Ingria in World War II: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Ingrian people.svg|thumb|111px|The [[Ingria]]n [[flag]].]] |
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'''Military history of Ingria during World War II'''. [[Ingria]] (Ingermanland) also suffered during [[World War II]]. On [[27 June]] [[1941]] the Council of deputies of the working people of Leningrad decided to mobilize thousands of people for the construction of fortifications. Several defences were built. One of the fortifications ran from the mouth of the [[Luga River]] to [[Chudovo]], [[Gatchina]], [[Uritsk]], [[Pulkovo]] and then through the [[Neva River]]. The other defence passed through [[Petergof]] to Gatchina, Pulkovo, [[Kolpino]] and [[Koltushy]]. Another defence against the [[Finns]] was built in the northern suburbs of [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] ([[Nyen|Nevanlinna]]). In all 190 km of timber blockages, 635 km of wire entanglements, 700 km of anti-tank ditches, 5,000 earth-and-timber emplacements and ferro-concrete weapon emplacements and 25,000 km of open trenches were built by civilians. Even the gun of the [[Russian cruiser Aurora]] was mounted on the [[Pulkovskiye Heights]] to the south of Leningrad. However, when Soviet troops of the North-Western Front in the end of June were defeated in the Baltic Soviet Republics, the [[Wehrmacht]] had forced its way to [[Ostrov]] and [[Pskov]]. On [[10 July]] both cities were captured and the Germans reached [[Kunda]] and [[Kingisepp]] whereupon they advanced to Leningrad from [[Iivananlinna]], the Luzhski region and from the south-east and also to the north and south of the [[Lake Ilmen]] in order to isolate Leningrad from the east and to join the Finns at the eastern bank of the [[Lake Ladoga]]. The shelling of Leningrad began on [[4 September]]. Bombing on [[8 September]] caused 178 fires. In early October the Germans refused to assault the city and Hitler's directive on [[7 October]], signed by [[Alfred Jodl]] was a reminder not to accept a capitulation. |
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In [[1942]], during the [[siege of Leningrad]], 25,000-30,000 [[Ingrian Finns]] were [[deportation|deported]] to [[Siberia]] by the [[NKVD]]. When [[Nazi Germany]] [[Military occupation|occupied]] the southern and western parts of Ingria, most of the remaining Ingrian Finns were [[emergency evacuation|evacuated]] to [[Finland]] or allowed to resettle there after petitioning the German authorities. |
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The siege continued until Operation "Spark" — a full-scale offensive by troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts — started the morning of [[12 January]] [[1943]]. After fierce battles, the Red Army units overcame the powerful German fortifications to the south of the Ladoga Lake, and on [[18 January]] 1943 the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts met, opening a land corridor to the besieged city. |
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In January [[1944]], a Soviet offensive drove the Germans from the southern outskirts of the city, ending the siege. Later, in the summer of 1944, the Finns were pushed back to the other side of the [[Bay of Vyborg]] and the [[Vuoksi River]]. The bravery of the city's defenders was an important symbol of the Soviet will to resist - in the first few weeks of the war the British had been so disheartened by the collapse of the Soviet armies, they thought a Nazi victory was all but inevitable. The warnings to citizens of the city as to which side of the road to walk on to avoid the German shelling have been restored and can still be seen. The ultimate number of casualties during the siege is disputed. After the war, The Soviet government reported about 670,000 deaths from 1941 to January 1944, mostly from starvation and exposure. Some independent estimates give a much higher death toll of anywhere from 700,000 to 1.5 million, with most estimates around 1.1 million. Most of these victims were buried in the [[Piskarevskoye Cemetery]]. On [[3 February]] 1944, the Soviet assault began. A Soviet armoured group quickly penetrated the German line and established a bridgehead on the western bank of [[Narva]]. On [[14 February]] 1944, the [[Red Army]] [[Volkhov Front|Volkhov]] and [[Leningrad Front|Leningrad]] fronts launched operations aimed at forcing the German [[Generalfeldmarschall]] [[Georg von Küchler]]'s [[Army Group North]] back from its positions near [[Oranienbaum]] and out of [[Reichskommissariat Ostland]] ([[Estonia]]). In the process, the attack was expected to encircle Generaloberst [[Georg Lindemann|Georg Lindemann's]] [[German Eighteenth Army|18.Army]]. The huge force fell on the sector of SS-Obergruppenfüher [[Felix Steiner|Felix Steiner's]] [[III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps]], hitting the area of the [[9th Luftwaffe Field Division|9th]] and [[10th Luftwaffe Field Division]]s. The [[Luftwaffe]] units crumbled quickly, and soon Army Group North was falling back to new positions around the [[Narva river]] on the western border of Ingria. Steiner's SS Corps brought up the rear, fighting many bloody [[rearguard]] actions until it finally reached the positions in [[Iivananlinna]] on the eastern bank of Narva river which provided a natural chokepoint between the Northern end of [[Lake Peipus]] and the [[Baltic Sea]]. This position, known as the [[Panther line]], was where von Küchler wanted to set up his defense. [[Adolf Hitler]] refused, and replaced von Küchler with Generalfeldmarschall [[Walter Model]] as commander of Army Group North. Model agreed with von Küchler, however, being one of Hitler's favourites, he also was allowed more freedom by Hitler. Using this freedom to his advantage, Model managed to fall back and begin establishing a line along the Narwa river with a strong bridgehead on the Eastern Bank. This appeased Hitler, and also followed the German standard operating procedure for defending a river line. The main brunt of the Soviet attack was to fall on Steiner's SS Corps, positioned east of the strategically important town of [[Narva]]. Steiner's corps was mostly made up of SS ''Freiwilligen'' or volunteer formations. SS men from [[Scandinavia]], [[Belgium]], [[France]], The [[Netherlands]], [[Hungary]], [[Romania]], [[Italy]], [[Spain]] and the [[Baltic States]] joined German formations in the defense of the river line. The Dutchmen of the [[4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland|4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade ''Nederland'']] and the various nationalities of the [[11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland]] began frantically digging in along what had become known as the ''Narva Line''. The defensive line ran for over seven miles, from the village of [[Lilienbach]] in the north to the village of [[Dolgaja Niva]] in the south, bulging eastwards from the Narva river near Iivananlinna. 