Editing Operation Barbarossa (section)

===Karelia===
{{Main|Finnish invasion of East Karelia (1941)}}

Germany had pressured Finland to enlarge its offensive activities in Karelia to aid the Germans in their Leningrad operation. Finnish attacks on Leningrad itself remained limited. Finland stopped its advance just short of Leningrad and had no intentions to attack the city. The situation was different in eastern Karelia. The Finnish government agreed to restart its offensive into Soviet Karelia to reach [[Lake Onega]] and the [[Svir River]]. On 4 September, this new drive was launched on a broad front. Albeit reinforced by fresh reserve troops, heavy losses elsewhere on the front meant that the Soviet defenders of the 7th Army were not able to resist the Finnish advance. [[Olonets]] was taken on 5 September. On 7 September, Finnish forward units reached the Svir River.{{sfn|Menger|1997|p=533}} [[Petrozavodsk]], the capital city of the [[Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic|Karelo-Finnish SSR]], fell on 1 October. From there the Army of Karelia moved north along the shores of Lake Onega to secure the remaining area west of Lake Onega, while simultaneously establishing a defensive position along the Svir River. Slowed by winter's onset they nevertheless continued to advance slowly during the following weeks. [[Medvezhyegorsk]] was captured on 5 December and [[Povenets]] fell the next day. On 7 December, Finland halted all offensive operations and went onto the defensive.{{sfnp|Ueberschär|1998|pp=974–980}}{{sfnp|Nenye|Munter|Wirtanen|Birks|2016|pp=109–132}}