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Continuation War
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Finnish soldiers, VT-line in 1944, Karelian offensive; "Alarm in VT-line positions".
Date 25 June 1941 – 19 September 1944 (3 years, 2 months, 3 weeks and 4 days) Location Finland, Karelia, and Murmansk Result Soviet victory[1][2][3][4] Moscow Armistice[5] Finnish retain independence[6] Territorial changes Concession of Petsamo and lease of Porkkala to the Soviet Union
Belligerents
Finland Swedish volunteers  Germany  Italy1	Soviet Union  United Kingdom2
Commanders and leaders
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Lennart Oesch Nikolaus von Falkenhorst (until 7 November 1941) Eduard Dietl † (7 November 1941 – 23 June 1944) Lothar Rendulic (from 28 June 1944)	Markian Popov Mikhail Hozin Valerian A. Frolov Kirill Meretskov Leonid Govorov
Strength
530,000 Finns[Note 1][7] 220,000 Germans[Note 2]	In June 1941: 450,390 (Northern Front and Baltic Fleet)[8] In June 1944: 650,000[9]
Casualties and losses
Finnish: 63,204 dead or missing [Note 3][10] 158,000 wounded 939 civilians in air raids[10] 190 civilians by Soviet partisans[10] 2,377–3,500 captured[Note 4][11] German: 14,000 dead or missing 37,000 wounded[7] unknown non-combat casualties Total 275,000+ casualties	Finnish estimate based on Soviet data: 305,000 dead and missing[12](including 64,000 captured) 385,000 wounded 190,000 hospitalized due to sickness[13] 4,361 civilian deaths 697 tanks destroyed[14] 55 tanks captured 673 trucks captured 306 artillery pieces captured 300 tractors captured 303 aircraft destroyed[15] Multiple ships sunk Total ~835,000 casualties[13] not including civilian victims of the Siege of Leningrad
1  Italy provided four motor torpedo boats to Lake Ladoga.[Note 5] 2  The United Kingdom declared war on Finland but conducted no operations after that.[Note 6]

The Continuation War (Finnish: jatkosota; Swedish: fortsättningskriget; 25 June 1941 – 19 September 1944) consisted of hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944. The Continuation War began 15 months after the end of the Winter War, which was also fought between Finland and the Soviet Union.^[17] In the Soviet Union, the war was considered part of the Great Patriotic War.^[18] Germany regarded its operations in the region as part of its overall war efforts on the Eastern Front, and it provided Finland with critical material support and military cooperation.

Acts of war between the Soviet Union and Finland recommenced on 22 June 1941, the day Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union. Open warfare began with a Soviet air offensive to Finland on 25 June. Subsequent Finnish operations undid its post-Winter War concessions to the Soviet Union on the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, and captured East Karelia by September 1941. On the Karelian Isthmus, the Finns halted their offensive 30 km from Leningrad, at the pre-World War II border between the Soviet Union and Finland. In 1944, Soviet air forces conducted air raids on Helsinki and other major Finnish cities.

Eventually, in mid-1944, the Soviet strategic offensive drove the Finns from most of the territories they had gained during the war, but the Finnish Army later brought the offensive to a standstill in July 1944. A ceasefire ended hostilities on 5 September and was followed by the Moscow Armistice on 19 September. The 1947 Paris peace treaty concluded the war formally. Finland ceded Pechengsky District to the Soviets, leased Porkkala peninsula to them and paid reparations, while retaining its independence.

On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union (USSR) and Germany signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, whereby the parties divided the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania into spheres of interest, with Finland falling to the Soviet sphere of interest.^[19] Shortly afterward, Germany invaded Poland and, as a result, the United Kingdom and France declared war against Germany. The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on 17 September.^[20] Next, Moscow demanded that the Baltic states allow the establishment of Soviet military bases and the stationing of troops on their soil. The Baltic governments accepted these ultimatums, signing corresponding agreements in September and October.^[21]

In October 1939, the Soviet Union attempted to negotiate with Finland for the cessation of Finnish territory on the Karelian Isthmus and the islands of the Gulf of Finland and for the establishment of a Soviet military base near the Finnish capital of Helsinki.^[22] The Finnish government refused, and the Red Army invaded Finland on 30 November 1939.^[23] The USSR was expelled from the League of Nations and condemned by the international community for the illegal attack.^[24] Foreign support for Finland was planned, but very little actual help materialized, except from Sweden.^[25] The Moscow Peace Treaty concluded the 105-day Winter War on 13 March 1940 and started the Interim Peace.^[26] By the terms of the treaty, Finland ceded 11 per cent of its national territory and 13 percent of its economic capacity to the Soviet Union.^[27] Finland avoided total conquest of the country by the Soviet Union and kept its sovereignty.^[28]

