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Hitler's Arctic War: The German Campaigns in Norway, Finland and the USSR 1940 1945
In the past the German General Staff had taken no interest in the military history of wars in the north and east of Europe. Nobody had ever taken into account the possibility that some day German divisions would have to fight and to winter in northern Karelia and on the Murmansk coast. (Lieutenant-General Waldemar Erfurth, German Army). Despite this statement, the German Army s first campaign in the far north was a great success: between April and June 1940 German forces totaling less than 20,000 men seized Norway, a state of three million people, for minimal losses. Hitler s Arctic War is a study of the campaign waged by the Germans on the northern periphery of Europe between 1940 and 1945.
As Hitler s Arctic War makes clear, the emphasis was on small-unit actions, with soldiers carrying everything they needed food, ammunition and medical supplies on their backs. The terrain placed limitations on the use of tanks and heavy artillery, while lack of airfields restricted the employment of aircraft.
Hitler s Arctic War also includes a chapter on the campaign fought by Luftwaffe aircraft and Kriegsmarine ships and submarines against the Allied convoys supplying the Soviet Union with aid. However, Wehrmacht resources committed to Norway and Finland were ultimately an unnecessary drain on the German war effort. Hitler s Arctic War is a groundbreaking study of how war was waged in the far north and its effects on German strategy."
As Hitler s Arctic War makes clear, the emphasis was on small-unit actions, with soldiers carrying everything they needed food, ammunition and medical supplies on their backs. The terrain placed limitations on the use of tanks and heavy artillery, while lack of airfields restricted the employment of aircraft.
Hitler s Arctic War also includes a chapter on the campaign fought by Luftwaffe aircraft and Kriegsmarine ships and submarines against the Allied convoys supplying the Soviet Union with aid. However, Wehrmacht resources committed to Norway and Finland were ultimately an unnecessary drain on the German war effort. Hitler s Arctic War is a groundbreaking study of how war was waged in the far north and its effects on German strategy."
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2002
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About the author
Chris Mann
19 booksChris Mann is a lecturer at RMA Sandhurst, Surrey. He is the author of Norwegian Forces in Exile: 1940-45. He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 13, 2016
War is hell but it is even more hellish in the Arctic areas of the world. Although not a major theater of war during WWII, it was an important one but the fighting conditions were beyond imagination........temperature dropping to -30F during the long winters and incessant rain and swarming mosquitoes during the short summer......roads almost non-existent....barren landscapes. It was a soldier's nightmare.
Finland and Norway were desperately trying to remain neutral when Hitler turned his eyes northward in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the USSR. Germany wanted the port of Murmansk where the Allies were delivering food and war material to the Russians and needed to use Finland and Norway as a gateway to that city. Norway was occupied by the Nazis and Finland fought along side Germany against the Russians but did not consider themselves an ally.
This book describes the Arctic War in minute detail and if you are not a fan of the blow-by-blow explanations of each battle that ensued, you may want to pass. But for those of us who are interested in battles which include maps of troop movements, this is the book to have. In addition to maps, there are pictures, some of which have not been seen before. History tells us, of course, that Hitler's decision to invade Russia, was a terrible mistake and the activity described in this book further validates that fact. Recommended.
Finland and Norway were desperately trying to remain neutral when Hitler turned his eyes northward in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the USSR. Germany wanted the port of Murmansk where the Allies were delivering food and war material to the Russians and needed to use Finland and Norway as a gateway to that city. Norway was occupied by the Nazis and Finland fought along side Germany against the Russians but did not consider themselves an ally.
This book describes the Arctic War in minute detail and if you are not a fan of the blow-by-blow explanations of each battle that ensued, you may want to pass. But for those of us who are interested in battles which include maps of troop movements, this is the book to have. In addition to maps, there are pictures, some of which have not been seen before. History tells us, of course, that Hitler's decision to invade Russia, was a terrible mistake and the activity described in this book further validates that fact. Recommended.
January 14, 2025
Detailed account of the German campaign in Norway and the Arctic North in WW2.
The German relationship with Finland and it's ultimate failure, due to material shortages and muddled strategy.
Interesting information on the German Navy surface fleet, particularly the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst ships.
Downside is a lack of maps to support the geographical references.
Well worth reading.
The German relationship with Finland and it's ultimate failure, due to material shortages and muddled strategy.
Interesting information on the German Navy surface fleet, particularly the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst ships.
Downside is a lack of maps to support the geographical references.
Well worth reading.
