History of the Arctic. A short course in history

In Russia, speaking about the Great Patriotic War, they remember the defeats of 1941-1942, the battle of Moscow, the siege of Leningrad, the battle for Stalingrad, North Caucasus, Arc of Fire and a number of other famous operations. But they can say little about the war in the North, on the Kola Peninsula, if they have heard at all 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, a base Northern Fleet THE USSR. In addition, the Murmansk port was connected to the main part of the country by the Kirov Railway, which made it possible to receive military cargo and quickly deliver it to Central Russia. Therefore, the Germans planned to capture the port and cut the railway as soon as possible. Secondly, Hitler was attracted to the rich natural resources Kola land, and especially nickel deposits - 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 “Greater Finland”.

To capture the Kola Peninsula, the Army “Norway” was concentrated in the Arctic theater of operations (it was formed in December 1940) consisting of 3 corps - two German mountain 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 occupied the defense in the Murmansk and Kandalaksha directions, under the command of Valerian Frolov. At the start 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 connections. The 23rd fortified area (UR) was located on the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas and occupied a defensive line along the front of 85 kilometers, 5 kilometers deep, 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 Infantry Division operated in its zone. The army had 52.6 thousand personnel, 1,150 guns and mortars, 392 tanks. From the sea, the 14th Army was covered by ships and aircraft 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 constantly changed, since the sides constantly increased them.

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, border posts and naval bases.

After the occupation of Norway, the Germans began to develop a plan for waging war in the Arctic. Planning for the operation began on August 13, 1940 and was completed in October of the same year. The Murmansk operation (Blaufuchs plan or Silberfuchs plan, German: Unternehmen Silberfuchs - “Polar Fox”) was integral part plan "Barbarossa". It was divided into several stages. During the first - Operation Renntir ("Reindeer") - the German 2nd Mountain Division and the 3rd Mountain Division from the Norway Mountain Corps invaded the Petsamo area (where the nickel mines were located) and captured it.

It should be noted that the Soviet troops were not taken by surprise, as is often shown at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. 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, enemy troops reached the Kandalaksha Bay White Sea and cut off the Kola Peninsula from central regions countries. On the 19th, the 1st Tank Division began to advance to the border; on the 21st, the 52nd Infantry Division was alerted; it was stationed in Murmansk, Monchegorsk and Kirovsk. On the night of June 22, two regiments and a reconnaissance battalion of the 14th Infantry 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 attack). This was the second stage - Operation Platinfuchs (German: Platinfuchs - “Platinum Fox”), German forces They advanced through Titovka, Ura-Guba to Polyarny (the main base of the Northern Fleet) and Murmansk. The Nazis planned to capture the Northern Fleet bases, blockade and capture Murmansk, and then go to the White Sea coast and occupy Arkhangelsk. During the second phase of the operation, they were going to carry out the third - to carry out Operation Arctic Fox (German: Polarfuchs). The 2nd German Mountain Division was advancing towards Polyarnoye, and one Finnish division and one German division were to move from Kemijärvi to the east.

On April 28, the 2nd and 3rd mountain rifle divisions, 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 Infantry Regiment of the 14th Infantry Division could not withstand the blow and retreated, breaking the ranks of the 325th who came to the rescue rifle regiment the same division. 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 (3 130 mm and 4 100 mm guns), repelled all attacks.

By June 30, the 52nd Infantry Division gained a foothold on the Zapadnaya Litsa River (“Valley of Glory”) and throughout July repulsed all German attempts to cross the water barrier. On the right flank, regrouped units of the 14th Infantry Division held the defense. In September, the defense was reinforced by the 186th Infantry Division (Polar Division), after which the front in this sector stabilized until 1944. In 104 days of fighting, the Germans advanced 30-60 km and did not solve the assigned tasks. The landings of the Marine Corps of the Northern Fleet also played a positive role - attacks on the enemy’s flank were carried out on July 7 and 14. And also the “unsinkable battleship of the Arctic” - the Rybachy Peninsula, on the site of the 23rd UR and the 135th Infantry Regiment of the 14th Infantry Division, the Nazis never managed to cross border marker No. 1.

In the Kandalaksha direction the first attack was repelled on June 24. On July 1, 1941, the Germans, by forces of the 36th army corps, it included the 169th Infantry Division, the SS Mountain Brigade "Nord", as well as the Finnish 6th Infantry Division and two Finnish Jaeger battalion, launched a general attack on Kandalaksha. The enemy was opposed by the 122nd Infantry Division, the 1st Tank Division (until mid-July 1941, then it was withdrawn to another section of the front) and the 104th Infantry Division, which was later transferred to the Kairaly area (without the 242nd Infantry Regiment, which was located in the Kesteng direction ). Until the beginning of August there were fierce battles with little advance of enemy units. At the beginning of August 1941, a reinforced Finnish battalion penetrated the rear of the Soviet forces. The Finns saddled the road in the area of ​​the Nyamozero station, as a result of which the Soviet group had to fight for two weeks in a strange environment. Just 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 developed road network, difficult terrain among forests and swamps. When the road was unblocked two weeks later, the enemy struck a strong blow from the front and forced the Red Army units to retreat. Soviet troops gained a foothold four kilometers east of Alakurtti, and there the front line stabilized until 1944. The enemy's maximum advance was about 95 kilometers.

In the Kestenga direction, the 242nd Infantry Regiment of the 104th Infantry 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 they captured Kestenga and moved east from it about another 30 km. By November 11, 1941, the front line had stabilized 40 km west of Loukha. By that time, the grouping of Soviet troops in this sector of the front had been reinforced by the 5th Infantry Brigade and the 88th Infantry Division.

Results of the 1941 campaign. By the autumn of 1941 it became clear that the plan lightning war disrupted in the Arctic. In fierce defensive battles, showing courage and perseverance, Soviet border guards, soldiers of the 14th Army, and 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 its goals in the Arctic. Despite some initial successes, German troops failed to reach the Murmansk railway in any sector, and also to capture the bases of the Northern Fleet, reach Murmansk and capture it. As a result, here was the only section of the Soviet-German front where enemy troops were stopped already several 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.

The role of the rear in the defense of the Arctic

Huge assistance to the formations of the Red Army and Navy The USSR was supported by residents of the Murmansk region. Already on the first day of the Great War, martial law was introduced in the Murmansk region, the military commissariats began mobilizing 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 resident of the region went to the front - more than 50 thousand people.

Party, Soviet and military bodies organized universal military training of the population. In regions and settlements, units of the people's militia, fighter squads, sanitary squads, and local air defense units were formed. Thus, in just the first few weeks of the war, the Murmansk fighter regiment went out on missions 13 times that were associated with the destruction of enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups. Soldiers of the Kandalaksha fighter battalion directly participated in the fighting in Karelia in the area of ​​the Loukhi station. Fighters from fighter formations in the Kola and Kirov regions served as guards for the Kirov Railway.

In the summer of 1942, on the initiative of the regional party committee in the region, the partisan detachments “Bolshevik of the Arctic” and “Soviet Murman” were formed. Considering the fact that the Murmansk region was practically not occupied, partisan units were based on their own territory and went on deep raids behind enemy lines. The main target of the partisan detachments was the Rovaniemi-Petsamo highway, which supplied German troops located in the regions of Northern Finland. During raids, Murmansk partisans attacked enemy garrisons, disrupted communication lines, 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 created several defensive lines on the approaches to Murmansk and Kandalaksha. With the participation of the civilian population, massive construction of trenches, crevices, and bomb shelters was carried out. From the end of June 1941, a mass evacuation of civilians and industrial equipment began from the region. Initially it was carried out using railway transport, then with the help of ships and ships they were taken to Arkhangelsk. They took out children, women, old people, supplies of strategic raw materials, equipment from Severnickel, Tuloma and Niva 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 throughout 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 to convert them into warships, and installed weapons on them. Shipyards also repaired warships and submarines. As of June 23, all enterprises in the region switched to round-the-clock (emergency) operation.