Before the war, Finland's foreign policy had been based on multilateral guarantees for support from the League of Nations and Nordic countries and was considered a failure.^[29] After the war, Finnish public opinion favored the reconquest of Finnish Karelia, the government declared national defense to be its first priority, and military expenditures rose to nearly half of public spending. Finland purchased and received donations of war materiel during and immediately after the Winter War. The Soviet Union had received a military base, which employed over 30,000 Soviet military personnel, in Hanko on Finland's southern coast near the capital Helsinki, ^[30]

Finland resettled some 420,000 evacuees from the lost territories. To ensure food supply, it was necessary to clear new land for the evacuees to cultivate, facilitated by the Rapid Settlement Act.^[30] Finnish leadership wanted to preserve the spirit of unanimity that was commonly felt throughout the country during the Winter War. The divisive White Guard tradition of the Finnish Civil War's 16 May victory day celebration was therefore discontinued.^[31] Relations between Finland and the Soviet Union remained strained after the signing of the one-sided peace treaty, and there were disputes regarding the implementation of the treaty. Finland sought security against further territorial depredations by the USSR and proposed mutual defence agreements with Norway and Sweden, but these initiatives were quashed by Moscow.^[32][33]

After the Winter War, Germany was not popular in Finland as it was considered an ally of the Soviet Union. However, the Finnish government began to restore diplomatic relations with Germany. Finland continued its Western-oriented policy and negotiated a war trade agreement with the United Kingdom.^[32] The agreement was renounced after the German invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940, when Britain cut all trade and traffic communications with the Nordic countries. With the fall of France, a Western orientation was no longer considered an option in Finnish foreign policy.^[34] On 15 and 16 June, the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states without resistance. Soviet puppet regimes were installed, and within two months Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated as Soviet republics within the USSR. By mid-1940, the two remaining northern democracies, Finland and Sweden, were encircled by the hostile states of Germany and the Soviet Union.^[35]

On 23 June, shortly after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states began, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov contacted the Finns and demanded a mining licence for the Soviet Union at the nickel mines in Petsamo or, alternatively, establishing a joint Soviet-Finnish company to operate there. The licence to mine the deposit had earlier been granted to a British-Canadian company, and the proposition was rejected by Finland. The next month, the Soviets demanded that Finland destroy the fortifications built on the Åland islands and grant the USSR the right to use Finnish railways to transport Soviet troops to the newly-acquired Soviet base at Hanko. The Finns very reluctantly agreed to these demands.^[36] On 24 July, Molotov accused the Finnish government of persecuting the Finland–Soviet Union Peace and Friendship Society, a pro-communist group, and soon afterwards he publicly supported the group. The society organized demonstrations in Finland, some of which turned into riots.^[37][38]

Soviet sources maintain that Soviet policies up to the Continuation War were best explained as defensive measures by offensive means: The Soviet division of occupied Poland with Germany, the Soviet occupations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and the Soviet invasion of Finland in the Winter War are described as elements in the Soviets' construction of a security zone or buffer region between the perceived threat from the capitalist powers of Western Europe. The Soviet sources see the post-World War II establishment of Soviet satellite states in the Warsaw Pact countries and the Finnish-Soviet Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance as the conclusion of this Soviet defense plan.^[39][40][41] Western historians, such as Norman Davies and John Lukacs, dispute this view and describe the pre-war Soviet policy as an attempt to stay out of the war and regain land lost after the fall of the Russian Empire.^[42]

On 31 July 1940, German leader Adolf Hitler gave the order to start planning an assault on the Soviet Union. This meant that Germany had to reassess its position regarding both Finland and Romania. Until then, Germany had rejected Finnish appeals to purchase arms, but in August, Germans allowed the secret sale of weapons to Finland. Military authorities made an agreement on 12 September, and an official exchange of diplomatic notes was sent on 22 September. At the same time, German troops were allowed transit through Sweden and Finland.^[43] In practice, this meant Germany had redrawn the border of German and Soviet spheres of influence.^[44]

Due to the new situation, Molotov visited Berlin on 12–13 November.^[45] He wanted Germany to withdraw its troops from Finland and stop enabling Finnish anti-Soviet sentiments. He also reminded the Germans of the 1939 Soviet–German non-aggression pact. Hitler asked how the USSR planned to settle the "Finnish question". Molotov answered that it would happen in the same manner as in Bessarabia and the Baltic states. Hitler rejected this.^[46] In December, the Soviet Union, Germany and the United Kingdom all voiced opinions concerning suitable Finnish presidential candidates. Risto Ryti was the only candidate none of the three powers objected to and he was elected on 19 December.^[47]

