MUK Severomorskaya TsBS

Central Children's Library

The Great Patriotic War

in the Arctic

Bibliography lesson

Severomorsk

Scenario

Lesson Plan

1. War came to the North.

2. Vaenga in battles and campaigns.

3. Streets are named after them.

4. Labor rear of the Kola Peninsula.

5. Petsamo-Kirkenes operation.

6. Looking for the right book: skills in working with the library reference apparatus.

7. “The living, remember them!”: instead of a conclusion.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops in the Arctic. Our region has lived without war for 65 years.

The war came to the Kola land in June 1941.

The German government set the goal of seizing not only the nickel mines in Petsamo, but also the entire Kola Peninsula, thereby trying to solve at least three problems: to provide itself with strategically important raw materials; paralyze the Northern Fleet in order to achieve dominance in the North Atlantic; and cut the Murmansk railway connecting the center of the country with the outside world.

The defense of the Arctic continued for more than three years. Three years filled with fierce battles on earth, in the skies and at sea.

The reference book on the Great Patriotic War dispassionately reports: the defense of the Arctic (June 1941-October 1944), the military operations of the troops of the Northern (from September 1, 1941 Karelian) Front, the Northern Fleet and the White Sea military flotilla on the Kola Peninsula, in the northern part of Karelia, on the Barents, White and Kara Seas.

During the defense, Soviet troops, navy and workers of the Arctic did not allow the enemy to isolate the Soviet Union from external relations through the northern ports and cut the Northern Sea Route to the Far East, and ensured the uninterrupted operation of land and sea internal communications in the north of the country.

Poems by poets who fought on the Kola land help us understand at what cost the operation in the Arctic was won, what people experienced during the war.

No,

Not to gray hairs,

No time for fame

I would like to extend my life,

I would only like to go as far as that ditch over there

Live half a moment, half a step;

Hug to the ground

And in the azure

July clear day

See the grin of the embrasure

And sharp flashes of fire.

I just wish

This grenade

Stick her in

Cut it in the right way

In the four times damned bunker,

So that it becomes empty and quiet,

May it settle like dust on the grass!

I wish I could live these half a moment,

And I will live there for a hundred years!

Pavel Shubin “Polmiga” 1943

Of course, the Northern Fleet took an active part in the hostilities. After the fascist “reconnaissance” flew over the Kola Bay, Polyarny and Vaenga on June 17, 1941, combat readiness in the fleet was sharply increased. The fleet commander and the divisional commissar, a member of the Military Council, personally found out why the anti-aircraft gunners did not open fire on the German plane. The gunners explained that they were afraid of making a mistake. The order to open fire on violators brought clarity and increased vigilance. With regard to fascist planes violating our border, the fleet commander gave categorical instructions - to shoot them down. The entire fleet on the eve of the war was in the highest combat readiness.

On the first day of the war, artillerymen of the 221st battery spotted an enemy minesweeper on the opposite shore of the bay, which was covered by guns. The command rang out: “For battle!” The shells from the first three salvos covered the ship. The battery commander, senior lieutenant Pavel Kosmachev, reporting this to the fleet headquarters, did not think then that he was reporting on the opening of the North Sea combat account.

The Nazis brought down fire from their coastal batteries located on the other side of the bay on Kosmachev’s guns. The 221st battery was subjected to severe attacks by enemy aircraft. But Kosmachev’s artillerymen continued to fire at the enemy. And so month after month, year after year. After the war, the gun raised on a pedestal in Severomorsk became a symbol of perseverance and courage.

And the sky was scary

Watch how the sailors

Throwing himself into the fiery water.

They held the shaky bridges,

So that the Soviet infantry

She went ashore dry

And, uprooting pillboxes,

I found the right path.

As before, the mines rustled.

In a remote gorge the wind howled -

And the wounded did not want

Evacuate to the rear.

And even the dead seemed

Wouldn't give it up for anything

That inch that mixed with their blood

On the reclaimed plateau!

Alexander Oyslander "Landing"

This is what the front-line poet Alexander Efimovich Oyslender wrote in 1944. In commemoration of the feat of troops, heroism and courage of the population, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 5, 1944, the medal “For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic” was established, which was awarded to over 307 thousand soldiers and workers who participated in the defense.

The war has long died down. The blood and pain of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers have become part of history. And you need to know the history of your country, your region in order to be a full-fledged person and citizen.

Where can I read about the operation in the Arctic, how can I quickly find information about the Great Patriotic War? The library reference apparatus will help us with this. First of all, we need a Systematic Catalog. In the catalog in the box “Modern history (1917-)” there is a separator “63.3 Period of the Great Patriotic War ()”, behind which descriptions of all books about the war stored in our fund are collected. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in the catalogs of our (Central Children's) library you can find descriptions not only of books, but also of electronic disks and videos.

You can obtain additional information by using the Systematic File Index of Articles. There you can find information about newspaper and magazine publications on the topic of the Great Patriotic War.

If you need to read about the operation in the Arctic, then it is better to turn to the Local History Card Index. There they collect information about the most interesting articles from newspapers and magazines about the Murmansk region and Severomorsk and about local history books. The card index is organized by thematic headings, which makes searching easier. In this case, we are interested in the separators “Historical past of the region” and “Red Banner Northern Fleet”.

Why are we discussing these issues in such detail? The fact is that after some time you will become readers of adult (city or regional) libraries. And there you will have to independently work with catalogs and card files, and fill out the requirements for literature yourself. And you can only get the skills necessary for this from us, in the children's library.

We are separated from the liberation of the Arctic by 65 years. This is a long time for a person, a whole life. The heroes of the battles that died down are moving further and further away from us. They left us a bright memory and a saved country. Remember those who paid for the victory in the Great Patriotic War with their lives, remember your history and let this help you build the future of our Fatherland.

I won't open America to you

And I won’t sparkle with a catchy rhyme.

I just remember the flat beach

And the sea is a hard wave.

To the far northern latitudes

I wanted to take you away

To the boys from the Marine Corps.

Who are not even twenty.

Are they fighting?

Yes, they are fighting -

Fights all around and death all around.

Still dancing?

Yes, they dance

In the underground club at the front.

Boys need peace to be happy,

Their thirst is not quenched...

Between two alarms, without removing the weapon.

They dance the waltz.

There is a war going on.

Boys are someone's fathers

Could become... Could become.

But in the sea, in the hills, near Petsamo

They will not be resurrected, they will not get up.

They don't love, don't smile,

Don't touch hundreds of things.

Just stay forever young

The boys got their share.

Still got it - the price of life

They have to pay for the lives of others,

Those who replace them...

remember them!

Elizabeth Stewart "Memory"

List of used literature

1. There was a war...Front-line poetry of the Kola Arctic: a collection of poems / comp. D. Korzhov; Educational center "Dobrokhot". - Murmansk: Dobromysl, 200 pp.: ill.

