Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation
1941: Białystok-Minsk - Dubno-Lutsk-Rivne - Smolensk - Uman - Kiev - Odessa - Leningrad blockade - Vyazma-Bryansk - Kharkov - Rostov - Moscow - Tula
1942: Rzhev - Kharkiv - Company Blue - companies Braunschweig - company Edelweiss - Stalingrad - Operation Mars
1943: Voronezh-Kharkov - Operation Iskra - North Caucasus - Kharkov - Citadel Company - Oryol - Donets-Mius - Donbass - Belgorod-Kharkov - Smolensk - Dnepr
1944: Dnepr-Carpathians - Leningrad-Novgorod - Crimea - Vyborg-Petrozavodsk - Operation Bagration - Lviv-Sandomierz - Jassy-Kishinew - Belgrade - Petsamo-Kirkenes - Baltic States - Carpathians - Hungary
1945: Courland - Vistula-Oder - East Prussia - West Carpathians - Lower Silesia - East Pomerania - Lake Balaton - Upper Silesia - Vienna - Oder - Berlin - Prague
Vyborg-Petrozavodsk Operation ( Russian Выборгско-Петрозаводская операция ) is the Soviet name for a major attack by the Red Army on the Finnish Army in Karelia in the Continuation War , part of World War II . The heavy fighting lasted from June 10 to August 9, 1944. The Soviet operation consisted of two sub-operations: the Vyborg operation on the Karelian Isthmus and the Sveti Petrozavodsk operation in East Karelia , north of Lake Ladoga .
background
After the Winter War (1939–1940) started by the Soviet Union, Finland joined the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 in order to recapture the territories lost in the Winter War. During their offensive in the summer of 1941, however, the Finnish army went beyond the old border and also captured areas that had previously belonged to the Soviet Union, especially in East Karelia. This was followed by a three-year trench warfare, which was ended by the Soviet offensive in the summer of 1944.
Troop strength
The Leningrad Front under Leonid Alexandrowitsch Goworow together with the Karelian Front under Kirill Afanassjewitsch Merezkow consisted of 41 divisions and five brigades with a total of about 450,000 men, 10,000 artillery pieces, 800 tanks, 300 ships and 2,047 aircraft. Opposite it were Finnish troops with a strength of about 268,000 soldiers, 1,930 guns, 110 tanks and 248 aircraft.
Vyborg Operation (June 10 to July 15, 1944)
The left flank of the Red Army, consisting of the Leningrad Front on the Karelian Isthmus, consisted of around 260,000 soldiers, 5,500 artillery pieces, 881 rocket launchers, 628 tanks and 700 aircraft. Opposite it stood the 3rd and 4th Finnish Corps, which were combined into the operative group "Karelian Isthmus" under General Karl Lennart Oesch . They had a strength of about 100,000 soldiers, 960 guns, 110 tanks and 200 aircraft. Their defense was staggered up to 120 km deep and consisted of three lines.
On June 9, 1944, the Soviet artillery began a ten-hour artillery preparation. The 21st Army (Lieutenant General Gusew ) attacked on June 10 with the 98th Rifle Corps at Valkeasaari and achieved a breakthrough on the first line of defense with the Finnish 4th Corps (General Laatikainen ). On June 11th, the 23rd Army (Lieutenant General Tscherepanow ) attacked the front of the Finnish 3rd Corps (General Siilasvuo ), and by June 13th the Soviet troops had also reached the second line of defense.
On June 14th, after another artillery strike, the second large Soviet attack began, which was particularly successful at Kuuterselkä and forced the Finns to give up the remaining sections of the VT line by fighting. The Soviet troops soon crossed the Sestra River , which had formed the Soviet-Finnish border until the Winter War.
