The First Battles of the Great Patriotic War in the Arctic

Abstract

The article talks about the clash between German and Soviet units on Soviet territory on June 28–30, 1941 in the Kuolajarvi (the Kandalaksha direction of the Northern Front) on the basis of documents that have not been put into scientific circulation. The Kandalaksha direction has not become the object of research in historiography, and therefore it, as well as a number of other sectors of the Northern (Karelian) Front in 1941, remain poorly studied. In the course of research work, new facts are revealed that are not disclosed in historiography, and significantly complement the picture of military operations in the North during the Great Patriotic War. Based on German and Russian archival materials, including those presented on the resources of the american National Archives, Federal Archive of Germany and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, for the first time the content and chronology of the clashes that took place on June 28–30, 1941 in the Soviet Union-Finnish border before the start of the German offensive are revealed. It is indicated that in domestic historiography these events are ignored and are not considered in detail. It is concluded that the low results of German actions in the period from June 28 to 30 are due to mediocre pre-war preparation, systemic problems in planning and intelligence, as well as underestimation of the Soviet side. The important historiographical significance of these events is revealed, and the great role of the presented materials in the historical, patriotic and local history plan is shown.

Keywords:

The Northern Front, the Great Patriotic War in the Arctic, the Kandalaksha direction, the Arctic