In January 1941, the USSR demanded control of the Petsamo mining area. Finland rejected the proposition as it had a rebuilt defense force and was encouraged by Germany to reject the Soviet demand.^[47] On 18 December 1940, Hitler officially approved Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.^[48] He expected both Finland and Romania to join the German campaign.^[49] Two days earlier, Finnish Major General Paavo Talvela had met German Colonel General Franz Halder and, a couple of days later, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, in Berlin. This was the first time the Germans advised the Finns, in carefully couched diplomatic terms, that they were preparing for a war with the Soviet Union. Outlines of the actual plan were revealed in January 1941 and regular contacts between Finnish and German military leaders started in February.^[49]

In the late spring of 1941, the USSR made a number of goodwill gestures to prevent Finland from completely falling under German influence. Ambassador Ivan Zotov was replaced with the more flexible Pavel Orlov. Furthermore, the Soviet government announced that it no longer opposed a rapprochement between Finland and Sweden. These conciliatory measures, however, did not have any effect on Finnish policy.^[50] Finland wished to re-enter World War II mainly because of the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War, which had taken place after Finnish intentions of relying on the League of Nations and Nordic neutrality to avoid conflicts had failed from lack of outside support.^[51] Finland primarily aimed to reverse its territorial losses from the March 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty and, depending on the success of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, to possibly expand its borders, especially into East Karelia. Some right-wing groups, such as the Academic Karelia Society, supported a Greater Finland ideology.^[52]

On 20 May, the Germans invited some Finnish officers to discuss the coordination of Operation Barbarossa. The participants met on 25–28 May in Salzburg and Berlin, and continued their meeting in Helsinki from 3 to 6 June. They agreed upon the arrival of German troops, Finnish mobilization, and a general division of operations.^[50] They also agreed that the Finnish Army would start mobilization on 15 June, but the Germans did not reveal the final date for the assault. The Finnish decisions were made by a small group of political and military leaders; the rest of the government was largely kept in the dark. The government was not informed until 9 June that the country would start mobilization of reservists due to tensions between Germany and the Soviet Union.^{[48][Note 7]} Finland never signed the Tripartite Pact, which was signed by all de jure Axis powers. The Finns and Mannerheim, in particular, clearly stated they would fight against the Soviets only to the extent necessary to redress the balance of the 1940 treaty. For Hitler the matter was irrelevant; he saw Finland as an ally.^[54]

The Germans took responsibility for the 500 km (310 mi) stretch of the northern front in Finnish Lapland. The Finnish Army was now much stronger than it had been during the Winter War, boasting 475,000 men. Their artillery was strong, but there was only one armour battalion and a lack of motorized transportation.^[55] At the beginning of the war, the Soviet Union had eighteen divisions in the region, against fifteen Finnish and four German divisions. The Finns had air supremacy. Furthermore, the Soviet Union needed its best units and latest materiel on its central European front.^[56] On the Soviet side, the Karelian Isthmus was covered by the 23rd Army and Ladoga Karelia was defended by the 7th Army. In the Murmansk–Salla region, there was the 14th Army with the 42nd Corps. The Red Army also had around 40 battalions of separate regiments and fortification units present. Leningrad was garrisoned by three infantry divisions and one mechanized corps. As the initial devastating German strike against the Soviet Air Force did not affect air units located near Finland, the Soviets could deploy 700 planes as well as some aircraft from the Navy against 300 Finnish aircraft.^[57]

In the late hours of 21 June 1941, German minelayers hiding in the Archipelago Sea laid two large minefields across the Gulf of Finland.^[58][59] Later the same night, German bombers flew along the Gulf of Finland to Leningrad and mined the harbour and the river Neva. On the return trip, these bombers landed for refueling in Utti, Finland. In the early hours of 22 June, Finnish forces launched Operation Kilpapurjehdus, which deployd troops to the demilitarized Åland Islands. An international treaty on the status of the islands called for Finland to defend them in case of the threat of an attack.^[60] However, the operation was coordinated with the German invasion, and the personnel of the Soviet consulate there were arrested. According to Finnish historian Mauno Jokipii, Finland knew that it had violated international protocol.^[61]

After Axis powers launched Operation Barbarossa around 3:15 a.m. on 22 June 1941, the Soviet Union commenced an airstrike on Finland with 7 bombers, as reported at 6:06 a.m. by coastal defence ship Väinämöinen.^[62] On the morning of 25 June, the Soviet Union launched another air offensive with 460 fighters and bombers targeting 19 airfields in Finland. Inaccurate intelligence and poor bombing accuracy caused several raids to hit Finnish cities or municipalities with considerable damage.^[63] 23 Soviet bombers were lost^[63] while the Finns did not lose aircraft.^[64] The USSR stated that the airstrikes were directed against German targets, especially airfields, in Finland.^[65] The bombings offered the Finnish government a ground for claiming that the country had become the target of a new assault, and the Finnish Parliament approved a "defensive war" as a fait accompli.^[66] According to historian David Kirby, the message was intended more for public opinion in Finland than abroad, where it was seen that the country was in the Axis camp.^[67]

