Improvised Liberation, October 1944: The Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation and the Red Army in Norway. Part I

This is the first of a double article on the Red Army’s offensive against the German 20th Mountain Army in the Murmansk sector, October–November 1944, soon to be known as the Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive Operation, Petsamo-Kirkenesskaya nastupatel’naya operatsiya, or simply the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation. Based on Soviet military archival sources, the article focuses on the background of the Karelian Front’s 14th Army’s move into Norway on 18 October 1944. Was this reflecting a larger scheme to prepare the ground for a Soviet military presence in Norway or to create leverage for political influence? My conclusion is that it was not. Pursuing retreating German troops across the border into Norway was not part of the plans for the 14th Army’s offensive; the move into Norway became unavoidable once the strategic aim of the offensive — to surround and then destroy the German forces on Soviet territory — failed. Contrary to Soviet expectations — and leaving behind much of their heavy weapons and equipment and suffering heavy losses — the 20th Mountain Army successfully withdrew its main units from Finnish and Soviet territory across the border to Norway. This operational rationale for the Soviet military presence in Norway also explains why the last Soviet troops left as early as September 1945. This first article follows the evolution of the Karelian Front’s planning against the German units in the Murmansk sector from its beginning in February 1944 until late September, when Stavka finally instructed the Front commander Kirill A. Meretskov to finalize the planning for the 14th Army’s offensive. As crucial background to the operational planning and developments, and based on mostly Soviet and British sources, the article also analyzes Norway’s place in Stalin’s and his entourage’s ambitions for the post-war order in Europe.