Enterprises in Murmansk, Kandalaksha, Kirovsk, and Monchegorsk quickly mastered the production of automatic weapons, grenades, and mortars. The Apatit plant began producing a mixture for incendiary bombs, ship repair shops made boats, drags, and mountain sleds, and a furniture factory produced skis for soldiers. Artels of fishing cooperation produced reindeer sleds, soap, portable stoves (potbelly stoves), various camping utensils, sewed uniforms, and repaired shoes. Reindeer collective farms handed over reindeer and sledges to the army, and supplied them with meat and fish.

The women, teenagers and old people who remained in the region replaced the men who had gone to the front in production. They mastered new professions at various courses, fulfilled the norms of not only healthy men, but also set records. The working day at enterprises increased to 10, 12 hours, and sometimes 14 hours.

Fishermen resumed fishing in the fall of 1941, catching fish necessary for the front and rear in combat conditions (they could be attacked by enemy planes and submarines). Although the region itself experienced a food shortage, several trains with fish were still able to be sent to besieged Leningrad. In order to improve the food supply to the population of the Murmansk region at industrial enterprises, subsidiary farms were created, and people cultivated vegetable gardens. The collection of berries and mushrooms was organized, medicinal herbs, pine needles. Brigades of hunters were engaged in catching 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 donated 15 kg of gold and 23.5 kg of silver. In total, during the years of the Great War, more than 65 million rubles were received from residents of the Murmansk region. In 1941, 2.8 million rubles were transferred to the creation of the Komsomolets Zapolyarya squadron, and the railway workers built the Sovetsky Murman squadron at their own expense. More than 60 thousand gifts were collected and sent to the Red Army soldiers at the front. School buildings in populated areas were converted into hospitals.

And all this was done in the most difficult conditions of the front-line zone, populated areas were subjected to constant air strikes. Thus, since the summer of 1942, Murmansk was subjected to severe bombing; on June 18 alone, German planes dropped 12 thousand bombs, and fire destroyed more than 600 wooden buildings in the city. In total, from 1941 to 1944, 792 German Air Force raids 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 total housing stock), 437 industrial and service buildings were destroyed and burned. German aviation regularly attacked the Kirov Railway. During the military operations in the Arctic, the German Air Force dropped an average of 120 bombs on every kilometer of the railway line. But, despite the constant danger of being bombed or shelled, Murmansk railway workers and port workers did their job, and communication with the mainland was not interrupted; trains were moving along the Kirov Railway. It should be noted that air defense forces shot down 185 enemy aircraft over Murmansk and the Kirov Railway in 1941-1943.

Arctic and allies

A big battle in 1942 took place in the sea zone. The USSR's allies in the Anti-Hitler Coalition began supplying military equipment, equipment, food. The Soviet Union supplied the Allies with strategic raw materials. In total, during the Great War, 42 allied convoys (722 transports) arrived in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, 36 convoys were sent from the Soviet Union (682 transports reached their destination ports). The first allied convoy arrived at the port of Murmansk on January 11, 1942, and during the Great Patriotic War, up to 300 ships were unloaded and more than 1.2 million tons of foreign cargo were processed.

The German command tried to disrupt cargo deliveries and cut off this strategic communication. To combat the Allied convoys, large forces of the Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and surface forces, which were located in Norwegian bases, were brought in. The main burden of protecting convoys was assigned to the forces British Navy and the Soviet Northern Fleet. Northern Fleet ships made 838 trips to guard convoys alone. In addition, naval aviation conducted reconnaissance from the air and covered the convoys. The Air Force also attacked German bases and airfields and enemy ships on the high seas. Soviet submarine forces went to sea and kept combat watches at German naval bases and on possible ways transition of large surface ships of the Reich naval forces. Through common efforts British and Soviet covering forces destroyed 27 enemy submarines, 2 battleships and 3 destroyers. In general, the protection of the convoys was successful: under the cover of sailors and pilots of the Northern Fleet and the British Navy, the sea convoys lost 85 transports, and more than 1,400 reached their goal.

In addition, the Northern Fleet conducted active combat activities off the enemy’s coast, trying to disrupt German maritime transport 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 naval aviation forces began to play the first fiddle. 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.

Front line in 1942-1944

In the 14th Army's zone of action, the front line was very stable between the fall of 1941 and the fall of 1944. Both sides experienced the same difficulties. Firstly, a quick, maneuverable war was hampered by natural and climatic conditions. There was no solid front battle formations replaced rock ridges, swamps, rivers, lakes, and forests that were insurmountable by large formations. Secondly, the defensive formations of the German and Soviet troops were constantly being 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 counter-offensive of the Red Army at the end of April 1942 in the Kesteng direction. Soviet troops actually thwarted the German offensive; reconnaissance revealed the concentration of enemy forces in this direction. But after a 10-day battle the situation stabilized in its previous positions. At the same time, the Red Army tried to go on the offensive in the Murmansk direction - at the turn of the Zapadnaya Litsa River. Soviet troops were able to push forward several kilometers, but the Germans soon restored the front.

After this, there were no more or less large-scale military operations in the 14th Army zone until October 1944.

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 on the northern sector of the front.

The 14th Army became the main fighting force in the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation (took place from October 7 to November 1, 1944). The army was given the task of destroying the main forces of the 19th German Mountain Corps (Norway Corps), which had fortified themselves in the Petsamo region, and then 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, 1 tank and 2 engineering teams, 1 brigade of rocket launchers, 21 artillery and mortar regiments, 2 self-propelled gun regiments. It had 97 thousand soldiers and officers, 2212 guns and mortars, 107 tanks and self-propelled artillery 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 marine brigades and 276 naval aviation aircraft.

The German 19th Mountain Corps had: 3 mountain divisions and 4 brigades (53 thousand soldiers and officers), 753 guns and mortars. It was commanded by General of the Mountain Troops Ferdinand Jodl. The forces of the 5th Air Fleet were covered from the air - up to 160 aircraft. The German Navy operated at sea.

The situation was complicated by the fact 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 front, 90 km stretched minefields, wire fences, anti-tank ditches and grooves, reinforced concrete and armored firing points, shelters, trenches, and communication passages were erected. The fortifications intercepted all passes, hollows, roads, and commanding heights. On the sea side, the positions were reinforced by coastal batteries and anti-aircraft positions located in caponiers. And this despite the fact that the terrain was already difficult to pass - rivers, lakes, swamps, rocks.

On October 7, 1944, after artillery preparation, the offensive began. Even before it began, engineering units were sent behind enemy lines in order to destroy enemy fortifications. On the right flank of the strike force, the 131st Rifle Corps was advancing, its goal 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, a deep outflanking maneuver was carried out by the 126th Light Rifle Corps (its target was also Luostari).

By 15.00, the 131st Corps broke through the first line of German defense 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, performing a difficult outflanking maneuver, reached west of Luostari by October 11 and cut the Petsamo-Salmijärvi road. By this, the Soviet command prevented the approach of German reinforcements. The corps received the following task - to seize the Petsamo-Tarnet road from the west with a new roundabout maneuver. The task was completed on October 13.

On October 14, the 131st, 99th and 127th corps approached Petsamo, and the assault began. On October 15, Petsamo fell. After this, the army corps regrouped and on October 18 the second stage of the operation began. Units of the 4 corps already participating in the battle and the new reserve 31st Rifle Corps were thrown into battle. The enemy was mainly pursued during this phase. 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, Nikel began to be captured, and on the 22nd it fell. The remaining corps also reached their target lines by October 22.

On October 18, the 131st Rifle Corps entered Norwegian soil. The liberation of Northern Norway has begun. On October 24-25, the Jarfjord was crossed, the forces of the 14th Army fanned out on Norwegian territory. The 31st Rifle Corps did not cross the bay and began moving deep to the south - by October 27 it reached Nausti, reaching the border of Norway and Finland. The 127th Light Rifle Corps also moved south along the western shore 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 25. After this, the operation was completed. Amphibious landings and the actions of the Northern Fleet played a major role in the operation. It was a complete victory.

Results of the operation

By expelling German troops from Kirkenes and reaching the Neiden-Nausti line, the Soviet 14th Army and Northern Fleet completed their tasks in the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation. November 9 Stavka Supreme High Command ordered the 14th Army to stop its movement and go on the defensive. During the 19-day battles, army troops advanced westward up to 150 km, liberating the Petsamo-Pechenga region and Northern Norway. The loss of these territories greatly limited the actions of the German Navy on Soviet northern communications and deprived the Third Reich of the opportunity to obtain nickel ore (a strategic resource).

German troops suffered significant losses in manpower, weapons and military equipment. Thus, Jodl’s 19th Mountain Corps lost only about 30 thousand people killed. The Northern Fleet destroyed 156 enemy ships and vessels, and the forces Soviet aviation 125 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed. 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, high military art Soviet military command. Operational and tactical interaction between the ground forces and the forces of the Northern Fleet was organized at a high level. The Soviet corps carried out the offensive in conditions complex nature terrain, often without ulnar connection with neighboring parts. The forces of the 14th Army maneuvered skillfully and flexibly, using specially trained and prepared light rifle corps in battle. High level showed engineering units of the Soviet army, naval units, and marines.

During the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, Soviet troops liberated the occupied areas of the Soviet Arctic and provided enormous assistance in the liberation of Norway.

Norway was finally liberated with the help of the USSR. On May 7-8, 1945, the German military-political leadership agreed to complete surrender and German group in Norway (it numbered about 351 thousand soldiers and officers) received an order to surrender and laid down their arms.

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On 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 severance of relations with Germany. In addition, the territories of Karelia and the Pechenga region, which at that time was called Petsamo, were ceded to the USSR.
However, a fairly large group of Nazi troops continued to hold their positions.
Berlin entrusted Lothar Rendulic and Ferdinand Jodl, commanders of the 20th Army and the 19th Mountain Jaeger Corps, with the task.

The importance of the region, which was still under German control, was enormous. German fleet, including the battleship Tirpitz, which, although it did not actively participate in hostilities, constantly threatened Arctic convoys and pinned down part of the forces of the British fleet, was based in ice-free ports, and strategically important nickel and copper were mined in the area of ​​Petsamo and Kirkenes .

The German units 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 group was supported by aviation from the 5th Luftwaffe Air Fleet.
In the Arctic, the enemy created a defense in depth, consisting of several defensive stripes and lines. The main defense line, laid in difficult to access terrain, had a length of more than 60 kilometers. In addition, defenses were also prepared on the coast.

To liberate the Arctic, troops of the Karelian Front were brought in, commanded by Army General K.A. Meretskov and the formations of the Northern Fleet under the command of Admiral A.G. Golovko. Soviet troops had to destroy the main enemy forces - the 19th Mountain Jaeger Corps, liberate Petsamo and, developing an 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. Shcherbakova. The strike group of the Karelian Front was supposed to go on the offensive in the direction of Loustari - Petsamo, go to the rear of the enemy group, intercept the escape route, and then, interacting with the amphibious assault of the Northern Fleet, destroy the encircled enemy group.
Before 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 mid-day, the main line of defense of the Nazi troops was broken through in the offensive zone of the 131st Rifle Corps.
In the offensive zone of the 99th Rifle Corps, the situation was much more complicated: the advancing troops were stopped at barbed wire barriers and during the first day of the operation were unable to advance even a kilometer. However, already at midnight, without preliminary artillery preparation, the formations went on the attack and by the morning they were able to break the resistance at the main strongholds.

By the end of the second day of the operation, Meretskov set a task for the command of the 14th Army - to increase the pace of the offensive, capture Luostari and Petsamo, and prevent the withdrawal of German units from their occupied lines.
On the same day, the Northern Fleet also joined the hostilities.

On October 12, Soviet troops cleared Luostari of the enemy. After this, the main forces of the Soviet troops were aimed at encircling and destroying the enemy group based in the Petsamo area as soon as possible. Within three days, the encircled enemy group was completely destroyed.

On October 15, 1944, the Supreme High Command Headquarters received ideas from the commander of the Karelian Front about continuing the operation.
It was assumed that Soviet troops would clear the enemy from areas west and north-west of Petsamo and continue pursuing the retreating Wehrmacht units in Norway.
The pursuit of the enemy began only after negotiations between Stalin and Churchill - the territory of Norway was within 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 the most difficult five-day battles.

Six days later, 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 Hitler’s occupation of Norway

There has already been a story about the days of the war in the Arctic: The Cableway of Death. The polar transport of the fascists, but fortunately there is a lot of materials and so I decided to continue.

On the Kola Peninsula, there was the only section of the Soviet-German front where enemy troops were stopped already several tens of kilometers from the Soviet State border line, and in some places the Germans were not even able to cross the border.

Write about the Murmansk Valley of Death (since 1965 - Valley of Glory) in isolation from the events of 1941-42. does not seem possible. The result is a voluminous article that will cover both a significant period and various areas of the fighting. From Titovka and the Musta-Tunturi ridge to the eastern bank of the Zapadnaya Litsa River - this was the main direction of attack 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 state border of the USSR 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.

The border guards, who took the first blow from the enemy, fought until the last bullet, until the last grenade. It was especially difficult for the 6th border outpost of the Ozerkovsky detachment, which, under the leadership of Lieutenant Yakovenko, repelled the furious onslaught of the rangers. They dived into the border guards' trenches german planes, the outpost was fired upon from cannons and mortars. Every hour there were fewer and fewer fighters, but the battle continued. The enemies asked the survivors to surrender, but the answer was machine gun fire. 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 border post.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, 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 located in the village. Western Ozerko (Sredny Peninsula), hence its first name - Ozerkovsky. During the Great Patriotic War, the detachment's border guards carried out various tasks: fought on the front line, acted behind enemy lines, guarded the rear of the Soviet troops as part of the 181st separate border battalion formed in 1941 on the basis of the border detachment.

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 bypass tactics, struck where he was not expected. This caused confusion at first. The situation was aggravated by two more circumstances. Wired communications in the defending troops were disrupted. The commander of the 14th Infantry Division, Major General A. A. Zhurba, did not know in detail the situation in the units subordinate to him and was forced to go to the scene of the fighting. During the afternoon of June 29, he tried to organize the defense of troops retreating from the border at Titovka, and the next day - on the approaches to the Sredny Peninsula. Several hundred recruits arrived in Titovka by sea. The newcomers, who had not been fired upon, were confused and were unable to provide real assistance to the soldiers holding the defense on this section of the front.
The most intense battles took place at the junctions of the Red Army units, on the flanks. The rangers bypassed border outposts and unfinished pillboxes, the entire fortification system and struck the battalions of the 95th Infantry Regiment, whose defense front stretched for three dozen kilometers. Soon the advanced units of the enemy managed to cross the Titovka River. Heavy, bloody battles continued along the border line, in which divisional and regimental artillery inflicted considerable damage on the enemy, although it often had to fight in semi-encirclement.
Crossing of German rangers across the Titovka River on improvised watercraft. 1941

