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German Northern Theater of Operations 1940-1945
[Includes 23 maps and 31 illustrations]
This volume describes two campaigns that the Germans conducted in their Northern Theater of Operations. The first they launched, on 9 April 1940, against Denmark and Norway. The second they conducted out of Finland in partnership with the Finns against the Soviet Union. The latter campaign began on 22 June 1941 and ended in the winter of 1944-45 after the Finnish Government had sued for peace.
The scene of these campaigns by the end of 1941 stretched from the North Sea to the Arctic Ocean and from Bergen on the west coast of Norway, to Petrozavodsk, the former capital of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. It faced east into the Soviet Union on a 700-mile-long front, and west on a 1,300-mile sea frontier. Hitler regarded this theater as the keystone of his empire, and, after 1941, maintained in it two armies totaling over a half million men.
In spite of its vast area and the effort and worry which Hitler lavished on it, the Northern Theater throughout most of the war constituted something of a military backwater. The major operations which took place in the theater were overshadowed by events on other fronts, and public attention focused on the theaters in which the strategically decisive operations were expected to take place. Remoteness, German security measures, and the Russians’ well-known penchant for secrecy combined to keep information concerning the Northern Theater down to a mere trickle, much of that inaccurate. Since the war, through official and private publications, a great deal more has become known. The present volume is based in the main on the greatest remaining source of unexploited information, the captured German military and naval records. In addition a number of the participants on the German side have very generously contributed from their personal knowledge and experience.
This volume describes two campaigns that the Germans conducted in their Northern Theater of Operations. The first they launched, on 9 April 1940, against Denmark and Norway. The second they conducted out of Finland in partnership with the Finns against the Soviet Union. The latter campaign began on 22 June 1941 and ended in the winter of 1944-45 after the Finnish Government had sued for peace.
The scene of these campaigns by the end of 1941 stretched from the North Sea to the Arctic Ocean and from Bergen on the west coast of Norway, to Petrozavodsk, the former capital of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. It faced east into the Soviet Union on a 700-mile-long front, and west on a 1,300-mile sea frontier. Hitler regarded this theater as the keystone of his empire, and, after 1941, maintained in it two armies totaling over a half million men.
In spite of its vast area and the effort and worry which Hitler lavished on it, the Northern Theater throughout most of the war constituted something of a military backwater. The major operations which took place in the theater were overshadowed by events on other fronts, and public attention focused on the theaters in which the strategically decisive operations were expected to take place. Remoteness, German security measures, and the Russians’ well-known penchant for secrecy combined to keep information concerning the Northern Theater down to a mere trickle, much of that inaccurate. Since the war, through official and private publications, a great deal more has become known. The present volume is based in the main on the greatest remaining source of unexploited information, the captured German military and naval records. In addition a number of the participants on the German side have very generously contributed from their personal knowledge and experience.
606 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
Earl F. Ziemke
31 books8 followersEarl Frederick Ziemke was an American military historian who specialized in German operations on the Eastern Front in World War II. After service in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific during the war, Ziemke earned a Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsin. From 1951 until 1955, he worked at the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University, after which he spent twelve years as an historian for the United States Army’s Office of the Chief of Military History in Washington, D.C. In 1967, he moved to the University of Georgia, where he was a full professor form 1967 until 1977, and research professor from 1977 until his retirement in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 22, 2017
Quarter
Interesting account of an under reported story of WWII. At times this is quite technical in listing divisions and units of each side. The Norwegian invasion by Germany in 1940 is covered. The Finnish and north Norwegian campaign against the Russians is much less well known and described in a factual and analytical way in this book.
Interesting account of an under reported story of WWII. At times this is quite technical in listing divisions and units of each side. The Norwegian invasion by Germany in 1940 is covered. The Finnish and north Norwegian campaign against the Russians is much less well known and described in a factual and analytical way in this book.
April 1, 2019
I enjoyed every aspect of this book. If you know the basics of military operations and you are interested in article warfare or interested in German operations and/or strategy in general, read this book.
But don’t read it if you do not know the basics of military operations unless you use other aids and reference material.
But don’t read it if you do not know the basics of military operations unless you use other aids and reference material.
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January 10, 2020👍book!
Exceptionally written and researched! Detailed to the point! I enjoyed this book very much! I really enjoyed the information concerning this theatre of operations!
Exceptionally written and researched! Detailed to the point! I enjoyed this book very much! I really enjoyed the information concerning this theatre of operations!
April 7, 2012
a pretty good overview of German operations, real and planned, in Scandinavia between 1940 and 1945. Completely glosses over the Russo-Finnish Winter War of '39-'40 which underpinned most of the Finnish strategic considerations during the war.
Very dry and historical but did a pretty good job of showing why Germany got involved in the huuuuuuuuuuuge manpower and naval sink that was Norway in the first place and how it managed to tie up an amazing amount of the German war effort that might have been better spent elsewhere. But yeah, you need to have the Winter War under your belt or this may not make a whole lot of sense.
Very dry and historical but did a pretty good job of showing why Germany got involved in the huuuuuuuuuuuge manpower and naval sink that was Norway in the first place and how it managed to tie up an amazing amount of the German war effort that might have been better spent elsewhere. But yeah, you need to have the Winter War under your belt or this may not make a whole lot of sense.
September 16, 2015
Очень хороший анализ военных действий немцев в 1940-45 г.г. в Северной Европе, даже не смотря на то, что сделан американским военным. Стало намного яснее что происходило в Норвегии и Финляндии, с чем столкнулись противоборствующие стороны. Хорошо, что в книге много карт - с ними всё нагляднее описание. Из минусов - монотонный стиль повествования, нет описаний характеров и особенностей действующих фигур. Но в целом, с точки зрения понимания стратегий действий крупных военных соединений - очень неплохо помогает.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews