Arctic Warfare (Military History)

Introduction
Warfare in the Arctic has, for the most part, been a historical oddity. The region boasts few significant cities to capture, small populations, a harsh environment, and little transportation infrastructure. As R. J. Sutherland states in his “Strategic Significance of the Canadian Arctic,” the Arctic offers “no place to go from a military point of view and nothing to do when you got there.” Prior to World War II there was little regular warfare in the circumpolar region, whereas the war itself saw relatively limited action. It was during the Cold War that the Arctic became a recognized area of strategic importance—primarily for strategic bombers and later for nuclear submarines. Although these weapons were never used, an enormous amount of energy and resources went into preparing to fight in the region. The definition of Arctic itself often varies and can be defined on geographic, climactic, or political grounds. This bibliography uses the geographic delimitation of 60 degrees north latitude. This region includes the entire Canadian North, Finland, the Soviet/Russian North, and most of Norway and Alaska. Parts of Alaska south of 60 degrees have been included because they are traditionally characterized as Arctic, whereas warfare on the Baltic Sea has been omitted simply because this area has traditionally not been considered as such.
Bibliographies
The US Army bibliographies (US Army Engineer School 1946, US Army Military History Institute 1988, US Army Military History Institute 2011) are excellent places to start when studying military operations or capabilities throughout the Cold War, with the DEW Line collection Lackenbauer, et al. 2005 being a particularly valuable resource for that subject. Green and McLean 1990–1991 is an excellent source for researching the strategic importance of the region in the later Cold War from a naval perspective, whereas Dean 2010 focuses on publications on the more contemporary security concerns.
Dean, Ryan. Arctic Security Bibliography. Toronto: Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, 2010.
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Ryan provides a useful secondary-source bibliography that covers historical and Arctic security issues from World War II to the 21st century.
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Green, Keith W., and Alasdair W. M. McLean. An Arctic Policy Bibliography. Centrepieces 18. Aberdeen, Scotland: Centre for Defence Studies, 1990–1991.
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Section 1 of this bibliography (“Military/Strategic Issues”) offers a good list of sources dealing with security concerns from the 1980s and 1990s.
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Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, Matthew J. Farish, and Jennifer Arthur-Lackenbauer. The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line: A Bibliography and Documentary Resource List. Calgary, AB: Arctic Institute of North America, 2005.
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This is a comprehensive bibliography on the construction of the DEW line, covering primary, secondary, and archival sources. This work should be the first stop when conducting research on the DEW Line.
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US Army Engineer School. Arctic Warfare: Bibliography of Reports and Technical Information. Fort Belvoir, VA: US Army Engineer School, 1946.
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This work presents a series of technical reports accumulated by the US Army on the subject of Arctic and winter warfare, primarily during World War II. It would be useful for very specialized studies.
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US Army Military History Institute. Winter Warfare: A Bibliography. Carlisle, PA: US Army Military History Institute, 1988.
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For anyone interested in the more technical side of Arctic warfare and the development of winter warfare capability by the US Army, this offers a list of references relating to the history and development of US doctrine, exercises, clothing, weapons, and tactics.
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US Army Military History Institute. U.S. Army in Alaska since 1945. Finding Aids. Carlisle, PA: US Army Military History Institute, 2011.
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This is a thorough bibliography on the US Army’s activities in Alaska, dealing with secondary and primary sources and mainly covering the Cold War period.
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Pre World War II
There is little written about Arctic warfare prior to World War II, largely because the region was of minor strategic significance and did not see much combat. The most significant fighting took place during the Allied intervention in the Soviet North immediately following World War I. No definitive work exists on this subject; however, Mawdsley 1987 and Jackson 1972 are good places to start. Kinvig 2006 gives a British perspective to this intervention, whereas Strakhovsky 1971 offers a more detailed account from one of the crucial fronts: Archangel. Alexander Hill (Hill 2007a, Hill 2007b) is the English-speaking expert on naval history in the Russian Arctic and provides useful articles on the history of Russian/Soviet sea power in the region. Eyre 1981 offers a broad and readable history of the Canadian military in its Arctic during this period.
Eyre, Kenneth Charles. “Custos Borealis: The Military in the Canadian North.” PhD diss., University of London, King’s College, 1981.
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This dissertation is a broad and well-constructed history of military activity in the Canadian Arctic, covering both the terrestrial and maritime theaters.
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Hill, Alexander. “Introduction: Russian and Soviet Naval Power in the Arctic, 1914–1945.” In Special Issue: Russian and Soviet Naval Power in the Arctic, 1914–1945. Edited by Alexander Hill. Journal of Slavic Military Studies 20.3 (2007a): 351–357.
DOI: 10.1080/13518040701532891Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is a short examination of the Russian navy’s Arctic activities and capabilities during the two world wars. The catalyst to sustained development of naval infrastructure and a permanent presence was the White Sea Canal and the need for a warm-water port to maintain communication links. Available online for purchase.
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Hill, Alexander. “Russian and Soviet Naval Power and the Arctic from the XVI Century to the Beginning of the Great Patriotic War.” In Special Issue: Russian and Soviet Naval Power in the Arctic, 1914–1945. Edited by Alexander Hill. Journal of Slavic Military Studies 20.3 (2007b): 359–392.