TITOVSKY FORTIFIED AREA- a strip of terrain prepared for defensive actions. It consisted of 8 rubble concrete bunkers (half-caponiers, 7 two-machine guns, one three-machine gun) at an altitude of 255.4 (Uglovaya) and 5 bunkers at an altitude of 189.3 on the western bank of the river. Titovka. The semi-caponier fire system: at a height of 189.3 - in a ledge, in three echelons; at an altitude of 255.4 - according to the principle of all-round defense, but in both cases taking into account the most likely direction of 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 wire barriers were not installed, and they were not covered by crossfire. The 2nd battalion of the 95th rifle regiment of the 14th rifle division took up defensive positions in the Titovsky defensive region on June 22, 1941. When the German offensive 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, height 189.3 was taken using flamethrowers (with particularly stubborn resistance from spacecraft fighters), and by evening - height 255.4. It is believed that some of the fighters of the 4th company of the 95th joint venture escaped from the encirclement.
Titovsky defensive line and Height 189.3. Dot.
German tank crews at the pillbox on Titovka. 1941

The Nazis failed to achieve a lightning-fast defense breakthrough. Soviet border guards, infantrymen and artillerymen fought selflessly. Many enemy soldiers were killed here, but many Red Army soldiers and commanders were also killed. They departed from the border by order in two directions: to the north - to the Sredny Peninsula and to the east - to the Zapadnaya Litsa River. They retreated fighting, inflicting significant blows to the advancing rangers, knowing that help was already coming towards them - regiments of the 52nd Infantry 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 retreat. Titovka passed. The commander of the site, Major General Zhurba, died along with his adjutant. Only one battalion approached the bay, led by a commander; Moreover, this commander has more than ten wounds. I saw him and was amazed at how he managed to get there. Even more surprising is the inconsistency physical condition- the man could barely stand on his feet - with his will. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember his last name.”

The enemy failed to defeat Soviet troops at the border. The 95th Infantry Regiment, which received the first blow at Titovka, retreated to the east in squadrons and platoons. The regiment retained its main personnel, headquarters, and Battle Banner.

The mountain rangers, rushing to Murmansk, tried to cross the Western Litsa and overcome the Musta-Tunturi ridge. The Finns, who crossed the border at the Lotta River, advanced in the restikent direction (the second direction to Murmansk - from the southwest). Thus, already in the first month of the war, in the battles for Murmansk, Soviet ground forces, with the support of the Northern Fleet and aviation, fought in three independent sectors, which were also separated from each other.
Four Wehrmacht mountain rangers at the entrance to a cave on a hill in the Arctic.

The 23rd fortified area (commandant Colonel D.E. Krasilnikov) together with the 100th border detachment (chief I.I. Kalenikov) defended the approaches to the Rybachy Peninsula. Here, on rocky salkas and swampy lowlands, the 135th Infantry Regiment (commanded by Colonel M.K. Pashkovsky) of the 14th Infantry 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 the narrow (about 6 kilometers) isthmus between the Malaya Volokovaya and Kutovaya lips - the southern gate to Rybachye. This section of the front was supplied by sea, had the support of the Northern Fleet and fulfilled its task - did not allow the enemy to occupy 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 at Titovka, expose the Musta-Tunturi ridge and the rangers behind the backs of the troops that had gone to Titovka would break into the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas. But that did not happen. Army commander V.A. Frolov sent reinforcements from the west to help the 95th Regiment, and ordered D.E. Krasilnikov to stand to the death and not go beyond the defense line. And the front line established on the isthmus between the mainland and the peninsula Average in summer 1941, held out throughout the war.

“... whoever owns Rybachy and Sredny 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 Soviet troops and by the morning of July 2 he reached the Zapadnaya Litsa River. While the Red Army soldiers were hastily digging in on the right bank of the narrow but fast-flowing river, the rangers were trying 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 sites of possible crossing. As soon as the mountain rangers began to cross, the artillerymen rained down murderous fire.
Valley of Glory - view from the memorial. The flat landscape is rare for these places.

Early in the morning of July 6 - again on Sunday - the Nazis resumed their attack on Murmansk from the Western Litsa line. The main blow fell on the positions of the 58th Infantry Regiment. It was here that the mountain rangers sought to break through to the Kola Bay at any cost. Two battalions of rangers of the 137th Mountain Infantry Regiment of Colonel Hengl unexpectedly appeared there. 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 soldiers and commanders. The Nazis carried their dead and wounded from the battlefield.

The prisoners testified that they crossed the Western Litsa in its lower reaches along the shallows at low tide. Since our two battalions were defending a large section of the river with a length of 25 kilometers, there were not enough fighters for a continuous line of defense. The rangers, under the cover of fog, passed 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. According to archives, more than 300 people on both sides died in this battle. According to some reports, it was the foot of the height of 183.6 that the soldiers nicknamed Death Valley.
The foot of the height is 183.6.

Having superior forces in numbers, reliable aviation and artillery support, engineering means of crossing and automatic weapons, the enemy managed to cross Zapadnaya Litsa and wedge 2-3 kilometers into the location of our troops. But the soldiers 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-TUNTURI

The Musta-Tunturi ridge (or Mustatunturi - from the Finnish “musta” - black, gloomy; “tunturi” - treeless mountain) was the northernmost section of the front during the Great Patriotic War. The Mustatunturi ridge is the only place where German troops were unable to cross land border 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 on the northern slopes.

In this place, the events described by K. Simonov in the poem “The Artilleryman’s Son” take place.
“Border sign” - this is where 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 machine guns, 83 guns of various calibers, 2 tanks, 779 carbines, 210 light machine guns, 11 anti-aircraft guns, 101 mortars, 62 vehicles. The force was considerable, but it was scattered over a large area.
View from the ridge to the Sredny Peninsula.

By June 29, 1941, in the area from Kutova to Volokova there was the 15th separate machine gun battalion and the 55th, 56th and 57th separate machine gun companies. All of them were hastily formed from recruits - residents of the Murmansk region. Nikishin’s 4th machine gun company was also stationed here.
Other units in the said area included a reconnaissance detachment of the 135th regiment, an observation and communications station post 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 a subsidiary farm of the 2nd battalion.

On the section of the border from Lake Titovskoye to Varanger Fiord, the Germans launched an 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 section of the front, the Nazis had more advantageous strategic positions. As a rule, they occupied the tops of mountains and hills and controlled all approaches to our military outpost. The Germans used more advanced technology for constructing defensive structures. Headquarters, barracks, and infirmaries were hidden in catacombs specially dug into the rocks. Electricity, compressor units, metal structures and concrete were used during construction work.

Fortifications in a monolithic granite rock about four kilometers long, in some places rising 260 meters above the sea: there were guns, mortars, pillboxes, remote-controlled stationary flamethrower installations.
The dugouts and firing points of our military outposts were built from stone, moss and logs. Former sapper Nikolai Mitrofanovich Abramov said:

These points were given to us by blood. The Germans kept all approaches at gunpoint. For every log delivered to Musta-Tunturi, the fighters paid with their lives or wounds. How can you build a stronghold fifty meters from the enemy’s line of defense? Any knock - and immediately a mine on the head. It was necessary to distract the rangers 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, telephone operator Foma Shapiro crawled to the strong point. He was a joker and an inventor, an unrivaled master of writing letters to girls. Having repaired the telephones and tested the connection, Foma told jokes to the resting shift of the combat guard. Then one of the sailors complained to him:

- Good for you, Foma, you will amuse us and crawl to the rear, and here we paint the stones with blood. The German has built up pillboxes, and we are shielding ourselves from the bullets with our elbows.

- What’s stopping you from getting the same job? - Foma asked.

- Of course, German. As soon as you move, he, the bastard, fumbles with a machine gun, or even treats you with a mine.

Foma thought for a minute, then asked:

- Do you have a couple of sheets and a couple of poles?

