The Continuation War was fought from 25.6.1941 to 4.9.1944 on the Finnish front at the same time as Germany carried out the large-scale attack on the Soviet Union known as Operation Barbarossa.
Kuusamo became one of the focus areas of warfare after the Kiestinki attack. The Germans moved their troops there to cut an important track with the help of the Finns. The church town served as a supply base.
The III Army Corps, commanded by Hjalmar Siilasvuo, which included most of the conscripts from Kuusamo, crossed the eastern border at Lämsänkylä in Kuusamo on July 1st, 1941. The main forces advanced quickly across the old border and from there to the River Sohjanajoki, behind the high bank of which the Soviet troops had positioned themselves in a strong defensive line. By performing a hook at the rear of the Soviet troops on assault crafts via Lake Tuoppajärvi, the Finns managed to march on and conquer Kiestinki.
At the beginning of the war, the German SS forces experienced huge losses in the direction of Alakurtti in Salla. They had to give up their plan to advance from Salla to Kandalaksha and cut the Murmansk railway there. Since the Finns’ attack in Kiestinki had been more successful, the Germans moved their troops there to cut the important track with the help of the Finns. This is how Kuusamo became one of the focus areas of warfare. From Kiestinki, Finns and Germans started to advance together. In this case, the Finns were encircled, and having suffered heavy losses could barely retreat. Kiestinki’s encirclement is one of the saddest stages in the entire Finnish Continuation War. A considerable part of those who fell there were soldiers from Kuusamo.
The defeat in the direction of Kiestinki proved to be the turning point of the battles. After that, the Finnish troops gave up their intention to cut off the Murmansk railway, and the responsibility for warfare in the direction of Kiestinki remained with the Germans. The third army corps was moved to the direction of Uhtua, the Kuusamo men mostly to the Malviainen crossing on the north of Uhtua. They were there until the summer of 1944, when most of them were ordered to the Karelian Isthmus at the start of the Soviet Union’s major offensive.
Due to the events of the war, the church town of Kuusamo already at the beginning of the war turned into a supply base for the German troops fighting in Kiestinki. There were hospitals, car repair shops, bakeries, sausage factories and generally everything needed to maintain a large military force. For this purpose, the Germans also built a trench railway from Hyrynsalmi to Kuusamo, which was completed in the winter of 1944 up to the Vanttaja isthmus. A branch line was also built from Sänkikangas station to Kuusamo’s church town.