Operation Renntier
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| Eastern Front |
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| Barbarossa – Finland – Leningrad and Baltics – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Belorussia – Lvov-Sandomierz – Balkans – Hungary – Vistula-Oder – Königsberg – Berlin – Prague |
| Finland 1941-1944 |
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| Arctic 1941-1944 – Continuation War – Lapland War |
Operation Renntier (Reindeer) was a German operation during World War II. Its goal was to secure the nickel-mines in Finnish Petsamo against Soviet aggression.
After the German occupation of Norway the planning for the operation started in August 13, 1940 and was finalized in October. The plan called for the two mountain divisions of Gebirgskorps Norwegen to occupy Petsamo in the case of a renewed war between Finland and the Soviet Union to prevent Soviet capture of strategic mines.
The plans for the operation were used at the start of Operation Barbarossa. The operation was carried out on June 22, 1941 without any incidents. The German 2nd Mountain Division occupied the area around Liinahamari and the German 3rd Mountain Division occupied Luostari.
The operation was followed up by Operation Platinfuchs which was an attack by the two division against Murmansk as a part of the larger Operation Silberfuchs.
