Operation Platinum Fox

Operation Platinum Fox
Part of World War II
Date June - July, 1941 Location Lappland Result Stalemate
Belligerents
Germany Finland	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Eduard Dietl	Gen. Feodor Sabinev
Strength
40,000	10,000
Casualties and losses
5,500 killed, 9,000 wounded, 200 lost	2,500 dead, 4,000 wounded, 600 lost

Operation Platinfuchs (Platinum Fox) was a German and Finnish military offensive launched during World War II. Platinfuchs took place on the Eastern Front and had the objective of capturing the Barents Sea port of Murmansk. It was part of the overall operation, Operation Silver Fox (Silberfuchs).

Background

At the launch of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, German units of Alpine Corps Norwegen were sent east from Norway to occupy Petsamo, in Operation Reindeer (Renntier). There they joined Finnish forces poised on the border of Soviet territory. These divisions of Norwegen were, for the most part, elite mountain troops specially trained to operate above the Arctic Circle.

As part of Barbarossa, the Finnish-German forces were to launch Operation Silver Fox (Silberfuchs), aimed at attacking Murmansk from two directions. The first assault from Finnish Petsamo was codenamed Platinfuchs. The second attack aimed first to attack Kandalaksha from Salla and then threaten Murmansk from the south. This operation was codenamed Operation Arctic Fox (Polarfuchs).

Platinum Fox

On 29 June, 1941 the Platinfuchs phase of Silberfuchs was launched. The Norwegen Corps under the command of Generalleutnant Eduard Dietl, consisting of the German 2nd Mountain Division and German 3rd Mountain Division and the Finnish Ivalo Border Guard Battalion crossed the border and advanced on Murmansk.

The operation made some progress, but the combination of the rough terrain and the fierce Soviet resistance soon proved too much for the Germans and the offensive was halted. Later it was decided to move the focus of the attack further south, first to the XXXVI Corps near Salla, and later to the Finnish III Corps near Kiestinki.

Conclusion

The failure of Platinfuchs had a major impact on the course of the war in the east; Over the course of the War, the Soviet Union received over a quarter of its Lend-Lease supplies through the port of Murmansk, contributing to its continued resistance.

Order of battle

• German
  • German 2nd Mountain Division
  • German 3rd Mountain Division

• Finnish
  • Erillinen Osasto P (Finnish Separate Detachment P)
  • Finnish 14th Regiment (14. Rykmentti, with only 2 battalions)
• Ivalo Border Guard Battalion

• Soviet
  • 122nd Rifle Division, 14th Army (Soviet Union)