Karelian Front

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=Karelian Front


caption=
dates=1941-1945
country=Soviet Union
allegiance=
branch=
type=Army Group Command
role=Co-ordination and conduct of Red Army Operations North of Lake Ladoga and in the Arctic
size=2 Armies
command_structure=
colors=
march=
mascot=
battles= Svir-Petrozavodsk Operation
Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation
notable_commanders=Colonel General K.A. Meretskov
anniversaries=

The Karelian Front was a Front (a formation of Army Group size) of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, and operated in Karelia.

Wartime

The Karelian Front was created in August 1941 when Northern Front was split into Karelian Front and Leningrad Front to take account of the different military developments and requirements on the Leningrad approaches and 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 and the Svir River to the Arctic Coast near Murmansk. It was involved in combat with Finnish forces and Wehrmacht forces along the Soviet-Finnish border during the Continuation War and the Soviet-German War. The front between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega was split of to the independent 7th Army during the static phase of the war.

During 1944, the front participated with Leningrad Front in the final offensive against Finland which led to the Soviet-Finnish armistice. In October 1944 it conducted the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation, capturing some parts of northern Finland and liberating the easternmost parts of the Norwegian Finnmark province from German occupation.

Karelian Front 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 Operation August Storm, the Red Army’s offensive against the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria, and many leading officers were transferred from Karelian Front to the Baikal theatre of war.

Order of battle

Order of battle of the Karelian Front in the autumn of 1944:Fact|date=April 2008
* 32nd Army (Soviet Union)
** 176th Division
** 289th Division
** 313rd Division
* 26th Army
* 19th Army
* 14th Army
* 7th Army
** 4th Corps
** 37th Guards Corps
** 99th Corps
** 368th Division

Major Operations

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

Commanders

* Colonel-General Valerian Frolov (Sept. 1941 to Feb. 1944)
* Colonel General K.A. Meretskov (Feb 1944-May 1945)

References

* Meretskov 'Im Dienste des Volkes'
* Khudalov 'Am Rande des Kontinents'
* [http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/gebhardt/gebhardt.asp The Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation – Leavenworth Paper No. 17]