Arctic warfare
Oxford Companion to US Military History:
Top
Arctic Warfare
Characterized by subzero temperatures, rapidly shifting weather fronts, and vast expanses of tundra or icefields, the arctic is an especially hostile environment in which to conduct combat operations. The severity of conditions dictates that military operations differ markedly from those in more temperate regions. Virtually all operations are performed by highly trained, specially equipped light infantry units, skilled in the use of skis, snowshoes, ahkios (sledges, either man‐ or dog‐drawn), and, more recently, snowmobiles and tracked personnel carriers.
Prior to 1941, the U.S. military had little experience of arctic warfare. However, in World War II, the military established outposts in Newfoundland, Danish Greenland, and Iceland, from which aircraft were transported to Europe and from which air and sea patrols provided escort, weather intelligence, and early warning for convoys bound for Britain and the Soviet ports of Archangel and Murmansk. In the Pacific theater, some 58,000 troops were stationed in Alaska and islands of the Aleutian chain located along the shortest route from the United States to Japan in terms of defense, and to Vladivostock in terms of Lend‐Lease shipping headed to the USSR.
In June 1942, a Japanese invasion force under Adm. Kakuji Kakuta launched air raids on the U.S. base at Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island, and captured the islands of Attu and Kiska. Not until May 1943 did a joint U.S. task force under Adm. Thomas C. Kincaid and Maj. Gen. Eugene Landrum recapture the island of Attu after almost a month of heavy fighting. Of 2,300 Japanese defenders, only 29 survived; many took their own lives. U.S. losses totaled 549 killed and 1,148 wounded in action. The Japanese garrison on Kiska evacuated without a fight.
During the Cold War, the United States saw the arctic regions as a first line of defense against aerial attack from the Soviet Union across the pole, and undertook the construction (1950s) of remote radar detection sites close to the Arctic Circle. The DEW Line, a chain of fifty‐seven radar sites stretching from Iceland to Alaska, was designed to provide distant early warning (DEW) of manned bomber or intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) attacks. The DEW Line (1957) supplemented the Mid‐Canada or McGill Line (1955) of microwave detection sites and the Pine Tree Line (1954) of thirty‐four radar stations that straddled the U.S.‐Canada border. These defenses were supplemented (1958–60) by ballistic missile early warning (BMEW) sites at Thule, Greenland, and Clear, Alaska. The Strategic Air Command also established forward‐placed bomber and interceptor bases in Thule and in Elmendorf, Alaska.
The U.S. Army in the 1980s and 1990s maintained arctic training facilities at Alaskan Forts Wainwright and Richardson and reactivated the 10th Mountain Division—specially trained in winter warfare techniques—at Fort Drum, New York.
[See also Canada, U.S. Military Involvement in; Lend‐Lease Act and Agreements.]
Bibliography
- John Toland, But Not in Shame, 1961.
- U.S. Army Field Manual 37–71, Northern Operations, 1971.
- Kenneth Schaffel, The Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense 1945–1960, 1991
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Arctic warfare
For the family of Sniper Rifles, see Accuracy International Arctic Warfare
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009) |
|
|||||
|
Generations of warfare
|
| Portal |
Arctic warfare or winter warfare is a term used to describe armed conflict that takes place in an exceptionally cold weather, usually in snowy and icy terrain, sometimes on ice-covered bodies of water. One must note the distinction between alpine and Arctic warfare - Arctic war does not always take place in mountainous terrain, and mountain warfare does not always take place in the cold.
|
Contents
|
History
The best recorded cold winter battles have taken place in northern and eastern Europe.
In 1242, the Teutonic Order lost the Battle of the Ice on Lake Peipus to Novgorod. In 1520, the decisive Battle of Bogesund between Sweden and Denmark occurred on the ice of lake Åsunden.