DOI: 10.1080/13518040701532958Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is an excellent overview of the development of Russian sea power in the Arctic. The author charts the rise and fall of Russian interest and strength in the North. Available online for purchase.
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Jackson, Robert. At War with the Bolsheviks: The Allied Intervention into Russia, 1917–20. London: Tom Stacey, 1972.
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This work contains a fairly detailed narrative of the Allied expedition to Siberia from 1919 to 1920.
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Kinvig, Clifford. Churchill’s Crusade: The British Invasion of Russia, 1918–1920. London and New York: Hambledon Continuum, 2006.
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This work takes a good look at British operations in northern Russia at the close of World War I. It makes effective use of government documents and memoirs to produce a detailed narrative.
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Mawdsley, Evan. The Russian Civil War. Boston: Allen and Unwin, 1987.
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Mawdsley is an easy-to-read yet academically excellent work and a good starting point for examining the Allied intervention in northern Russia. Mawdsley makes a convincing case that this intervention was of little military importance and had little effect on the course of the war.
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Strakhovsky, Leonid I. Intervention at Archangel: The Story of Allied Intervention and Russian Counter-Revolution in North Russia, 1918–1920. New York: Howard Fertig, 1971.
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Strakhovsky was himself present at the intervention at Archangel, yet the work is a dispassionate and nonpartisan account of the Allied fight with Bolshevik forces over the important port of Archangel from 1918 to 1919.
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World War II
World War II saw more combat in the Arctic regions than any other period in history. Bitter cold-weather combat took place along the Russo-Finnish border during the 1939–1940 Winter War; in 1940 the German invasion of Norway occurred, with fighting as far north as 68 degrees. After the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Soviet and German forces also fought significant engagements in northern Finland and Norway as well as northern Russia. This combat extended into the waters of the Russian and Scandinavian Arctic, and the Western Allies expended considerable resources convoying supplies into northern Soviet ports. The war also saw a great deal of military activity in North America and Greenland, in the form of new bases, pipelines, and airstrips; there was, however, little actual combat in these areas, the only engagement being between American and Japanese forces on the Aleutian Island of Attu, in 1943.
The North American Arctic, Greenland, and Svalbard
Apart from operations in Alaska, there was little combat in this region during the war, yet there was still considerable military activity. Barr 1986 and Selinger and Glen 1983 elaborate Allied and German attempts to use the region for weather forecasting—considered vital for air forces and operational planning. Grant 1988 offers a detailed and well-researched account of the Canadian/American defense projects of the period, such as the Canol pipeline and the Alaska Highway, though this is as much a political study as a military one. Most combat activity in the North American Arctic took place in Alaska. Perras 2003 gives a broad overview of Alaska’s actual and perceived historic strategic importance, whereas Garfield 1969 and Chandonnet 2008 provide firsthand accounts of activity in the area. Hendricks 1985 takes a good look at the use of Alaskan natives, who formed the backbone of domestic defense.
Barr, William. “Wettertrupp Haudegen: The Last German Arctic Weather Station of World War II: Part 1.” Polar Record 23.143 (1986): 143–158.
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Set up on Svalbard in 1944–1945, Wettertrupp Haudegen was the last of a series of German weather stations established in the Arctic during World War II to compensate for the loss of meteorological data from Greenland, Iceland, and the northwest Atlantic Ocean.
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Chandonnet, Fern, ed. Alaska at War, 1941–1945: The Forgotten War Remembered. Papers presented at the Alaska at War Symposium, Anchorage, Alaska, 11–13 November 1993. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2008.
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Chandonnet’s volume offers a series of essays that cover the war as seen through Alaskan eyes, including the Japanese invasions Attu and Kiska. This work is appropriate as an introduction to the background and impact of the war on Alaskans.
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Garfield, Brian. The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969.
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Carefully researched and well written, if occasionally poorly cited, this work looks at the contributions of all three service arms and relies heavily on interviews as well as some rarely used Japanese sources to get the ground-level story.
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Grant, Shelagh D. Sovereignty or Security? Government Policy in the Canadian North, 1936–1950. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1988.
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This book provides an excellent account from the Canadian perspective of the defense projects undertaken during and after World War II. Examines the air force staging routes, the Canol pipeline, and the Alaska Highway. The focus is on the political side of the projects
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Hendricks, Charles. “The Eskimos and the Defense of Alaska.” Pacific Historical Review 54.3 (1985): 271–295.
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This work discusses the history of the Alaska National Guard’s 297th Infantry Regiment and the employment of the native population as a wartime militia and then its transition to a regular National Guard unit after the war. Available online for purchase.
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Perras, Galen Roger. Stepping Stones to Nowhere: The Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and American Military Strategy, 1867–1945. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2003.
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This text examines the history of Alaska’s perceived and actual strategic importance as a place from where militaries might dominate the Pacific. The region turned out to be a strategic backwater until the Cold War, and long-range aviation gave it a purpose. The focus is on World War II.
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Selinger, Franz, and Alexander Glen. “Arctic Meteorological Operations and Counter-Operations during World War II.” Polar Record 21.135 (1983): 559–567.
DOI: 10.1017/S0032247400021963Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article elaborates the efforts of the Germans and British to establish and defend important weather stations on Greenland and the Svalbard Archipelago during World War II.
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Norwegian Front
Gregory 1989 is an excellent starting point for a broad overview of winter warfare in Norway and across the northern theater, whereas Haarr’s work (Haarr 2009, Haarr 2010) offers perhaps the most complete and detailed account. Salmon 1995 contains useful articles on more specific elements of the operation, and Moulton 1966 can be used as a reliable narrative with detail down to lower-level formations. Claasen 2001 provides a unique perspective of aerial operations in a northern area.
Claasen, Adam R. A. Hitler’s Northern War: The Luftwaffe’s Ill-Fated Campaign, 1940–1945. Modern War Studies. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001.
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This is a look at the Luftwaffe’s role in Norway. The text describes the political and racial motivations of the invasion and shows it as greatly hampered by flawed strategic thinking, interservice rivalries between the Luftwaffe and navy, the failure to develop a long-range heavy bomber, and the harsh Arctic environment
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Gregory, Barry. Mountain and Arctic Warfare: From Alexander to Afghanistan. London: Stephens, 1989.
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This book is a broad and useful starter to the history of Arctic and cold-weather warfare. It covers a significant time frame and gives a good synopsis of the Russian Arctic and Scandinavian fronts in World War II.
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Haarr, Geirr H. The German Invasion of Norway: April 1940. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2009.
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The first of two volumes, this is an excellent study of the entire Norwegian war, with an emphasis on the naval element and the German landings. That it is written with a Norwegian rather than a British focus makes it somewhat unique in the literature.
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Haarr, Geirr H. The Battle for Norway: April–June 1940. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010.
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The second work in this well-researched series, this volume covers the land campaign up to the Allied withdrawal from Narvik. This book, together with Haarr 2009, comprise one of the most complete works on the Norwegian campaign yet produced.
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Moulton, J. L. The Norwegian Campaign of 1940: A Study of Warfare in Three Dimensions. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1966.
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This is a look at strategic decision making down to company-level tactical operations. The focus is on the British side of the operation and the failures of British naval doctrine in the campaign. The text provides a fairly balanced and comprehensive overview of the war.
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Salmon, Patrick, ed. Britain and Norway in the Second World War. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1995.
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Salmon’s work is an edited volume containing a series of papers covering the Norwegian campaign, from the strategy and politics of the theater to the operations, intelligence network, and special operations.
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The Winter War
Although most sources on the Russo-Finnish War (or Winter War) are in Finnish, there are a number of useful works in English. Van Dyke 1997 and Trotter 1991 do an excellent job with the operational and tactical levels of the conflict, whereas Ziemke 1960 provides a broader political/operational examination, with attention to the supply difficulties inherent in northern fighting. For a detailed look at the combat conditions common to Arctic warfare, see Chew 1980, an examination of the destruction of the 44th Russian Division.
Chew, Allen F. “Beating the Russians in the Snow: The Finns and the Russians, 1940.” Military Review 60.6 (1980): 38–47.
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This short article gives a micro-level look at combat in the Winter War, examining the destruction of the Russian 44th Division. The text emphasizes the difficulties of Arctic combat from terrain, climactic, and logistical perspectives.
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Trotter, William R. A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939–1940. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 1991.
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Trotter offers excellent descriptions of the war’s land battles, though is largely reliant on English-language material as sources.
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Van Dyke, Carl. The Soviet Invasion of Finland, 1939–40. Cass Series on Soviet Military Experience 3. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1997.
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The Russo-Finish war has traditionally been analyzed using Finnish sources; Van Dyke has benefited from the use of newly accessible Russian sources. The text is an operational and tactical study of the war and a good illustrator of Russian military weakness after Stalin’s purges.
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Ziemke, Earl F. The German Northern Theatre of Operations, 1940–1945. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1960.
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A US Army publication dealing with the Norwegian and Finnish fronts. The text is based on captured German army and navy documents and interviews with German soldiers that fought on the northern fronts. Provides a very detailed look at politics, operations, supply, and strategy in the North.
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The Russian Arctic Front
Relatively little literature in English exists on the Russian Arctic front. Mann and Jörgensen 2003 is an excellent introduction to conditions in the region and overview of the conflict. Gebhardt 1989a and Gebhardt 1989b offer the most detailed account of the most significant Arctic campaign fought in the war, whereas Boog, et al. 1998 provides the very thorough official history of the German army on the Arctic front. Kaltenegger’s works on the Wehrmacht’s Arctic forces (Kaltenegger 1999, Kaltenegger 2003) are two well-researched and detailed German-language sources that take a closer look at the experience of the German soldier in Arctic fighting conditions. Gorter-Gronvik and Suprun 2000 is a rare examination of the impact of war in this region on the local natives and their role in the conflict.
Boog, Horst, Jürgen Förster, Joachim Hoffmann, Rolf-Dieter Müller, and Gerd R. Ueberschär. Germany and the Second World War. Vol. 4, The Attack on the Soviet Union. Translated by Dean S. McMurry, Ewald Osers, and Louise Willmot. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.
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A volume of the official German history, this work offers one of the best-researched and most frequently referenced studies of the German war effort in the Finnish theatre. Covers naval and air operations as well as the political connections between the two countries.
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Gebhardt, James F. The Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation: Soviet Breakthrough and Pursuit in the Arctic, October 1944. Fort Leavenworth, KS: US Army Command and General Staff College, 1989a.
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This is an operational examination of the largest land battle fought north of the Arctic Circle, based on German and Soviet primary sources. Cold, transport infrastructure, and long lines of communication as well as the need for combat engineers are emphasized.
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Gebhardt, James F. “Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation (7–30 October 1944): A Soviet Joint and Combined Arms Operation in Arctic Terrain.” Journal of Slavic Military Studies 2.1 (1989b): 49–86.
DOI: 10.1080/13518048908429933Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article is a look at the 1944 Soviet offensive against the XIX Mountain Corps on the Karelian front. This offensive was the only example of large-scale combined operations ever conducted in the Arctic. Based on Soviet memoir literature and German war diaries, it focuses on the operational level. Available online for purchase.
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Gorter-Gronvik, Waling T., and Mikhail N. Suprun. “Ethnic Minorities and Warfare at the Arctic Front 1939–45.” Journal of Slavic Military Studies 13.1 (2000): 127–142.
DOI: 10.1080/13518040008430431Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article relies on oral histories to analyze the often hostile interactions between the Soviet army and the ethnic Lapps, Nenets, and Komi who provided scouts, guides, and transport to support the Soviet war effort in the Kola Peninsula. Available online for purchase.
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Kaltenegger, Roland. Krieg am Eismeer: Gebirgsjäger im Kampf um Narvik, Murmansk und die Murmanbahn. Graz, Austria, and Stuttgart: Stocker, 1999.
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This book details the operations of the German army, from its capture of Narvik to the assault on Murmansk in 1941. A well-documented study, this work offers a traditionally unappreciated element in the German effort to shut down the Allied resupply effort to Russia.
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Kaltenegger, Roland. Krieg in der Arktis: Die Operationen der Lappland-Armee, 1942–1945. Graz, Austria: Stocker, 2003.
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Katenegger provides an account of the battles between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army in the Lapland region from 1941 to the end of the war. This work attempts to cover both the broader military operations as well as soldiers’ experiences fighting in the Arctic.
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Mann, Chris, and Christer Jörgensen. Hitler’s Arctic War: The German Campaigns in Norway, Finland and the USSR 1940–1945. New York: St. Martin’s, 2003.
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This work takes a good look at Arctic warfare conditions and operations throughout World War II, including Scandinavia and the Arctic convoy routes. The text provides a broader approach to the issue and is a good starting point for work done on any area of the Arctic or for work seeking to encompass the entirety of northern combat in World War II.
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Arctic Convoys
Schofield 1977 provides a good introduction to the subject and is an excellent source for statistics and other details, through a series of appendices. Woodman 2007 and Llewellyn-Jones 2007 offer two very detailed studies, often with numerous individual convoys broken down to show ship losses and casualties. Edwards 2002 examines two of the hardest-hit convoys in the Arctic and shows some of the hazards and difficulties of operating vessels in Arctic waters. Blair 1998 takes the position that the German threat to the convoys was actually less than is normally supposed. Jackson 2003 is an interesting addition, demonstrating in its study of Ultra the role of British code breaking on the Arctic convoy battles.
Blair, Clay. Hitler’s U-Boat War. Vol. 2, The Hunted: 1942–1945. New York: Random House, 1998.
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In great detail, Blair dispels the notion that the Germans had come close to winning the naval contest in the Arctic or that the Murmansk run was really as important as history remembers it. Blair shows how badly the Germans were defeated in what was a convoy route of secondary importance.
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Edwards, Bernard. The Road to Russia: Arctic Convoys 1942. Barnsley, UK: Leo Cooper, 2002.
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The book deals in detail with the fate of the convoys PQ13 and PQ17, bound from Iceland to North Russia, and the westbound convoy QP13, which was attacked by aircraft and U-boats.
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Jackson, John, ed. Ultra’s Arctic War. Bletchley Archive 2. Milton Keynes, UK: Military Press, 2003.
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This work examines the role played by Ultra, the British code-breaking effort in World War II, and its impact on the Arctic convoy battles.
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Llewellyn-Jones, Malcolm, ed. The Royal Navy and the Arctic Convoys: A Naval Staff History. Naval Staff Histories. London: Routledge, 2007.
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This staff history describes the Arctic Convoys from 1941 to 1945. It is a superb source for studying the operational and tactical history of the convoy battles fought in Arctic waters, with great detail and extensive statistics. The work is a declassified staff report from 1945.
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Schofield, B. B. The Arctic Convoys. London: Macdonald and Jane’s, 1977.
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This book is one of the more easily digested works on the Arctic convoys. Broken down into numerous sections, it would serve as a good introduction. The work also contains a lengthy series of very detailed appendices providing useful numbers and names for every facet of the lengthy battle.
