Saturday 29th June 2013 +3hr BST Murmansk Russia: A Hero City of World War II

Surprisingly, according to Wikipedia, Murmansk was the last city founded in the Russian Empire and its history is inextricably linked with both World Wars and in particular of course to the Arctic Convoys that supplied Russia, as a Western Ally, with millions of tons of military equipment and other goods and raw materials.

German forces launched an offensive against the city in 1941 as part of Operation Silver Fox from Finland, and Murmansk suffered extensive destruction, however, fierce Soviet resistance and harsh local weather conditions prevented the Germans from capturing the city and cutting off the vital Karelian railway line and the ice-free harbour. This unyielding, stoic resistance was commemorated at the 40th anniversary of the victory over the Germans in the formal designation of Murmansk as a Hero City on May 6, 1985.  The commemorative plaque is shown in the photo an sits below the Monument to the Defenders of the Kola Land – Alyosha, of which more in a later posting.

For the rest of the war, Murmansk served as a transit point for weapons and other supplies entering the Soviet Union from other Allied nations and for many fellow guests this cruise has been a voyage of remembrance for relatives who fought with the White Army against the Red Army during the Russian Civil War – better known as the Russian Revolution (1918 to 1920) or in the defence of the city against German invasion in 1941 or indeed took part in the convoys sailing to Murmansk and Archangel.  A short service of remembrance and casting of flowers into the sea was held yesterday in memory of the many merchant and naval seamen who gave their lives in horrendous conditions and under constant attack from the air, the sea (Including from the Tirpitz) and from U Boats.

There have been a series of lectures onboard about these events but sadly they were so fact bound that it became impossible to get a true picture of the horrendous conditions in which these brave seaman risked their lives.  One fact that did stick with me, however, was that of the 78 convoys that ran between August 1941 and May 1945, about 1,400 merchant ships delivered almost 4 million tons of goods and military equipment of which only 7% was lost. 

You may already be aware that the British Government announced, in December 2012, after a long campaign by veterans and relatives, that all personnel (or next of kin) who served inside the Arctic Circle would receive The Arctic Star.

Once last comment as an introduction to Murmansk, during the Cold War it was a centre of Soviet submarine and icebreaker activity and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the nearby city and naval base of Severomorsk remained the headquarters of the Russian Northern Fleet.  I would like to have visited the Northern Fleet Museum but as ever there is only time for one shore tour.