Scandinavia

1941–1944: The Continuation War

June 1941 – September 1944 · 2 battles

Finland, which in March 1940 had been forced to cede part of Karelia to the USSR, drew closer to Germany in 1941 and, after Soviet air raids on 25 June, entered the war at its side, calling it a continuation of the Winter War. The Finnish army recovered the lost lands and advanced into Eastern Karelia, while German and Finnish units in the north tried in vain to reach Murmansk. From the end of 1941 the front stood still for almost three years. In the summer of 1944 a Soviet offensive forced the Finns into an armistice, signed in Moscow on 19 September, after which they still had to drive their former German allies out of Lapland.

25 June 1941 – 19 September 1944Key battleContinuation WarFrom 25 June 1941 to 19 September 1944 Finland fought the USSR alongside Germany. It regained Karelia but in 1944 had to accept the Moscow Armistice.
9 June – 9 August 1944Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensiveFrom 9 June to 9 August 1944 the Red Army attacked Finland in Karelia. It took Viipuri and Petrozavodsk but failed to destroy the Finnish army.