In July, the Finnish military began its planned offensive. The Soviet Union struggled to contain the German invasion, and soon the Soviet High Command had to call all available units stationed along the Finnish border to the rapidly deteriorating front line.^[68] Moreover, the 237th Infantry Division and, excluding the 198th Motorized Division, the Soviet 10th Mechanized Corps were withdrawn from Ladoga Karelia, thus stripping most of the reserves from the remaining defending Soviet units.^[69]

The Finnish plans for the offensive in Ladoga Karelia were completed on 28 June.^[70] The offensive was launched on 10 July^[70][71] and by 16 July the Finns reached the shore of Lake Ladoga and cut the defending Soviet army in two, hindering the Soviets' defense of the area.^[70]

The Finnish II Corps (II AK) started its offensive in the region of the Karelian Isthmus on 31 July.^[72][73] Finnish troops reached the shores of Lake Ladoga on 9 August, surrounding most of three defending Soviet divisions on the northwestern coast of the lake; the Soviet divisions were evacuated across the lake. On 22 August, the Finnish IV AK Corps started its offensive from the 1940 border between the Gulf of Finland and the II AK, and advanced towards Viborg.^[72] By 23 August, the Finnish II Corps had reached the Vuoksi waterway from the east and continued to surround the Soviet forces defending Viborg.^[72] The Soviet withdrawal order came too late, and the Soviet divisions lost much of their equipment, although a sizable portion of their manpower was later evacuated via the Koivisto islands. The badly mauled defending Soviet army was unable to halt the Finnish offensive, and by 2 September the Finns had reached the 1939 border along its whole length. On 31 August, Finnish headquarters ordered the 2nd and 4th Army Corps, which had advanced the furthest, to halt their offensive after reaching a line just past the former border that ran from the mouth of the River Sestra via Retukylä, Aleksandrovka, and the eastern edge of the village of S. Beloostrov (Russian: Старого Белоо́стров) to Ohta and form for defense.^[74][75] On 1 September the IV Corp defeated the Soviet 23rd Army at the Battle of Porlampi.^[76]

According to Soviet sources, the Finns advanced and took the settlement of Novyi Beloostrov with its train station on 4 September, but a Soviet counter-attack threw them out the next day.^[77][78][79] The war diary of the Finnish 12th Division facing this settlement^[74][80] notes that it was quiet at the time,^[80] while the neighboring 18th Division had orders on the morning of 4 September 1941 to form a line of defense north of N. Beloostrov,^[81] and the Finnish 6th Regiment responsible for the Finnish 18th Division's front line facing N. Beloostrov^[74] formed for defense along the small stream (Serebryanyy ruchey) north of N. Belootrov on 4 September 1941.^[82][83] According to Finnish sources, Soviet forces advanced north from N. Beloostrov and attacked the Finnish positions along the small stream on the morning of 5 September 1941, but the Finns managed to repel them.^[82][83] Staryi Beloostrov (Valkeasaari) was taken by the Finns on September 4 and the Soviet counterattacks failed to retake the settlement.^[74] Finnish forces captured N. Beloostrov again on 10 or 11 September 1941.^{[74][78][79][84]} According to the war diary of the Finnish 12th Division, this was done to strengthen their lines.^[84] The Soviet war correspondent Luknitsky noted that this created a dangerous bulge in the Soviet defensive line.^[78] According to Russian historian Nazarenko, the Finns were not able to advance further due to stronger Soviet defensive positions.^[79] Fighting for the settlement continued until 20 September, when the Soviets managed to force the Finns out.^[85] After that the front stabilized.^[86][87]

Related to the Finnish advance to the Svir, the German Army Group North advanced from the south towards the Svir River and managed to capture Tikhvin before Soviet counterattacks forced the Germans to withdraw to the Volkhov River. Soviet forces also made several attempts to force the Finns out from their bridgehead south of the Svir during October and December 1941; however, the Soviet efforts to reduce the bridgehead were blocked by the Finns. Soviet forces also attacked the German 163rd Division, which was operating under Finnish command across the Svir in October 1941, but the Soviet forces that had crossed the river were pushed back soon after.^[88]

The advance in East Karelia was halted on 6 December. The Finns had suffered 75,000 casualties, of whom 25,000 were Finnish deaths during the advance.^[89]

The German objective in northern Finland was to take Murmansk and seize control of the Murman Railway. Murmansk was the only year-round ice-free port in the north, and it was a threat to the nickel mine at Petsamo. Operation Silver Fox was run by the German AOK Norwegen and had two Finnish divisions under its command. The German soldiers were from central Europe and they had difficulty moving over the roadless terrain of swamp and forest. The troops managed to advance some distance with heavy casualties, but the terrain offered good defensive positions for the Soviet resistance.^[90]

