Arctic Warfare - History

History

The best recorded cold winter battles have taken place in northern and eastern Europe.

In 1242, the Teutonic Order lost the Battle of the Ice on Lake Peipus to Novgorod. In 1520, the decisive Battle of Bogesund between Sweden and Denmark occurred on the ice of lake Åsunden.

Sweden and Denmark fought several wars during the 16th and 17th centuries. As a great deal of Denmark consists of islands, it was usually safe from invasion, but in January 1658, most of the Danish waters froze. Charles X Gustav of Sweden led his army across the ice of the Belts to besiege Copenhagen. The war ended with the treaty of Roskilde, a treaty very favourable to the Swedish.

During the Great Northern War, Swedish king Charles XII set off to invade Moscow, but was eventually defeated at the battle of Poltava after being weakened by cold weather and scorched earth tactics. Sweden suffered more casualties during the same war as Carl Gustaf Armfeldt with 6000 men tried to invade Trondheim, and 3000 of them died in a blizzard on a snowy mountain named Öjfjället.

During the Finnish War, the Russian army unexpectedly crossed the frozen Gulf of Bothnia from Finland to the Åland Islands and, by 19 March 1809, reached the Swedish shore within 70 km from the Swedish capital, Stockholm. This daring manoeuvre decided the outcome of the war. Contrary to legend, Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 is not an example of winter warfare, as it was essentially over when serious frosts began in November.

Another famous example is the use of ski troops by the Finnish Army during the Winter War and the subsequent Continuation War, where the numerically dominant Soviet forces had a hard time fighting mobile ski soldiers.

In Operation Barbarossa in 1941, both Russian and German soldiers had to endure terrible conditions during the Russian winter. The German-Finnish joint offensive against Murmansk (Operation Silver Fox) in 1941 saw heavy fighting in the Arctic environment. Subsequently the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation conducted by the Red Army against the Wehrmacht in 1944 in northern Finland and Norway drove the Germans out of there. In the Lapland War, Finland turned against Nazi Germany under the Soviet Union's pressure, their former cobelligerents. While use of ski infantry was prolific in the Red Army, Germany formed only one division for movement on skis.

During Operation Zitronella in World War II, German and Allied troops fought over control of the island of Spitsbergen. This marks the highest latitude at which a land battle has ever been fought. However, given the extreme conditions, the German and Allied troops were at times compelled to assist each other to survive.

Operation Rösselsprung and Operation Wunderland were Arctic naval battles in World War II.