On June 16, the Finnish withdrawal began on the VKT line , which stretched from Vyborg via Tali and Kuparsaari, along the northern bank of the Vuoksi River via Suvanto and Taipaleenjoki to Taipale and Lake Ladoga . A bridgehead was held on the southern bank of the Vuoksi River opposite Vuosalmi. To strengthen the Karelian Isthmus, the Finns transported two divisions (Finnish 5th Corps under General Svensson ) from East Karelia and two other brigades from northern Finland on June 17 . German units were also moved there: the 122nd Infantry Division , an aircraft squadron and an assault gun brigade. The 303rd Assault Gun Brigade arrived in Karelia on June 23rd and the 122 Infantry Division on June 28th. Meanwhile, the Soviet 21st Army was able to reach the third line of defense on June 19 and, with the help of landing troops (part of the Soviet 59th Army), take the important port city of Vyborg / Viipuri on June 20 .
On June 21st, the Stawka ordered the further advance of the 21st Army on the newly drawn Soviet-Finnish border after the winter war and on Lake Saimaa in the Finnish heartland. On the night of July 1, further operations by the 59th Army in Vyborg Bay followed, the planned landing of parts of the 124th Rifle Division on the island of Teykarsaari failed. On July 4th, the 224th Rifle Division landed more successfully on the islands of Swaninsaari and Ravansaari and then occupied Teykarsaari. The following night the islets of Hietasaari, Melansaari and Kuolansaari also fell into Soviet hands.
In the following weeks, however, the Finns were able to stop the Soviet advance in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala . The 21st Army was only able to advance a few kilometers at the beginning and had to withdraw to defensive positions from July 15. On July 7th, the focus of the Soviet attacks shifted to the river Vuoksi, where the Soviet 23rd Army (from July 3rd under General Schwetzow ) sought the breakthrough on Kexholm . Although a small bridgehead was successfully built on the VKT line , the Soviet troops were thrown back in the Battle of Vuosalmi (July 4th – 17th).
The unexpectedly successful defense of the Finns led by General Oesch in the battle of Tali-Ihantala is seen as the starting point for saving Finland .
Svir-Petrozavodsk operation (June 21 to August 9, 1944)
The right flank of the Red Army, consisting of the Karelian Front of Marshal Merezkow, was to advance against the Finnish troops north of Lake Ladoga, a total of 11 divisions. The main thrust on the Swir was carried out by the 7th Army (37th Guards, 4th and 99th Rifle Corps) under Lieutenant General AN Krutikow near Olonez, while the 32nd Army under General FD Gorelenko to the northeast was deployed to Petrozavodsk via Ilomantsi.
The defense of the Finnish 2nd Corps under General Mäkinen was up to 180 km deep and staggered in four lines. On the first day, June 21, 1944, Soviet troops made a breakthrough, advanced up to 6 km and crossed the river Svir . The next day, when the large-scale Operation Bagration started, they widened the bridgehead to 60 km wide and 12 km deep. In order to support the attack on Pitkjaranta / Pitkäranta, Soviet marines were withdrawn. They were also deposed at Petrozavodsk on June 28th and on June 29th the city was captured by the Karelian Front. The Soviet troops reached the line Kudamaguba - Kuolisma - Loimola - Pitkjaranta / Pitkäranta (roughly the Soviet-Finnish border from before the winter war), but were then prevented from advancing by the Finns, so that the front stabilized on August 10th.
Losses and consequences
The Red Army advanced 110 to 250 km to the west on the 280 km wide front, conquered northern parts of the Leningrad area and large parts of the Karelo-Finnish SSR , which was newly founded after the winter war , including areas that had belonged to Finland before the winter war. The Soviet Union also regained control of the strategically important White Sea-Baltic Canal . They lost a total of 96,000 soldiers (24,000 dead).
This operation is seen from the Soviet point of view as the final stage of the Battle of Leningrad and an important step in pushing Finland out of the war.
From the Finnish point of view, the successful defense against the offensive formed the basis for a tolerable peace with the Soviet Union out of an almost hopeless situation for Finland as an ally of Germany .
literature
- Waldemar Erfurth : The Finnish War 1941-1944 , Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden 1977.