The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II. At the time of the war, the Finns adopted this name to make clear this war's perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War. The Soviet Union saw the war as part of its struggle against Nazi Germany and its allies, as the Eastern Front of World War II. The war was known in the Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War. Germany regarded its operations in the region as part of its overall war efforts on the Eastern front, and it provided Finland with critical material support and military cooperation. Acts of war between the two countries started on 22 June 1941, the day Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union. Open warfare began with a Soviet air offensive on 25 June. Subsequent Finnish operations undid its post-Winter War concessions to the Soviet Union on the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, and captured East Karelia by September 1941. On the Karelian Isthmus, the Finns halted their offensive 30 km from Leningrad, at the pre-World War II border between the Soviet Union and Finland. Finnish forces did not participate in the siege of Leningrad directly, holding their pre-World War II territory on the Karelian Isthmus for two and a half years instead. In 1944, Soviet air forces conducted air raids on Helsinki and other major Finnish cities. Eventually, in summer 1944, the Soviet strategic offensive drove the Finns from most of the territories they had gained during the war, but the Finnish Army later fought the offensive to a standstill in July 1944. A cease-fire ended hostilities on 5 September, and was followed by the Moscow Armistice on 19 September. The 1947 Paris peace treaty concluded the war formally. Finland ceded Petsamo to the Soviets, leased Porkkala to them, and paid $226 500 000 in reparations to the Soviet Union, while ultimately retaining its independence. Wikipedia [ - ]

The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union... [ + ]