During the Second World War it was an important transport hub since it lay on the road to the Petsamo area and the only free port in the north, Liinahamari.

The objective of the Germans was to control the nickel mines in Petsamo and to conquer the Russian port of Murmansk, cutting the Soviet Union off from Allied supply convoys.

The Soviet Union demanded that the Finns remove all German troops from their territory in two weeks, which was a logistical impossibility.

Rovaniemi was a critical transportation nexus in Lapland through which the sole railroad and several of the main roads passed making controlling it very important to the German evacuation effort.

Once the fighting in Tornio region had ended, the Finnish 3rd Division advanced towards Rovaniemi on the road running alongside the Kemijoki river.

While the German rear guard was going about the destruction, an ammunition train in Rovaniemi station exploded and set fire to the wooden houses of the town.

[1] The next Finnish unit to arrive was the 11th Infantry Regiment, advancing along the road on the northern side of the Kemijoki river on 15 October 1944.