Editing Continuation War (section)

==Order of battle and operational planning==
===Soviet===
[[File:Continuation War July 1941 English.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Finnish, German and Soviet military formations at the start of the Continuation War in June and July 1941]]

The [[Northern Front (Soviet Union)|Northern Front]] ({{langx|ru|Северный фронт|links=no}}) of the [[Leningrad Military District]] was commanded by Lieutenant General [[Markian Popov]] and numbered around 450,000 soldiers in 18 divisions and 40 independent battalions in the Finnish region.{{sfn|Krivosheev|1997|pp= 79, 269–271}} During the Interim Peace, the Soviet Military had relaid operational plans to conquer Finland,{{sfn|Suvorov|2013|p=133}} but with the German attack, Operation Barbarossa, begun on 22 June 1941, the Soviets required its best units and latest materiel to be deployed against the Germans and so abandoned plans for a renewed offensive against Finland.{{sfn|Vehviläinen|2002|p=91}}{{Sfn|Kinnunen|Kivimäki|2011|pp=153–154}} The [[23rd Army (Soviet Union)|23rd Army]] was deployed in the Karelian Isthmus, the [[7th Army (Soviet Union)|7th Army]] to Ladoga Karelia and the [[14th Army (Soviet Union)|14th Army]] to the [[Murmansk]]–[[Salla]] area of Lapland. The Northern Front also commanded eight [[Aviation Division|aviation divisions]].{{sfn|Kirchubel|2013|pp=114–115}} As the initial German strike against the [[Soviet Air Forces]] had not affected air units located near Finland, the Soviets could deploy around 700 aircraft supported by a number of [[Soviet Navy]] wings.{{sfn|Jokipii|1999|p=301}} The [[Baltic Fleet|Red Banner Baltic Fleet]], which outnumbered the [[Kriegsmarine|navy of Germany]] ({{lang|de|Kriegsmarine}}), comprised 2 battleships, 2 light cruisers, 47 destroyers or large torpedo boats, 75 submarines, over 200 smaller crafts, and 682 aircraft (of which 595 were operational).{{sfn|Kirchubel|2013|p=151}}{{sfn|Kovalevsky|2009|pp=3–8}}

===Finnish and German===
{{Main||Finnish Army|German Army (1935–1945)}}
The Finnish Army ({{langx|fi|Maavoimat|links=no}}) mobilised between 475,000 and 500,000 soldiers in 14 divisions and 3 brigades for the invasion, commanded by Field Marshal ({{Lang|fi|sotamarsalkka}}) Mannerheim. The army was organised as follows:{{Sfn|Kinnunen|Kivimäki|2011|pp=153–154}}{{sfn|Kirchubel|2013|pp=120–121}}{{sfn|Ziemke|2002|p=9}}
* [[Finnish II Corps (Continuation War)|II Corps]] and [[Finnish IV Corps (Continuation War)|IV Corps]]: deployed to the Karelian Isthmus and comprised seven infantry divisions and one brigade.
* [[Army of Karelia]]: deployed north of Lake Ladoga and commanded by General [[Erik Heinrichs]]. It comprised the [[Finnish VI Corps (Continuation War)|VI Corps]], [[Finnish VII Corps (Continuation War)|VII Corps]], and Group Oinonen; a total of seven divisions, including the German 163rd Infantry Division, and three brigades.
* 14th Division: deployed in the [[Kainuu]] region, commanded directly by [[Defence Command (Finland)|Finnish Headquarters]] ({{Lang|fi|Päämaja}}).

Although initially deployed for a static defence, the Finnish Army was to later launch an attack to the south, on both sides of Lake Ladoga, putting pressure on Leningrad and thus supporting the advance of the German [[Army Group North]] through the Baltic states towards Leningrad.{{sfn|Ziemke|2002|p=9}} Finnish intelligence had overestimated the strength of the Red Army, when in fact it was numerically inferior to Finnish forces at various points along the border.{{Sfn|Kinnunen|Kivimäki|2011|pp=153–154}} The army, especially its artillery, was stronger than it had been during the Winter War but included only one armoured battalion and had a general lack of motorised transportation;{{sfn|Vehviläinen|2002|p=90}} the army possessed 1,829 artillery pieces at the beginning of the invasion.<ref>{{harvnb|Baryshnikov|2002}}: "A special role was assigned by the Finnish command to artillery, which consisted of 1,829 guns."</ref>  The [[Finnish Air Force]] ({{Lang|fi|Ilmavoimat}}) had received large donations from Germany prior to the Continuation War including [[Curtiss Hawk 75]]s, [[Fokker D.XXI]]s, [[Dornier Do 22]] flying boats, [[Morane-Saulnier M.S.406|Morane M.S. 406]] bombers, and [[Focke-Wulf Fw 44 Stieglitz]] trainers; in total the Finnish Air Force had 550 aircraft by June 1941, approximately half being combat.{{sfn|Corum|2004|p=14}}<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Finnish Air Force |url=https://ilmavoimat.fi/en/history |website=Ilmavoimat |access-date=23 July 2023 |quote=The Air Force had a total strength of 550 aircraft.}}</ref> By September 1944, despite considerable German supply of aircraft, the Finns only had 384 planes. Even with the increase in supplied aircraft, the air force was constantly outnumbered by the Soviets.{{Sfn|Kinnunen|Kivimäki|2011|p=168}}{{Sfn|Nenye|Munter|Wirtanen|Birks|2016|p=339}}

[[File:Blenheim-luonetjarvi.jpg|thumb|right|A landing [[Bristol Blenheim]] bomber-aircraft belonging to the Finnish Air Force in March 1944.|261x261px]]

The [[Army of Norway (Wehrmacht)|Army of Norway]], or {{Lang|de|AOK Norwegen}}, comprising four divisions totaling 67,000 German soldiers, held the arctic front, which stretched approximately {{convert|500|km|mi|abbr=on}} through Finnish Lapland. This army would also be tasked with striking Murmansk and the [[Kirov Railway|Kirov (Murmansk) Railway]] during [[Operation Silver Fox]]. The Army of Norway was under the direct command of the [[Oberkommando des Heeres|German Army High Command]] ({{lang|de|OKH}}) and was organised into [[Mountain Corps Norway]] and [[XXXVI Mountain Corps (Wehrmacht)|XXXVI Mountain Corps]] with the [[Finnish III Corps (Continuation War)|Finnish III Corps]] and 14th Division attached to it.{{sfn|Kirchubel|2013|p=120-121}}{{sfn|Ziemke|2002|p=9}}{{sfn|Vehviläinen|2002|p=90}} The [[Oberkommando der Luftwaffe|German Air Force High Command]] ({{lang|de|OKL}}) assigned 60 aircraft from ''[[Luftflotte 5]]'' (Air Fleet 5) to provide air support to the Army of Norway and the Finnish Army, in addition to its main responsibility of defending Norwegian air space.{{sfn|Ziemke|2002|p=10}}{{sfn|Ziemke|2015|pp=149–151}} In contrast to the front in Finland, a total of 149 divisions and 3,050,000 soldiers were deployed for the rest of Operation Barbarossa.{{sfn|Ziemke|2002|pp=7, 9}}