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Woodman, Richard. The Arctic Convoys, 1941–1945. Barnsley, UK: Leo Cooper, 2007.
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This is a very extensive study of the British Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union during World War II. The text provides a detailed look at the tactical and operational levels of convoy battles as well as at the bigger picture—the importance of the convoys and the difficulty in operating the High North. Originally published in 1994 (London: John Murray).
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Northern Naval Operations
Hill 2007a (cited under Pre World War II), a short survey of Russian Arctic naval power, is a good starting point for research. Polmar and Noot 1991 offers a similarly brief but useful summary of conflict in the Russian Arctic during World War II. Kolyshkin 1985, the author’s memoirs, is a personal account and, although not an academic work, is a rare primary source on Arctic combat from the Russian perspective. Evans 1999 provides one of the best broad overviews of naval warfare in Arctic conditions, whereas Suprun 2007 takes a more in-depth look at naval involvement in a single significant operation.
Evans, Mark Llewellyn. Great World War II Battles in the Arctic. Contributions in Military Studies 172. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999.
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Drawing upon both published and unpublished sources, such as Royal Navy communiqués on Arctic convoys and Department of the Navy documents, Evans chronicles endurance against the weather as well as German efforts to cut the Allied flow of munitions to the Soviet Union.
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Kolyshkin, I. Russian Submarines in Arctic Waters. Translated by David Skvirsky. New York: Bantam, 1985.
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Admiral Kolyshkin commanded submarine groups in the Arctic during World War II. This is his personal account of battling German forces in the North. Although not an academic work, texts like this one are among the only primary sources available when studying Russian activity in the war.
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Polmar, Norman, and Jurrien Noot. “World War II of the Black Sea and Far East.” In Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies, 1718–1990. By Norman Polmar and Jurrien Noot, 121–135. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1991.
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This chapter offers a concise look at the naval war that took place in the Soviet North during World War II. The chapter is broken down by year and would serve as a good introduction to the subject.
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Suprun, Mikhail. “Operation ‘West’: The Role of the Northern Fleet and Its Air Forces in the Liberation of the Russian Arctic in 1944.” In Special Issue: Russian and Soviet Naval Power in the Arctic, 1914–1945. Edited by Alexander Hill. Journal of Slavic Military Studies 20.3 (2007): 433–447.
DOI: 10.1080/13518040701533022Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is an examination of the naval component of the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation. The article demonstrates how much stronger Soviet forces had become through Lend-Lease efforts. Despite this enhanced capability, however, the author believes that operational timidity limited the effectiveness of the force. Available online for purchase.
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The Cold War
The combination of geography with the development of long-range bombing and under-ice submarine capability ensured that the Arctic would be a region of great strategic significance during the Cold War. The 1950s saw the development of a series of expensive radar lines in the North American Arctic, designed to detect incoming Soviet bombers flying over the Pole. New cold-weather ground-warfare capabilities were also tentatively being developed at this time in preparation for a potential Soviet attack through the North. The development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the 1960s limited the threat posed by manned bombers and reduced the need for northern radars. However, this decade also saw the first deployment of nuclear attack submarines under the polar ice cap. Under-ice submarine capability was pursued by both the American and the Soviet navies and by the 1980s had achieved a place of prominence in both nations’ maritime plans. Surface warship activity in the Arctic also increased dramatically throughout the Cold War as Soviet forces rapidly built up their Northern Fleet and began to use the Barents region for much of their ballistic missile submarine forces. In reaction, the US Navy was forced to place a great deal of emphasis on Arctic operations by the 1980s.
Strategic Importance
At the end of World War II, the Arctic took on a new strategic importance. This importance was derived largely from the region’s use as an avenue of attack for nuclear-armed bombers and missiles but also from its use by the Soviet Union for principal naval bases. Hockin and Brennan 1976 examines these strategic interests in the 1970s, with an emphasis on the American and Soviet economic/maritime perspective. Jervell and Nyblom 1986 provides a series of articles that cover the developing strategic reality from a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) perspective in the 1980s, examining especially the important US Maritime Strategy. Haydon 1988 examines these issues from a Canadian perspective, which is focused more upon concerns of continental defense than global maritime confrontation. Lackenbauer, et al. 2010 and Lackenbauer, et al. 2014 offer useful documentary compendiums and syntheses outlining the development of Canadian Arctic security policy.
Grant, Shelagh. Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2010.
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This work is a broad history of the North American Arctic. Among other things, it updates Grant’s research on Arctic security, first published in Grant 1988 (cited under North American Arctic, Greenland, and Svalbard), and expands it to the Cold War period.
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Haydon, Peter T. “The Strategic Importance of the Arctic.” Canadian Defence Quarterly 17.4 (1988): 27–34.
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Haydon offers a concise examination of the Soviet threat from the Arctic in the 1980s from a Canadian perspective. Discusses defense requirements and Soviet first-strike capability from the North.
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Hockin, T. A., and P. A. Brennan. “Canada’s Arctic and Its Strategic Importance.” In The Arctic in Question. Edited by E. J. Dosman, 102–120. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1976.
