6.ϟϟ-Gebirgs-Division „Nord“ in Eastern Karelia: Casualties and losses

 SS officers of the Nord, together with Finnish officers in Karelia

Finnish execution of Soviet saboteurs in Karelia

Body of frozen Soviet Red Army soldier in Karelia

While the other Waffen-SS divisions were becoming famous for their successes on the main sector of the Eastern Front, 6.SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord fought a lonely war admidst the forests, lakes and swamps of Karelia. Karelia was liberated for three years during the Continuation War of 1941 to 1944 when East Karelia was occupied by the Finns. One of Nord's elite components was the SS-Schijäger-Bataillon Norwegen, a volunteer unit of Norwegian expert skiers used for ambushes and patrols. The division's manpower strength was 19,355 officers and men a month before the stand-still. The stand-still agreement between Finland and the Soviet Union went into effect in July 1944, while elements of Nord were still in the sub-arctic reaches of Soviet Karelia east of the Finnish frontier. It's estimated that 63,200 Finns and 23,200 Germans died or went missing during the Continuation War. Estimates of dead or missing Soviets range from 250,000 to 305,000. Source: the Nord veteran Johann Voss, a pseudonym; Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS. Top image: the Knight's Cross holder SS-Gruppenführer and commander Matthias Kleinheisterkamp (first from the right in the foreground) with fellow officers of the Nord and Finnish officers in Karelia. He is wearing the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty 1st Class with Swords below his Knight's Cross. Kleinheisterkamp was taken prisoner by the Soviets on April 28 1945 near the village of Halbe. He committed suicide a day later while in captivity. Other accounts state he died on May 2 1945 in the Battle of Halbe. Source: Hermann Historica. Fair use. Middle image: Finnish execution of Soviet saboteurs in Poventsa north of Lake Onega in East Karelia during the Continuation War. Poventsa is located just south of Sandarmokh, the site of mass execution and burial of victims of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's political repressions. Over 9,000 people of more than 58 nationalities were shot and buried there before the war began. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. The Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive. Bottom image: a fallen Soviet soldier frozen in place by the extreme cold in Karelia. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. The Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive.

Swedish Volunteer Company aka Svir Company

The Swede Captain Rickard Nilsson

Mascot in South Karelia

At the beginning of 1942 yet another Swedish volunteer force was organized, the so-called Svir Company. Around 400 Swedes organized in a Swedish volunteer company held the line in Syväri also known as Svir Front between Lake Ladoga and Onega from 1942 to 1944. They were ordered to Karelia around midsummer 1944 and participated in the furious battles until the war ended in September 1944. In the battles of summer 1944 the company fought with distinction before it was disestablished in Åbo on September 16 1944. During the wars, numerous Swedish volunteers also served in Finnish units in all branches of services and on all fronts. Left image: Captain Rickard Nilsson Commander of the Swedish volunteer company. Nilsson is wearing the Volunteer Clasp with the Swedish Three Crowns for Swedish volunteers in the Finnish Continuation War 1941-1944. The first Swedes that were awarded with this clasp were those that had served at the Hangö-frontier in 1941. The soldiers that served at the Svir-frontier and thereafter at the Karelian Isthmus in 1944 were also awarded with this particular clasp. Commander Rickard Nilsson died aged 57 in 1963. PD. Right image: an unofficial mascot at the front line in Imatra in South Karelia. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. The Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive.

Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive: Casualties and losses

For the freedom of Finland and the honor of Estonia

Swedish volunteers during the Karelian offensive

The Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive or Karelian offensive between June 10 and August 9 1944 was a strategic operation by the Soviet Leningrad and Karelian Fronts against Finland on the Karelian Isthmus and East Karelia fronts. The main strategic objectives of the offensive were to push Finnish forces away from the north of Leningrad and to drive Finland out of the war. The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin massed 451,500 men, 800 tanks and 1,600 aircraft according to Russian military historians Grigoriy Fedotovich Krivosheyev and Vladimir Antonovich Zolotarev. They faced 75,000 Finnish soldiers and less than 110 tanks and assault guns and only 50 modern aircraft. However, after Finnish reinforcements arrived Stalin sent another five new divisions to the Karelian Isthmus. After reinforcements, the Finns mustered a force of 268,000 men. According to Soviet data Soviet casualties in the Karelian offensive were 38,674 killed and missing. Doctor of Philosophy Tapio Tiihonen studied and checked Soviet data and loss reports of units and reinforcements and found Soviet losses much higher. According to the Finnish National Archive Service, Finland suffered losses of 15,680 killed and missing in all fronts between June 9 and August 9 1944. Credit: Wikipedia. Top image: Estonian volunteers of the Jalaväerügement 200 in Taavetti on June 22 1944. The regiment took part in the defensive battles around the Bay of Viborg on the Finnish front during the Karelian offensive. When the Continuation War was nearly over, most men of JR 200 returned to Estonia and continued their fight against the Soviet Union. Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive. Bottom image: Swedish Staff sergeant and Second-lieutenant in the Finnish army pose with their captured Russian in Pitkäjärven lohko on June 18 1944. Photo by Finnish officer and photographer Esko Töyri (Törnroos). Credit: Julius Backman Jääskeläinen. Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive.

Finnische Waffenbrüder – Finnish Brothers-in-Arms

Finnish StuG III assault gun crew

Finnish Waffen-SS veterans

The top photograph shows the Finnish Waffen-SS veteran Staff Sergeant Börje Brotell (on the left) and his tank destroyer crew pictured on the East side of Ihantala on July 7 1944. He was born in Swedish-founded Åbo in Finland on February 3 1922 and volunteered for the Waffen-SS in 1941. He served with the Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS as part of SS-Division Wiking. Börje Brotell was wounded on August 15 1942 when he was shot in the right thigh by an explosive bullet. On several occasions, captured volunteers were found castrated by the Soviets and dead from loss of blood. Such brutality reinforced their determination to avoid being taken prisoner by the Red Army at all costs. The Waffen-SS-units spared almost no effort in liberating their comrades, dead or alive. Börje Brotell was transferred back to Finland to recuperate. He later returned to Germany and attended the Waffen-SS officer candidate school at Bad Tölz. In October 1943 he joined the Finnish tank forces where he commanded the pictured German Sturmgeschütz III. Börje Brotell and his Finnish gun crew destroyed 11 Soviet tanks during the hot summer of 1944. He passed away on the Finnish Independence Day on December 6 2009 at the age of 87. Bottom image: former Finnish SS volunteers incorporated in the Finnish Army. The Waffen-SS veterans proved their high quality in the summer of 1944 when Soviet Union's massive attack to Finland began. 282 former Waffen-SS volunteers later become Finnish Army officers. Note their German medals pinned on their Finnish uniforms. Both photos by Press photographer Sgt. Maj. Osvald Hedenström. Credit: Julius Backman Jääskeläinen. SA-kuva.

The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on September 19 1944

Finnish troops with German PaK on the Finnish-Russian front

Jägers of SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord on the Finnish-Russian front

Russo-Finnish front at Aunus in Russian Karelia

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.