Having climbed onto the stronghold again, Foma pulled a white cloth between the poles and a firebrand and drew a portrait of Hitler on it. The Fuhrer turned out great: 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. Russian machine gunners won't let you take it off. For two days there was a drawing of Thomas on Musta-Tunturi. During this time, under his cover, the sappers managed to build two excellent pillboxes. And today it is clear that they turned out 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 passages (arrows). Is the long-term work of former Marine G.M. Vozlinsky. The author completed the work in 1991 while bedridden.

Behind the outpost was the first line of defense, followed by the main line. Our strongholds were located as follows:

1st - on the northern slope of the ridge, opposite Lake Perajarvi. This strong point had 5 firing points and two mortars.

2nd - on the northern slope of height 187.0 (Middle Tunturi), opposite the western end of Lake Jauhonokanyarvi. The strong point had 5 firing points and one mortar.

3rd - on the northern slopes of height 121.0, opposite the eastern end of Lake Jauhonokanyarvi. The combat security headquarters was also located here. The strong point had 10 firing points and 2 mortar points. From the rear, a single communication passage led to the foot of the height. This is how our units were supplied. Large blockhouses, warehouses and a medical aid station were built under the cover of the rock.

4th - at an altitude of 115.6, known as the place where throughout the war our soldiers kept the border marker of the former Soviet-Finnish border intact. The strong point had 11 firing points and 2 mortar points.

5th - at an altitude of 93.0, which is opposite Lake Kairayarvi. This hill ends the Musta-Tunturi ridge. The strong point had 7 firing points and 2 mortar points.

6th - at the height of "Bezymyannaya", located in the foothills of height 122.0. The strong point had 8 firing points and 1 mortar point. There was a command observation post here.

7th - at an altitude of 40.1, on the shore of Kutovaya Bay. The strong point had 6 firing points. From the direction of Kutova the message flow was approaching him.

8th - at the height of "Damn", eastern lake Chernyavka. This was a rear strong point in case of an enemy breakthrough at the junctions of the 5th, 6th and 7th strongpoints. The point had 4 firing points 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 communications between individual sections 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 soldiers from the sea behind enemy lines in order to divert enemy forces and force Dietl to send troops aimed at Murmansk to liquidate the landings. the main task This operation was to delay the advance of the Nazi troops, to enable the defending divisions to receive reinforcements and strengthen their positions on the Western Litsa line.
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 landing force consisting of one rifle battalion (529 people) from this division was landed on the southern bank of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay. The landing was carried out by an amphibious detachment of the Northern Fleet (commanded by Vice Admiral A.G. Golovko, consisting of 3 patrol ships, 2 minesweepers, 4 patrol boats and 3 small hunter boats. The artillery support detachment included the destroyer Kuibyshev, 3 patrol boats, and Coastal batteries of the fleet were allocated for support. Air cover was 12 fighters. The commander of the landing forces was the commander of the water area of ​​the main base of the Northern Fleet, Captain 1st Rank V.I. Platonov. The initiator of the operation, A.G. Golovko, retained command of the operation. thus accepting 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 bank of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay for the purpose of reconnaissance and demonstration of large forces. The landing force was 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 shore by fleet ships (2 patrol ships).
Signalmen of one of the Northern Fleet Marine Corps units on the Sredny Peninsula.

Fearing for their left flank, the huntsmen weakened their attack in the center. Taking advantage of this, the 52nd Rifle 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 Western Litsa, and over 2,500 rangers were hospitalized.

The decision to land these two troops was a pure improvisation (all preparations for the operations were carried out within one day), calculated on the surprise of such actions for the enemy and his sensitivity to the threat of the 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 his plans to break through to Murmansk. On July 11, the rangers resumed their offensive on the northernmost section of the polar front. Using captured fishermen and their inflatable boats, they crossed the Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, landed at its southern end and began to go deeper in the direction of the southeast.

For the third time since the beginning of the war, there was a threat of a Nazi breakthrough 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 behind Nazi lines.

Using the experience gained, the front and naval command decided to expand the tasks performed by the landing forces. The goal of the new, third landing was to capture and hold a bridgehead on the western bank 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 bank. There is a threat to highway, through 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 shore is more stable, since the Northern Fleet has dominance in this section of the sea and can provide sea supplies and support for the landed troops. This operation was already prepared carefully. To support the landing operations, several artillery batteries were hastily built on the eastern shore of the bay.
Marine reconnaissance officers under the command of Junior Lieutenant A.A. Petrova is in ambush. 1942

On July 14, the fleet forces landed a tactical landing force consisting of the 325th Infantry Regiment of the 14th Infantry Division and a Marine Corps battalion (1,600 people, commander - battalion commissar A. A. Shakito) on the western bank of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay. The landing detachment included 3 patrol ships, 3 minesweepers, 5 patrol boats, the artillery support detachment included 1 destroyer, 1 patrol ship, 4 patrol boats, and the covering detachment included 3 destroyers. Simultaneously with the main landing, a diversionary reconnaissance group of 50 people landed in the area of ​​Cape Pikshuev.

The landing force managed to occupy a fairly significant bridgehead. The enemy really hastily began to pull forces towards 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 were landed to reinforce the landing. Marines. Having strengthened themselves, the fighters fought stubborn defense, repelling several enemy attacks per day. Fleet ships and artillery provided artillery support to the landing party. On July 18, the enemy launched a decisive attack on the bridgehead and pushed back the Soviet troops. The German offensive on Murmansk stopped, and on July 24-26, units of the 14th Army managed to push back the German troops.

The landing force and the ships going out in support of it were subjected to attacks by enemy aircraft, and small ships were periodically killed and damaged. Nevertheless, the supply of the landing force and the transfer of reinforcements were not interrupted. Northern Fleet aviation tried to support ground forces, but was less successful.
Soviet marines under fire.

On August 1, the Germans launched another attack on the bridgehead, again pushing back the Soviet troops. It has already become obvious that on the land front without additional forces it is not possible to drive the enemy beyond Western Litsa. Therefore, on this day the decision was made to evacuate the landing force. The operation was carried out on August 2 by 15 patrol boats and 9 motorboats under the cover of a smoke screen. Personnel (1,300 people), all weapons and equipment, as well as food and horses were transferred to the eastern shore of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay to strengthen the ground front, the wounded (240 people) were delivered to Polyarny. The operation was carried out under the cover of naval aviation. However, when, after the landing of troops on the eastern shore, 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.

During the landing of the third landing, the squad of senior sergeant V.P. Kislyakov received the task of gaining a foothold on the Nameless Height and delaying the enemy’s advance. The difficulty of the task was that a reinforced platoon of mountain riflemen was advancing against ten fighters of the volunteer detachment of the Northern Fleet. The sailors had an acute shortage of ammunition. And when most of the fighters ran out of ammunition and many were wounded, the senior sergeant ordered everyone to retreat:

- Tell our people that the order will be carried out - I will hold the hill until the end.

Only Kislyakov remained at the top. At his disposal is a light machine gun with four discs, six grenades and a rifle with a bayonet. And below, behind the stones, are the Nazis, armed with machine guns. Again, the officers rouse the soldiers to attack, and Kislyakov meets them with fire and uses ammunition very sparingly: who knows how long the battle will take. But the disks ran out, the machine gun fell silent. The fascists perked up, began to shout and went on the attack again. While they were at a distance, Vasily beat them with a rifle. An experienced hunter and sharp shooter from the Komi region never missed - several dozen enemies found a grave in a stone placer. And when the rangers got closer, grenades went into action. And here help arrived. An important defense stronghold was preserved. For courage and perseverance, Vasily Pavlovich Kislyakov - one of the first warriors of the Arctic and the first among the North Sea residents - was awarded high rank 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 between the landing force, the fleet, the front, coastal artillery and aviation was organized at a fairly good level. The significant number of troops allowed him to organize a stable defense and successfully repel enemy attacks for a long time. For unprecedented 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 Red Navy man I. M. Sivko (posthumously). On August 2, 1941, on the northwestern approaches to Murmansk, another Marine soldier, Red Navy man 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 man prisoner, he blew up a grenade. I. M. Sivko died, destroying a large group of fascists.

