Kestenga Defensive
Operation Arctic Fox (German: ''Unternehmen Polarfuchs''; fi, operaatio Napakettu; Russian: ''Кандалакшская операция'') was the codename given to a World War II campaign by German and Finnish forces against Soviet Northern Front defenses at Salla, Finland in July 1941. The operation was part of the larger Operation Silver Fox (''Silberfuchs''; ) which aimed to capture the vital port of Murmansk. Arctic Fox was conducted in parallel to Operation Platinum Fox (''Platinfuchs''; ) in the far north of Lappland. The principal goal of Operation Arctic Fox was to capture the town of Salla and then to advance in the direction of Kandalaksha (Finnish: Kantalahti) to block the railway route to Murmansk. As a joint operation by German and Finnish forces, it combined experienced Finnish arctic troops with relatively unsuitable German forces from Norway. They managed to capture Salla after fierce fighting, but the German troops were unable to overcome the old, pre-war S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Operation Silver Fox
Operation Silver Fox (german: Silberfuchs; fi, Hopeakettu) from 29 June to 17 November 1941, was a joint German–Finnish military operation during the Continuation War on the Eastern Front of World War II against the Soviet Union. The objective of the offensive was to cut off and capture the key Soviet Port of Murmansk through attacks from Finnish and Norwegian territory. The operation had three stages. In Operation Reindeer (''Rentier'') German forces advanced from Norway to secure the area around Petsamo and its nickel mines. Operation Platinum Fox (; ) was an attack from the north by Mountain Corps Norway, as XXXVI Mountain Corps and units from the Finnish III Corps attacked from the south in Operation Arctic Fox (''Polarfuchs''; ) to cut off and capture Murmansk by a pincer movement. The German–Finnish forces took some ground but Murmansk was neither cut off nor captured and continued to operate as an important destination for Allied Arctic convoys throughout the war. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Panzer-Abteilung 40
Panzer-Abteilung 40 was the name of a tank battalion of the German army during World War II. The battalion fought during the invasion of Norway (Operation Weserübung) and afterwards during Operation Silver Fox, the German-Finnish offensive to capture the Soviet port of Murmansk. The unit remained in Finland until it was sent to Oslo and disbanded. Operation Weserübung ''Panzer-Abteilung zur besonderen Verwendung 40'' (''Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V. 40''), translating as "panzer unit for special purpose utilization", was formed on March 8, 1940 for the German invasion of Norway and of Denmark. The unit consisted mostly of Panzer I and Panzer II light tanks. It took part in the invasion of Denmark on 9 April and then was transported to Norway in April 1940. The unit consisted of an HQ section and three companies, one taken from 3rd, 4th and 5th Panzer Divisions, each with three platoons as the fourth platoon remained with the original division in each case. On April 9, 1940 the unit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national republics; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the city of Moscow serving as its capital as well as that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR. Other major cities included Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kiev (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk ( Byelorussian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SFSR). It was the largest country in the world, covering over and spanning eleven time zones. The country's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland across Estonia to the south. Finland covers an area of with a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city, forming a larger metropolitan area with the neighbouring cities of Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vantaa. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. Finnish, alongside Swedish, are the official languages. Swedish is the native language of 5.2% of the population. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to the boreal in the north. The land cover is primarily a boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes. Finland was first inhabited around 9000 BC after the Last Glacial Period. The Stone Age introduced several differ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe. On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the head of gove ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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54th Rifle Division
The 54th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army and Soviet Army, formed twice. The division was formed in 1936 and fought in the Winter War. The division spent most of World War II in Karelia fighting with Finnish troops in the Continuation War. After Finland left the war the division was relocated southward and fought in the East Prussian Offensive and the Prague Offensive in 1945. The division was disbanded in the summer of that year. The 54th Rifle Division was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Kutuzov 2nd class. It was also awarded the honorific "Masuria" for its actions in the East Prussian Offensive. The division was reformed in 1955 from the 341st Rifle Division and became a motor rifle division in 1957. History The division was formed on 15 March 1936 as the 54th Mountain Rifle Division from the Separate Murmansk Rifle Brigade. On 21 May, it became the 54th Murmansk Mountain Rifle Division. On 17 May ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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7th Army (Soviet Union)
The 7th Army (Russian: 7-я армия) was a Soviet Red Army field army during World War II, primarily against Finland. It was disbanded in 1944. It first saw action in the 1939–40 Winter War against Finland. In November 1939, just before the initial Soviet attack, it consisted of the 19th Rifle Corps ( 24th Rifle Division, 43rd, 70th, 123 RD), 50th Rifle Corps (49 RD, 90 RD, 142 RD), 10th Tank Corps, 138th Rifle Division, and an independent tank brigade. The Army was first under Commander (Second rank) Vsevolod Yakovlev, but he was removed from command of his army and returned to Leningrad. Command of the war operation Kirill Meretskov was called-off due to extensive failures and heavy casualties, and he replaced Yakovlev as the commander of the Seventh Army. Edwards 2006, p. 125 7th Army was reformed in Autumn (second half of) 1940 in the Leningrad Military District. Before the German Operation Barbarossa began it covered the Soviet frontier to the north of Lake Lad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grivnik Brigade
The 289th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed twice. The division was first formed in the summer of 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and was sent to the front and destroyed in the Battle of Kiev in September. The division was formed a second time in October 1941 from the 5th Rifle Brigade, a separate infantry brigade fighting in the Continuation War against Finnish and German troops in Karelia. The new division spent most of the war in Karelia and in the summer of 1944 fought in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, which resulted in the end of the Continuation War in September. The division was stationed at Belomorsk in Karelia until its disbandment after the end of World War II in July 1946. First Formation The 289th Rifle Division began forming from reservists on 10 July 1941 at Lubny. Its basic order of battle included the 1044th, 1046th, and 1048th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 281st Artillery Regiment. At ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |