Battle of Salla (1939)

Battle of Salla
Part of the Winter War
A Finnish soldier on guard near Kemijärvi, 11 February 1940.
Date 30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940 Location Salla, Finnish Lapland 66°50′N 28°40′E / 66.833°N 28.667°E / 66.833; 28.667 Result Finnish victory
Belligerents
Finland Swedish volunteers Norwegian volunteers	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Kurt Martti Wallenius Ernst Linder	Mikhail Dukhanov Vasily Chuikov
Units involved
North Finland Group Lapland Group Detachment Roininen Stridsgruppen SFK	9th Army 122nd Rifle Division 88th Rifle Division
Strength
c. 3,500 From 10 February 1940 9,400 Scandinavian volunteers	Two infantry divisions
Casualties and losses
Finnish: 650 dead or missing 450 wounded Volunteers: 33 dead 50 wounded 130 frostbitten	4,000
class=notpageimage| Location within Finland

The Battle of Salla was fought between Finnish and Soviet troops near Salla in northern Finland during the Winter War. The Soviets had orders to advance through Salla to Kemijärvi and Sodankylä, and from there to Rovaniemi in just two weeks. From there they were to advance to Tornio and cut Finland in two. The Finnish troops managed to stop the Soviet advance just east of Kemijärvi. During the last days of February 1940 the Finnish troops were replaced with the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish volunteers of the Stridsgruppen SFK.