-1943.
Murmansk after the bombing.
In terms of the number and density of bombings inflicted on the city, Murmansk is second only to Stalingrad among Soviet cities. As a result of German bombardment, three-quarters of the city was destroyed.
A big battle in 1942 unfolded in the sea zone. The allies of the USSR in the Anti-Hitler coalition began the supply of military equipment, equipment, and food. The Soviet Union supplied the Allies with strategic raw materials. In total, during the Great War, 42 allied convoys (722 transports) came to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, 36 convoys were sent from the Soviet Union (682 transports reached the ports of destination). The first allied convoy arrived at the port of Murmansk on January 11, 1942, and in total during the Great Patriotic War, up to 300 ships were unloaded in it, more than 1.2 million tons of foreign cargo were processed.
The German command tried to disrupt the supply of goods, to cut off this strategic communication. To combat the Allied convoys, large forces of the Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and surface forces were involved, which were located in Norwegian bases. The main burden of protecting the convoys was assigned to the forces of the British fleet and the Soviet Northern Fleet. Only for the protection of convoys, the ships of the Northern Fleet made 838 exits. In addition, she conducted reconnaissance from the air, and naval aviation covered the convoys. The Air Force also attacked German bases and airfields, enemy ships on the high seas. Soviet submarine forces went to sea and kept a combat watch at German naval bases and on possible routes for the passage of large surface ships of the Reich naval forces. The combined efforts of the British and Soviet covering forces destroyed 27 enemy submarines, 2 battleships and 3 destroyers. In general, the protection of the convoys acted successfully: under the cover of sailors and pilots of the Northern Fleet and the British Navy, sea caravans lost 85 transports, reached their target more than 1400.
In addition, the Northern Fleet was active in combat off the coast of the enemy, trying to disrupt the German sea transportation along the coast of Northern Norway. If in 1941-1942 the submarine fleet was mainly involved in these operations, then from the second half of 1943 the naval aviation forces began to play the first violin. In total, in 1941-1945, the Northern Fleet, mainly through the efforts of the Northern Fleet Air Force, destroyed more than 200 enemy ships and auxiliary vessels, over 400 transports with a total tonnage of 1 million tons and about 1.3 thousand aircraft.
Project 7 destroyer of the Soviet Northern Fleet "Grozny" at sea
In the zone of operations of the 14th Army, the front line in the period from autumn 1941 to autumn 1944 was very stable. Both sides experienced the same difficulties. Firstly, natural and climatic conditions interfered with a quick, maneuverable war. There was no solid front, battle formations replaced stone ridges, swamps, rivers, lakes, forests that were insurmountable by large formations. Secondly, the defensive orders of the German and Soviet troops were constantly improved. Thirdly, neither the Soviet command nor the Germans had a decisive superiority in forces.
Basically, the armies opposing each other carried out reconnaissance, sabotage (including with the help of partisans), and improved defense. Of the most significant actions, one can note the counteroffensive of the Red Army at the end of April 1942 in the Kestenga direction. Soviet troops actually thwarted the German offensive, intelligence revealed the concentration of enemy forces in this direction. But after a 10-day battle, the situation stabilized at the same positions. At the same time, the Red Army tried to go on the offensive in the Murmansk direction - at the turn of the Western Litsa River. The Soviet troops were able to break through several kilometers ahead, but the Germans soon restored the front. After that, there were no more or less large-scale hostilities in the 14th Army zone until October 1944.
Soviet submarines of the "C" series in the port of Polyarny
By the autumn of 1944, Soviet troops firmly held the strategic initiative along the entire length of the Soviet-German front. The time has come to defeat the enemy in the northern sector of the front.
The 14th Army became the main fighting force in the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation (held from October 7 to November 1, 1944). The army received the task of destroying the main forces of the 19th German mountain rifle corps (corps "Norway"), which fortified in the Petsamo region, and in the future to continue the offensive in the direction of Kirkenes in Northern Norway.
The 14th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Vladimir Shcherbakov, consisted of: 8 rifle divisions, 5 rifle divisions, 1 tank and 2 engineering brigades, 1 brigade of rocket launchers, 21 artillery and mortar regiments, 2 regiments of self-propelled guns. It had 97 thousand soldiers and officers, 2212 guns and mortars, 107 tanks and self-propelled gun mounts. The army was supported from the air by the 7th Air Army - 689 aircraft. And from the sea, the Northern Fleet under the command of Admiral Arseny Golovko. The fleet participated in the operation with detachments of ships, 2 brigades of marines and 276 naval aviation aircraft.
In the German 19th mountain corps there were: 3 mountain divisions and 4 brigades (53 thousand soldiers and officers), 753 guns and mortars. It was commanded by General of the Mountain Rifles Ferdinand Jodl. From the air, the forces of the 5th Air Fleet covered up to 160 aircraft. The German Navy operated at sea.
