Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg.
The Republic of Karelia, or Karelia, is a republic of Russia situated in Northern Europe. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of 172,400 square kilometres, with a population of roughly 650,000 residents. Its capital is Petrozavodsk.
The Finnish Navy is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short for "Finnish Navy ship", but this is not used in Finnish language contexts. The Finnish Navy also includes coastal forces and coastal artillery.
Lake Onega is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic Sea, and is the second-largest lake in Europe after Lake Ladoga. The lake is fed by about 50 rivers and is drained by the Svir.
The White Sea–Baltic Canal, often abbreviated to White Sea Canal is a ship canal in Russia opened on Wednesday 2 August 1933. It connects the White Sea, in the Arctic Ocean, with Lake Onega, which is further connected to the Baltic Sea. Until 1961, its original name was the Stalin White Sea–Baltic Canal.
The Svir is a river in Podporozhsky, Lodeynopolsky, and Volkhovsky districts in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows westwards from Lake Onega to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two largest lakes of Europe. It is the largest river flowing into Lake Ladoga. The length of the Svir is 224 kilometres (139 mi), whereas the area of its drainage basin is 84,400 square kilometres (32,600 sq mi). The towns of Podporozhye and Lodeynoye Pole, as well as urban-type settlements Voznesenye, Nikolsky, Vazhiny, and Svirstroy are located at the banks of the Svir.
Karelia, the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia, the USSR, Finland and Sweden. It is currently divided among the northwestern Russian Federation and Finland.
Finland participated in the Second World War initially in a defensive war against the Soviet Union, followed by another battle against the Soviet Union acting in concert with Nazi Germany and then finally fighting alongside the Allies against Nazi Germany.
Veps, or Vepsians, are a Finnic people who speak the Veps language, which belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages.
Greater Finland is an irredentist and nationalist idea that emphasized territorial expansion of Finland. The most common concept of Greater Finland was defined by natural borders encompassing the territories inhabited by Finns and Karelians, ranging from the White Sea to Lake Onega and along the Svir River and Neva River—or, more modestly, the Sestra River—to the Gulf of Finland. Some proponents also included the Kola Peninsula, Finnmark, Torne Valley, Ingria, and Estonia.
The Karelian Army was a Finnish army during the Continuation War.
The Onega is a river in Kargopolsky, Plesetsky, and Onezhsky Districts of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia. The Onega connects Lake Lacha with the Onega Bay in the White Sea southwest of Arkhangelsk, flowing in the northern direction. The discharge at the source is 74.1 cubic metres per second (2,620 cu ft/s) and at the mouth is 505 cubic metres per second (17,800 cu ft/s). The river is 416 kilometres (258 mi) long, and the area of its basin 56,900 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi). Its main tributaries are the Voloshka (right), the Kena (left), the Mosha (right), the Kodina (right), and the Kozha (left). The major tributary of the Lake Lacha is the Svid.
The Baltic Sea Campaigns were conducted by Axis and Allied naval forces in the Baltic Sea, its coastal regions, and the Gulf of Finland during World War II. After early fighting between Polish and German forces, the main combatants were Germany and Finland, opposed by the Soviet Union. Sweden's navy and merchant fleet played important roles, and the British Royal Navy planned Operation Catherine for the control of the Baltic Sea and its exit choke point into the North Sea.
The Volga–Baltic Waterway, formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System, is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Baltic Sea via the Neva. Like the Volga–Don Canal, it connects the biggest lake on Earth, the Caspian Sea, to the World Ocean. Its overall length between Cherepovets and Lake Onega is 368 kilometres (229 mi).
The Olonets Governorate or Government of Olonets was a guberniya (governorate) of north-western Imperial Russia, extending from Lake Ladoga almost to the White Sea, bounded west by Finland, north and east by Arkhangelsk and Vologda, and south by Novgorod and Saint Petersburg. The area was 57,422 m², of which 6,794 m² were covered by lakes.
The Karelian Front Russian: Карельский фронт) was a front of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, and operated in Karelia.
Turunmaa was a Finnish gunboat built in 1918. She served in the Finnish Navy during World War II. The ship was named after Turuma, a type of frigate designed for use in shallow waters of the archipelago and served in the Swedish Archipelago fleet in the late 18th century. The frigates had in turn been named after the region of Finland.
The 7th Army was a Soviet Red Army field army during World War II, primarily against Finland. It was disbanded in 1944.
The 313th Rifle Division was a standard Red Army rifle division formed on July 15, 1941 in the Udmurt ASSR before being sent to the vicinity of Leningrad, first in the 7th Separate Army east of Lake Ladoga, and later in 32nd Army of Karelian Front, where it spent most of the war facing the Finnish Army in East Karelia. In consequence the division saw relatively uneventful service on this mostly quiet front until the summer of 1944, when it took part in the offensive that drove Finland out of the war. When this was accomplished, the division was redeployed to take the fight into Poland and then into the German heartland in the winter and spring of 1945. It ended the war north of Berlin after compiling a very distinguished record of service.
The 368th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as a standard Red Army rifle division, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. It began forming in August 1941 in the Siberian Military District. After forming, it remained in the reserves of that district until March 1942, when it was assigned to the 7th Separate Army in Karelia, where it remained until mid-1944. The division had a mostly uneventful war on this defensive front, but then took part in the offensive that drove Finland out of the war in the summer of that year, being awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its services. It later saw action against the German forces trying to hold northern Finland. The division ended the war in the Belomorsky Military District on garrison duties in the Soviet Arctic.
Finland