2. The Great Patriotic War: dictionary-reference book / comp. ; under general ed. .- 2nd ed., additional - M.: Politizdat, 198 p.

3. Zhdanov, / , .- Murmansk: Book publishing house, 197 pp.: ill.- (Cities and districts of the Murmansk region).

4. Polar bridgehead: / ed. .- SPb.: KiNT-print, 2005.- p.: ill.

5. Simonov, K. Poems and poems: / Konstantin Simonov. - M.: Goslitizdat, 195p.

List of illustrations used

(entries are arranged in order of demonstration).

1. [Map of the Murmansk region] [Izomaterial] // From Murmansk to Berlin / .- Murmansk, 1984.- P.

2. [Battles on the Rybachy Peninsula] [Izomaterial] // From Murmansk to Berlin / .- Murmansk, 1984.- P.

3. Air defense systems [Izomaterial] // Polar bridgehead / ed. .- SPb., 2005.- P. 80.

4. Monument to the heroic artillerymen of the 221st Red Banner Battery of the Northern Fleet [Izomaterial] // Severomorsk. The capital of my destiny: photo album / comp. R. Stalinskaya.-Severomorsk, 2008.-P. .

5. Nyssa, torpedo boats. 1944 [Izomaterial] // Artistic chronicle of the Great Patriotic War / .- M., 1986.- No. 000.

6. [Severomorsk in 1951] [Izomaterial] // Severomorsk. The capital of my destiny: photo album / comp. R. Stalinskaya.-Severomorsk, 2008.-P. .

7. [Izomaterial] // From Murmansk to Berlin / .- Murmansk, 1984.- P.

8. Hero of the Soviet Union [Izomaterial] // Feat of the North Sea men / I. Ponomarev. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - Murmansk, 1970.- P.149.

9. [Portrait] [Izomaterial] // Military sailors - heroes of the underwater depths (): biographical reference book.-M.; Kronstadt, 2006.-P. 60.

10. [Deer] [Izomaterial] // From Murmansk to Berlin / .- Murmansk, 1984.- S.

11. Ivanov, V. For the Motherland, for honor, for freedom!: poster [Izomaterial] // Polar bridgehead / ed. .- SPb., 2005.- P. 82.

12. [Landing] [Izomaterial] // Polar bridgehead / ed. .- SPb., 2005.- P. 41.

13. Separators for the local history card index.

14. [Fighters of the Soviet Army] [Izomaterial] // From Murmansk to Berlin / .- Murmansk, 1984.- P.

Computer typing and design: bibliographer of the Central Library

Responsible for the release: Head of the Central Children's Library

According to Directive No. 21 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht, better known as Plan Barbarossa, the capture of Murmansk and the entire Kola Peninsula was one of the top priorities of the German command. To carry it out, the Army “Norway” was created, staffed by German and Finnish soldiers who had undergone special training for operations in the Far North.

Thus, the main strategic task of the enemy in this sector was to capture the city of Murmansk with its ice-free port as soon as possible, which would threaten the existence of the entire Soviet Northern Fleet. The Reich was also attracted by the peninsula's vast natural resources, mainly nickel deposits, so necessary for the war industry.

Even before the start of the offensive, the occupation administration of Murmansk was appointed, and on July 20, 1941, a parade of German troops was planned at the central stadium of the city. From the first days of the War, German planes began massive air raids on Murmansk and other key bases of the Northern Fleet. On June 29, 1941, German-Finnish troops crossed the northern border of the USSR. This date is considered to be the beginning of the Battle of the Arctic.

The German offensive on the Kola Peninsula began in three directions. The main forces were concentrated to strike Murmansk, while at the same time 2 more groups launched an offensive in the Kandalaksha and Loukh directions, with the goal of disrupting communications between the peninsula and the rest of the country.

On the way to MurmanskArmy "Norway" was opposed by the 14th separate army under the command of Colonel General Valerian Aleksandrovich Frolov, with the support of ships and aviation of the Northern Fleet, under the leadership of Vice Admiral A.G. Golovko.

From the very first days the fighting became extremely fierce. The Germans achieved the greatest success in the Murmansk direction. Part of the forces of Frolov’s army was blocked by the enemy on the Sredny Peninsula, but the enemy was unable to advance further than the Musta-Tunturi ridge, connecting the peninsula with the mainland. On the third day after the start of the offensive, having covered 30 kilometers, Wehrmacht troops managed to seize a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Zapadnaya Litsa River, in the area of the Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, creating a real threat to Murmansk.

The Germans failed to expand and transfer significant forces to the bridgehead, but the possibility of striking from the bridgehead at any moment greatly worried the Soviet military leaders. The headquarters of the 14th Army, together with the command of the Northern Fleet, developed a plan to pin down enemy forces on the bridgehead, and, if circumstances were favorable, to completely eliminate enemy units. The essence of the plan was to land operational troops on the coast occupied by German troops in order to disrupt the supply of the bridgehead.

On July 6 and 7, 1941, the first two landings were landed on the southern and western banks of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay. The tactical landings seriously worried the German command, as key German supply routes were under threat. The leadership of the Army “Norway” was forced to suspend the offensive on Murmansk and transfer part of its forces to eliminate the threat in its rear.

On July 9, 1941, Soviet landing forces were removed from the bridgeheads. On July 14, using the experience of the first two landings, the Red Army launched a third, larger landing operation.

With the help of the 325th Infantry Regiment and a Marine Battalion under the overall command of A.A. Shakito, Soviet troops managed to gain a foothold on the western bank of the Zapadnaya Litsa River. Thus, a unique situation was created - on the same river, literally a few kilometers from each other, two bridgeheads, Soviet and German, were formed.

For two weeks, having pulled together significant forces, the Soviet bridgehead continued to hold. On August 2, 1941, the still unbroken paratroopers were transferred to the mainland to strengthen the ground group.

By this time, the German offensive had foundered on both the Kandalaksha and Loukha directions. The Kirov Railway, the main route of communication on the Kola Peninsula, remained under our control, which means the Germans were unable to block the supply of both the city of Murmansk and the Northern Fleet. After this, the front stabilized for some time.

Realizing that it would not be possible to break through the Soviet defense by scattering forces, the German command headquarters decided to focus on the Murmansk direction.

Having completed the regrouping, on September 8, 1941, the Germans launched a new offensive. But it also ended in complete failure. In 9 days of fighting, the Army of Norway advanced only 4 kilometers, and on September 17, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive, during which the 3rd Mountain Division was completely destroyed, and the Wehrmacht troops were thrown back beyond Western Litsa. This circumstance forced the Wehrmacht leadership to completely abandon offensive actions in this sector of the front.

