The Lapland War was fought between Finland and Nazi Germany in Lapland, the northernmost part of Finland. The main strategic interest of Germany in the region was the nickel mines in the Petsamo area.
Initially the warfare was cautious on both sides, reflecting the previous cooperation of the two countries against their common enemy, but by the end of 1944 the fighting intensified. Finland and Germany had made an informal agreement and schedule for German troops to withdraw from Lapland to Norway. The Soviet Union did not accept this "friendliness" and pressured Finland to take a more active role in pushing the Germans out of Lapland, thus intensifying hostilities.
The Germans adopted a scorched-earth policy, and proceeded to lay waste to the entire northern half of the country as they retreated. Around 100,000 people lost their homes, adding to the burden of post-war reconstruction. The actual loss of life, however, was relatively light. Finland lost approximately 1,000 troops and Germany about 2,000. The Finnish army expelled the last of the foreign troops from their soil in April 1945.
The village of Ivalo destroyed by the Germans during their retreat as part of their scorched earth policy.
The war caused great damage to infrastructure and the economy. From the autumn of 1944, the Finnish army and navy performed many mine clearance operations, especially in Karelia, Lapland and the Gulf of Finland. Sea mine clearance activities lasted until 1950. The mines caused many military and civilian casualties, particularly in Lapland.
As part of the Paris Peace Treaty, Finland was classified as an ally of Nazi Germany, bearing its responsibility for the war. The treaty imposed heavy war reparations on Finland and stipulated the lease of the Porkkala area near the Finnish capital Helsinki as a military base for fifty years. The reparations were initially thought to be crippling for the economy, but a determined effort was made to pay them. The reparations were reduced by 25% in 1948 by the Soviet Union and were paid off in 1952. Porkkala was returned to Finnish control in 1956.
In subsequent years the position of Finland was unique in the Cold War. The country was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union, but was the only country on the Soviet pre-World War II border to retain democracy and a market economy. Finland entered into the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance (YYA Treaty) with the Soviet Union in which the Soviet Union agreed to the neutral status of Finland. Arms purchases were balanced between East and West until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Finland and Nazi Germany
Finnish Waffen-SS volunteers of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking in Hanko, Finland, 1 June 1943 During the Continuation War (1941–1944) Finland's wartime government claimed to be a co-belligerent of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union, and abstained from signing the Tripartite Pact. Finland was dependent on food, fuel, and armament shipments from Germany during this period, and was influenced to sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, a less formal alliance than the Tripartite Pact seen as by the Nazi leadership as a "litmus test of loyalty". The Finnish leadership adhered to many written and oral agreements on practical co-operation with Germany during the conflict. Finland was one of Germany's most important allies in the attack on the Soviet Union, allowing German troops to be based in Finland before the attack and joining in the attack on the USSR almost immediately. The 1947 Paris Peace treaty signed by Finland stated that Finland had been "an ally of Hitlerite Germany" and bore partial responsibility for the conflict.
Finland was an anomaly amongst German allies in that it retained an independent democratic government. Moreover, during the war, Finland kept its army outside the German command structure despite numerous attempts by the Germans to tie them more tightly together. Finland managed not to take part in the siege of Leningrad despite Hitler's wishes, and refused to cut the Murmansk railway.
Finnish Jews were not persecuted, and even among extremists of the Finnish Right they were highly tolerated, as many leaders of the movement came from the clergy. Of approximately 500 Jewish refugees, eight were handed over to the Germans, a fact for which Finnish prime minister Paavo Lipponen issued an official apology in 2000. The field synagogue operated by the Finnish army was probably a unique phenomenon in the Eastern Front of the war. Finnish Jews fought alongside other Finns.
About 2,600–2,800 Soviet prisoners of war were handed over to the Germans in exchange for roughly 2,200 Finnic prisoners of war held by the Germans. In November 2003, the Simon Wiesenthal Center submitted an official request to Finnish President Tarja Halonen for a full-scale investigation by the Finnish authorities of the prisoner exchange. In the subsequent study by Professor Heikki Ylikangas it turned out that about 2,000 of the exchanged prisoners joined the Russian Liberation Army. The rest, mostly army and political officers, (among them a name-based estimate of 74 Jews), most likely perished in Nazi concentration camps.
Finland and World War II overall
Finnish World War II army weapons
Finnish Satchel charge and Molotov cocktail During World War II, Finland was anomalous: It was the only European country bordering the Soviet Union in 1939 which was still unoccupied by 1945. It was a country which sided with Germany, but in which native Jews and almost all refugees were safe from persecution. It was the only country that fought alongside Nazi Germany which maintained democracy throughout the war. It was in fact the only democracy in mainland Europe that remained so despite being an involved party in the war.
According to the Finnish records 19,085 Soviet prisoners of war died in Finnish prison camps during the Continuation War, which means that 29.6% of Soviet POWs taken by the Finns did not survive. The high number of fatalities was mainly due to malnutrition and diseases. However, about 1,000 POWs were shot, primarily when attempting to escape.
When the Finnish Army controlled East Karelia between 1941 and 1944, several concentration camps were set up for Russian civilians. The first camp was set up on 24 October 1941, in Petrozavodsk. Of these interned civilians 4,361 perished mainly due to malnourishment, 90% of them during the spring and summer of 1942.
Finland never signed the Tripartite Pact, but was aided in its military assault on the Soviet Union by Germany from the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, and in its defence against Soviet attacks in 1944 prior to the separate peace with the Soviet Union in 1944. Finland was led by its elected president and parliament during the whole 1939–1945 period. As a result, some political scientists name it as one of the few instances where a democratic country was engaged in a war against one or more other democratic countries, namely the democracies in the Allied forces. However, nearly all Finnish military engagements in World War II were fought solely against an autocratic power, the Soviet Union, and the lack of direct conflicts specifically with other democratic countries leads others to exclude Finnish involvement in World War II as an example of a war between two or more democracies.
Finnish President Tarja Halonen, speaking in 2005, said that "For us the world war meant a separate war against the Soviet Union and we did not incur any debt of gratitude to others". Finnish President Mauno Koivisto also expressed similar views in 1993. However the view that Finland only fought separately during the Second World War remains controversial within Finland and was not generally accepted outside Finland. In a 2008 poll of 28 Finnish historians carried out by Helsingin Sanomat, 16 said that Finland had been an ally of Nazi Germany, six said it had not been, and six did not take a position
Finland's only success in recent years was Nokia .
It was even made a quote - when a Nokia phone falls , ground breaks , when an Apple phone falls , heart breaks . But beside being hard , the phones were good functioning as well , and suited to the pocket of every class of people as well .
Not interested much in war and fight , people always find one or the other reason to fight and kill each other , it only leads to loss , and there is no benefit in destruction as well .
