When Germany’s military luck finally turned, Finland renounced the brotherhood of arms and made a separate peace with the Soviet Union, which led to Finland’s war against Germany. As a preparatory measure, civilians from Kuusamo were evacuated to municipalities south of Oulu. The Germans who left Kiestinki retreated north through Kuusamo and Rovaniemi while the Russians took over Kuusamo. The troops led by Siilasvuo, including Kuusamo’s men, chased the Germans. These battles of the Lapland War lasted until April 1945, when the last Germans retreated to Norway. The German troops left a devastated Lapland behind. Kuusamo was one of the first targets to be destroyed by the German forces.
The first Kuusamo civilians returned home in November 1944, most by the summer of 1945. When they returned, most of them found their homes burned, only a few villages were saved from the destruction.
Ahead, the returnees had a gigantic reconstruction.
A total of 401 Kuusamo’s men fell in the battles of the Continuation War and the Lapland War.