The situation was complicated by the factor that in three years the Germans built the so-called. Lapland defensive rampart. And after Finland left the war (September 19, 1944), military construction work took on a very active character. At the 90-kilometer front, minefields, wire fences, anti-tank ditches and gouges stretched, reinforced concrete and armored firing points, shelters, trenches, and communication passages were erected. The fortifications intercepted all the passes, hollows, roads, dominating heights. From the side of the sea, the positions were strengthened by coastal batteries and anti-aircraft positions arranged in caponiers. And this despite the fact that the terrain was already impassable - rivers, lakes, swamps, rocks.
On October 7, 1944, after the artillery preparation, the offensive began. Even before it began, engineering units were abandoned behind enemy lines in order to destroy the enemy's fortifications. On the right flank of the strike force, the 131st Rifle Corps was advancing, its target was Petsamo, it was supported by a distracting task force and two brigades of marines. On the left flank, the 99th Rifle Corps went on the attack, it had the task of advancing in the direction of Luostari. On the left flank, the 126th light rifle corps performed a deep detour maneuver (its target was also Luostari).
The 131st Corps by 1500 broke through the first German defense line and reached the Titovka River. On October 8, the bridgehead was expanded, and movement began in the direction of Petsamo. The 99th Corps was unable to break through the German defenses on the first day, but did so in a night attack (on the night of October 7-8). In the zone of his offensive, a reserve was brought into battle - the 127th light rifle corps, on October 12 they captured Luostari and began moving towards Petsamo from the south.
The 126th light rifle corps, making a heavy detour maneuver, by October 11 came out west of Luostari and cut the Petsamo-Salmiyarvi road. With this, the Soviet command did not allow the approach of German reinforcements. The corps received the following task - to saddle the Petsamo-Tarnet road from the west with a new roundabout maneuver. The task was completed on October 13th.
On October 14, the 131st, 99th and 127th corps approached Petsamo, and the assault began. October 15 Petsamo fell. After this, the army corps regrouped and on October 18 the second stage of the operation began. Parts of the 4 corps already participating in the battle and the new reserve 31 rifle corps were thrown into the battle. Basically, during this stage, the enemy was pursued. The 127th Light Rifle Corps and the 31st Rifle Corps were advancing on Nikel, the 99th Rifle Corps and the 126th Light Rifle Corps were advancing on Akhmalakhti, and the 131st Rifle Corps was advancing on Tarnet. Already on October 20, the coverage of Nikel began, on the 22nd it fell. The rest of the corps also reached the planned lines by October 22.
Amphibious landing, 1944
On October 18, the 131st Rifle Corps entered Norwegian soil. The liberation of northern Norway began. On October 24-25, Yar Fjord was crossed, the forces of the 14th Army fanned out on Norwegian territory. The 31st Rifle Corps did not cross the bay and began to move deep south - by October 27 it reached Nausti, reaching the border of Norway and Finland. The 127th Light Rifle Corps was also moving south along the western bank of the fjord. The 126th light rifle corps moved westward, and on October 27 reached Neiden. The 99th and 131st rifle corps rushed to Kirkenes and occupied it on October 25th. After that, the operation was completed. A large role in the operation was played by amphibious assaults and the actions of the Northern Fleet. It was a complete victory.
With the expulsion of German troops from Kirkenes and reaching the line of Neiden, Nausti, the Soviet 14th Army and the Northern Fleet completed their tasks in the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation. On November 9, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the 14th Army to stop the movement and go on the defensive. During the 19-day battles, the army troops advanced westward up to 150 km, liberating the Petsamo-Pechenga region and Northern Norway. The loss of these territories severely limited the actions of the German Navy in the Soviet northern communications and deprived the Third Reich of the opportunity to receive nickel ore (a strategic resource).
German troops suffered significant losses in manpower, weapons and military equipment. So, Jodl's 19th mountain rifle corps lost only about 30 thousand people killed. The Northern Fleet destroyed 156 enemy ships and vessels, and the Soviet aviation forces destroyed 125 Luftwaffe aircraft. The Soviet army lost more than 15 thousand people killed and wounded, including more than 2 thousand soldiers and officers in Norway.
During the offensive of the Soviet troops in the Far North, the high military art of the Soviet military command was shown. The operational-tactical interaction of the ground forces with the forces of the Northern Fleet was organized at a high level. The Soviet corps carried out the offensive in the conditions of the difficult nature of the terrain, often without elbow communication with neighboring units. The forces of the 14th Army skillfully and flexibly maneuvered, used specially trained and prepared light rifle corps in battle. A high level was shown by the engineering units of the Soviet army, the formations of the Navy, and the Marine Corps.
During the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, Soviet troops liberated the occupied regions of the Soviet Arctic and provided tremendous assistance in the liberation of Norway.
Finally, Norway was also liberated with the help of the USSR. On May 7-8, 1945, the German military-political leadership agreed to complete surrender and the German group in Norway (it consisted of about 351 thousand soldiers and officers) received an order to surrender and laid down their arms.
