Editing Continuation War (section)

===Siege of Leningrad and naval warfare===
{{Main|Siege of Leningrad|Baltic Sea campaigns (1939–45)|Arctic naval operations of World War II}}
[[File:Hitler Mannerheim Ryti.jpg|thumb|left|[[Wilhelm Keitel|Keitel]] (left), Hitler, Mannerheim and Ryti meeting at [[Immola Airfield]] on 4 June 1942. Hitler made a [[Hitler and Mannerheim recording|surprise visit in honour of Mannerheim's 75th birthday]] and to discuss plans.{{sfn|Clements|2012|pp=211–213}}]]

In the early stages of the war, the Finnish Army overran the former 1939 border, but ceased their advance {{Convert|30-32|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the center of Leningrad.{{sfn|Glantz|2002|p=416}}{{sfn|Salisbury|1969|p=246| ps=: "This line was only twenty miles from the Leningrad city limits."}} Multiple authors have stated that Finland participated in the siege of Leningrad ({{Langx|ru|Блокада Ленинграда|links=no}}), but the full extent and nature of their participation is debated and a clear consensus has yet to emerge. American historian [[David Glantz]] writes that the Finnish Army generally maintained their lines and contributed little to the siege from 1941 to 1944,{{sfn|Glantz|2001|p=179}} whereas Russian historian {{ill|Nikolai Baryshnikov|ru|Барышников, Николай Иванович}} stated in 2002 that Finland tacitly supported Hitler's starvation policy for the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Baryshnikov|2002}}: "An explanation followed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland about the position of the military leadership: 'Is it not better to take it from the south or in general, or force the inhabitants of the city to capitulate with the help of hunger?'. . .When assessing the personality of Marshal Mannerheim . . . one should pay attention to his actions not only in the first period of the battle for Leningrad, but also in the subsequent period, characterized by the participation of Finnish troops in the 900-day blockade of the city."</ref> However, in 2009 British historian [[Michael Jones (historian)|Michael Jones]] disputed Baryshnikov's claim and asserted that the Finnish Army cut off the city's northern supply routes but did not take further military action.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|2009|p=142}}: "Nikolai Baryshnikov, in [''Finland and the Siege of Leningrad 1941–1944''], has suggested that the country tacitly supported Hitler's starvation policy. Finland advanced to within twenty miles of Leningrad's outskirts, cutting the city's northern supply routes, but its troops then halted at its 1939 border, and did not undertake further action."</ref> In 2006, American author [[Lisa Kirschenbaum]] wrote that the siege started "when German and Finnish troops severed all land routes in and out of Leningrad."{{sfn|Kirschenbaum|2006|p=44|ps=: "The blockade began two days later when German and Finnish troops severed all land routes in and out of Leningrad."}}

According to Clements, Mannerheim personally refused Hitler's request of assaulting Leningrad during [[Hitler and Mannerheim recording|their meeting on 4 June 1942]]. Mannerheim explained to Hitler that "Finland had every reason to wish to stay out of any further provocation of the Soviet Union."{{sfn|Clements|2012|p=213}} In 2014, author [[Jeff Rutherford]] described the city as being "ensnared" between the German and Finnish armies.{{sfn|Rutherford|2014|p=190|ps=: "The ensnaring of Leningrad between the German and Finnish armies did not end the combat in the region as the Soviets launched repeated and desperate attempts to regain contact with the city."}} British historian [[John Barber (historian)|John Barber]] described it as a "siege by the German and Finnish armies from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944 [...]" in his foreword in 2017.{{sfn|Barber|2017|p=7|ps=: "While the exact number who died during the siege by the German and Finnish armies from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944 will never be known, available data point to 900,000 civilian deaths, over half a million of whom died in the winter of 1941–2 alone."}} Likewise, in 2017, [[Alexis Peri]] wrote that the city was "completely cut off, save a heavily patrolled water passage over Lake Ladoga" by "Hitler's Army Group North and his Finnish allies."{{sfn|Peri|2017|p=4 |ps=: "In August 1941, Hitler's Army Group North and his Finnish allies began to encircle Leningrad. They rapidly extended their territorial holdings first in the west and south and eventually in the north. By 29 August 1941, they had severed the last railway line that connected Leningrad to the rest of the USSR. By early September, Leningrad was surrounded, save a heavily patrolled water passage over Lake Ladoga."}}

[[File:Laying mines aboard Finnish minelayer Ruotsinsalmi May 1942 (SA-kuva 88630).jpg|thumb|The Finnish minelayer ''[[Finnish minelayer Ruotsinsalmi|Ruotsinsalmi]]'' lays [[naval mine]]s in the [[Gulf of Finland]] in May 1942]]
The 150 speedboats, two minelayers and four steamships of the [[Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment]], as well as numerous shore batteries, had been stationed on Lake Ladoga since August 1941. Finnish Lieutenant General Paavo Talvela proposed on 17 May 1942 to create a joint Finnish–German–Italian unit on the lake to disrupt Soviet supply convoys to Leningrad. The unit was named [[Naval Detachment K]] and comprised four Italian [[MAS (motorboat)|MAS torpedo motorboats]] of the [[XII Squadriglia MAS]], four German KM-type minelayers and the Finnish [[Sisu-class motor torpedo boat|torpedo-motorboat ''Sisu'']]. The detachment began operations in August 1942 and sank numerous smaller Soviet watercraft and flatboats and assaulted enemy bases and beach fronts until it was dissolved in the winter of 1942–43.{{sfn|Zapotoczny|2017|p=123}} Twenty-three [[Siebel ferry|Siebel ferries]] and nine infantry transports of the German ''[[Einsatzstab Fähre Ost]]'' were also deployed to Lake Ladoga and unsuccessfully [[Battle of Sukho Island|assaulted the island of Sukho]], which protected the main supply route to Leningrad, in October 1942.{{sfn|Kiljanen|1968|page=}}

Despite the siege of the city, the Soviet Baltic Fleet was still able to operate from Leningrad. The Finnish Navy's flagship {{Ship|Finnish coastal defence ship|Ilmarinen|4=2}} had been sunk in September 1941 in the gulf by mines during the failed diversionary [[Operation Northwind (1941)|Operation North Wind in 1941]].{{Sfn|Nenye|Munter|Wirtanen|Birks|2016|pp=136–138}} In early 1942, Soviet forces recaptured the island of [[Gogland]], but lost it and the [[Bolshoy Tyuters]] islands to Finnish forces later in spring 1942. During the winter between 1941 and 1942, the Soviet Baltic Fleet decided to use their large submarine fleet in offensive operations. Though initial submarine operations in the summer of 1942 were successful, the {{Lang|de|Kriegsmarine}} and [[Finnish Navy]] soon intensified their anti-submarine efforts, making Soviet submarine operations later in 1942 costly. The underwater offensive carried out by the Soviets convinced the Germans to lay [[anti-submarine net]]s as well as supporting minefields between Porkkala Peninsula and [[Naissaar]], which proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for Soviet submarines.{{sfn|Kiljanen|1968|page=123}} On the [[Arctic Ocean]], [[Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency|Finnish radio intelligence]] intercepted Allied messages on supply convoys to Murmansk, such as [[Convoy PQ 17|PQ 17]] and [[Convoy PQ 18|PQ 18]], and relayed the information to the ''[[Abwehr]]'', German intelligence.{{sfn|Ahtokari|Pale|1998|pp=191–198}}