In the spring of 1942, as part of the Murmansk operation, the Red Army attempted to push German troops back from their positions and at the same time forestall the attack being prepared by the enemy. If the first task could not be solved, then the second was completed - the spring offensive on Murmansk never happened. From that time on, the front finally stabilized along the Zapadnaya Litsa River until the fall of 1944.

If we briefly summarize the results of the defensive battles in the Arctic, they can be considered the most successful on the entire Soviet-German front. The German troops failed to solve a single task assigned to them. The strategically important Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas, although they were blocked from land, remained under the control of Soviet troops. In the direction of Murmansk, the enemy managed to cover only 30 kilometers from the border. The greatest advance of German troops from the Soviet-Finnish border did not exceed 80 kilometers, and in some areas the enemy did not manage to enter Soviet territory at all.

The fact that the defenders of the Soviet North managed to thwart the ambitious plans of the Wehrmacht in the Arctic was of great importance and influenced the entire course of the Great Patriotic War, since it was through the ports of the Arctic that allied aid supplies were subsequently delivered, and the Northern Fleet was preserved.

While there has been relative calm in the land theater of military operations, in the area of the Kola Peninsula, the same cannot be said for the northern seas. On the contrary, naval battles began to become more and more fierce. Initially, the German command attached little importance to sea communications along the Northern Sea Route and across the North Atlantic, so the concentration of the German fleet in this region was insignificant. The reason for this neglect lies in the fact that, in the hope of a lightning victory, the German leadership believed that the USSR simply would not be able to use the capabilities of the northern ice-free harbors, since they would be in the hands of the Reich. The situation began to change rapidly by 1942, when the first convoys of ships (the so-called polar convoys) from England, the USA and Canada arrived at the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The Allies supplied our country with tanks and planes, fuel and shells, food and medicine. The USSR, in turn, sent various raw materials (fuel, metal, timber, etc.) in the opposite direction.

When the first deliveries of foreign equipment arrived in Murmansk, in particular, British Hurricane aircraft, British pilots also arrived there to instruct and train our pilots. This is how the 151st Squadron of the British Air Force appeared on our front, commanded by Henry Neville Guinness Ramsbottom-Isherwood. It brought together people from all over the world. The commander himself was from New Zealand; Australians, Canadians, Scots, Welsh and Irish, natives of Rhodesia, the Union of South Africa and the West Indies also served in the air wing. Their activities were by no means limited to teaching. British pilots, together with our pilots, fought bravely and skillfully shot down enemy planes, calling the Germans “Jerry” behind their backs.

Stalin's tenth blow

Military operation

We will not give up Murmansk

From Directive No. 21:

“a) at the beginning of the operation, and if necessary earlier, invade the Petsamo area and reliably defend it together with Finnish troops against attack from land, sea and air. Of particular importance is the retention of nickel mines, which are extremely important for the German war economy (Operation Renntir);

b) with the available troops, encircle Murmansk, which is a support base for the offensive actions of the enemy’s ground, sea and air forces. Subsequently, if available forces allow, to capture Murmansk (Operation Silberfuchs)"

Thus, the main strategic task of the enemy in this sector was to capture the city of Murmansk with its ice-free port as soon as possible, which would threaten the existence of the entire Soviet Northern Fleet. The Reich was also attracted by the peninsula's vast natural resources, mainly nickel deposits, so necessary for the war industry.

Even before the start of the offensive, the occupation administration of Murmansk was appointed, and on July 20, 1941, a parade of German troops was planned at the central stadium of the city. From the first days of the War, German planes began massive air raids on Murmansk and other key bases of the Northern Fleet. On June 29, 1941, German-Finnish troops crossed the northern border of the USSR. This date is considered to be the beginning of the Battle of the Arctic.

The German offensive on the Kola Peninsula began in three directions. The main forces were concentrated to strike Murmansk, while at the same time 2 more groups launched an offensive in the Kandalaksha and Loukh directions, with the goal of disrupting communications between the peninsula and the rest of the country.

On the way to MurmanskArmy "Norway" was opposed by the 14th separate army under the command of Colonel General Valerian Aleksandrovich Frolov, with the support of ships and aviation of the Northern Fleet, under the leadership of Vice Admiral A.G. Golovko.

From the very first days the fighting became extremely fierce. The Germans achieved the greatest success in the Murmansk direction. Part of the forces of Frolov’s army was blocked by the enemy on the Sredny Peninsula, but the enemy was unable to advance further than the Musta-Tunturi ridge, connecting the peninsula with the mainland. On the third day after the start of the offensive, having covered 30 kilometers, Wehrmacht troops managed to seize a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Zapadnaya Litsa River, in the area of the Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, creating a real threat to Murmansk.

The Germans failed to expand and transfer significant forces to the bridgehead, but the possibility of striking from the bridgehead at any moment greatly worried the Soviet military leaders. The headquarters of the 14th Army, together with the command of the Northern Fleet, developed a plan to pin down enemy forces on the bridgehead, and, if circumstances were favorable, completely eliminate enemy units. The essence of the plan was to land operational troops on the coast occupied by German troops in order to disrupt the supply of the bridgehead.

On July 6 and 7, 1941, the first two landings were landed on the southern and western banks of Zapadnaya Litsa Bay. The tactical landings seriously worried the German command, as key German supply routes were under threat. The leadership of the Army “Norway” was forced to suspend the offensive on Murmansk and transfer part of its forces to eliminate the threat in its rear.

On July 9, 1941, Soviet landing forces were removed from the bridgeheads. On July 14, using the experience of the first two landings, the Red Army launched a third, larger landing operation.

With the help of the 325th Infantry Regiment and a Marine Battalion under the overall command of A.A. Shakito, Soviet troops managed to gain a foothold on the western bank of the Zapadnaya Litsa River. Thus, a unique situation was created - on the same river, literally a few kilometers from each other, two bridgeheads, Soviet and German, were formed.

For two weeks, having pulled together significant forces, the Soviet bridgehead continued to hold. On August 2, 1941, the still unbroken paratroopers were transferred to the mainland to strengthen the ground group.

By this time, the German offensive had foundered on both the Kandalaksha and Loukha directions. The Kirov Railway, the main route of communication on the Kola Peninsula, remained under our control, which means the Germans failed to block the supply of both the city of Murmansk and the Northern Fleet. After this, the front stabilized for some time.

Realizing that it would not be possible to break through the Soviet defense by scattering forces, the German command headquarters decided to focus on the Murmansk direction.

Having completed the regrouping, on September 8, 1941, the Germans launched a new offensive. But it also ended in complete failure. In 9 days of fighting, the Army of Norway advanced only 4 kilometers, and on September 17, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive, during which the 3rd Mountain Division was completely destroyed, and the Wehrmacht troops were thrown back beyond Western Litsa. This circumstance forced the Wehrmacht leadership to completely abandon offensive actions in this sector of the front.

