Baltic Sea campaigns (1939–1945) 1939
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1939 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Europe) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Eastern Front | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 56.6034, 19.0781 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Baltic Sea campaigns were conducted by Axis and Allied naval forces in the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the connected lakes Ladoga and Onega on the Eastern Front of World War II. After early fighting between Polish and German forces, the main combatants were the Kriegsmarine and the Soviet Navy, with Finland supporting the Germans until 1944 and the Soviets thereafter. The Swedish Navy and merchant fleet played important roles, and the British Royal Navy planned Operation Catherine for control of the Baltic Sea and its exit choke point into the North Sea.
While operations included surface and sub-surface combat, aerial combat, amphibious landings, and support of large-scale ground fighting, the most significant feature of Baltic Sea operations was the scale and size of mine warfare, particularly in the Gulf of Finland. The warring parties laid over 60,000 naval mines and anti-sweep obstacles, making the shallow Gulf of Finland some of the most densely-mined waters in the world.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Baltic Sea campaigns (1939–1945) (revision 1378228066), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Gotland 1915 · 93 km
- Battle of Öland (1563) 1563 · 117 km
- Battle of Visby 1361 · 124 km
- First Battle of Öland 1564 · 137 km
- Battle of Durbe 1260 · 139 km
- Action of 26 July 1566 1566 · 148 km
Other battles of the Eastern Front
- Battle of Hanko (1941) 1941
- Battle of Moscow 1941
- Battle of Raseiniai 1941
- Defense of Brest Fortress 1941
- First Battle of Kharkov 1941
- Siege of Leningrad 1941
- Siege of Odessa 1941
- Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942) 1941
- Barvenkovo–Lozovaya offensive 1942
- Battle of Kalach 1942
All 33 battles of the Eastern Front →
Browse more: battles at sea · Europe · World War II era battles