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This is a look at the military and economic strategic importance of the circumpolar Arctic. The text posits that that the importance of the region to the Soviets rests in the positioning of the Northern Fleet and the Northern Sea Route. The United States’ interests are seen in air power and nuclear submarines.
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Jervell, Sverre, and Kare Nyblom, eds. The Military Buildup in the High North: American and Nordic Perspectives. Papers presented at a conference organized by the Harvard Center for International Affairs, Spring 1985. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1986.
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Produced in the mid-1980s as the Arctic regions were gaining a new strategic importance with the adoption of the Maritime Strategy by the US government, this edited volume is a broad overview of American and Nordic strategic perceptions and naval developments in the Arctic waters.
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Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, Ryan Dean, and Adam Lajeunesse. “Canadian Arctic Defence and Security Policy: An Overview of Key Documents, 1970–2012.” Documents on Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security. Calgary, AB: Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, 2014.
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This documentary compendium is a synthesis of every important Canadian government policy document and committee publication on the subject of Arctic security from 1970–2012, charting the evolution of Canadian policy and perception from the Cold War to the 21st century. This source is an exceptionally useful tool for any scholar looking for concise summaries of key documents and a clear map of the changes in Canada’s northern security policy.
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Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, and Peter Kikkert, eds. The Canadian Forces and Arctic Sovereignty: Debating Roles, Interests, and Requirements, 1968–1974. Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2010.
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This documentary compendium reproduces key documents created by the Canadian government and Department of Defense during the crucial years following the voyage of the SS Manhattan. It also boasts an extremely useful introduction, which charts the development of Canadian security policy during this time while highlighting the difficulties of addressing legal and political issues with military force.
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North American Arctic Radar and Fighter Defenses
Jockel 1987 and Conant 1962 offer good overviews of the subject of continental defense. Grant 1988 (cited under North American Arctic, Greenland, and Svalbard) offers a well-researched examination of the early Cold War projects from a political-military point of view. Bercuson 1990 provides a useful contrast to this on the fundamental political question of sovereignty surrounding the projects.
Bercuson, David. “Continental Defense and Arctic Sovereignty, 1945–50: Solving the Canadian Dilemma.” In The Cold War and Defense. Edited by Keith Neilson and Ronald G. Haycock, 153–170. New York: Praeger, 1990.
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Bercuson provides an examination of the early North American Cold War defense projects and offers a political analysis that contrasts well with that offered by Shelagh Grant. Bercuson posits that the military activity in the North did not diminish but rather reinforced Canadian sovereignty in the region.
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Conant, Melvin. The Long Polar Watch: Canada and the Defense of North America. New York: Harper, 1962.
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This is a concise survey of the Canadian–American efforts to guard North America from the threat of Soviet bombers flying over the pole. The text is concerned primarily with the military details of continental defense.
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Jockel, Joseph T. No Boundaries Upstairs: Canada, the United States, and the Origins of North American Air Defence, 1945–1958. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1987.
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A concise read, this is perhaps the authoritative work on the subject of North American continental defense in the early Cold War. Traces the evolution of defense policy in Canada and the United States and the development of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the three radar warning lines constructed in the 1940s and 1950s.
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Ground Forces
Because of the harsh conditions and isolated nature of the region, there was little serious thought given to the ground defense of the North American Arctic. The Russian Arctic saw far more army deployment, but relatively little information or scholarship has come out of the former Soviet Union. In North America, military activity was confined to exercises, such as Operation Muskox or the occasional presence of mobile forces, like that described by Maloney 1993. Two of the most complete studies of military activity in the Canadian North are Eyre 1981 and the shorter Eyre 1987. Lackenbauer is the recognized expert on the Canadian Rangers, and his work (Lackenbauer 2013) should be consulted when studying that militia group and its role in defending the Canadian North. Gellner 1976 examines the question of defense from a Canadian perspective and adds a political dimension to the question, with a look at the influence of defense concerns on Canadian sovereignty. The Arctic Institute of North America, at the University of Calgary, offers an excellent online photo essay project (Sovereignty, Defence and Discovery) useful as a source of well-indexed visual material covering a wide spectrum of Arctic defense activities.
Arctic Institute of North America. Sovereignty, Defence and Discovery.
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This project is an interactive map and photo website that offers brief descriptions of Operation Muskox, Operation Lemming, and other defense-related activity in the Canadian Arctic. The project offers an enormous collection of photographs from the period, helpfully divided by military exercise, time, and location.
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Eyre, Kenneth Charles. “Custos Borealis: The Military in the Canadian North.” PhD diss., University of London, King’s College, 1981.
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This dissertation is the most comprehensive and thorough history of the Canadian military’s activities in the Arctic. It is a bit dated and should be read along with more modern works such as Lackenbauer’s The Canadian Forces and Arctic Sovereignty: Debating Roles, Interests, And Requirements, 1968–1974 (Waterloo, ON: Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, 2010), however it still provides an excellent survey and an invaluable starting point for academic work on the subject.
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Eyre, Kenneth C. “Forty Years of Military Activity in the Canadian North, 1947–87.” Arctic 40.4 (1987): 292–299.