The Lapland War: Operation Birke and Operation Nordlicht

Finnish infantryman during the battles in East Karelia

Radio operators of SS-Geb.-Reg. 12 Michael Gaißmair in North Karelia

Before deciding to accept the Soviet demands, Finnish President Gustaf Mannerheim, former Finnish commander-in-chief, wrote a letter directly to German dictator Adolf Hitler: Our German brothers-in-arms will forever remain in our hearts [...] I harbour the hope that you, even if you disapprove of my attitude, will wish and endeavour like myself and all other Finns to terminate our former relations without increasing the gravity of the situation. During the first few weeks the withdrawal of German and advance of Finnish troops was organized jointly by the headquarters of both armies, a fact that was kept secret from the Soviets. The Germans fell back according to a common timetable, and the Finns attacked and fired at the empty trenches. After two weeks the Soviets realized the deception, and demanded the Finns conduct immediate heavy action against the Germans. Soon there were casualties on both sides. The Finns fought their former co-belligerents in the Lapland War. Nevertheless, in contrast to the rest of the Eastern front countries, where the war was fought to the end, a Soviet occupation of Finland did not occur and the country retained sovereignty. The military impact was relatively limited with both sides sustaining around 4,000 in total casualties. Top image: Finnish soldier with a Suomi KP/-31 in East Karelia in 1944. Photo by military civil servant A. Viitasalo. Credit: JHL. SA-kuva. Bottom image: radio operators of the SS-Gebirgsdivision Nord on an original Nazi era postcard. One is wearing a Torn.Fu.d2 on his back, the other a battery pack. Both are wearing Palmenmuster camouflage smocks. Photo by SS-Ustuf. d.R. and KB Walter Slapak of SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers. Before the Nord, Slapak had served with SS-KB-Zug 5 of the Wiking. Credit: Johannes Dorn. c. Bundesarchiv.

German Withdrawal Through Finnish Lapland: Battle of Rovaniemi

Mountain troops of 6.SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord

Norwegian officers of SS-Schijäger-Bataillon Norwegen

Muonio in Finnish Lapland during Operation Nordlicht in October 1944

Germans also wanted to avoid hostilities with their former brothers-in-arms. They therefor had a mutual interest in seeing that German withdrawel proceeded as smoothly as possible. However, given that they fully expected the Soviets to intervene or otherwise pressure the Finns to become more active, the Germans would have been derelict in their duty had they left the road network behind them intact. Finnish soldiers were witnessing German destruction of the country's infratructure and the shock of the Finnish secession from the war caused the fellings of many German soldiers to change from one of trust and confidence in the Finns to one of distrust and bitterness. The 6.SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord formed the rear guard for the three German corps withdrawing from Finland in Operation Birke and the Norwegian SS-Schijäger-Bataillon Norwegen covered and protected the pullback of the Nord itself. All of the retreat routes eventually converged on the crossroads town of Rovaniemi. The Norwegen along with parts of Nord's SS-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 12 Michael Gaißmair was left behind to guard the evacuated town. On October 13 1944, hostile Finnish commando troops blew up a German ammunition train at Rovaniemi railroad station. This started an accidental firestorm that virtually destroyed the entire town. The destruction of Rovaniemi was later labeled an SS war crime. The very next day the last retreating German forces passed over the Rovaniemi bridges. From September to November 1944 the Nord marched 1,600 km to Mo i Rana in Norway. Top image: SS-Gibirgsjägers on rail transport somewhere in northern Karelia. c. Bundesarchiv. Middle image: Norwegian SS officers of the Norwegen around Lake Kapanez in Karelia in 1944. From left to right: SS-Untersturmführer Rolf Ugelstad, veteran from SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Norwegen, SS-Untersturmführer Olaf Wahlmann, veteran from 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking, SS-Untersturmführer Hans Petter Hoff also from Wiking and SS-Hauptsturmführer Frode Halle, veteran from Legion Norwegen and SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge. Fair use. Bottom image: SS-Gebirgsjägers put up a bitter sign in Muonio in October 1944 that reads: Als Dank für nicht bewiesene Waffenbrüderschaft, which roughly translates as 'thanks for not demonstrating brotherhood in arms. Photo by Finnish military civil servant A. Viitasalo. Public domain.

6.ϟϟ-Gebirgs-Division „Nord“ withdrawn to Vosges mountains

SS-Obersturmführer Karl-Hans Scheu

Waffen-SS Volunteer in Karelia

The Nord veteran SS-Untersturmführer Wolf T. Zoepf wrote in his autobiography Seven Days in January: On the last night in Finland, many of us thought back to the three years we had spent fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with our Finnish allies. They had been true and reliable comrades-in-arms. It took us many years to understand their awful plight, and to forgive what we felt at the time was nothing less than treachery, a terrible breach of faith. To soldiers whose concept of honor was built above all else on loyalty, the Finns betrayal had seemed unconscionable. The SS-Division Nord fought 1,214 consecutive days in the sub-artic taiga against the Soviets from 1941-1944. The division finally arrived Denmark in December 1944 and were immediately transferred to western Germany. The Nord's manpower strength was at the time about 15,000 officers and men. It then fought in Operation Nordwind in Elsaß-Lothringen in January 1945. The offensive was to break through the lines of the U.S. and French Armys in the Upper Vosges mountains and the Alsatian Plain. Left image: SS-Obersturmführer Karl-Hans Scheu from SS-Reconnaissance Battalion 6, after a long period of combat, a veteran of many long range patrols behind Soviet lines in the wilderness of Karelia. Here Scheu enjoys a cigarette after just returning from one such operation. Karl-Hans Scheu survived the war and died aged 72 in 1991. Private Collection. Right image: a Norwegian volunteer soldier of the Waffen-SS during a lull in the fighting somewhere in the Karelia. The photo was taken by his fellow countryman SS-Kriegsberichter Ulf Tur. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Fair use.

Soviet Partisan activity and raids in Finland – Volunteers sided with the Nazis to fight the Soviet Red Army after the Moscow Armistice

Soviet Red Army soldiers with captured Finnish state flag

Suomussalmi burned down by Soviet-backed communist partisans

Memorial ceremony honoring fallen volunteers in Finland

The partisans in Finland were controlled by organs of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the NKVD. The Soviet partisans often presented highly falsified accounts of the raids inside the Finnish territory. Civilian villages were called military garrisons in the official reports. Their raids on Finnish villages turned more brutal in the months before the ceasefire. Women and children who were taken as prisoners by the partisans were often murdered by being stabbed or beaten. The youngest victim of the July 7 1944 raid on Seitajärvi, was a seven-month-old baby named Ritva. Her head had been hit with a gun-stock. Swedish forensic evidence gathered on site suggested that the females killed in this massacre had possibly been raped before executing. In the Lokka massacre on July 14 1944, the partisan group Stalinets burned the locals alive in a school building. Hilja Kumpula and five of her children perished in the fire, the youngest of whom was a one-month-old baby. Gennady Kupriyanov, who was leading the partisan activity, claimed in his report that the village was a "heavily fortified garrison". In reality, the NKVD had accurate intelligence on the village and the partisans had been monitoring it for days, knowing it had no combatants. The partisan attacks became a sort of forbidden topic after the Moscow Armistice on September 19 1944 and in post-war Finland. In Russia, the Soviet partisans in Finland are held in high regard as heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Middle image: Finnish soldiers at the aftermath of a partisan attack on Suomussalmi in July 1943. Murdered bodies of men, women and children were found in the debris of the village. The Norwegian volunteers in the SS-Schijäger-Bataillon Norwegen had recently fought the fiercest and most violent battle at the Kaprolat and Hasselmann heights any Norwegian military unit has experienced in modern warfare when hostilities between Finland and Soviet ended with a ceasefire. The Scandinavian volunteers had lost their reason for service, and tragically, they even fought isolated skirmishes with the Finnish troops as the German forces marched across Lapland to Norwegian territory. After the Moscow Armistice was signed, numerous veterans of the Continuation War volunteered for the Waffen-SS in order to continue fighting Soviet communism. Many of them enlisted in the multinational 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. The motivations for the Soviet peace agreement with Finland are debated. Several Western historians stated that the original Soviet designs for Finland were no different from their designs for the Baltic countries. American political scientist Dan Reiter and British historian Victor Rothwell both quoted Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov telling his Lithuanian counterpart in 1940, when the USSR effectively annexed Lithuania, that minor states such as Finland, will be included within the honourable family of Soviet peoples. Reiter stated that concern over severe losses pushed Stalin into accepting a limited outcome in the war rather than pursuing annexation, although some Soviet documents called for military occupation of Finland. Credit: Wikipedia i.a. Bottom image: Swedish Military attaché during a remembrance ceremony for the fallen in the war against Soviet Russia. Officers from the Nazi German diplomatic corps, Heer and Kriegsmarine and high-ranking Finns can be seen behind the Swedes. Photo by press photog. Hugo Sundström on Finland's Independence Day before the Armistice. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. SA-kuva.