Hello Indy and team, I’ve noticed that after the Operation Barbarossa videos of 1941, you have scarcely mentioned what has been happening in the Finnish Front. I understand that the latest videos have been getting longer and longer, but I hear there are Finnish sources that go in depth even to the day by day of the continuation war. I would like to ask if you’ve been able to obtain such sources and if you will return to mentioning more about the Finnish operations as the Germans were on the retreat.
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The Finns quickly took back what the Russians took in the Russo-Finnish war (winter, 1939-40), and… stopped. The Finns were not interested in getting involved in the Siege of Leningrad (in the “Continuation War”) except as a blocking force.
So, the answer is… not much. The Finns hung on until September 1944, then signed an “armistice” with the USSR, saw the Germans off (to Norway, mostly), and there you are.
(PS - I have no connection with the TimeGhost folks, but I hope my answer is helpful)
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More in-depth answer is, that after taking back lost areas the Finns continued their conquest further (Map). There was several reasons for this and the main reason was to gain more defensive positions, shortening their lines between big lakes. Also taken land could be used as a bargaining chip in the coming peacetalks. There were some people who wished to continue the attack even further, creating the Greater Finland, but this was a small minority and the realism of war was ever present in the Finnish High Command. In fact, it was become quite obvious that the Germans were not going to win the war against the Soviets in quick fashion and the Finns tried to sue for peace as early as 1942 onwards. On the northern front held by Germans and Finns there were little gains.
After consolidating their gains the Finns dug in and a period of trench warfare began (1942-1944) and boredom sat in. There were unconventional warfare on both sides, most notably Soviet partisans terrorising Finnish civilians and wreaking havoc behind lines. On the Finnish part, there were long-range reconnaissance patrols deep in the enemy lines, doing recoinnaissance and sabotage. Some notable actions were made by the Soviets, but nothing major happened during this time.
At June 1944 Soviets started a huge offensive (timed to coincide with operation Overlord) that broke the Finnish defences but was ultimately stopped in August, partly due to material aid from Germany (anti-tank weapons and Detachment Kuhlmey) and due to Soviet moving troops from the Finnish front towards Berlin. Soon after, Finns sued for peace and peace terms arrived from Moscov late August.
One term of the peace was to Finns drive out German forces from Lapland. And so the Lapland War began. But that is another story…
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More in-depth indeed! Nice!
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