Sweden and Denmark fought several wars during the 16th and 17th centuries. As a great deal of Denmark consists of islands, it was usually safe from invasion, but in January 1658, most of the Danish waters froze. Charles X Gustav of Sweden led his army across the ice of the Belts to besiege Copenhagen. The war ended with the treaty of Roskilde, a treaty very favourable to the Swedish.
During the Great Northern War, Swedish king Charles XII set off to invade Moscow, but was eventually defeated at the battle of Poltava after being weakened by cold weather and scorched earth tactics. Sweden suffered more casualties during the same war as Carl Gustaf Armfeldt with 6000 men tried to invade Trondheim, and 3000 of them died in a blizzard on a snowy mountain named Öjfjället.
During the Finnish War, the Russian army unexpectedly crossed the frozen Gulf of Bothnia from Finland to the Åland Islands and, by 19 March 1809, reached the Swedish shore within 70 km from the Swedish capital, Stockholm. This daring manoeuvre decided the outcome of the war.
Another famous example is the use of ski troops by the Finnish Army during the Winter War and the subsequent Continuation War, where the numerically dominant Soviet forces had a hard time fighting mobile ski soldiers.
In Operation Barbarossa in 1941, both Russian and German soldiers had to endure terrible conditions during the Russian winter. The German-Finnish joint offensive against Murmansk (Operation Silver Fox) in 1941 saw heavy fighting in the Arctic environment. Subsequently the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation conducted by the Red Army against the Wehrmacht in 1944 in northern Finland and Norway drove the Germans out of there. In the Lapland War, Finland turned against Nazi Germany under the Soviet Union's pressure, their former cobelligerents. While use of ski infantry was prolific in the Red Army, Germany formed only one division for movement on skis.
During Operation Zitronella in World War II, German and Allied troops fought over control of the island of Spitsbergen. This marks the highest latitude at which a land battle has ever been fought. However, given the extreme conditions, the German and Allied troops were at times compelled to assist each other to survive.[1]
Operation Rösselsprung and Operation Wunderland were Arctic naval battles in World War II.
Training by Nation
Perhaps four of the most prominent nations to continuously practice arctic warfare in peacetime would be Canada,Russian Federation (formerly the Soviet Union), Sweden and Norway, with the latter one hosting the annual, multi national winter exercise Cold Response. Standard Canadian Forces practices calls for combat arms and combat support arms members to undergo a least two weeks of winter warfare training, in addition to yearly refresher course. Inclusive the Canadian Forces is the only current member of NATO to outfit all personnel be it regular forces air force technical crews to reserve infantry personal with arctic survival equipment; this is in addition to all Canadian Forces equipment being able to operate effectively in arctic conditions with minimal changes.
Equipment
Arctic warfare is very dependent on equipment. For survival, troops need warm clothing and footwear, extra nutritious food, white camouflage, tents with sleeping bags, heaters and fuel.
Weapons can be fitted with an arctic trigger which permits firing while wearing heavy mittens.
Individual mobility can be increased by skis, cleats, and snowshoes.
Motorized vehicles are often unfit to stand freezing temperatures. Special procedures can be used to ensure they perform in the cold, such as running them continuously or starting them at regular intervals. Studded tires or tire chains are useful equipment for maintaining traction of wheeled vehicles. It is also possible to design special vehicles for operation specifically in arctic conditions, such as the Sisu Nasu, BvS 10, M29 Weasel or Aerosani.
See also
- Ski warfare
- Siachen conflict (military conflict between India and Pakistan over a glacier region)
- Arctic survival/winter survival
- Mountain warfare
- Russian Winter
References
- ^ Keegan, John (1993). A History of Warfare. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.. pp. 69. ISBN 0-394-58801-0.
Further reading
- Govan, Capt. Thomas P. (1946). Training for Mountain and Winter Warfare, Study No. 23. The Army Ground Forces. Historical Section- Army Ground Forces. http://www.history.army.mil/books/agf/agf23.htm. - full text
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Oxford Companion to US Military History
The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Copyright © 2000 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
