Lapland war 1944-1945
Dedicated for Finnish and German soldiers in that war. Lapland war were the hostilities between Finland and Nazi Germany between September 1944 and April 1945, fought in Finland's northernmost Lapland Province. When Finnish wrote Moscow Armistice The Soviets demanded that all German troops had to be expelled from Finland. The Finns were thus placed in a situation of having to fight to free their lands of German forces. The Finns' task was complicated by the Soviet demand that the major part of Finnish armed forces must be demobilized at the same time, even while conducting a military campaign against the Germans. General Hjalmar Siilasvuo, the victor of Suomussalmi, led the Finns against the Germans, who were commanded by General Lothar Rendulic. During the first few weeks the withdrawal of Germans and advance of Finnish troops was organised jointly by the headquarters of both armies, a fact that was kept secret from the Soviets. The Germans fell back according to a common timetable, and the Finns attacked and fired at the empty trenches. After two weeks the Soviets realised the deception, and demanded the Finns conduct immediate heavy action against the Germans. Fighting intensified when the Finns made a risky invasion from the sea on 1 October 1944 near Tornio on the border with Sweden. Heavy combat lasted for a week, and the Germans were forced to withdraw In their retreat the German forces under General Lothar Rendulic devastated large areas of northern Finland with <b>...</b>