By order of the USSR Minister of Defense dated September 1, 1959, Sivko was forever included in the lists of the training unit of the Northern Fleet. Streets in the cities of Murmansk, Severomorsk, Polyarny, Nikolaevsk, Solovetsky, Polyarnye Zoryakh 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 high school No. 2 in the city of Nikolaevsk, Volgograd region (place of his birth), in 1965 the USSR Ministry of Communications issued a postage stamp with the image of 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 North Sea soldiers 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 Restikentsky border detachment under the command of Major Ya. A. Nemkov distinguished itself, throwing the Finns out of Soviet territory.

The Kola Peninsula occupied a significant place in the aggressive plans of the Nazi command. Main strategic objectives the enemy in this sector were to capture in the shortest possible time the city of Murmansk with its ice-free port, bases of the Northern Fleet, as well as access to the Kirov Railway line connecting the Murmansk port with the main part of the country. In addition, the invaders were attracted by the natural resources of the Kola Land, especially deposits of nickel, a metal extremely necessary for the military industry of Germany and its allies. To achieve this goal, the Army “Norway” was concentrated in the Arctic theater of operations, consisting of two German and one Finnish corps, which was supported by part of the forces of the 5th Air Fleet and the German Navy. They were opposed by the Soviet 14th Army, which occupied the defense in the Murmansk and Kandalaksha directions. From the sea, the 14th Army was covered by ships of the Northern Fleet.

Blitzkrieg in the Arctic is thwarted

The Nazis also failed to capture the Rybachy Peninsula, a strategic point from which they controlled the entrance to the Kola, Motovsky and Pechenga bays. In the summer of 1941, Soviet troops, with the support of ships of the Northern Fleet, stopped the enemy on the Musta-Tunturi ridge.

The Rybachy Peninsula became an unsinkable battleship of the Arctic and played an important role in the defense of the Kola Bay and the city of Murmansk.

At the turn of the Zapadnaya Litsa River, the front line ran until October 1944.

The enemy launched an auxiliary strike in the Kandalaksha direction. The first attempt to cross the border on this section of the front Hitler's troops attempted on June 24, but were repulsed. On July 1, 1941, the enemy launched a more massive offensive, and again he failed to achieve tangible success. Enemy units were able to advance deep into Soviet territory only 75-80 kilometers, and were stopped thanks to the steadfastness of our troops.

Everything for the front, everything for victory

Party, Soviet, and military bodies organized universal military training for the population. In cities and regions, units of the people's militia, fighter squads, sanitary squads, and local air defense formations were created. In the first weeks of the war alone, the Murmansk fighter regiment went out on missions related to the liquidation of enemy troops 13 times. sabotage groups. Soldiers of the Kandalaksha fighter battalion took a direct part in the fighting in Karelia in the area of ​​the Loukhi station. Fighters from the Kola and Kirov regions guarded the railway.

From the end of June, the evacuation of industrial equipment and population began from the Murmansk region - first by rail, later by ship to Arkhangelsk. They exported children, women, reserves of strategic raw materials, equipment from the Severonickel plant, and units of the Tuloma and Niva hydroelectric stations. In total, more than 8 thousand carriages and over 100 ships were sent outside the region.

The work of the remaining enterprises was reorganized on a war footing, reoriented to primarily fulfill front-line orders.

All serviceable fishing trawlers were transferred to the Northern Fleet. Shipyards converted them into combat ships, installed weapons on trawlers, and repaired warships and submarines. Since June 23, 1941, all enterprises switched to round-the-clock operation.

Women, teenagers and pensioners, who replaced men in production, mastered new professions and fulfilled standards by 200% or more. The working day at enterprises was 10, 12, and sometimes 14 hours.

The fishermen of Murman already in the fall of 1941 resumed fishing for fish needed for the front and rear. I had to work in a combat area, repelling attacks from enemy aircraft and submarines, without radio communications. Although the Murmansk region itself experienced food difficulties, several trains with fish and fish products were sent to besieged Leningrad.

The northerners took an active part in raising funds for the Defense Fund: they donated 15 kg of gold and 23.5 kg of silver to the fund; in total, more than 65 million rubles were received from residents of the region during the war years. In 1941, residents of the region donated 2.8 million rubles to create the Komsomolets Zapolyarya squadron, and the railway workers built the Sovetsky Murman squadron at their own expense. More than 60 thousand gifts were sent to the Red Army soldiers. School buildings in cities and towns were converted into hospitals.

The population of the Kola Peninsula had to live and work in extremely difficult conditions. Cities and towns were subjected to constant raids by enemy aircraft. The very concept of the rear in relation to the Murmansk region was very conditional - the entire territory of the region was actually a front-line zone. But the population of the Arctic did not spare either their strength or their very lives to help the front and bring about the defeat of the invaders.

Allies in the Arctic

Defense of Murman

Several partisan detachments also operated in the Kandalaksha direction.

With the beginning of the arrival of cargo from the allies, the importance of the Murmansk sea trade port increased many times over. The Murmansk port became a gateway through which tanks, planes, cars, locomotives and other materials needed by the country to fight fascism continuously arrived. The first allied caravan arrived in Murmansk on January 11, 1942, and in total during the war, about 300 ships were unloaded in the Murmansk port, and over 1.2 million tons of imported cargo were processed. A huge burden fell on the Murmansk railway junction, because the cargo that arrived at the port had to be sent to its destination inland.

In September 1942, to coordinate the actions of Soviet, party, economic bodies, institutions and enterprises, city defense committees were created in Murmansk and Kandalaksha, which carried out military organizational and mobilization work, and resolved issues related to the organization of air defense and chemical defense of cities.

Defeat of the invaders

No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten

Early in the morning of June 29, 1941, the enemy hit strong points in the northern part of the Soviet-Finnish border with an avalanche of fire. The artillery preparation lasted an hour and a half. At 4:20 a.m., after a raid by 120 bombers, units of the German mountain rifle regiments “Norway” went on the attack. The offensive was carried out in separate accessible directions with a gap between them of 5-8 kilometers. Despite the heroism of individual soldiers and entire units, the enemy, having absolute superiority in infantry, artillery and aviation, reached the river line by evening. Titovka. On the night of June 30, they were captured in good condition. south bridge across the river and a small bridgehead on its right bank.

The enemy units advancing in the direction of Ivari and Kutovaya by the end of June 29 reached the isthmus of the Sredny Peninsula, where they were stopped.

Having abandoned the offensive on his right flank, the enemy concentrates his efforts on defeating our units defending the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas. All enemy attacks were repulsed with heavy losses, and he was forced to go on the defensive.

By the morning of July 2, with the support of artillery and aviation, German troops reached the Western Litsa River. An attempt by the enemy's advanced units to cross the water barrier on the move was repulsed. The mountain rifle corps spent five days regrouping units and repairing the road. During this time, our units on the other side managed to organize a defense.

But by the end of July 7, individual enemy units were able to cross the river and reach the firing positions of our artillery, breaking through to the area where regimental rear areas and command posts were located. To weaken the Nazi pressure in this direction, on the night of July 8, the ships of the Northern Fleet in the Bolshaya Zap Bay. Persons landed troops as part of a battalion of border guards. This made it possible to eliminate the bridgehead captured by the enemy, and by the end of July 8, push the enemy back to west bank R. Zap. Persons

On July 9 and 10 the enemy was not active. On the morning of July 11, the main forces of the mountain rifle division resumed the offensive and crossed the Bolshaya Zap Bay using inflatable and fishing boats. Faces.