Germany's main forces advanced rapidly deep into Soviet territory during the first weeks of the Operation Barbarossa campaign. The Finns believed the Germans would defeat the Soviet Union quickly. President Ryti envisioned Greater Finland, where the country and other Finnic people would live inside a "natural defence borderline" by incorporating the Kola Peninsula, East Karelia, and perhaps even northern Ingria. In public, the proposed frontier was introduced by the slogan "A short border – a long peace".^[91] Some members of the Finnish Parliament, such as the Social Democrats and the Swedish People's Party, opposed the idea, arguing that maintaining the 1939 frontier would be enough.^[91] On 10 July, Finnish Commander-in-Chief C. G. E. Mannerheim gave an order of the day, the Sword Scabbard Declaration, in which he pledged to liberate Karelia. The Finnish government assured the Americans that it was unaware of the order.^[92] According to Finnish historian Olli Vehviläinen, most Finns thought that the scope of the new offensive was only to regain what had been wrongly taken in the Winter War.^[93]

Finland had prepared for a short war, but in late autumn it was clear that there would be no decisive outcome in the short term. Finnish troops suffered losses during their advance; and, overall, German victory became uncertain as German troops were halted near Moscow. The Finnish economy suffered from a lack of labour, food shortages, and increased prices. The Finnish government had to demobilize part of the army so that industrial and agricultural production would not collapse.^[89] In October, Finland informed Germany that it would need 175,000 short tons (159,000 t) of grain to manage until next year's harvest. The German authorities would have rejected the request, but Hitler himself agreed. Annual grain deliveries of 200,000 short tons (180,000 t) equaled almost one half of the Finnish domestic crop. In November, Finland decided to join the Anti-Comintern Pact.^[94]

Finland maintained good relations with the Western powers. The Finnish government stressed that Finland was fighting as a co-belligerent with Germany against the Soviet Union only to protect itself.^[89] Furthermore, Finland stressed that it was still the same democratic country as it had been in the Winter War. However, on 12 July 1941, the United Kingdom signed an agreement of joint action with the Soviet Union. Furthermore, under German pressure, Finland had to close the British legation in Helsinki. As a result, diplomatic relations between Finland and the United Kingdom were broken on 1 August.^[95] On 28 November, Britain presented Finland an ultimatum demanding that Finland cease military operations by 3 December.^[96] Unofficially, Finland informed the Western powers that Finnish troops would halt their advance in the next few days. The reply did not satisfy the United Kingdom, which declared war on Finland on 6 December. The Commonwealth member states of Canada, Australia, British Raj, and New Zealand followed suit.^{[97][Note 8]}

Relations between Finland and the United States were more complex; the American public was sympathetic to the "brave little democracy", and there were anti-communist feelings. At first, the United States empathised with the Finnish cause; however, the situation became problematic after Finnish troops crossed the 1939 border.^[98] Finnish and German troops were a threat to the Murmansk Railway and northern communication supply line between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.^[99] On 25 October 1941, the United States demanded that Finland cease all hostilities against the Soviet Union and withdraw behind the 1939 border. In public, President Ryti rejected the demands, but in private he wrote to Mannerheim on 5 November, asking him to halt the offensive. Mannerheim agreed and secretly instructed General Hjalmar Siilasvuo to break off the assault against the Murmansk Railway.^[96]

Although military operations during 1942 and 1943 were limited, the front did see some action. In early 1942, Soviet Karelian Front forces attempted to retake Medvezhyegorsk, which had been lost to the Finns in late 1941. As spring came, the Soviet forces also went on the offensive on the Svir front as well as in Kiestinki region. All Soviet offensives started promisingly, but due either to the Soviets overextending their lines or stubborn defensive resistance, the Soviet offensives were stopped and repulsed. After Finnish and German counterattacks in Kiestinki, the eventual front lines had moved very little. In September 1942, the Soviets tried again at Kriv near Medvezhyegorsk, but despite five days of fighting, the Soviets managed to push the Finnish lines back only 500 m (550 yd) on a roughly 1 km (0.62 mi)-long stretch of the front.^[100]

Unconventional warfare was fought in both the Finnish and Soviet wilderness. Finnish long-range reconnaissance patrols, organized both by Finnish HQ—4th Separate Battalion (Er.P 4)—and by local units, patrolled beyond Soviet lines. In summer 1942, the Soviet Union formed the 1st Partisan Brigade. The unit was only 'partisan' in name, as it was essentially more than 600 men and women on long-range patrol. The 1st Partisan Brigade was able to infiltrate beyond Finnish patrol lines, but was found and largely destroyed.^[101]