63,227 Ingrian refugees, including the [[Votes]] and the [[Izhorians]], had left for Finland by [[31 October]] 1944. Many of them settled in Finnish families, helping them by working on farms. After the war, the Soviets demanded these people back and Finland had to return them to the [[Soviet Union]] after the armistice. The Ingrians were promised by Soviet authorities that they could return to their own region, but instead were deported to different parts of the Soviet Union. 55,773 Ingrians arrived and were scattered to the regions of [[Novgorod]], [[Kalinin]], [[Vologda]], [[Sverdlovsk]], and elsewhere. Some years after the war even those children of Ingrian descent that had been adopted by Finnish families were reclaimed by the Soviet Union. Later some Ingrians moved back to Ingria. Others moved to [[Estonian SSR]], partly because of similarities between the [[Estonian language]] and Finnish. |
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== See also == |
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*[[North Ingria]] |
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*[[Ingrian]] |
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*[[Ingrians]] |
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*[[Ingrian language]] |
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*[[Ingrian Finns]] |
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*[[Izhorians]] |
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*[[Votes]] |
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*[[Swedish Ingria]] |
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*[[East Finnish]] |
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*[[Ingrian War]] |
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*[[Pereswetoff-Morath]] |
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*[[Nyen]] |
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*[[Greater Finland]] |
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*[[Finnic]] |
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*[[Treaty of Stolbovo]] |
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*[[Dominions of Sweden]] |
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*[[Karelian language]] |
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*[[Finnish Karelia]] |
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*[[Karelia]] |
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== External links == |
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*[http://www.thenausea.com/elements/germany/germany-document1.html "...1941, action against the jews. Ivangorod"] |
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*[http://www.ushmm.org/kovno/mass/images/456.jpg Einsatzgruppe member kills a Jewish woman and her child near Ivangorod. 1942.] |
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*[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Ivangorod.html Execution at Ivangorod] |
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*[http://www.nortfort.ru/gatchina/index_e.html Gatchina] |
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*[http://www.peter-engelhardt.com/foto-wolchow-eng.htm Historische Photosammlung 2 (Weltkrieg II)] |
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*[http://www.inkeri.com/english.html INGRIA IN ENGLISH] |
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*[http://www.serendib.be/gievandenberghe/artikels/afbeeldingen/beeldfoto11.jpeg Iwangorod, 1942] |
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*[http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/bluebrigade.html The Blue Brigade] |
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*[http://helmer.aksis.uib.no/Ingrisk/western.html Western Ingria] |
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*[http://history.gatchina.ru/palace/war/war6.htm В сожженной Гатчине] |
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*[http://www.gorod.gatchina.biz/dll_9103002 Гатчинский дворец, годы испытаний] |
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*[http://city.gatchina.ru/school/gym/razruha/pushkin(okonchanie).htm Группа ГРГ «Остланд»...] |
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*[http://city.gatchina.ru/school/gym/war/p3-3.htm Ленинградский фронт.] |
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*[http://history.gatchina.ru/palace/exib/warexib2.htm "Этот день мы приближали, как могли…"] |
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{{WWIIHistory}} |
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[[Category:Eastern Front (World War II)]] |
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[[Category:Ingria]] |
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[[Category:Military history of Ingria during World War II]] |
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[[Category:World War II national military histories|Leningrad Oblast]] |
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[[Category:Politics of World War II]] |
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[[Category:Karelian Isthmus]] |
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Latest revision as of 17:40, 13 December 2016
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