Battle of Rovaniemi

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Lapland War
Suursaari Island – Tornio – Rovaniemi

The Battle of Rovaniemi was an event during the Lapland War. The actual fighting between the Finnish Armoured division and the troops of the German Twentieth Mountain Army took place to the south of the town. The notoriety of the encounter derives from the destruction of the town by the Germans.

The town of Rovaniemi was the capital of Lapland, the northernmost province of Finland. During the Second World War it was an important transport hub since it lay on the road to the Petsamo area and the only free port in the north, Liinahamari.

When the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union started in 1941, the Finnish government allowed German troops from the German 20th Mountain Army in Norway to be stationed in Lapland to help defend the long border. The objective of the Germans was to control the nickel mines in Petsamo and to conquer the Russian port of Murmansk, cutting the Soviet Union off from Allied supply convoys. Rovaniemi was the German HQ in Lapland and also the base of Luftflotte 5 of the Luftwaffe.

Relations between the German garrisons and the local populace in Lapland were in general cordial during the war. However, when the Finns signed a separate peace with the Soviet Union, relations soured. The Germans had some 200,000 troops in Finland and they were still at war with the Russians. The Soviet Union demanded that the Finns remove all German troops from their territory in two weeks, which was a logistical impossibility. However, the Finns did move against the Germans in the Kemi-Tornio region to convince the Russians of their intention to live up to the treaty. Almost simultaneously with the Tornio operation, the Finnish armoured division advanced north in the direction of Rovaniemi.

The Germans felt betrayed by the Finns and the German general Lothar Rendulic gave the order that Lapland be destroyed. In many settlements Wehrmacht garrisons were replaced by SS troops who would have less scruples carrying out the order. The operation to level Rovaniemi started on October 10th 1944. The mostly wooden town burned for 6 days and nights, with only 13 buildings left standing. There were no civilian casualties, because the Finns had evacuated the town (and most of Lapland) already in September, in anticipation of the clash with the Germans.