Operation Silver Fox

Operation Silver Fox
	Part of Continuation War of World War II
	; A German column during the advance on Murmansk, 1941
Date	29 June – 17 November 1941
Location	Arctic, Lapland, Northern Russia68°58′N 33°05′E / 68.967°N 33.083°E
Result	Allied victory
Belligerents
Germany; Finland	Soviet Union; Air & Naval support:; United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
N. von Falkenhorst; Eduard Dietl; Hans Feige; Hjalmar Siilasvuo	Markian Popov; Valerian Frolov; Roman Panin; Stepan Morozov
Units involved
Army of Norway Mtn. Corps Norway 2nd Mountain Div.; 3rd Mountain Div.; ; XXXVI Corps 169th Infantry Div.; 6th SS Mountain Div.; Finnish 6th Division; Tank Battalion 211; ; III Corps Finnish 3rd Division; Tank Battalion 40; ;	Karelian Front 14th Army 42nd Corps 104th Rifle Div.; 122nd Rifle Div.; ; 14th Rifle Div.; 52nd Rifle Div.; 88th Rifle Div.; 1st Tank Div.; 186th Rifle Div.; 289th Rifle Div.; ; 7th Army 54th Rifle Div.; ;
Casualties and losses
21,501 Germans; 5,000 Finns	unknown
	Murmansk class=notpageimage\| Murmansk, port and administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, in the Russian North

Operation Silver Fox (German: Silberfuchs; Finnish: Hopeakettu) from 29 June to 17 November 1941, was a joint German–Finnish military operation during the Continuation War on the Eastern Front of World War II against the Soviet Union. The objective of the offensive was to cut off and capture the key Soviet Port of Murmansk through attacks from Finnish and Norwegian territory.

The operation had three stages. In Operation Reindeer (Rentier) German forces advanced from Norway to secure the area around Petsamo and its nickel mines. Operation Platinum Fox (Platinfuchs; Platinakettu) was an attack from the north by Mountain Corps Norway, as XXXVI Mountain Corps and units from the Finnish III Corps attacked from the south in Operation Arctic Fox (Polarfuchs; Napakettu) to cut off and capture Murmansk by a pincer movement. The German–Finnish forces took some ground but Murmansk was neither cut off nor captured and continued to operate as an important destination for Allied Arctic convoys throughout the war.

^ Ziemke (1959), p. 152.
^ Mann & Jörgensen (2002), pp. 81–87.
^ Ziemke (1959), p. 181.
^ Shirokorad (2001), Chapter 3, Part X.
^ Ziemke (1959), p. 184.

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[FOOTNOTEZiemke1959152-1] Ziemke (1959), p. 152.

[FOOTNOTEMannJörgensen200281–87-5] Mann & Jörgensen (2002), pp. 81–87.

[FOOTNOTEZiemke1959181-6] Ziemke (1959), p. 181.

[FOOTNOTEShirokorad2001Chapter_3,_Part_X-8] Shirokorad (2001), Chapter 3, Part X.

[FOOTNOTEZiemke1959184-10] Ziemke (1959), p. 184.

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