In the spring of 1942, as part of the Murmansk operation, the Red Army attempted to push German troops back from their positions and at the same time forestall the attack being prepared by the enemy. If the first task could not be solved, then the second was completed - the spring offensive on Murmansk never happened. From that time on, the front finally stabilized along the Zapadnaya Litsa River until the fall of 1944.

If we briefly summarize the results of the defensive battles in the Arctic, they can be considered the most successful on the entire Soviet-German front. The German troops failed to solve a single task assigned to them. The strategically important Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas, although they were blocked from land, remained under the control of Soviet troops. In the direction of Murmansk, the enemy managed to cover only 30 kilometers from the border. The greatest advance of German troops from the Soviet-Finnish border did not exceed 80 kilometers, and in some areas the enemy did not manage to enter Soviet territory at all.

The fact that the defenders of the Soviet North managed to thwart the ambitious plans of the Wehrmacht in the Arctic was of great importance and influenced the entire course of the Great Patriotic War, since it was through the ports of the Arctic that allied aid supplies were subsequently delivered, and the Northern Fleet was preserved.

While there has been relative calm in the land theater of military operations, in the area of the Kola Peninsula, the same cannot be said for the northern seas. On the contrary, naval battles began to become more and more fierce. Initially, the German command attached little importance to sea communications along the Northern Sea Route and across the North Atlantic, so the concentration of the German fleet in this region was insignificant. The reason for this neglect lies in the fact that, in the hope of a lightning victory, the German leadership believed that the USSR simply would not be able to use the capabilities of the northern ice-free harbors, since they would be in the hands of the Reich. The situation began to change rapidly by 1942, when the first convoys of ships (the so-called polar convoys) from England, the USA and Canada arrived at the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The Allies supplied our country with tanks and planes, fuel and shells, food and medicine. The USSR, in turn, sent various raw materials (fuel, metal, timber, etc.) in the opposite direction.

When the first deliveries of foreign equipment arrived in Murmansk, in particular, British Hurricane aircraft, British pilots also arrived there to instruct and train our pilots. This is how the 151st Squadron of the British Air Force appeared on our front, commanded by Henry Neville Guinness Ramsbottom-Isherwood. It brought together people from all over the world. The commander himself was from New Zealand; Australians, Canadians, Scots, Welsh and Irish, natives of Rhodesia, the Union of South Africa and the West Indies also served in the air wing. Their activities were by no means limited to teaching. British pilots, together with our pilots, fought bravely and skillfully shot down enemy planes, calling the Germans “Jerry” behind their backs.

Thus, Anthony Hartwell Rooke, in the midst of an air battle, flew into the thick of the Messerschmitts and single-handedly took on nine enemy aircraft. In another battle he fought by descending from 3,000 meters to the water, shooting down one German plane and damaging another. Anthony Garfors Miller, having risen into the air with his six, saw 14 Junkers overhead, heading towards the Vaenga-1 airfield, where our forces were based, and instantly dispersed them. Two other pilots, Bosch and Homens, during a surprise raid on the airfield, when shells were exploding all around, reached their planes and, taxiing between the craters, took to the air and took over the battle. In November 1941, four pilots of the 151st squadron were awarded the Order of Lenin.

The forces of the German and Finnish navies were significantly strengthened by the end of 1941, and from the spring of 1942, regular special operations began to be carried out against each convoy of ships by the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. The naval group was also strengthened by the Soviet command: some of the ships were transferred by the allies, some were transferred from the Pacific Fleet.

Thanks to the North Sea sailors, as well as the help of the British Navy, despite the real hunt organized by the German fleet for caravans, most of the cargo was delivered to the destination ports. In total, the Northern Fleet conducted over 1,400 convoys during the war years, in which more than 2,500 ships participated. But in addition to successful operations, there were also serious failures. Thus, the infamous convoy PQ-17, sent to the USSR on June 27, 1942, was almost completely destroyed by German aircraft and submarines. Of the 35 ships, only 13 were able to reach the destination port.

However, the northern route became an important transport corridor between the USSR, England and the USA. In total, about 20% of all cargo delivered by the Allies to the USSR under Lend-Lease was delivered through it.

"We walked, without knowing defeat, through forests, swamps and snow and, breaking through steel fortifications, defeated the evil enemy!“- this bravura song ends the documentary about the war with the “White Finns”. The film was released on the screens of the Land of the Soviets in the spring of 1940, shortly after peace was concluded with Finland.

The main theater of military operations was the Karelian Isthmus, which was crossed by a strip of fortifications known as the Mannerheim Line. The film of the same name was dedicated to the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line. It, unsurprisingly, said nothing about the enormous losses suffered by the Red Army in frontal attacks.

The battles in the Arctic were much less intense and bloody than the battles on the Karelian Isthmus, north of Lake Ladoga and in Karelia and were not mentioned in newsreels. But it was on the northernmost sector of the front that Soviet troops achieved the greatest successes with the least losses.

In the north, the struggle was for the ice-free port of Petsamo (now Pechenga), nickel deposits and fleet bases. Both the USSR and Finland were interested in them. Germany and its Western allies, Britain and France, showed interest in the ports and mines.

Petsamo Liinahamari, Finnish photograph, 1939

Polar surprise

Combat operations on all sectors of the Soviet-Finnish front began on November 30, 1939. The Soviet 14th Army was advancing in the Far North. It was commanded by division commander Valerian Frolov. The 52nd Division advanced south along the only Petsamo-Rovaniemi road. The 13th and 104th divisions and forces of the Northern Fleet were tasked with protecting the coast.

The Finns, the researchers note, did not imagine that the Soviet Union would throw an entire combined arms army into the tundra, consisting of three divisions, five attached artillery regiments, an anti-aircraft division and two tank battalions.

On December 2, Soviet troops captured the port of Petsamo and cut off Finland from the Barents Sea and occupied the Rybachy and Sredniy peninsulas. The offensive was soon stopped. The battles boiled down to repelling raids by Finnish skiers.

“There was no continuous front line at all north of Lake Ladoga,” says Finnish historian Karl-Frederik Geust. “There was nothing like the “Mannerheim Line” in the north. It was a surprise for the Finnish command that the Red Army was advancing with the same massive forces there, where there are no roads. The Finns thought that it was impossible to conduct offensive battles with large forces in the conditions of the roadless tundra. But the Kremlin thought differently."

The deployment of the Soviet 9th Army in Karelia was also a surprise for the Finns, according to Russian historian Bair Irincheev. “The appearance of the 52nd division, as well as three divisions of the 9th Army, the 122nd, 163rd and 44th, was a very big surprise for the Finns. Finnish pre-war plans did not provide for the possibility of deploying such large formations in the tundra.”

Historian Mikhail Meltyukhov describes the situation in the Arctic in November-December 1939: “The Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas were separated by a border. These peninsulas were the objects of territorial claims. The offensive began, and it turned out that there were simply no Finns there.”

As a result, says Mikhail Meltyukhov, the 52nd Division occupied Petsamo and took possession of the nickel mines. Having lost Petsamo, Finland lost the opportunity to receive assistance from friendly states. In addition, the 14th Army was supposed to prevent a possible landing, as Meltyukhov says, of troops from “third countries.”

Fortitude, local knowledge, dexterity

In the summer of 1939, the Red Army, despite the failures of the first stage of fighting, convincingly defeated the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol. In the second half of September, the Red Army made a successful campaign in Eastern Poland.

These victories played a cruel joke on the Soviet command. The People's Commissariat of Defense, the General Staff and the Kremlin believed that Finland could be dealt with quickly and with minor losses.

Many units and formations that fought in Mongolia and Poland were transferred to the Leningrad Military District. However, the war in the north turned out to be completely different.

The Finnish army, according to historian Karl-Fredrik Geust, had at least three advantages. “Firstly, the Finns defended their country. Secondly, the Finns were to a certain extent prepared for war in Arctic conditions, in particular, they all knew how to ski. And thirdly - this was a secret for a long time - they The Finnish army had very effective radio reconnaissance."

Thanks to a well-established radio interception service, says Geust, the Finns had a complete understanding of the intentions of the Soviet command and could successfully maneuver their small forces, throwing them at the most threatened areas of the front. This partly explains the seemingly paradoxical circumstance that during the war the Finns more than once managed to encircle units and formations of the Red Army.

“The 54th Mountain Rifle Division, the place of pre-war deployment of which was the city of Kandalaksha, was staffed by local residents, the division was good. If the Finns managed to defeat the 163rd and 44th divisions and force them to retreat, then the 54th, although it was hit, encirclement, held out until the end of the war and distracted the entire 9th Infantry Division of the Finnish Army,” says Bair Irincheev.

The 44th Division, defeated near Suomusalmi, as well as the 52nd Division operating in the Petsamo area, which suffered minor losses, were among those Red Army formations that took part in the Polish campaign in September 1939.

The 52nd Division occupied Petsamo on December 2, 1939,” Mikhail Meltyukhov restores the course of events, “and by December 18 it was advancing to Rovaniemi... And the 44th Division found itself in a very unpleasant situation, panic began there, and a significant part of the losses is connected precisely with panic. It is clear that the losses of the 44th were simply incomparable with the losses of the 52nd."

Finnish D.O.T. on Rybachy, July 2009 globant.narod.ru

“The open terrain in the tundra,” notes Bair Irincheev, “did not allow the Finns to strike and retreat with impunity. In addition, Frolov, the commander of the 14th Army, very quickly gave the order to set up patrols, brewhouses, and checkpoints along the road in the tundra to protect communications of the 52nd division and its entire army from raids by Finnish skiers."

“We must not forget,” continues Bair Irincheev, “that the entire 9th Finnish division was deployed against the 44th division. It is often found in literature, especially in the West, that the Finns destroyed the 44th division with almost one battalion. This is not So, after the Finns forced the 163rd division to retreat, the 44th found itself in front of a comparable Finnish group."

Exotic General

The actions of the Finnish troops in the area of Petsamo and Salla were led by the commander of the Lapland Group, General Kurt Wallenius, known for his sympathies towards the Nazis. The Lapland group, together with the North Karelian group, was part of the North Finnish group.

In the Salla area the Finns had four separate battalions, an infantry regiment and an artillery battery. Their forces in the vicinity of Petsamo were even more modest: three separate companies, a separate artillery battery and a reconnaissance group.

“Mannerheim, the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, sent Wallenius to the Vyborg Bay area at the beginning of March 1940. It was believed that since Wallenius had organized a very strong defense in Lapland, he would also be able to successfully organize the defense of Vyborg. However, nothing came of this, and a day later two after Wallenius arrived near Vyborg, he was removed,” says Karl-Fredrik Geust.

Bair Irincheev says that the reason for the disgrace was very prosaic: “Wallenius, when he was called from Lapland to the Karelian Isthmus, three days later went on a drinking binge and was dismissed by Mannerheim.”

“Since the 52nd Division received the order to stop and actually stood still for most of the war, then, probably, the Finnish commander also distinguished himself somehow. But I can hardly imagine what he would have done if the 52nd Division had received the order move on. He simply did not have the strength to stop her,” says Mikhail Meltyukhov.

The American newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in its issue dated December 18, 1939, cites excerpts from an interview with General Wallenius to Swedish journalists. He argued that the war could last at least a year, and characterized the enemy as follows:

“The Soviet artillery is good, the tanks are nothing, and the planes are piloted ineptly,” the general said. “Some captured Soviet pilots were found to have printed multiplication tables with which they were supposed to solve technical problems.”

Swedish ally

Throughout the war, foreign volunteers came to help Finland - Hungarians, Norwegians, Danes, British, Estonians. Few of them managed to visit the front line. The largest contingent was fielded by the Swedes, who really had to smell gunpowder.

A Swedish volunteer corps with a total strength of about eight thousand people operated in northern Finland. The volunteers were commanded by General Ernst Linder. With the permission of the Swedish government, a volunteer squadron was formed, which had 12 light bombers and 12 fighters.

“Walleinus had a Swedish volunteer corps, which arrived at the front in Salla in late February 1940. The Swedish squadron arrived in Lapland in January. It was the only air squadron in Lapland,” says Karl-Fredrik Geust. “The Swedish squadron fought for two months, and Swedish infantry and artillery only for two weeks."

According to the Finnish historian, before the arrival of the Swedish squadron, Finland did not have aviation in Lapland. Soviet bombers operated without fighter escort. According to Karl-Fredrik Geust, Swedish pilots shot down 9 Soviet aircraft. Swedes lost 5 aircraft. Three pilots were killed and two were captured.

“The Swedish infantry went on the defensive and freed the Finnish 40th Infantry Regiment, which was sent in full force to the Karelian Isthmus. The Swedes took over the front from the 40th Infantry Regiment on February 28, 1940,” says Bair Irincheev.

“The Swedes provided real help. Not just stew, as they say. They supplied the Finns with weapons, there were plenty of volunteers serving there. For the Swedes, Finland was always the front line of defense. That is, the further the Soviet border is from Sweden, the better. That’s why the Swedes provided the greatest help,” explains Mikhail Meltyukhov.

The landing is canceled

The port of Petsamo, nickel mines and fleet bases were of interest to almost everyone - the USSR, Germany, the British, the French, the Americans.

