The Soviet strategic offensive in the summer of 1944 drove the Finns from most of the territories they had gained during the war but the Finnish Army later fought it to a standstill in July 1944. Cease-fire ended the hostilities on September 5 1944. The Soviet Union regained the borders of 1940, with the addition of the Petsamo area. Finland was required to expel all German troops from its territory within 14 days. The Finns knew only too well that the Soviets would gladly use the codicil of the Armistice Agreement which authorized them to “assist the Finnish Government in their plight to intern all German troops that were still on Finnish soil” to justify a large-scale invasion of Finland. Of course, withdrawing the over 200,000 German soldiers in Finland between 6 and 15 September 1944 while at the same time fighting against the Soviets was impossible, and everyone knew it! The troops were warned about taking advantage of the situation to defect to Sweden.
At the time elements of 6.SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord were 70 km to the east of the Finnish frontier. Nord had held their lines in heavy fighting until they were ordered to withdraw from Finland. As the Finns and the Germans wished to avoid hostilities, both sides strove for the evacuation to be performed as smoothly as possible. By September 15 1944, a secret agreement had been reached by which the Germans would inform the Finns of their withdrawal timetable, who would then allow the Germans to use Finnish transportation for evacuation as well as to destroy roads, railroads and bridges behind their withdrawal. Top image: Finnish soldiers with a German 75mm Pak-40 anti-tank cannon in late Continuation War. Photo by Press photographer Sergeant Major Osvald Hedenström. Credit: Flynn Harris. Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive. Middle image: SS-Gebirgsjägers of the Nord somewhere on the Finnish-Russian front before the withdrawal began in 1944. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Bruno Wisniewski. Wisniewski died on March 7 1944 near Estonian Narva while covering the Dutch 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland. U.S. National Archives. Bottom image: captured Soviet T-26 in Finnish use and a German NSU motorcycle with legendary Suomi KP/-31. The Finnish KP/-31 is regarded by many as one of the most successful submachine guns of World War II. The photo was taken in the Soviet Republic of Karelia. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive. 
Moscow and Helsinki even exchanged prisoners once hostilities had ceased. Stalin, however, dealt harshly with his own soldiers who had been in Finnish captivity. At least 5,000 repatriated troops simply disappeared from NKVD prisons and were presumably executed.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Continuation War the Finns took 64,000 Soviet POWs, of whom almost 30 percent died. Some of the POWs escaped during the transportation back to the Soviet Union. Furthermore, Finland shamefully handed over 2,546 German POWs from the Lapland War to the Soviet Union.
DeleteAt first the Germans aided in transportations: they evacuated their gear northwards and broight Finnish civilians southwards.
ReplyDeleteСохранить независимость им позволило то, что они вовремя пошли с оружием против вчерашних своих союзников - немцев. И не иначе! Сталину надо было быстрее брать Берлин, чтоб Союзникам меньше досталось и распыляться на другой фронт с Финами не было никакого смысла.
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