On the naval front, the Soviet Baltic Fleet still operated from the besieged city of Leningrad. In early 1942, Soviet forces recaptured the island of Gogland, but lost both Gogland and Bolshoy Tyuters to the Finns later in spring 1942. During the winter of 1941/1942, the Soviet Baltic Fleet made the decision to use the large submarine fleet to carry the fight to the enemy. Though initial submarine operations in the summer of 1942 were successful, the German Kriegsmarine and Finnish Navy soon stepped up their anti-submarine efforts, making Soviet submarine operations later in 1942 very costly. The underwater offensive carried out by the Soviets convinced the Germans to lay anti-submarine nets as well as supporting minefields between Porkkala and Naissaar which proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for Soviet submarines.^[102]

Soviet partisans conducted a number of operations in Finland and in Eastern Karelia from 1941 to 1944. The major one failed when the 1st Partisan Brigade was destroyed in the beginning of August 1942 at Lake Seesjärvi. Partisans distributed propaganda newspapers, Pravda in Finnish and Lenin's Banner in Russian. One of the leaders of the partisan movement in Finland and Karelia was Yuri Andropov.^[103]

Finnish sources state that partisan activity in East Karelia focused mainly on Finnish military supply and communication targets, but almost two thirds of the attacks on the Finnish side of the border targeted civilians,^[104] killing 200 and injuring 50, including children and the elderly.^{[105][106][107]}

On 19 July 1941, the Finns set up the military administration in occupied East Karelia. The goal of the administration was to prepare the region for eventual incorporation into Finland. In the early stage, the Finns aimed at ethnic cleansing where the Russian population would be expelled from the area once the war was over.^[109] They would be replaced with Finnic peoples such as Karelians, Finns, Estonians, Ingrians, and Vepsians. The Russian population was deemed "non-national".^[110] Most of the East Karelian population had been evacuated before the Finnish forces arrived. About 85,000 people—mostly the elderly, women, and children—were left behind, and less than half of them were Karelians. A significant number of civilians—almost 30% of the remaining Russians—were interned in concentration camps.^[110]

The winter of 1941–42 was an ordeal for the Finnish urban population, due to poor harvests and a shortage of agricultural laborers.^[110] However, for the Russians captured in Finnish concentration camps it was disastrous; more than 3,500 people died, mostly from starvation. This figure amounted to 13.8% of the inmates, while the corresponding figure for the free population of the occupied territories was 2.6%, and for Finland proper 1.4%.^[111] Conditions gradually improved; ethnic discrimination in wage levels and food rations was terminated the following year after the Red Cross commission from Switzerland inspected the camps, and new schools were established for the Russian-speaking population.^[112] By the end of the occupation, mortality rates dropped to the same levels as in Finland proper.^[111]

Operation Barbarossa was planned as a blitzkrieg intended to last a few weeks. By the autumn of 1941 it was clear that this the operation would not accomplish its goals, and leading Finnish military officers started to doubt Germany's capability to finish the war quickly. German troops in northern Finland faced circumstances they were not properly prepared for, and failed to reach their targets, most importantly Murmansk. As the lines stabilized, Finland sent out peace feelers to the Soviet Union several times.^[113]

The Continuation War represents the only case of a genuinely democratic state participating in World War II on the side of the Axis powers, albeit without being a signatory of the Tripartite Pact. The United Kingdom declared war on Finland on 6 December 1941 (Finnish Independence Day), with Canada and New Zealand declaring war on Finland on 7 December and Australia and South Africa declaring war the next day. U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull congratulated the Finnish envoy on 3 October 1941 for the liberation of Karelia but warned Finland not to enter Soviet territory; furthermore, the United States did not declare war on Finland when it went to war alongside the Axis countries and, together with the UK, approached Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference about acknowledging Finnish independence. However, the U.S. government seized Finnish merchant ships in American ports, and in the summer of 1944 shut down Finnish diplomatic and commercial offices in the United States as a result of President Ryti's treaty with Germany. The U.S. government later warned Finland about the consequences of continued adherence to the Axis.^[114]

The best-known British action on Finnish soil was an aircraft carrier strike on German and Finnish ships in the Finnish harbour of Petsamo on 31 July 1941.^[16] This attack achieved little except the loss of three British aircraft, but it was intended as a demonstration of British support for its Soviet ally. Later in 1941, Hurricanes of No. 151 Wing RAF, based at Murmansk, provided local air cover for Soviet troops and fighter escorts for Soviet bombers.^[115]

Finnish radio intelligence is said to have participated effectively in German actions against British convoys to Murmansk.^[116]

Foreigners to Finland from Sweden and Estonia were among international personnel who fought during the Continuation war.^[117]

