#Arctic

🪖❄️ 82 years ago, on 7 October 1944, the Red Army launched the strategic Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive, an operation aimed at liberating the Arctic region of the Soviet Union and Norway. It was carried out by the troops of Soviet Karelian Front against the Wehrmacht’s 20th Mountain Army.

The offensive became known in USSR as “Stalin’s tenth strike”, marking the final act in a series of ten major strategic offensives that turned the tide of #WorldWarII. 

The crushing advance forced the Nazi army to retreat from the Petsamo region (now the Murmansk region) into Norway. This decisive victory permanently eliminated the German threat to the vital Northern Sea Route, even though retreating Nazi forces systematically destroyed infrastructure behind them to delay their inevitable defeat.

✨ The success of the operation catalysed the Norwegian liberation movement, laying the groundwork for the ultimate expulsion of Nazi forces from Northern Norway. Today, this milestone remains a powerful testament to the bravery and strategic brilliance that freed the Arctic from occupation.

#WeRemember