The capture of Petsamo for the Soviet command was explained by strategic considerations. Karl-Fredrik Geust recalls that the Western powers - Britain and France - planned to land troops on the coast of the Barents Sea.

Bair Irincheev believes that the threat of a British-French landing was one of the factors that prompted the Soviet command to “finish the matter peacefully,” although the Finnish army was holding out with all its might.

“The Soviet-Finnish war, to put it mildly, was not very interesting to the British and French,” says Mikhail Meltyukhov. It’s one thing to verbally support the Finns and send them something, quite another to get involved in a war because of them. It was more about to quietly seize the iron ore deposits in Sweden, which supplied 75 percent of Germany with ore."

Britain and France, continues Meltyukhov, could try, on the one hand, through Norway and Narvik, and on the other, through Petsamo, to occupy this region and control it. The Western allies, the Russian historian believes, firstly, were not in too much of a hurry to land. They expected that the war would drag on, and contributed to this in every possible way.

However, for the Franco-British landing, a request from the Finnish government was required, as well as the consent of Norway and Sweden. The operation was supposed to begin on March 20. The peace treaty between Finland and the USSR was concluded on March 12.

The British, French and Polish units, which did not have the chance to land at Petsamo, had to fight not with Soviet, but with German troops near Narvik in Norway in April. The Germans did not need permission to carry out Operation Weserubung.

The Soviet Union, which had a partnership with Germany after the conclusion of the non-aggression pact and the friendship and border treaty, provided the German navy with a supply point at Zapadnaya Litsa on the Kola Peninsula.

Documentation:

Memorandum of the USSR to the Government of Finland, October 14, 1939
“New provocations of the Finnish military,” Pravda, November 29

- combat operations of the troops of the Northern and Karelian (since September 1, 1941) fronts, the Northern Fleet and the White Sea military flotilla against German and Finnish troops on the Kola Peninsula, in North Karelia, on the Barents, White and Kara seas in June 1941 - October 1944.

Murmansk is the world's largest city located beyond the Arctic Circle. Murmansk is located on the rocky eastern coast of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea. One of the largest ports in Russia.

For defense against German troops during the Great Patriotic War, Murmansk was awarded the title of Hero City on May 6, 1985. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Gold Star medal.

The Russians called the Norwegians and Normans “Murmans”, “Urmans”. Later, this name was transferred to the land where events took place with the participation of foreigners. “Murman” began to be called the coast of the Barents Sea, neighboring Norway, and then the entire Kola Peninsula. Accordingly, the name “Murmansk” means “city on Murman”. (A. A. Minkin. Toponyms of Murman)

Pre-war years

By the early 1920s, Murmansk had less than two and a half thousand inhabitants and was in decline. Industry was represented mainly by handicraft cooperatives, and fishing fell into decline. The city landscape consisted of two or three streets of one-story houses, overcrowded workers' barracks, a disorderly cluster of shacks, railway carriages adapted for housing, and "suitcases" abandoned by the interventionists - houses made of corrugated iron with a semicircular roof. One of the city’s districts received the nickname “red village” because of the red-colored heated cars adapted for housing.

From the second half of the 1920s, the city began to develop rapidly, as the Soviet Union had a strategic need to develop a large port, transit through which would not depend on relations with neighboring countries. Since 1933, Murmansk has been one of the supply and ship repair bases for the Northern Fleet. In addition to military-strategic purposes, the port provided maritime communication with the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Complex under construction; the development of the Murmansk port also pursued the task of increasing fish catches: a fishing port was created in the city on the site of a former military enterprise for fish processing and ship repair, which began to develop rapidly, and only after for several years it provided supplies of two hundred thousand tons of fish annually to other regions of the USSR.

Streets were laid out with wooden sidewalks and rows of one- and two-story log houses. In 1927, the first multi-storey brick building appeared, which has survived to this day. In 1934, the first route bus ran across Murmansk - from the northern outskirts to the southern part of the city. At the same time, the Polar Arrow express began to run along the railway line to Leningrad. In 1939, for the first time in the city, asphalt laying began on Leningradskaya Street. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were already several dozen brick and stone buildings in Murmansk, and the city’s population reached 120 thousand inhabitants.

In the 1920-1930s, due to changes in the administrative-territorial division, the city repeatedly changed its status. In 1921, Murmansk became the center of the province of the same name, since 1927 - the district of the same name within the Leningrad region, and since 1938 - the Murmansk region.

Panorama of the central part of Murmansk (photographed from an airplane), 1936.

Defense of the Arctic

The German command planned to capture an important strategic point in the North - Murmansk and the Kirov Railway, destroy the bases of the USSR Northern Fleet and take possession of the Kola Bay. To do this, German and Finnish troops attacked in three directions: Murmansk, Kandalaksha and Loukhi.

Planned operations of Germany and Finland in the Kola Arctic

The Wehrmacht command viewed the Arctic as an auxiliary (albeit important) sector of the Eastern Front. The German command developed in advance plans for combat operations for the mountain army “Norway”, giving them code names: “Renntier” (“Reindeer”, beginning June 22, 1941) - capturing the nickel mine area in the Petsamo Region, carrying out activities (road construction, etc. .) to carry out the next operation - “Platinfuchs” (“Silver Fox”, beginning June 22, 1941 + 7 days) - an attack on Port Vladimir, Polyarny along the Arctic coast to Murmansk. The XXXVI Army Corps of the Wehrmacht was supposed (according to the plan “Polarfuchs” - “Arctic fox”), moving from Rovaniemi (Finland), where it ended up by June 14, 1941 as a result of a maritime transport operation from Norway (“Blaufuchs 2”), to take Salla, Kandalaksha, then turn north and, advancing along the Kirov railway, connect with the Norway mountain rifle corps to capture Murmansk. The joint actions of the German and Finnish armies north of the Oulu-Belomorsk line until June 5, 1941 were codenamed “Silberfuchs” (“Silver Fox”). It was planned to capture the Kola Peninsula in two weeks.

German troops enter Petsamo (Pechenga) as part of Operation Silberfuchs. June 1941.

On the northern flank, the Soviet troops were opposed by the German army “Norway” (from January 1942 - “Lapland”, from June 1942 - XX Mountain) under the command of Colonel General N. von der Falkenhorst, consisting of 3 army corps, the mountain corps “Norway” , who were considered the elite of the German ground forces and had valuable combat experience in mountain warfare, including in high latitudes; operationally subordinate to the III Finnish Army Corps; part of the forces of the German 5th Air Fleet and a small navy. The Finnish Karelian Army had the task of capturing the southern regions of Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus and after reaching the river line. Svir in the Leningrad region to unite with the troops of the German Army Group North. The enemy group numbered 530 thousand people, 4.3 thousand guns and mortars, 206 tanks, 547 aircraft, 80 ships and 6 submarines.