Finland had a small (approx. 2,300) Jewish population. They had full civil rights and fought with other Finns in the ranks of the Finnish Army. The Germans mentioned the Finnish Jews at the Wannsee Conference in Germany during January 1942, wishing to transport them to Majdanek in General Government. SS leader Heinrich Himmler mentioned the Finnish Jews during his visit in Finland in the summer of 1942. Finnish Prime Minister Jukka Rangell replied that Finland had no "Jewish question".^[54] However, there were differences for Jewish refugees in Finland. In November 1942, the Finns handed eight Jewish refugees over to the Gestapo. This raised protests among the Finnish Social Democrat ministers, and after this event no more refugees were handed over.^[118] Over 500 Jewish refugees were granted asylum.^[119]

The field synagogue in Eastern Karelia was one of the very few functioning synagogues on the Axis side during the war. There were even several cases of Jewish officers of Finland's army being awarded the German Iron Cross, which they declined. German soldiers were treated by Jewish medical officers who sometimes saved the soldiers' lives.^{[120][121][122][123]}

On 9 June 1944, the Soviet Union opened a major offensive against Finnish positions on the Karelian Isthmus and in the area of Lake Ladoga (it was timed to accompany D-Day^[124]). On the 21.7 km (13.5 mi)-wide breakthrough segment the Red Army had concentrated 3,000 guns and mortars. In some places, the concentration of artillery pieces exceeded 200 guns for every kilometer of the front (one every 5 m (5.5 yd)). On that day, Soviet artillery fired over 80,000 rounds along the front on the Karelian Isthmus. On the second day of the offensive, the Soviet forces broke through the Finnish front lines. The Soviets penetrated the second line of defence by the sixth day. The Soviet pressure on the Karelian Isthmus forced the Finns to reinforce the area. This allowed the second Soviet offensive in Eastern Karelia to meet less resistance and to capture Petrozavodsk by 28 June 1944. According to Erickson (1991), James Gebhardt (1989), and Glantz (1998), the main objective of the Soviet offensives was to force Finland from the war.^{[125][126][127]} The Allied invasion of France (Battle of Normandy) was coordinated with the Soviet major offensive against Finland (9 June–15 July 1944).^[113]

Finland especially lacked modern antitank weaponry which could stop Soviet heavy tanks, and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop offered these in exchange for a guarantee that Finland would not seek a separate peace again. On 26 June, President Risto Ryti gave this guarantee as a personal undertaking, which he intended to last only for the remainder of his presidency. In addition to delivering thousands of hand-held Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck antitank weapons, Hitler sent the 122nd Infantry Division, the half-strength 303rd Assault Gun Brigade, and Luftwaffe Detachment Kuhlmey to provide temporary support in the most threatened defense sectors.

With new supplies from Germany, the Finnish army halted the Soviet advance in early July 1944. At this point, the Finnish forces had retreated about one hundred kilometres, which brought them to approximately the same line of defence they had held at the end of the Winter War. This line was known as the VKT-line (short for "Viipuri–Kuparsaari–Taipale"; it ran from Viborg to the River Vuoksi to Lake Ladoga at Taipale), where the Finnish Army stopped the Soviet offensive in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala in spite of Soviet numerical and materiel superiority.^{[128][129][130]} The front stabilized once again.^{[128][129][130]}

A few battles were fought in the latter stages of the war. The last of them was the Battle of Ilomantsi, a Finnish victory, from 26 July to 13 August 1944.^{[131][132][133][134]} The struggle to contain the Soviet offensive was exhausting Finnish resources. The German support under the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement had prevented a disaster, but it was believed the country would not be able to hold another major attack.^[135] The Soviet advances against German Army Groups Center and North further complicated matters for Finland.^[135]

With the front being stable so far, it was a good time for Finland to seek a way out of the war.^{[135][136][137]} At the beginning of August President Ryti resigned to allow Finland to sue for peace again, which the new government did in late August.^{[126][136][138]} The Soviet peace terms were harsh, but the $600,000,000 reparations demanded in the spring were reduced to $300,000,000,^[131] most likely due to pressure from the United States and Britain.^[139] However, after the ceasefire the Soviets insisted that the payments should be based on 1938 prices, which doubled the amount.^[139]

Finland began to actively seek a way out of the war after the disastrous German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad in February 1943. Edwin Linkomies formed a new cabinet with peace as the top priority. Negotiations were conducted intermittently in 1943–44 between Finland and its representative, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, on one side, and the Western Allies and the Soviet Union on the other, but no agreement was reached. Stalin decided to force Finland to surrender; a bombing campaign on Helsinki followed. The air campaign in February 1944 included three major air attacks involving a total of over 6,000 sorties. Finnish anti-aircraft defences managed to repel the raids as only five percent of the dropped bombs hit their planned targets. Helsinki's air defense included the strategic placing of searchlights and fires as decoys outside the city to lure the Soviet bombers to drop their payloads in what were actually unpopulated areas. Major air attacks also hit Oulu and Kotka, but because of radio intelligence and effective anti-aircraft defences, the number of casualties was small.^[140]

