The Petsamo–Kirkenes offensive was a major military offensive during World War II, mounted by the Red Army against the Wehrmacht in 1944 in the Petsamo region, ceded to the Soviet Union by Finland in accordance with the Moscow Armistice, and Norway. The offensive defeated the Wehrmacht's forces in the Arctic, driving them back into Norway, and was called the "Tenth Shock" by Stalin. It later expelled German forces from the northern part of Norway and seized the nickel mines of Petsamo.

Kirkenes is a town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsula along the Bøkfjorden, an arm of the large Varangerfjorden, and is located just a few kilometres from the Norway-Russia border.