September 26, 2018
This book is good because it is hard to find anyone who focuses on this part of the war. It was able to teach me a few new things and for that reason it is good.
It, however, does not have the best layout and writing in the world. Nonetheless I would strongly recommend it just for the information inside.
It, however, does not have the best layout and writing in the world. Nonetheless I would strongly recommend it just for the information inside.
July 3, 2024
History of little known Arctic war in World War II
Brief, well written history of the little known Arctic fighting in World War II. With plentiful chapter notes and references and lots of photographs, this history is accessible. At times repetitive, it gets the main points across.
Brief, well written history of the little known Arctic fighting in World War II. With plentiful chapter notes and references and lots of photographs, this history is accessible. At times repetitive, it gets the main points across.
July 3, 2024
Brief, well written history of the little known Arctic fighting in World War II. With plentiful chapter notes and references and lots of photographs, this history is accessible overview. At times repetitive, it gets the main points across.
January 28, 2022
I really enjoyed this book about the Artic War. I wished there were more maps with a little more detail and better placement in the book.
June 28, 2024
Nazj Germany versus Russi in the east and the UK and UK and US in the west. Finland caught up as a German ally in a war against the USSR, while Norway, in exile, fought against Germany.
February 12, 2016
Although the arctic area of northern Scandinavia had apparently not previously been known as a high-intensity war zone prior to World War II, thanks to Hitler this was indeed the case during World War II. These matters are little known to the wider population, but Hitler and Stalin’s wars in Scandinavia, which make up the subject of this book, were important for the course of World War II and also for the people of those nations themselves [1], of whom I count at least one personal friend who escaped the horrible burning of the retreating Wehrmacht in the Finnmark area of extreme northern Norway and later settled near Portland, Oregon, where she happens to be a relatively close neighbor of mine. This book is not a serious academic history, but it gives good explanatory text, cites its sources well, and provides vivid (and sometimes disturbing) photos to show the war as it took place in Scandinavia.
In terms of the contents and structure of the book, the organization is both topical and chronological. The book begins with a look at Germany’s role in Finnish independence and their role in giving Stalin a free hand to invade Finland in the Winter War [2]. Then the authors discuss Germany’s invasion of Norway, the initial invasion of extreme northern Russia during Operation Barbarossa, which was largely unsuccessful, and the resulting stalemate, which was in part due to Finnish refusal to antagonize the allies by greedily invading the Soviet Union and fully allying with Germany, the war on the Arctic conveys, which included a great deal of commando missions and other skullduggery [3] as the Allies sought to tie down and distract German forces in Norway while also delivering vital supplies to the Soviet Union through the Arctic supply route. Then the authors tackle the successful Soviet counterattack that drove Finland out of the war while that brave little nation somehow managed to preserve its independence through adroit diplomacy despite its weakness relative to both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and also discuss the price of occupation by showing that sullen Norwegian refusal to assimilate to Nazi racialism [4], Hitler’s timidity in using his navy, and German assumptions of Soviet weakness [5] after the Winter War, and the fact that so many German troops were tied down in defending Norway from illusory Allied assaults ended up drastically weakening the German war effort elsewhere. The authors close with the following apt summation of the book’s materials: “The man who brought the war to the Arctic [Hitler] was also guilty of losing it there (213).” For those who are interested in the obscure matter of the Arctic front of World War II, this book is a very good introduction, and a good encouragement to further reading.