During the 12 days of the offensive, the enemy captured only a small bridgehead (6m-4m) on the eastern bank of the river. Zap. Faces. During this time, the Nazis lost about 3 thousand soldiers and officers killed and wounded

The landing played a major role in disrupting the July offensive. German historian V. Hess was forced to admit that “thanks to the landings, the initiative was retained in the rivers of the Soviet troops for a long time.”

After the landing, the landing units struck in the direction of the Big West. The individuals advanced 6-8 kilometers and attracted forces intended to strengthen the offensive group of the mountain rifle corps.

Units intended to strengthen the mountain rifle corps were transferred from Greece. New squadrons of bomber and fighter aircraft were concentrated at the airfields.

Fierce fighting took place on the isthmus of the Sredny Peninsula. Artillery and the air fleet were used to storm the isthmus. But they never managed to take possession of a single meter of our land.

June 14 To the northwestern coast of the Bolshaya Zapad Bay. Litsa and another landing force of 1,350 people was landed on Cape Pikshuev under the command of Major A. A. Shkita and volunteer squad sailors (150 people) of the Northern Fleet. For half a month, the paratroopers waged a heroic fight behind enemy lines.

By July 20, with the joint forces of artillery, infantry and aviation, the enemy was knocked out of the area of ​​​​the dominant height 314.9 and thrown back to the border of the village of Bolshaya Zap. Faces. During the defensive battles, which lasted almost 20 days, the divisions of the mountain rifle corps were bled dry. To resume the offensive on Murmansk, the enemy needed long preparation - more than a month. At the same time, attacks on German positions led to a new offensive on Polyarnoye and Murmansk.

Our troops tried to liquidate the bridgehead on the shore of the Bolshoi Zap. Persons, but due to poor preparation of frontal attacks, the command gave the order to go on the defensive.

On August 23, 1941, the Northern Front was divided into two parts: the Leningrad and Karelian fronts. Karelian included all the troops from Lake Onega to the Arctic Ocean.

After the regrouping, the German mountain rifle corps this time built its battle formation in one echelon. There were no reserves. The offensive was supported by 10 field artillery battalions and 280 aircraft.

At 3:50 a.m. on September 8, the enemy went on the offensive under the cover of fog. Units of the northern group suddenly attacked the weakened vigilance of the rifle regiment units and threw them back in a south-eastern direction. On September 9, the enemy was stopped and then thrown back to the line of height 173.7, the northern slopes of height 314.9. On September 15, the enemy was hit again, but advanced only 1-2 kilometers. Further enemy attacks were also unsuccessful. Over the course of 10 days of fighting, despite their 3-fold superiority in strength, the enemy’s northern groups expanded their bridgehead by only 2-3 kilometers and were forced to go on the defensive.

Things were more serious on the left flank of the 14th Army's defense. The enemy quickly crossed the undefended section of the Western River. Faces and quickly went around the flanks. The units that arrived in time were forced to retreat with heavy fighting. Developing the offensive, the enemy crossed our only communication line in the area of ​​the 42nd kilometer - the Murmansk, Bolshaya Zap road. Faces.

In connection with the current situation, a people's militia division called "Polar" was created. On September 15, it entered the enemy's right flank and struck from the rear. During the fighting, the enemy lost 1,500 soldiers and officers killed and several thousand wounded. The regiment's headquarters was destroyed, Large trophies and valuable documents of the German command were captured.

In the Kandalaksha direction, the Nazis managed to advance somewhat deeper into our territory with heavy fighting, but they were never able to reach the Kirov railway.

Murmansk offensive operation (April 28 - May 10, 1942). The idea of ​​the planned offensive operation of the Soviet troops in this direction was to pin down the enemy from the front and break through the defenses south of Lake with a strike group of the army. Charp, cover its left flanks in cooperation with the landing force of the Northern Fleet, encircle and destroy units west of the river. Zap. Persons.hereinafter

The army must develop a blow to the rear of the enemy, who was located on the isthmus of the Sredny Peninsula, in order to destroy him and reach the state border in the area from the coast of Malaya Volokovaya Bay to Lake. Charp.

A marine brigade under the command of V.V. Rassokhin was assigned to participate in the operation. It was intended for landing troops on the southern coast of Motovsky Bay.

Air support for the troops was assigned to the army, front and Northern Fleet air forces. Air defense of the troops was entrusted to aviation and anti-aircraft artillery of the 14th Army and the Murmansk air defense region. In addition, to combat enemy aircraft, units and formations used crews of heavy machine guns and anti-tank rifles specially trained for this purpose.

In all rifle units, assault groups were created and trained for action. On the eve of the operation, significant work was carried out to prepare the starting area for the offensive.

All forces of the ground forces, navy and aviation involved in the operation were controlled by the commander and headquarters of the front. To ensure interaction, representatives of aviation units were present at the division command posts. Their task was to guide aircraft to the target. There was a representative of the fleet at the command post of the 14th Army. But the preparations were not entirely successful; the army was unable to provide ammunition. Instead of 3-5 rounds of ammunition, it had the following reserve: mines - 1.5-1.0 rounds of ammunition, shells - 2-3 rounds of ammunition. The issues of food and fodder supply were resolved somewhat better.

During the defensive battles in 1941 and the offensive operation in the spring of 1942, the front line finally stabilized and remained largely unchanged until the troops of the Karelian Front went on the offensive in the summer of 1941. Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, Military Council of the front since September 1941. took all measures to create an insurmountable defense.

The basis defensive lines constituted battalion defense areas. The front headquarters demanded that in the engineering equipment of the area, the main attention be paid to covering the main directions, and primarily roads, for which purpose blockhouses with all-round defense were created on the supply and evacuation routes every 5-6 kilometers, rubble and abatis were widely used, and anti-personnel obstacles were experienced. Great difficulties were experienced warriors in the Arctic while creating defensive structures in rocky soil. Here it was often necessary to lay out shelters for firing points, trenches, trenches and communication passages from stones, fastening them with cement mortar. In general, powerful defensive structures were built. Front headquarters and army headquarters paid great attention to securing joints and flanks. For this purpose, strongholds and barriers were created at the junctions between the formations. The front experienced a great shortage of anti-aircraft weapons.

Unable to break through to Murmansk, the Germans spent the winter on the Musta-Tunturi hills. The Nazi command set the task of its air force to systematically strike at Murmansk and be ready to support the actions ground troops and attacks. In addition, aviation was supposed to monitor and control the North Norwegian and Finnish coastal strips, behind the air defense of the Petsamo area, ports and fleet bases.

In seven months, German troops created a deeply layered defense, consisting of a system of strongholds up to 20 kilometers deep. The most developed was the main line of defense, consisting of two positions, saturated with a large number of stone and earthen structures, mine explosives and wire barriers.

The offensive of the 14th Army began on the morning of April 28 after a 3-hour artillery preparation. But the artillery was unable to destroy the enemy’s fortifications and suppress his firing points, since the targets were not detected by reconnaissance. The aircraft dropped several bombs on strong points, but did not provide significant assistance to the troops.

The troops of the army's strike group failed to complete their assigned tasks. By May 3, our advancing forces managed to capture only enemy strongholds on the front line. The landing troops landed in Motovsky Bay were also unsuccessful.

On the evening of May 4, the temperature dropped sharply and a snowstorm began, which forced our troops to stop active operations. The delivery of food and ammunition to all army units stopped.

From 1941 to 1944, a positional war unfolded on the Kola Peninsula. Taking into account the nature and peculiarities of the theater of military operations, the insufficient number of personnel and military equipment, the troops of the Karelian Front used such forms and methods of military operations in defense that exhausted the enemy’s forces, and also ensured the capture of new territories. The most typical of them were battles to improve the front line, destroy the enemy’s defensive structures and destroy his manpower and military equipment, reconnaissance in force, raids of units and subunits behind enemy lines, and the use of snipers. Reconnaissance in force was carried out not only for reconnaissance purposes, but also pursued the goal of destroying defensive structures, disable the enemy's military equipment. Widely practiced special intelligence, which was organized by the heads of the military branches and services in order to obtain the data necessary for the use of troops in battle.