DOI: 10.14430/arctic1786Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is a look at the military and strategic perceptions of the North and the limited activity that took place in the Canadian Arctic from the 18th century to the 1980s. The article notes that the Arctic’s most significant military characteristic is not necessarily the temperature but the isolation.
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Gellner, J. “The Military Task: Sovereignty and Security, Surveillance and Control in the Far North.” In The Arctic in Question. Edited by E. J. Dosman, 85–101. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1976.
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This chapter in Dosman’s volume describes the Arctic’s strategic importance as a glacis whose purpose is to give North America time to react to a Soviet attack. The text discusses the construction of “fortress North America” through radar lines and sonar systems, which need to be considered.
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Halliday, Hugh, A. “Exercise ‘Musk Ox’: Asserting Sovereignty ‘North of 60.’” Canadian Military History 7.4 (1998): 37–44.
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This concise but useful article on Operation Muskox is a good place to start when studying postwar Canadian and American Arctic ground-warfare capabilities.
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Lackenbauer, P. Whitney. “Canada’s Northern Defenders: Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Rangers, 1947–2005.” In Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian Military: Historical Perspectives. Edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Craig Leslie Mantle, 171–208. Ontario: Canadian Defence Academy, 2007.
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Lackenbauer’s work is certainly some of the best on the subject of the Canadian Rangers. This article examines their history and contribution to the defense of northern Canada during the Cold War.
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Lackenbauer, P. Whitney. The Canadian Rangers: A Living History. Studies in Canadian Military History. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2013.
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This study is the authoritative history of the Canadian Rangers and required reading in any research on the subject. Based on extensive archival research and firsthand interviews, this book explores the evolution of the Rangers, their place in the Canadian military, and their role in defending Canada’s northern sovereignty.
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Maloney, Sean M. “The Mobile Striking Force and Continental Defense 1948–1955.” Canadian Military History 2.2 (1993): 75–88.
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Maloney provides a concise and useful article on the history and uses of the Canadian Mobile Strike Force. This was a force put together in the 1950s and trained to respond to a potential Soviet incursion into the Canadian High North.
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Nuclear Submarines
Although most historical material on the activities on nuclear submarines in the Arctic remains shrouded in secrecy, there are a number of excellent studies offering insight into the US Navy’s Arctic activities. Leary 1999 is the most detailed and well-documented study covering the Cold War up to the 1970s, providing a look at the difficulties of naval operations in the region. Williams 1998 does likewise, offering a detailed narrative of some of the early submarine voyages. Lajeunesse 2013 presents the most detailed study of American submarines in Canadian Arctic waters. Primary sources on these early voyages are also available from the commanders of some of the boats; these are Steele 1962, Anderson 2008, and Calvert 1960. Lyon 1992 is always to be given attention, as its civilian scientist author was one of the most important backers of the American under-ice submarine program for decades. Sakitt 1988 and Critchley 1984 examine submarine strategy in the later Cold War, when SSBNs (nuclear-powered, ballistic nuclear missile–carrying submarines) launching missiles from below the ice cap and American attacks into the Russian North were considered real possibilities.
Anderson, William R. The Ice Diaries: The Untold Story of the Cold War’s Most Daring Mission. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008.
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This is an updated version of Anderson’s Nautilus 90 North (Cleveland, OH: World Publishing, 1959). The volume includes newly declassified material on the political motivations of the Nautilus’s voyage. Like the previous version, this is as much an adventure story as anything else, yet it remains the most complete primary source on the Nautilus’s groundbreaking voyage.
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Calvert, James F. Surface at the Pole: The Extraordinary Voyages of the USS Skate. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.
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This is a firsthand account by the commander of the USS Skate during its crossings of the Arctic Ocean in August 1958 and March 1959. The book is a good primary source on the development of the US Navy’s Arctic submarine capability when read together with similar works by Anderson and Steele.
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Critchley, W. Harriet. “Polar Deployment of Soviet Submarines.” International Journal 39.4 (1984): 828–856.
DOI: 10.2307/40202298Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Critchley offers a detailed analysis of the strategic rationale and potential for the use of Arctic waters by Soviet SSBNs and cruise missile–carrying submarines for deployment during the Cold War. Also points to the dangers this presented to the North American security system in the 1980s.
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Lajeunesse, Adam. “A Very Practical Requirement: Under-Ice Operations in the Canadian Arctic, 1960–1986.” Cold War History 13.4 (2013): 507–524.
DOI: 10.1080/14682745.2012.727800Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article offers the first detailed look at American submarine operations in the Canadian Arctic. Using declassified documentation not published elsewhere, it examines the routes and tasks of American SSNs, as well as the development of the Canadian Arctic Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS). In so doing, it demonstrates the existence of a cooperative Canadian-American defense relationship in the field of under-ice defense.
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Leary, William M. Under Ice: Waldo Lyon and the Development of the Arctic Submarine. College Station: Texas A&M Military History Series 62. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1999.
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The most detailed look at the history of the US Navy’s under-ice submarine program during the Cold War. The text is limited in that it does not proceed past 1969, but it is the best source for understanding the strategic, operational, technical, and political elements behind the Arctic submarine.
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Lyon, Waldo K. “Submarine Combat in the Ice.” US Naval Institute Proceedings 118.2 (1992): 33–40.
