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Warfare in cold temperatures

Cold weather warfare, also known as arctic warfare or winter warfare, encompasses military operations affected by snow, ice, thawing conditions, or cold, both on land and at sea, as well as the strategies and tactics used by military forces in these situations and environments. Cold weather conditions occur year round at high elevation or latitudes, and elsewhere materialize seasonally during the winter period. Mountain warfare often takes place in cold weather or on terrain that is affected by ice and snow, such as the Alps and the Himalayas. Historically, most such operations have been during winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Some have occurred above the Arctic Circle where snow, ice, and cold may occur throughout the year. At times, cold—or its aftermath, thaw—has been a decisive factor in the failure of a campaign, as with the French invasion of Russia in 1812, the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939, and the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II.

Northern and Eastern Europe were the venues for some well documented winter campaigns. During World War II several actions took place above the Arctic Circle. Recent cold weather conflicts have occurred in the Himalayas.

In 1242, the Teutonic Order lost the Battle on the Ice on Lake Peipus to Novgorod. In 1520, the decisive Battle of Bogesund between Sweden and Denmark occurred on the ice of lake Åsunden. In 1643 or 1644, Prince Rupert made an abortive attack on the Parliamentarian stronghold of Aylesbury England. 500 men are reported to have frozen to death on 21 January. On 25 January a sudden thaw caused a bridge to collapse over the River Weaver, splitting Royalist cavalry forces at the Battle of Nantwich resulting in their defeat. The 1557 Siege of Katsurayama was fought between the forces of the Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin as part of the Kawanakajima campaigns. Katsurayama castle was a strategically vital Uesugi stronghold in the contested Shinano Province and, when it was isolated from reinforcements due to late snow in early 1557, the Takeda clan used this opportunity to seize it under Baba Nobuharu, shielded from view by heavy snowfall. Sweden and Denmark fought several wars during the 16th and 17th centuries. As a great deal of Denmark consists of islands, it was usually safe from invasion, but in January 1658, most of the Danish waters froze. Charles X Gustav of Sweden led his army across the ice of the Belts to besiege Copenhagen. The war ended with the treaty of Roskilde, a treaty very favorable to the Swedish. During the Great Northern War, Swedish king Charles XII set off to invade Moscow, but was eventually defeated at the Battle of Poltava after being weakened by cold weather and scorched earth tactics. Sweden suffered more casualties during the same war as Carl Gustaf Armfeldt with 6,000 men tried to invade Trondheim. Three thousand of them died of exposure in the snow during the Carolean Death March.

During the Finnish War, the Russian army unexpectedly crossed the frozen Gulf of Bothnia from Finland to Åland and, by 19 March 1809, reached the Swedish shore within from the Swedish capital, Stockholm. This daring maneuvre decided the outcome of the war. Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 resulted in retreat in the face of winter with the majority of the French army succumbing to frostbite and starvation, rather than combat injuries. The Battle of Weihaiwei was a battle of the First Sino Japanese War in the winter of 1895 in Weihai, Shandong, China between the forces of the Japan and Qing China. Through a well coordinated offensive of both naval and land forces, hampered by snow and cold, the Japanese destroyed the forts on shore and sank much of the Chinese fleet.

During the First World War, soldiers on the Western front involved in trench warfare were forced to deal with freezing conditions, trench foot, frostbite, and disease. The winter of 1916 17 was exceptionally cold, which caused great hardship and deaths among the soldiers. Equipment and vehicles also were not suited for the freezing conditions. At the Battle of Sarikamish, Ottoman troops were unprepared for winter fighting and suffered major losses, with 25,000 freezing to death before the battle even began. On the Italian front, fighting bogged down in trench warfare but at mountain elevations. On White Friday, thousands of troops from both sides were killed in avalanches in the Dolomites.

The Finnish Army used ski troops during the Winter War and the Second World War in which the numerically superior but road bound Soviet forces were vulnerable to attack by mobile, white clad ski troops, approaching from untracked, frozen terrain. The Wehrmacht maintained elite mountain troops, Gebirgsjäger. They were organized in small, specialized units, which relied on pack animals. Typical weapons were light machine guns, mortars, and anti tank guns. Control of ridge lines was paramount, using 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. 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.

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir was a stark example of cold affecting military operations in the Korean War. There were many cold injuries and malfunctions of materiel, both vehicles and weapons. The Sino Indian War was a Himalayan border conflict between China and India that occurred in 1962. India initiated a Forward Policy in which it placed outposts along the border in 1961. China launched simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line on 20 October 1962. Chinese troops advanced over Indian forces in both theaters. Much of the fighting took place in harsh mountain conditions, entailing large scale combat at altitudes of over 4,000 metres (14,000 feet). Many troops on both sides succumbed to the freezing cold temperatures. Argentine troops suffered from cold wet conditions, holding positions in the 1982 Falklands War. The Siachen conflict is a military confrontation between India and Pakistan over the disputed Siachen Glacier region in Kashmir. The conflict began in 1984 with India's successful Operation Meghdoot during which it gained control over all of the Siachen Glacier. A cease fire went into effect in 2003.