Meanwhile, the lengthy and ferocious German defence in Narva aided by the Estonians eliminated Soviet-occupied Estonia as a favorable base for Soviet amphibious invasions and air attacks against Helsinki and other Finnish cities. The tactical success of the army detachment "Narwa" from mid-February to April diminished the hopes of the Stavka to assault Finland and force it into capitulation from Estonia.^{[141][142][143]} Finland terminated the negotiations in mid-April 1944,^[144] because they considered the Soviet terms to be impossible to fulfill.^[131]

Several Western historians, while noting the Soviets' assertion of their alleged need for a Soviet security buffer, contend the Soviet designs on Finland were no different from their designs on other Baltic countries. American Dan Reiter (1990) notes, “[Finland recognized] that the Soviet Union was unlikely to be satisfied with territorial concessions as a means to increase its security. [T]he Soviets viewed the control of small buffer states as critical to their security...This was the motivation", he asserts, "behind the de facto 1940 Soviet annexation of the Baltic States, and Moscow saw the control of Finland also as ultimately being necessary." Reiter and British historian Victor Rothwell quote Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov as telling his Lithuanian counterpart at the time Lithuania was effectively absorbed into the USSR, “[S]mall states will disappear...Baltic states, including Finland, will be included within the honourable family of Soviet peoples.^[145][146] However, contends Reiter, "[T]he fear of rising costs of fighting pushed Stalin to accept a limited war outcome with Finland, rather than pursue absolute victory",^[147] although a contemporary "Soviet document... called for the brutal military occupation of Finland at war’s end."^[148] “The Finnish victory [at Ilomantsi] ended the Soviet offensive in Finland and persuaded the Soviets to give up their demand for Finland's unconditional surrender".^[149] Peter Provis (1999) concludes his essay on point, “By following [self-censorship and limited appeasement] policies and fulfilling the Soviet Union's demands [for great reparations]...Finland avoided the same fate as other nations that were 'liberated' by the Red Army...Finland had once again defended her independence in a global conflict that engulfed and destroyed many other nations...The Finns had once again demonstrated their determination to avoid defeat by the Soviet Union and maintained their independence".^[5]

Russian historian Nikolai Baryshnikov disputes the view that the Soviet Union wanted to deprive Finland of its independence, and that Finnish "defensive victories" prevented this. He argues that there is no documentary evidence for such claims and that the Soviet government was always open for negotiations. Baryshnikov cites the former head of the Office of Information of the Finnish General Staff, Kalle Lehmus, and other Finnish sources to show that the Finnish leaders already knew of the limited Soviet plans for Finland in the first half of July 1944, after intelligence indicated that some Soviet divisions were to be transferred to reserve in Leningrad.^[150][151]

Mannerheim had repeatedly reminded the Germans that in case their troops in Estonia retreated, Finland would be forced to make peace even on extremely unfavourable terms.^[152]

As sizable numbers of civilians who had been relocated into Finland from Karelia in 1939–40 had moved back into Karelia during the war, they had to be evacuated again; of the 260,000 civilians who had moved back into the Karelia, only 19 chose to remain and become Soviet citizens.^[153] Most of the Ingrian Finns together with Votes and Izhorians living in German-occupied Ingria had been evacuated to Finland in 1943–1944. After armistice Finland was forced to return the evacuees.^[154] Soviet authorities did not allow the 55,733 people who had been handed over to settle back in Ingria, and instead deported them to central regions of Russia.^[154][155]

The number of Soviet prisoners of war was estimated to be around 64,000. Of these, 56,000 were captured in 1941.^[156] Around 2,600 to 2,800 Soviet prisoners of war were handed over to the Germans in exchange for roughly 2,200 Finnic prisoners of war.^[157] Out of 64,188 Soviet POWs, at least 18,318 were documented to have died in Finnish prisoner of war camps.^[158]

Henrik Lunde notes that unlike many of Germany's allies, Finland survived World War II without losing its independence.^[159] Although the price for war was high in war casualties, reparation payments, territorial loss, a bruised international reputation according to Olli Vehviläinen, and according to some, subsequent Soviet influence on Finland's foreign policy during the Cold War. According to Tuulikki Vuonokari, the Finnish–German alliance was different from most of the other Axis relationships, an example of which was the participation of Finnish Jews in the fight against the Soviet Union.^[160] The Finnish government did not take any anti-Jewish measures, despite repeated requests from Nazi Germany.^[161]

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