September 1944

Eastern Front

The deadline for German forces to evacuate Finland arrives but substantial forces are still on the ground. An attack by German units upon the Finnish port os Suursaari is repulsed with heavy casualties, and as a result of this short-sighted action the 20th Mountain Army is ordered to withdraw from Finland immediately.

Soviet attacks in the Baltic intensifies as the 1st Shock Army of the 3rd Baltic Front launches attacks toward Valk and the 10th Guards, 3rd Shock and 22nd Armies of the 2nd Baltic Front attack near Madona. German resistance is intense, slowing the Soviet armies and inflicting heavy casualties.

Friessner has concentrated a significant force around the Cluj salient and preparest to counterattack to halt the advance of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. The 8th Army is deployed on the eastern face of the Salient with the 1st Hungarian Army to its north. At the base of the salient, around Cluj, is the 2nd Hungarian Army and to its right, around Oradea, the reformed 6th Army.