Lapland War - Baltic

Baltic

Already on 2 September 1944, after the Finns informed the Germans of the cease fire between Finland and the Soviet Union, the Germans started seizing Finnish shipping. However since this action resulted in a Finnish decision not to allow ships to sail from Finland to Germany and nearly doomed the material evacuations of Operation Birke it was rescinded. After the order was rescinded the Finns in turn allowed Finnish tonnage to be used to hasten the German evacuations. First German naval mines were laid to Finnish seaways on 14 September 1944 allegedly against Soviet shipping, though since Finland and Germany were not yet in open conflict at the time Germans warned Finns of their intent.

On 15 September 1944 the German navy attempted to seize the island of Hogland in Operation Tanne Ost. This immediately prompted Finns to remove their shipping from the joint evacuation operation. The last German convoy departed from Kemi on 21 September 1944 and was covered with both submarines and later (south of Åland) also by German cruisers. After the landing attempt, a Finnish coastal artillery fort prevented German netlayers from passing into Baltic Sea at Utö on 15 September as they had been ordered to intern the German forces. However already on 16 September a German naval detachment consisting of heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen escorted by 5 destroyers arrived to Utö. The German cruiser stayed out of range of the Finnish 152 mm guns and threatened to open fire with its artillery that outdistanced the Finnish guns unless Finns allow the German netlayers to pass. In order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed Finns allowed the netlayers to pass.

Finnish landing operation started on 30 September 1944 when three transport ships (SS Norma, SS Fritz S and SS Hesperus) without any escorts departed from Oulu towards Tornio. They arrived on 1 October and managed to disembark the troops without any interference. Also a second wave of four ships on 2 October and third – three ships strong – wave managed to disembark largely without trouble with only single ship being lightly damaged by German dive bombers. On 4 October bad weather prevented Finnish air cover from reaching Tornio which left the fourth landing wave vulnerable to German Stuka dive bombers which scored several hits sinking SS Bore IX and SS Maininki alongside the pier. Fifth wave on 5 October suffered only light shrapnel damage despite of being both shelled from shore and bombed. First Finnish naval vessels Hämeenmaa, Uusimaa, VMV 15 and VMV 16 arrived with sixth wave just in time to witness German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor bombers attacking the shipping at Tornio with Henschel Hs 293 glide bombs without results. Arrival of naval assets made it possible for the Finns to safely disembark heavy equipment which played important role during the Battle of Tornio.

Sailors on Finnish ships in German-held ports, including Norway, were interned, and German submarines sank several Finnish civilian vessels. German submarines also had some success against Finnish military vessels, including the sinking of minelayer Louhi. Most dire result of the Finland concluding the Moscow Armistice with the Soviet Union was that now Soviet naval forces could circumvent the existing German naval mine barriers located on the Gulf of Finland by using the Finnish coastal seaways. This allowed Soviet submarines now based in the Finnish archipelago to an early access to the German shipping in the southern Baltic Sea.