Soviet Red Army captures strategic port in Finland

Soviet T-26 light tanks and trucks of the Soviet 7th Army during the advance on the Karelian Isthmus, 2 December, 1939.

The forces of the Soviet Union captured a strategic port in Finland. The capture of Petsamo allowed the Soviets to control access to the Arctic Ocean.

The Soviet Red Army captured Petsamo as part of the first few days of the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland. Petsamo has a history of being under the control of both Finland and the Soviet Union.

The Red Army would lose control of Petsamo, and the Nazi’s would use the port as a staging post for offenses agains the Soviet Union. Petsamo would be retaken by the Red Army in 1944, and would thereafter remain with the Soviet Union, and then the Russian Republic, up to the present day.

Exit mobile version