Lapland War - Consequences

Consequences

From the start of the war Germans had been systematically destroying and mining the roads and bridges as they withdrew. However after the first real fighting took place German commander, General Lothar Rendulic, issued several orders with regards to destroying Finnish property in Lapland. On 6 October a strict order was issued which named only military or militarily important cites as targets. Already on 8 October after the result of the fighting in Tornio and Kemi region became obvious Germans made several bombing raids targeting factory areas of Kemi inflicting heavy damage on them. However already on 9 October the demolition order was extended to include all governmental buildings with exception of hospitals. On 13 October all habitable structures, including barns though making an exception with hospitals and churches, were ordered to be destroyed north of the line running from Ylitornio via Sinettä (small village ~20 km NWN of Rovaniemi) to Sodankylä (including the listed settlements) in the northern Finland. Though it made sense from German perspective to do this to deny pursuing forces from getting any shelter it had very limited effect on Finns who unlike Germans always carried tents with them and did not require any shelter.

At Rovaniemi Germans initially concentrated mainly on destroying governmental buildings but once fire got loose they were forced to destroy several more. German attempt to fight the fire however failed and train loaded with ammunition caught fire at Rovaniemi railroad station on 14 October resulting in a massive explosion which caused further destruction as well as spreading the fire throughout the primarily wooden buildings of the town. German attempts to fight the fire had failed by the time, 16 October, they abandoned the now ruined town to the advancing Finns.

In their retreat the German forces under General Lothar Rendulic devastated large areas of northern Finland with scorched earth tactics. As a result, some 40–47% of the dwellings in the area were destroyed, and the provincial capital of Rovaniemi was burned to the ground, as were the villages of Savukoski and Enontekiö. Two-thirds of the buildings in the main villages of Sodankylä, Muonio, Kolari, Salla and Pello were demolished, 675 bridges were blown up, all main roads were mined, and 3,700 km of telephone lines were destroyed.

In addition to the property losses, estimated as equivalent to about US $300 million in 1945 dollars (US$ 3.87 billion in 2012), about 100,000 inhabitants became refugees, a situation that added to the problems of postwar reconstruction. After the war the Allies convicted Rendulic of war crimes, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, although charges concerning the devastation of Lapland were dropped. He was released after six years.

The military casualties of the conflict were relatively limited: 774 killed in action (KIA), 262 missing in action and about 3,000 wounded in action (WIA) for the Finnish troops, and 1,200 KIA and about 2,000 WIA for the Germans. 1,300 German soldiers became prisoners of war, and were handed over to the Soviet Union according to the terms of the armistice with the Soviets. The extensive German land mines caused civilian casualties for decades after the war, and almost 100 personnel were killed during demining operations. Hundreds of Finnish women who had been engaged to German soldiers or working for the German military left with the German troops, meeting diverse fates.