On the part of the Red Army, which was part of the Northern Front (formed on June 24, 1941), the 14th Army (commander until August 23, 1941, Lieutenant General V.A. Frolov) covered the Murmansk, Kandalaksha and Ukhta directions. The Northern Fleet provided defense against invasion from the sea and protected northern sea communications. To protect transport in the White Sea, in the eastern regions of the Barents Sea and the Northern Sea Route, the White Sea Military Flotilla was created in August 1941, which provided support for more than 2,500 transports during the war years. The troops of the Northern Front under the command of Lieutenant General M. M. Popov, together with the Northern Fleet, numbered 420 thousand people, 7.8 thousand guns and mortars, 1.5 thousand tanks, 1.8 thousand aircraft, 32 ships and 15 submarines.

On June 29, 1941, German and Finnish troops launched an offensive, delivering the main blow in the Murmansk direction and secondary ones in the Kandalaksha and Loukha directions. By July 4, Soviet troops retreated to the defensive line on the Zapadnaya Litsa River, where the Germans were stopped by the 52nd Infantry Division and units of the Marine Corps. The landing in the Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay (1941) played a huge role in disrupting the German offensive on Murmansk. In the Kandalaksha and Loukh directions, Soviet troops stopped the advance of the German-Finnish troops, who failed to reach the railway and were forced to go on the defensive.

Military operations in the Arctic resumed on September 8, 1941. Having failed to achieve success in the Kandalaksha and Loukh directions, the command of the Army of Norway, in accordance with the order of the Wehrmacht headquarters, transferred the main blow to the Murmansk direction. But here, too, the offensive of the reinforced German mountain rifle corps failed. The northern group of Germans advancing on Polyarny was able to advance only 4 km in 9 days. The southern group, with the support of aviation, managed to cut the Titovka-Murmansk road by September 15 and create a threat of access to the Murmansk area. However, the 14th Army, with part of its forces (1st Polar Rifle Division), with the support of aviation and artillery of the Northern Fleet, launched a counterattack on September 17, defeated the 3rd Mountain Rifle Division, throwing its remnants across the Zapadnaya Litsa River, and turned the tide of military operations for the defense the city of Murmansk in favor of the troops of the Karelian Front. After this, the German command stopped the attack on Murmansk. The Germans, having failed to break through the defenses of the Red Army in the area of the peninsulas, entrenched themselves on the plateau of the same name and the Musta-Tunturi ridge, 40 kilometers in the direction of Murmansk, turning their citadel with a deeply echeloned (four rows of fortifications and barriers) defense. Full-length trenches and trenches were cut into the body of the ridge, bomb shelters, ammunition depots, headquarters, hospitals, etc. were built. Fortifications in a monolithic granite rock about four kilometers long, in some places rising 260 meters above the sea: there were guns, mortars, pillboxes, stationary, remote-controlled flamethrower installations. Roads were built along the plateau to the coast. For more than three years there were continuous fierce and bloody battles.

Border sign A-36 (apparently a copy) in the Museum of Defense of the Sredny and Rybachy Islands

The height of 115.6 ridges has its own name Border Mark and is better known as the place where throughout the war our soldiers kept intact the border sign A-36 of the former Soviet-Finnish border.
Marine reconnaissance officers of the Northern Fleet on the Musta-Tunturi ridge.

The offensive of the German mountain rifle corps, which began on September 8, 1941 in the Murmansk direction, was stopped by a counterattack by the 14th Army. On September 23, the enemy was thrown back across the river. Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa, where the front stabilized until October 1944. The Polar Division, which became a necessary reserve for the bloodless Soviet troops, was of great importance in disrupting the plans to capture Murmansk. The German troops were exhausted, but due to Hitler’s desire to ensure the safety of Norway at any cost from being captured by Britain, they did not receive the necessary forces to carry out the operation. The German command's underestimation of the enemy and the characteristics of the terrain also had an impact. By October 1941, the Norwegian Civil Corps, having lost 10,290 people killed and wounded, had advanced only 24 km towards Murmansk.

Defensive battles of Soviet troops in the Murmansk direction in 1941-1944

The fighting in the Kandalaksha direction, where a larger number of enemy troops were concentrated than in Murmansk, began on July 1, 1941 and went on with particular ferocity: the fighting here was carried out by the 101st border detachment, the 42nd rifle corps (122nd, 104th rifle divisions). On July 7, Soviet troops began retreating to the second line of defense, which was defended by the 104th Infantry Division. On September 17, spacecraft troops occupied a line along the Verman River (90 km from Kandalaksha), where hostilities stabilized for three years. “Silberfuchs” (the attack on Kandalaksha), according to German generals, was just an “expedition” (F. Halder), the main military operations took place to the south (although this “expedition” cost the Finns alone 5 thousand killed and wounded soldiers by mid-September 1941).

In the southern direction, the Finns, having created a great superiority in forces and means in the direction of the main attack, captured the city of Olonets on September 5, 1941, and reached the river. Svir, cut the Kirov railway, captured Petrozavodsk on October 2, but did not achieve success in the offensive in the Medvezhyegorsk direction. The plan to combine German and Finnish troops to create a second blockade ring around Leningrad was prevented. The active actions of the Red Army troops pinned down more than 20 enemy divisions, exhausting and bleeding them. The losses of Soviet troops in this defensive operation were: irrevocable - over 67 thousand people, sanitary - about 69 thousand people, as well as 540 guns and mortars, 546 tanks, 64 aircraft, 8 ships.

The huntsmen are protected by the seid. May 1942

From 1942, the main fighting moved to the sea, where the German Navy and Air Force tried to disrupt maritime transport by Allied convoys. The importance of Murmansk increased after the failure of the blitzkrieg and the beginning of allied assistance under Lend-Lease (the Wehrmacht command, of course, did not count on such a development of events in its plans).

Attack of the Soviet Marines on the Northern Front. 1942

The enemy concentrated his efforts on destroying Murmansk and its port from the air in order to paralyze work on processing and sending goods to the center of the country. The city was burned almost completely (despite the fact that at the beginning of the war the USSR had 4 times more aircraft in the North than Germany), but the Nazis failed to complete the task - the port continued to operate even in those conditions that made it possible to call Murmansk a “city-city”. front." In Murmansk and the region, life was tense: fish were being caught for the front and rear of the country, all enterprises were working for victory.

Murmansk residents watch the air battle over the city. 1943

The Luftwaffe carried out up to fifteen to eighteen raids on some days, dropped a total of 185 thousand bombs and carried out 792 raids during the war years.

Among Soviet cities, Murmansk is second only to Stalingrad in terms of the number and density of bomb attacks on the city.

