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The Continuation War was fought between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944 as a continuation of the 1939-1940 Winter War. Finland took advantage of Nazi Germany's invasion of Russia to regain lost territory, doing so by September 1941. However, the Axis defeat at the Siege of Leningrad and the failure of Operation Silver Fox enabled the Soviets to launch the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk Offensive in June-August 1944 and drive the Finns out of their reconquests. In September 1944, Finland and the USSR signed an armistice under which Finland ceded Petsamo and the Porkkala Peninsula to the Soviets and paid war reparations. Finland's treaty obligation to expel German troops from Finnish territory resulted in the Lapland War with the Nazis.

Background[]

On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, agreeing to divide the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania into spheres of influence. Germany and the USSR invaded Poland in September, and, in October 1939, the USSR attempted to negotiate the cession of Finnish territory in Karelia and the establishment of a Red Army base near the Finnish capital of Helsinki. Finland's refusal resulted in the 105-day Winter War, which resulted in Finland losing 9% of its territory and 13% of its economic capacity to the USSR on 13 March 1940.

However, the Finnish public favored the reconquest of Karelia, and, after failing to secure mutual defense agreements with Norway and Sweden, Finland begrudgingly allied with Germany. In August 1940, as Adolf Hitler planned his invasion of the USSR, he authorized the secret sale of weapons to Finland. In September, German troops were allowed to transit through Sweden and Finland, violating the Soviet sphere of influence. In January 1941, Finland refused to relinquish control of the Petsamo mining area to the Soviets, emboldened by a rebuilt defense force and German support.

On 15 June 1941, the Finnish Army began its mobilization in anticipation of Operation Barbarossa. Finland mobilized up to 500,000 soldiers in 14 divisions and 3 brigades for the invasion, facing the 450,000-strong Northern Front of the Leningrad Military District. The 67,000-strong German Army of Norway would be tasked with striking at Murmansk and the Kirov Railway during Operation Silver Fox.

On 22 June 1941, the Finns launched Operation Kilpapurjehdus, deploying troops to the Aland islands in violation of a 1921 treaty. The USSR responded by bombing Finnish cities, and the Finnish Parliament used these attacks as justification for the approval of a "defensive war." On 10 July, Finnish forces invaded Karelia, reaching Lake Ladoga on 16 July and dividing the Soviet 7th Army. Finnish forces captured Vyborg on 29 August, inflicting heavy losses on the Soviet 23rd Army. By 2 September 1941, Finnish forces had reached the old 1939 border. The Soviet Northern Front was split into the Leningrad Front and the Karelian Front on 23 August, and the Finns defeated the 23rd Army at the Battle of Porlampi and began the Siege of Leningrad on 8 September. In October 1941, however, the Soviets blunted the Finnish attack in East Karelia. Meanwhile, the Axis drive on Murmansk, Operation Silver Fox, was halted as well. By then, the Finns had suffered 75,000 casualties, while the Soviets had lost 230,000 men.

Afterwards, both sides dug in, and the Arctic theater remained stable until the Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive of October 1944. On 6 December 1941, the United Kingdom formally declared war on Finland after Finland refused to cease its military operations. From 1942 to 1943, military operations on the front were limited to skirmishes. After Germany's defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad in February 1943, Finland began to seek an exit from the war. Stalin decided to force Finland to surrender by bombing Helsinki in February 1944, but only 5% of the dropped bombs hit their targets, as Finnish anti-aircraft defense repelled the Soviet Air Force raids.

On 27 January 1944, the Soviet Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive lifted the Siege of Leningrad and enabled the Soviets to invade the Baltics. In April 1944, Finland abandoned peace negotiations with the USSR, and, on 9 June 1944, the Leningrad Front launched an offensive into Karelia and Lake Ladoga. The Red Army broke through the Vammelsuu-Taipale line five days later and took Petrozadovsk on 28 June. The Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle in Nordic history, saw Finland halt the numerically superior Soviet advance on 9 July 1944. The Finns also destroyed two Soviet divisions at the Battle of Ilomantsi on 26 July-13 August 1944, but Soviet victories against the Germans in Belarus made the situation dire for Finland. In August, Finland and the USSR resumed peace talks, and the Moscow Armistice required Finland to return to its 1940 borders, demobilize its army, fulfill war reparations, cede Petsamo, end diplomatic relations with Germany, and expel German troops from the country. On 19 September, the Finnish Parliament accepted the peace terms. Finland lost 62,304 dead or missing and 158,000 wounded, while 3,500 Finns were captured. The Soviet demand for $600 million in war indemnities was reduced to $300 million due to American and British pressure, and Finland was able to survive the war with its independence, and Helsinki and Moscow were the only capitals of European combatant nations to evade wartime occupation. In 1956, the Soviets returned the Porkkala Peninsula to Finland. 260,000 Finnish civilians were forced to leave Karelia, only 19 of them becoming Soveit citizens.

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