The Karelian Front russian: Карельский фронт) was a

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...

(a formation of Army Group size) of the

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 ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

during

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 opposin ...

, and operated in

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

Wartime

The Karelian Front was created in August 1941 when Northern Front was split into Karelian Front and

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front (russian: Ленинградский фронт) was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front The Karelian Front ...

to take account of the different military developments and requirements on the Leningrad approaches versus those along the Finnish border to the Arctic. It remained in existence until the end of the war. The front covered the sector north of

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...

and the

Svir River The Svir (, Veps: , Karelian/Finnish: ) is a river in Podporozhsky, Lodeynopolsky, and Volkhovsky districts in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows westwards from Lake Onega to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two largest ...

to the

Arctic Coast The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

near Murmansk. It was involved in combat with both

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and

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forces along the Soviet-Finnish border. The front between Lake Ladoga and

Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Repu ...

was split off to the independent 7th Army during the static phase of the war. During 1944, the Karelian Front participated with the Leningrad Front in the final offensive against Finland which led to the Soviet-Finnish armistice. In October 1944 the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation was conducted along the front, capturing some parts of northern Finland and liberating the easternmost parts of the Norwegian

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

province from German occupation. The Karelian Front in the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation conducted the only successful major military operation ever undertaken in an Arctic environment in modern warfare. The experiences in the conduct of the operation, particularly in terms of organising rear-area services and supply, were considered important to the conduct of the Red Army’s offensive against the

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Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

, and many leading officers were transferred from Karelian Front to the

Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repub ...

theatre of war.

Order of battle

Order of battle In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed ...

of the Karelian Front on 1 September 1944:

Combat composition of the Soviet Army ''Boevoi sostav Sovetskoi armii'' ("Combat composition of the Soviet army") is an official Second World War Soviet Army order of battle published in five parts from 1963 through 1990 by the Voroshilov Academy of the General Staff and Voenizdat. ...

, 1 September 1944 * 7th Army (

Alexey Nikolayevich Krutikov Alexey Nikolayevich Krutikov (russian: Алексе́й Никола́евич Кру́тиков; 20 July 1895 - 23 April 1949) was a Soviet military leader. A veteran of the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and the Red Army in the Russ ...

) **

4th Rifle Corps The 4th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Red Army, active from the 1920s. First Formation It was formed during the Russian Civil War as part of the Western Front of the Red Army in May and June 1922. The corps headquarters was stationed in Vitebsk ...

(4 ск) ( 114th, 272nd Rifle Divisions) **

99th Rifle Corps The 99th Infantry Division was formed in 1942 and deployed overseas in 1944. The "Checkerboard" or "Battle Babies" division landed at the French port of Le Havre and proceeded northeast to Belgium. During the heavy fighting in the Battle of the ...

(

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

, 65th, 310th Rifle Divisions) **30th, 32nd Ski Brigades **150th, 162nd Fortified Areas **149th, 633rd, 1942nd Corps Artillery Regiment **989th Howitzer Artillery Regiment * 14th Army ( Vladimir Shcherbakov) ** 126th Light Mountain Rifle Corps ( 72nd Naval Rifle Brigade, 31st Ski Brigade)) ** 10th Guards Rifle Division **

14th Rifle Division (Soviet Union) The 14th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, formed twice. Formed in Moscow in 1922, the division spent most of the interwar period at Vladimir. After moving to the Kola Peninsula during the Winter War, the division fought on th ...

**2nd Fortified Region * 19th Army (Georgy Kozlov) ** 21st Rifle Division **

67th Rifle Division The 67th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army. The 20th Rifle Division (territorial defence) was formed from militia brigades in the Leningrad Military District in 1923. On May 21, 1936, it was named the 67th Rifle Division. In ...

104th Rifle Division 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

** 122nd Rifle Division ** 341st Rifle Division **38th Guards Tank Brigade **73rd Guards Separate Tank Regiment **88th Separate Tank Regiment * 26th Army ( Lev Skvirsky) **31st Rifle Corps ( 83rd, 205th Rifle Divisions) **132nd Rifle Corps ( 54th, 367th Rifle Divisions) **

45th Rifle Division The 45th Rifle Division was a Red Army infantry division formed originally during the Russian Civil War that fought in World War II and then served through the Cold War in the Leningrad Military District. The division was originally formed 16 J ...

* 32nd Army ( Filipp D. Gorelenko) ** 127th Light Mountain Rifle Corps (127 лгск) (

27th Rifle Division The 27th Rifle Division (russian: 27-я стрелковая дивизия) was a tactical unit in the Red Army of Soviet Russia and then the Soviet Union, active between 1918 and 1945. First formed during the Russian Civil War on November 3, 1 ...

) **HQ 131st Rifle Corps ** 176th Rifle Division **

289th Rifle Division 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 ...

** 313th Rifle Division ** 368th Rifle Division ** 3rd Naval Infantry Brigade ** 69th, 70th Naval Rifle Brigades ** 33rd Ski Brigade ** 31st Separate Naval Infantry Battalion * 7th Air Army ( Ivan Sokolov) ** 1st Guards Mixed Aviation Division ** 257th, 260th, 261st Mixed Aviation Divisions ** 324th Fighter Aviation Division **858th Fighter Aviation Regiment **204th Fire Correction and Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment **121st Separate Communications Aviation Regiment **108th Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron **119th Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron **118th Long-Range Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron

Major operations

* Svir-Petrozavodsk Operation against Finland, July–August 1944 * Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation against the Wehrmacht, October 1944

Commanders

Colonel-General Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...

Valerian Frolov Valerian Aleksandrovich Frolov (russian: Валериан Александрович Фролов; June 7 ( O.S. May 26), 1895 – 1961) was a Soviet Colonel General (1943). Frolov participated in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. F ...

(September 1941 – February 1944) *

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (russian: Маршал Советского Союза, Marshal sovetskogo soyuza, ) was the highest military rank of the Soviet Union. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 19 ...

(as of October 1944) K. A. Meretskov (February 1944 – May 1945)

Notes

References

* Meretskov 'Im Dienste des Volkes' * Khudalov 'Am Rande des Kontinents' * Combined Arms Research Library
The Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation – Leavenworth Paper No. 17