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Written by one who is considered the father of US Arctic submarine capability, this article briefly discusses the development of Arctic submarine warfare capability from the 1950s to the 1990s, detailing the progress made each decade in navigation and war-fighting capability.
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Sakitt, Mark. Submarine Warfare in the Arctic: Option or Illusion? Stanford, CA: Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation, 1988.
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This short paper is an excellent examination of the Arctic submarine’s role in the US Navy’s 1980s Maritime Strategy. Offers good historical perspective and examines the possibility of hunting Soviet submarines in the polar region. The text’s greatest contribution is to highlight how difficult submarine warfare in the region would be.
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Steele, George P. Seadragon: Northwest under the Ice. New York: Dutton, 1962.
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This is a book written by the captain of the USS Seadragon, the first nuclear submarine to pass through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in 1963. The text is a good primary source for any project dealing with nuclear submarines in the Arctic or Canadian–American defense relations in the region.
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Williams, Marion D. Submarines under Ice: The U.S. Navy’s Polar Operations. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998.
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Williams provides a good look at the US Navy’s polar operations from 1942 to 1962, though it ends before Arctic operations become an important and fairly regular occurrence. A useful book for studying the first submarines deployed under ice: the Skate, Sargo, Nautilus, and Seadragon.
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The Maritime Theatre
Østreng 1987, Miller 1988, and Norton 1988 are good overviews of the strategic situation in the Cold War European Arctic, based on the perceived Soviet threat to Norway and NATO’s northern flank. Till 1988 offers a European perspective on the issue, whereas Jervell and Nyblom 1986 (cited under Strategic Importance) provides insight into American and Scandinavian strategic thinking. Crickard 1987 and Honderich 1987 offer Canadian perspectives on the later Cold War strategic situation, with emphasis on the threat posed by nuclear submarines and cruise missiles, whereas Elliot-Meisel 1999 is one of the very few studies of early Canadian activity in the Arctic.
Crickard, F. W. “An Anti-Submarine Warfare Capability in the Arctic: A National Requirement.” Canadian Defense Quarterly 16.4 (1987): 24–30.
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This is a look at the strategic problem of Soviet Arctic deployment from a Canadian perspective. The paper examines the need for surveillance and interdiction capabilities in the Canadian North.
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Elliot-Meisel, Elizabeth B. “Arctic Focus: The Royal Canadian Navy in Arctic Waters, 1946–1949.” Northern Mariner 9.2 (1999): 23–39.
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The best look at Royal Canadian Navy activity north of 60 degrees from 1945 to 1948. The author describes this activity as being very limited, based on budgetary concerns, the northern environment, and NATO contributions in the Atlantic.
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Honderich, John. “Time to Plant the Flag.” In Arctic Imperative: Is Canada Losing the North? By John Honderich, 67–74. Toronto and Buffalo, NY: University of Toronto Press, 1987.
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Chapter 7 discusses the practicalities of fighting in the North American Arctic, both on land and under the water. This chapter is also a look at the threat posed by Soviet submarine–launched cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
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Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, and Peter Kikkert. “Setting an Arctic Course: Task Force 80 and Canadian Control in the Arctic, 1948.” Northern Mariner 21.4 (2011): 327–358.
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The article examines the Task Force 80 expedition, made up of three US icebreakers, to the Canadian Arctic. It is an excellent resource for those studying early Cold War resupply operations, American icebreaker deployments, Canada-US foreign relations (regarding sovereignty), and the historiography of North American Arctic explorations and American-Canadian diplomacy.
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Miller, Steven. “The Maritime Strategy and Geopolitics in the High North.” In The Soviet Union and Northern Waters. Edited by Clive Archer, 205–238. London and New York: Routledge, 1988.
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This is an examination of the “New Maritime Strategy” and the role of the NATO allies in combating the Soviet Union in northern waters. The text concerns itself with the debate as to whether the strategy was feasible or would be effective.
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Norton, Douglas. “Responding to the Soviet Presence in Northern Waters: An American Naval View.” In The Soviet Union and Northern Waters. Edited by Clive Archer, 179–204. London and New York: Routledge, 1988.
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This is a look at the Soviet buildup in the northern waters toward the end of the Cold War. Discusses the Soviet threat to the Norwegian Sea and NATO’s northern flank.
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Østreng, Willy. The Soviet Union in Arctic Waters: Security Implications for the Northern Flank of NATO. Translated by Eric Hansen. The Law of the Sea Institute Occasional Paper 36. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1987.
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Østreng presents a broad survey of the issues surrounding the Soviet naval buildup in the Arctic at the end of the Cold War. He examines the implications for Norwegian and western security, the geographic constraints presented by the region, and the strategic naval use of the Arctic region in general.
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Till, Geoffrey. “Maritime Strategy in Northern Waters: Implications for the Navies of Europe.” In The Soviet Union and Northern Waters. Edited by Clive Archer, 239–251. London and New York: Routledge, 1988.
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Till looks at the response of the western European states to the emerging Soviet navy in northern waters and to the US Maritime Strategy. He sees European NATO reactions to military strategy as tied to politics and views of US foreign policy as a whole.