a limited number of outposts. They operated on the principles of fewer arms, but more ammunition per weapon and the economical use thereof. 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 Soviet Army against the Wehrmacht in 1944 in northern Finland and Norway drove the Germans out of there. In late 1944, Finland turned against its former cobelligerents of Nazi Germany under Soviet pressure and pressured the Germans to withdraw in the ensuing Lapland War. While use of ski infantry was common in the Soviet Army, Germany formed only one division for movement on skis. From June 1942 to August 1943, the United States and Canada fought the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands Campaign in the Alaska Territory. In the Arctic The following actions were fought in the Arctic by land and naval forces in World War II between 1941 and 1945 in the following theaters of operations: Finland – The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union (USSR) and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. In the Battle of Suomussalmi, Finns leveraged cold weather to disadvantage the Soviet enemy troops by targeting field kitchens and campfires for their attacks, thereby denying those troops warmth and nutrition. The Finns rotated their troops so that they could regularly return to warm shelters to recuperate after an attack or patrol. Heavy Soviet equipment and their associated troops were restricted to roads, while Finnish ski troops had broad mobility to outflank the enemy. The threat of Finnish snipers, whom the Russians called "cuckoos", further demoralized the Soviets. The Finns mined ice routes over lakes to sink Soviet equipment. The Lapland War was fought between Finland and Germany from September 1944 to April 1945 in Finland's northernmost Lapland Province. It included: Operation Birke (birch) was a German operation late in World War II in Finnish Lapland to protect access to nickel. Operation Nordlicht (northern lights) was a German scorched-earth retreat operation in Finland during the end of World War II. The Petsamo–Kirkenes