The authors of this book deserve a great deal of praise for giving lavish attention to a neglected area of World War II. They show Finnish cleverness in diplomacy, the passive resistance of Norway to overwhelming occupation force, where there was a German soldier for every ten Norwegian citizens, a rate of occupation that would have required, for example, 900,000 occupying soldiers for Union armies after the Civil War, to make a fair comparison, which is a ridiculous amount of overkill, as the authors correctly note. The authors pay close attention to matters of supply and logistics, showing how decisive these concerns were in the provisioning of armies and in the conduct of military affairs, as well as the resourceful way that the Soviets lured many Finns to their death through the sexuality of their female soldiers, until the Finns put an end to such efforts with their own violent countermeasures, and one of the photos even shows the unappealing Norwegian traitor Quisling rejoicing in a large host of clearly underage female company. Although much of this book is quite unsettling and even brutal, the authors deserve a great deal of credit in shining light and providing photo evidence of areas of the war that are often neglected but that proved critical in the course of World War II, despite their remote and inhospitable theater in the Arctic north.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[2] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[3] See, for example:
Book Review: The Shetland Bus
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[4] See, for example:
Book Review: Of Norwegian Ways
[5] See, for example:
Book Review: Why The Germans Lose At War
In terms of the contents and structure of the book, the organization is both topical and chronological. The book begins with a look at Germany’s role in Finnish independence and their role in giving Stalin a free hand to invade Finland in the Winter War [2]. Then the authors discuss Germany’s invasion of Norway, the initial invasion of extreme northern Russia during Operation Barbarossa, which was largely unsuccessful, and the resulting stalemate, which was in part due to Finnish refusal to antagonize the allies by greedily invading the Soviet Union and fully allying with Germany, the war on the Arctic conveys, which included a great deal of commando missions and other skullduggery [3] as the Allies sought to tie down and distract German forces in Norway while also delivering vital supplies to the Soviet Union through the Arctic supply route. Then the authors tackle the successful Soviet counterattack that drove Finland out of the war while that brave little nation somehow managed to preserve its independence through adroit diplomacy despite its weakness relative to both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and also discuss the price of occupation by showing that sullen Norwegian refusal to assimilate to Nazi racialism [4], Hitler’s timidity in using his navy, and German assumptions of Soviet weakness [5] after the Winter War, and the fact that so many German troops were tied down in defending Norway from illusory Allied assaults ended up drastically weakening the German war effort elsewhere. The authors close with the following apt summation of the book’s materials: “The man who brought the war to the Arctic [Hitler] was also guilty of losing it there (213).” For those who are interested in the obscure matter of the Arctic front of World War II, this book is a very good introduction, and a good encouragement to further reading.
The authors of this book deserve a great deal of praise for giving lavish attention to a neglected area of World War II. They show Finnish cleverness in diplomacy, the passive resistance of Norway to overwhelming occupation force, where there was a German soldier for every ten Norwegian citizens, a rate of occupation that would have required, for example, 900,000 occupying soldiers for Union armies after the Civil War, to make a fair comparison, which is a ridiculous amount of overkill, as the authors correctly note. The authors pay close attention to matters of supply and logistics, showing how decisive these concerns were in the provisioning of armies and in the conduct of military affairs, as well as the resourceful way that the Soviets lured many Finns to their death through the sexuality of their female soldiers, until the Finns put an end to such efforts with their own violent countermeasures, and one of the photos even shows the unappealing Norwegian traitor Quisling rejoicing in a large host of clearly underage female company. Although much of this book is quite unsettling and even brutal, the authors deserve a great deal of credit in shining light and providing photo evidence of areas of the war that are often neglected but that proved critical in the course of World War II, despite their remote and inhospitable theater in the Arctic north.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[2] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[3] See, for example:
Book Review: The Shetland Bus
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[4] See, for example:
Book Review: Of Norwegian Ways
[5] See, for example:
Book Review: Why The Germans Lose At War
March 4, 2018
"There has never been a war fought in the high north" - General Eduard Dietl, 1941
Arctic Warfare is definitely a different breed of warfare from what was going on in mainland Europe during the Second World War. It requires a different skill set, specialised equipment and training, more thorough planning and a kind of stubbornness that is rare amongst men.
The wars of the Arctic were brutal and fraught with difficulties for all parties and this book helps to highlight it. Designed for the general interested audience, it is easy to read and has numerous pictures and maps to help the reader get immersed and follow along.
It does suffer from trying to cram too much into 213 pages and it definitely skims over the contributions made by Finland. It also seems more focused upon Germany and Britain's conflict in the Arctic rather than the Eastern front fought between the Soviets and the Fenno-German friendship.
A recommended book for the casual reader or for those looking for an introduction into the Arctic theatre of operations.
Arctic Warfare is definitely a different breed of warfare from what was going on in mainland Europe during the Second World War. It requires a different skill set, specialised equipment and training, more thorough planning and a kind of stubbornness that is rare amongst men.
The wars of the Arctic were brutal and fraught with difficulties for all parties and this book helps to highlight it. Designed for the general interested audience, it is easy to read and has numerous pictures and maps to help the reader get immersed and follow along.
It does suffer from trying to cram too much into 213 pages and it definitely skims over the contributions made by Finland. It also seems more focused upon Germany and Britain's conflict in the Arctic rather than the Eastern front fought between the Soviets and the Fenno-German friendship.
A recommended book for the casual reader or for those looking for an introduction into the Arctic theatre of operations.
April 15, 2012
Excellently illustrated book of Germany's assault on Finland late in WWII.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews