Karelian Front

The Karelian Front was a Front (a formation of Army Group size) of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, and operated in Karelia.

Wartime
The Karelian Front was created in August 1941 when Northern Front was split into Karelian Front and Leningrad Front to take account of the different military developments and requirements on the Leningrad approaches and along the Finnish border to the Arctic. It remained in existence until the end of the war.

The front covered the sector north of Lake Ladoga and the Svir River to the Arctic Coast near Murmansk. It was involved in combat with both Finnish and German forces along the Soviet-Finnish border. The front between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega was split of to the independent 7th Army during the static phase of the war.

During 1944, the front participated with Leningrad Front in the final offensive against Finland which led to the Soviet-Finnish armistice. In October 1944 it conducted the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation, capturing some parts of northern Finland and liberating the easternmost parts of the Norwegian Finnmark province from German occupation.

Karelian Front conducted the only successful major military operation ever undertaken in an Arctic environment in modern warfare. The experiences in the conduct of the operation, particularly in terms of organising rear-area services and supply, were considered important to the conduct of the Red Army’s offensive against the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria, and many leading officers were transferred from Karelian Front to the Baikal theatre of war.

Order of battle
Order of battle of the Karelian Front on 1 September 1944:
 * 7th Army
 * 4th Rifle Corps (4 ск) (114, 272 сд)
 * 99th Rifle Corps (18, 65, 310 сд)
 * 30, 32 лыжбр, 150, 162 УР ; 149, 633, 1942 кап, 989 гап;
 * 14th Army
 * 126 лгск (72 морсбр, 31 лыжбр (31st Ski Brigade?))
 * 10th Guards Rifle Division
 * 14th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
 * 2nd Fortified Region
 * 19th Army
 * 21st Rifle Division
 * 67th Rifle Division
 * 104th Rifle Division
 * 122nd Rifle Division
 * 341st Rifle Division;
 * 38th Guards Tank Brigade
 * 73rd Guards Separate Tank Regiment
 * 88th Separate Tank Regiment
 * 26th Army
 * 31st Rifle Corps (83, 205 сд)
 * 132nd Rifle Corps (54, 367 сд)
 * 45th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
 * 32nd Army (Soviet Union)
 * 127th Corps (127 лгск) (27 сд)
 * HQ 131st Rifle Corps
 * 176th Rifle Division
 * 289th Rifle Division
 * 313th Rifle Division
 * 368th Rifle Division
 * 3 брмп (3rd Naval Infantry Brigade?), 69, 70 морсбр, 33 лыжбр, 31 обмп
 * 7th Air Army
 * 1st Guards Mixed Aviation Division
 * 257th, 260th, 261st Mixed Aviation Divisions
 * 324th Fighter Aviation Division
 * 858th Fighter Aviation Regiment
 * 204 крап, 121 оапс, 108, 119 раэ, 118 драэ

Major Operations

 * Svir-Petrozavodsk Operation against Finland, July–August 1944
 * Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation against the Wehrmacht, October 1944

Commanders

 * Colonel-General Valerian Frolov (September 1941 to February 1944)
 * Colonel General K.A. Meretskov (February 1944-May 1945)