The Karelian Front ) was a front (a formation of Army Group size) of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and operated in

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

Wartime

The Karelian Front was created in August 1941 when Northern Front was split into Karelian Front and

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

to take account of the different military developments and requirements on the Leningrad approaches versus those along the Finnish border to the Arctic. It remained in existence until the end of the war. The front covered the sector north of

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...

and the

Svir River The Svir (; ; Karelian and Finnish: ) is a river in Podporozhsky, Lodeynopolsky, and Volkhovsky districts in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows westwards from Lake Onega to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two largest l ...

to the Arctic Coast near Murmansk. It was involved in combat with both Finnish and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

forces along the Soviet-Finnish border. The front between Lake Ladoga and

Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...

was split off to the independent 7th Army during the static phase of the war. During 1944, the Karelian Front participated with the Leningrad Front in the final offensive against Finland which led to the Soviet-Finnish armistice. In October 1944 the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation was conducted along the front, capturing some parts of northern Finland and liberating the easternmost parts of the Norwegian

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

province from German occupation. The Karelian Front in the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation conducted the only successful major military operation ever undertaken in an Arctic environment in modern warfare. The experiences in the conduct of the operation, particularly in terms of organising rear-area services and supply, were considered important to the conduct of the Red Army’s offensive against the Japanese

Kwantung Army The Kwantung Army (Japanese language, Japanese: 関東軍, ''Kantō-gun'') was a Armies of the Imperial Japanese Army, general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1945. The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for th ...

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

, and many leading officers were transferred from Karelian Front to the Baikal theatre of war.

Order of battle

Order of battle Order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed force. Various abbr ...

of the Karelian Front on 1 September 1944: Combat composition of the Soviet Army, 1 September 1944 * 7th Army ( Alexey Nikolayevich Krutikov) ** 4th Rifle Corps (4 ск) ( 114th, 272nd Rifle Divisions) ** 99th Rifle Corps ( 18th, 65th, 310th Rifle Divisions) **30th, 32nd Ski Brigades **150th, 162nd Fortified Areas **149th, 633rd, 1942nd Corps Artillery Regiment **989th Howitzer Artillery Regiment * 14th Army ( Vladimir Shcherbakov) ** 126th Light Mountain Rifle Corps ( 72nd Naval Rifle Brigade, 31st Ski Brigade)) ** 10th Guards Rifle Division ** 14th Rifle Division (Soviet Union) **2nd Fortified Region * 19th Army (Georgy Kozlov) ** 21st Rifle Division **

67th Rifle Division The 67th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army. The 20th Rifle Division (territorial defence) was formed from militia brigades in the Leningrad Military District in 1923. On May 21, 1936, it was named the 67th Rifle Divisi ...

** 104th Rifle Division ** 122nd Rifle Division ** 341st Rifle Division **38th Guards Tank Brigade **73rd Guards Separate Tank Regiment **88th Separate Tank Regiment * 26th Army ( Lev Skvirsky) **31st Rifle Corps ( 83rd, 205th Rifle Divisions) **132nd Rifle Corps ( 54th, 367th Rifle Divisions) ** 45th Rifle Division * 32nd Army ( Filipp D. Gorelenko) ** 127th Light Mountain Rifle Corps (127 лгск) ( 27th Rifle Division) **HQ 131st Rifle Corps ** 176th Rifle Division ** 289th Rifle Division ** 313th Rifle Division ** 368th Rifle Division ** 3rd Naval Infantry Brigade ** 69th, 70th Naval Rifle Brigades ** 33rd Ski Brigade ** 31st Separate Naval Infantry Battalion * 7th Air Army ( Ivan Sokolov) ** 1st Guards Mixed Aviation Division ** 257th, 260th, 261st Mixed Aviation Divisions ** 324th Fighter Aviation Division **858th Fighter Aviation Regiment **204th Fire Correction and Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment **121st Separate Communications Aviation Regiment **108th Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron **119th Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron **118th Long-Range Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron

Major operations

* Svir-Petrozavodsk Operation against Finland, July–August 1944 * Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation against the Wehrmacht, October 1944

Commanders

* Colonel-General Valerian Frolov (September 1941 – February 1944) *

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (, ) was the second-highest military rank of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin wore the uniform and insignia of Marshal after World War II. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in ...

(as of October 1944) K. A. Meretskov (February 1944 – May 1945)

Notes

References