As a result of the bombing, three-quarters of the buildings were destroyed, wooden houses and buildings were especially damaged. The heaviest bombing was on June 18, 1942. German planes dropped mostly incendiary bombs on the predominantly wooden city; To make it difficult to fight fires, mixed bombing was used using fragmentation and high-explosive bombs. Due to dry and windy weather, the fire spread from the center to the northeastern outskirts of Murmansk.

Fire after the bombing of the city, 1942

The feat of the volunteer builders who restored the city during the war is immortalized in the monument “In honor of the builders who died in 1941-1945,” opened in 1974.

Monument “In honor of the builders who died in 1941-1945”

During the first year of the war, 7 convoys (PQ-0 ... PQ-6) were carried out from England and Iceland to the ports of the White Sea. 53 transports arrived, including Soviet ones. 4 convoys (QP-1 ... QP-4) were sent from our ports to England. A total of 47 transports left.

Since the spring of 1942, the German command launched active operations at sea. The Germans concentrated large naval forces in Northern Norway. Since March 1942, the Germans carried out a special naval and air operation against each allied convoy. However, the British Navy, with the support of the Northern Fleet of the USSR, as well as American ships, thwarted the plans of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe to isolate the USSR in the North from Great Britain and the USA.

In total, during the Second World War, the Northern Fleet provided passage to the GDP of 1,471 convoys, which included 2,569 transport ships, while the merchant fleet lost 33 ships (19 of them from submarine attacks).

Throughout 1943 there was a stubborn struggle for air supremacy, which was ultimately won by Soviet aviation. The Northern Fleet managed to ensure the passage of allied convoys in its area of responsibility and began operations to destroy enemy combat and transport ships - the crews of submarines and torpedo boats especially distinguished themselves in performing these tasks.

The TKA-12 torpedo boat, which was commanded by twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Osipovich Shabalin during the Great Patriotic War, is installed on a pedestal on Muzhestvo Square in the city of Severomorsk, Murmansk Region.

In 1944, as a result of the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation successfully carried out by Soviet troops (06/10-08/09/1944), which led to Finland’s withdrawal from the war (09/19/1944), the Wehrmacht command decided to withdraw its troops operating in the Kandalaksha and Kestenga directions and strengthen the defense in the Arctic. On September 3, 1944, the German command approved a plan for a withdrawal operation (codenamed Birke - “Birch”): break away from Soviet troops in the Louhi and Kandalaksha sectors, transfer the liberated troops through Rovaniemi to the north of the Kola Peninsula and gain a foothold there. The September offensives of the 19th and 26th armies in the Kandalaksha and Ukhta directions, despite the well-echeloned defense of German troops, were successful: Alakurtti was taken on September 14, 1944, in the last ten days of September the divisions of the 19th Army reached the state border with Finland, liberating 45 populated areas, putting 7 thousand German soldiers and officers out of action; The 26th Army, which was opposed by the XVIII German Mountain Corps, advanced 35 km into Finnish territory by the end of September. Nevertheless, at the direction of the Supreme Command Headquarters, the troops went on the defensive, preserving forces for the primary task in the Arctic - the liberation of the Pechenga region. Thus, it became possible to successfully carry out the time-shortened Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive operation (07.10-29.10.1944).

Musta-Tunturi Ridge

Soviet scouts on the slope of the Musta-Tunturi ridge. 1943.

On the stormy night of October 10, 1944, the assault on the German fortifications on Musta-Tunturi began from several directions, including a detour. The most difficult task fell to the 614th separate penal company, which was equal in size to a battalion or regiment: 750 people. In difficult weather conditions, in order to divert the enemy's attention, she had to storm height 260.0 from below, from the sea, from the side of the Sredny Peninsula, climbing up a sheer wall through barbed wire and machine-gun fire, in order to capture the peak dominating the Small Ridge. Almost all the company’s soldiers died in the gorge between the heights, but gave the opportunity to other units to capture the ridge and, through the joint efforts of Soviet troops, clear the western part of the Kola Peninsula from invaders. From here, from the banks of the Zapadnaya Litsa River, troops of the Karelian Front began to expel fascist German troops from the Kola Arctic and liberate the territory of northern Norway.

German military grave in Petsamo.

On October 7, 1944, Soviet troops went on the offensive, delivering the main attack from the area of Lake Chapr on the right flank of the 19th German Corps in the direction of Luostari - Petsamo. Pursuing the retreating German troops, the 14th Army, with the support of naval forces, drove the Germans out of Soviet territory, crossed the Finnish border and began to capture Petsamo. On October 22, Soviet troops crossed the Norwegian border and liberated the Norwegian city of Kirkenes on October 25. By November 1, the fighting in the Arctic ended, the Petsamo area was completely liberated by Soviet troops.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated December 5, 1944, the medal “For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic” was established (awarded to 307,000 people). During the war, the army, navy and workers of industrial enterprises and agriculture in the region were able to carry out the most important strategic task: they thwarted the plans of the German command to isolate the USSR from the allies, did not allow the Northern Sea Route to be cut and ensured an ever-increasing supply of equipment, military equipment and food that came to country under the Lend-Lease program.

Losses of Soviet troops and civilians for 1941-44. - OK. 200 thousand people (killed, missing, wounded). For the courage and heroism shown by the residents of Murmansk, the city received the honorary title “Hero City” (1985); Kandalaksha was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (1984).

Memorial “To the Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War” (“Alyosha”) is a memorial complex in the Leninsky district of the city of Murmansk.

The main figure in the memorial is the figure of a soldier in a raincoat, with a machine gun over his shoulder. The height of the monument’s pedestal is 7 meters. The height of the monument itself is 35.5 meters, the weight of the hollow sculpture inside is more than 5 thousand tons. The statue of “Alyosha” is second in height in Russia only to the Volgograd statue of “Motherland”. The monument is one of the highest monuments in Russia.

The warrior’s gaze is directed to the west, towards the Valley of Glory, where during the Great Patriotic War the most fierce battles took place on the outskirts of Murmansk. In front of the monument there is the “Eternal Flame” podium, which was made of black natural stone blocks. A little higher, next to the figure of a soldier, there is a sloping triangular pyramid. According to the authors, this is a battle flag lowered at half-mast as a sign of grief for fallen soldiers. Next to it is a polished granite stele with the inscription:

Defenders of the Arctic - soldiers of the 14th Army, 19th Army, Red Banner Northern Fleet, 7th Air Army, border detachments No. 82, 100, partisan detachments "Soviet Murman", "Bolshevik of the Arctic", "Polar Explorer", "Stalinist" , "Bolshevik". Glory to those who defended this land!

A little to the side of the monument there are two anti-aircraft guns. During the fighting, anti-aircraft batteries were located on this peak, covering the city of Murmansk from the air. Two capsules are walled up at the foot of the monument. One with sea water from the site of the heroic death of the legendary ship “Fog”, the other with earth from the Valley of Glory and from the battle area at the Verman line.