Ski troops were also put to good use. The harsh winter and long polar nights, the presence of open flanks and joints between the enemy formations, favored their actions. Typically, the detachments sent on raids numbered from 150 to 300 people, and sometimes more. The skiers were behind enemy lines for 10 to 12 days, covering during this time huge distances. They had to carry the entire set of ammunition, as well as mines for sabotage operations. IN in some cases Reindeer sleds and drag boats were used to transport machine guns and the sick and wounded.

The main target of attack in the rear were enemy garrisons. Usually the raids were carried out at night or at dawn, when the Nazis were least ready for battle. The front command also practiced other forms of fighting behind enemy lines. starting from 1942, miners began to be systematically sent behind enemy lines in small groups to blow up rails, blow up bridges, undermine communications, etc.

On the Karelian Front, in conditions of rough terrain, convenient for camouflage, the sniper movement became widespread. The front commander, during the transition of the front troops to a stable defense, demanded that the commanders of formations and units pay more attention to the training of snipers, and reward the best of them with a personalized sniper rifle. Snipers usually acted in pairs. Each pair equipped a main, reserve and false position. In the conditions of the mountain-tundra Arctic under special control There were mountain paths, passes, gorges, and mountain valleys for snipers.

Given the significant extension of the front line, it was important to create an impression among the enemy that the positions were highly saturated with firepower and manpower. For this purpose, “Nomadic” guns, mortars, and even machine guns and machine guns were used.

The artillery of the Northern Fleet was also effective. On the Rybachy Peninsula from first to last day During the war, Battery No. 221 successfully fought the enemy, striking enemy ships as they entered Petsam Bay. To suppress this battery, the Nazis fired 17 thousand large-caliber shells and dropped 7 thousand aerial bombs. But the battery continued to fight.

On September 4, 1941, the Finnish government announced its break with Nazi Germany. At the same tribute Finnish army stopped hostilities. German army found itself without support in this direction.

On September 29, 1944, the Supreme Command headquarters approved an offensive operation in the Arctic. The idea of ​​the operation was to break through the defenses on a narrow 9-kilometer section of the front southeast of Luostari, then capture the city of Pechenga and develop an offensive towards the Norwegian border. The 7th Air Army was supposed to suppress enemy defenses in close cooperation with artillery. It was entrusted with covering the front's main communications from air strikes, directly supporting formations and units during the offensive, and, if necessary, delivering them ammunition, fuel and food.

On the morning of October 7, the weather in the combat area began to deteriorate. Due to fog and clouds, visibility decreased, so the aircraft were unable to fully complete their mission.

Command "Fire!" was served at 8 o'clock. The artillery preparation was powerful and covered strong points on the front line and in the immediate depths, covered enemy headquarters, communications centers, reserves, artillery and mortar batteries.

At 9:30 a.m., due to even worse weather conditions, the fire rate decreased. At 10:30 a.m. our troops repelled the enemy.

As a result of the 1st day of the offensive, the troops of the 14th Army broke through the main enemy defense line on a front of about 6 kilometers, crossed Titovka and captured a bridgehead on its northern bank. On the afternoon of October 8, the troops of the 14th Army continued their offensive. The greatest success this time was achieved on the right flank. The troops advanced 5-7 kilometers in off-road conditions. During two days of fighting in the territory liberated by our troops, the enemy left over 1.5 thousand corpses of soldiers and officers, 14 guns, 48 ​​mortars, 79 machine guns, 9 warehouses with various property, thousands of rifles and machine guns. During this time, 210 soldiers and officers were captured.

At the same time, the light rifle corps made a deep detour around the right flank of the enemy’s defensive line. Their successful movement in the direction of Luostari threatened to encircle the enemy group defending on the Western line. Faces. Fearing this, the command of the mountain rifle corps gave the order for the withdrawal of its units from this line. Our command has set a goal here to prevent this from happening. But due to the lack of roads, the operation was delayed, and the enemy was able to withdraw some of his troops. Due to poor meteorological conditions, lack of artillery, and a very large lack of ammunition, the enemy was able to withdraw troops from the river line in a relatively calm environment. Zap. Face your main forces and launch fierce counterattacks against our units that cut the Western road. Faces, Pecheneg.

From October 10 to 12, our troops entered the Luostari area, thereby dividing the enemy group into two parts and creating favorable conditions for developing an offensive in the direction of Nikel and north towards Pecheneg. On October 9, at 23:30, a landing force with a total number of 411 people was landed on the southern coast of Malaya Volokovaya Bay. His task was to prepare for the main landing. Then at 0 o'clock the main landing force of 1,628 people was landed. The landing was successful, and the troops began to storm the Musta-Tunturi ridge.

Having been defeated in the area of ​​the ridge, and fearing encirclement, the enemy at 12 o'clock on October 10 began to retreat from the isthmus of the Sredny Peninsula to the Pechenga area. During October 12 and 13, units of the Marines pursued the enemy along the road to Porovara.

On October 13, troops were landed in Linnahamari. Under heavy enemy fire, Captain Shabalin's boats broke into the port and at 11 p.m. landed the soldiers ashore. By 12 o'clock on October 13, they captured the main bastion of defense - the 210-mm battery. By 19 o'clock the port was completely captured.

During the period of fighting from September 9 to 14, the Northern Fleet inflicted significant losses on the enemy: more than 3 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were killed, various weapons and military equipment were destroyed and taken as trophies, including 39 warehouses with fuel, ammunition and food.

By the evening of October 14, German units with a total number of 3,500 people in the Pechenga area were surrounded. On October 15 at 2 o'clock, fierce street fighting in the city ended in complete victory for the Soviet troops.

Over five days of intense fighting (October 18-22), the troops of the 14th Army advanced 20-30 kilometers. An important nickel production area with large settlements- Nikel and Akhmalahti. Soviet troops entered Norwegian territory.

Thus, the September offensive was not successful. The enemy failed to complete the assigned tasks. Having suffered heavy losses, he was stopped and forced to switch to trench warfare. By December 1941, front troops were occupying defenses on the river. Zap. Litsa, not a system of rivers and lakes (90 kilometers west of Kandalaksha), 40 kilometers west of Loukha, 10 kilometers west of Ukhta, Rugozero, Maselskaya station, Povenets, Lake Onega, r. Svir.

During the first 12 days of the offensive, the enemy captured only a small bridgehead on the eastern bank of the river. Zap. Faces. During this time, the Nazis lost about 3 thousand soldiers and officers killed and wounded. The offensive operation did not achieve the result that the German government expected from it.

In accordance with the instructions of the headquarters, the troops of the 14th Army from mid-May went on the defensive at the Great Western line. Faces, south of height 314.9, height 180.4.

Target offensive operations, held in 41-42. was not achieved, but the troops of the 14th Army and the Northern Fleet gained rich combat experience in preparing and conducting a major offensive operation.

For about 3 years, the troops of the Karelian Front and the sailors of the Northern Fleet were active defensive battles in the Arctic. The leadership of Nazi Germany kept large forces here, as they feared an offensive by the Karelian Front to the west of Murmansk. It was afraid of losing the Nickel mines in the Petsamo (Pechengi) region, which provided 32% of the pan-European production of nickel, which is a strategic raw material. The defense of the troops was very active. Day or night, in any season or weather, the front soldiers exhausted the enemy, forced him to keep his forces in constant tension, prohibited him from defensive work, constantly disrupted his rest, suppressed the morale of the enemy troops, and weakened his combat effectiveness.

Having gathered enough of this, the Soviet command in September 44 went on the offensive and by November completely cleared the Arctic of the enemy.