Paton offered a 2001 overview of human factors pertaining to cold in military operations. The understanding of cold injuries evolved in the 19th and 20th centuries; understanding of the causes and treatment of frostbite and trench foot improved. In the Sino Japanese War, the Japanese learned the importance of foot care, keeping feet dry and warm with replacement socks. In World War I, doctors realized that trench foot was a prolonged exposure to cold, wet conditions on the feet, which were exacerbated by the use of tight puttees, bandage like leg wrappings. The Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War showed the power of asymmetric warfare on the Finnish side, where small units were able to cut the road bound Soviet invading troops into segments, like firewood, and vanquish each segment. The small units arrived silently on skis or with light artillery pulled by reindeer over frozen, untracked terrain, using winter conditions as an advantage. Although the Soviet Union gained territory from the Finns, it was at the cost of 200,000 fatalities against 25,000 on the Finnish side. Human factors – Providing the right level of clothing to maintain agility and avoid overheating. Maintaining a slow, steady marching pace to avoid chilling down in the wind. Boosting morale with up to date newspapers from home and nearby areas. Providing improvised shelters and bivouacs. Hygiene, emphasizing cleanliness. Mobility – Setting up and maintaining winter roads and trails. Warming up engines for reliable starting. Positions and fortifications – Using logs and snow as materials to provide trenches and gun emplacements. Care of equipment – Keeping equipment dry, when possible, and substituting low temperature lubricants for oils and hydraulic fluids.

Operational factors encompass planning for the climate and weather in which military operations are required with snow, ice, mud and cold being the primary considerations. Military tactics, materiel, combat engineering and military medicine all require specialized adaptations to the conditions encountered in cold weather.

In its 2016 "Mountain Warfare and Cold Weather Operations" manual, the United States Army defines cold regions as "where cold temperatures, unique terrain, and snowfall have a significant effect on military operations for one month or more each year." It describes regions that are either severely cold or moderately cold, each comprising approximately one quarter of the Earth's land mass. and also the German attempt to take Moscow in the autumn of 1941. The 1942 Taschenbuch für den Winterkrieg acknowledges that neither tracked nor wheeled vehicles can maneuver during conditions of thaw and that aircraft operations must be constrained to concrete runways. It addresses minimizing the use of roads during this period and dismantling bridges that are likely to be taken out by ice floes. It emphasizes how positions in frozen soil must be improved to avoid deterioration from thaw and the necessity of changing uniforms from ones for cold to those for wet conditions.]] Armies have made use of improvised and official snow camouflage uniforms and equipment since the First World War, such as in the fighting in the Dolomite Mountains between Austria Hungary and Italy. Snow camouflage was used far more widely in the Second World War by the Wehrmacht, the Finnish Army, the Soviet Army and others. Since then, snow variants of disruptively patterned camouflage for uniforms have been introduced, sometimes with digital patterns. For example, the Bundeswehr has a Schneetarn (snow) variant of its widely used Flecktarn pattern. Soviet Army doctrine emphasized the importance of camouflage over positions and the need to remove telltale signs of artillery actions, such as smoke stains or shell casings. It also cited the usefulness of decoy targets. It describes the establishment of breastworks made from snow thick, ice thick or soil and wood thick. BvS 10, and M29 Weasel.

Military engineers design and construct transportation and troop support facilities. In cold climates frozen ground can make digging difficult.

Trench foot is a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to damp, unsanitary, and cold conditions at temperatures as warm as for as few as 13 hours. Exposure to these environmental conditions causes deterioration and destruction of the capillaries and leads to morbidity of the surrounding flesh. Affected feet may become numb, affected by erythema (turning red) or cyanosis (turning blue) as a result of poor blood supply, and may begin emanating a decaying odour if the early stages of necrosis (tissue death) set in. As the condition worsens, feet may also begin to swell. Advanced trench foot often involves blisters and open sores, which lead to fungal infections. If left untreated, trench foot usually results in gangrene, which may require amputation. If trench foot is treated properly, complete recovery is normal, though it is marked by severe short term pain when feeling returns. Trench foot affected tens of thousands of soldiers engaged in trench warfare in World War I. Keeping feet warm and dry, or at least changing into warm and dry replacement footgear, is the best way to avoid trench foot.

Subfreezing conditions have significant implications for naval operations. The 1988 U. S. Navy Cold Weather Handbook for Surface Ships outlines effects on: icing on the topsides of ships, ship systems, underway replenishment, flight operations, and personnel. It also discusses preparations for cold weather fleet operations.

Topside icing is a serious hazard to ships operating in sub freezing temperatures. Thick layers of ice can form on decks, sides, superstructures, deck mounted machinery, antennas and combat systems. The presence of topside ice has many adverse effects, principally it: As of 2013, Canada had six ice breakers. In 2016, Canada announced the building of five ice breaking Arctic and offshore patrol ships.