Chapter 357: Soviet-Finnish War (16)
How cold is Finland in winter
Someone once humorously interpreted the weather in Finland like this:
15℃——Spanish people wear coats and gloves, while Finns sunbathe outdoors;
10℃——French people turn on the heater, while Finns plant flowers in the garden;
5℃——Italians can't start their cars, while Finns drive convertibles around the streets;
-5℃——Californians are freezing, while Finns have barbecues outdoors;
-10℃——British people turn on the heater, while Finns start wearing long sleeves;
-50℃——Polar bears evacuate the Arctic, while the Finnish army postpones winter field survival training, waiting for the arrival of real winter;
-183℃——Microorganisms in food die, while Finns complain that the old farmer's hands are too cold;
-273℃——Atoms stop moving, and Finns finally say, "Oh my God, it's so cold outside."
In a Soviet camp, soldiers huddled in a makeshift trench and shivered.
A private soldier kept rubbing his hands and complained in a low voice. "This damn weather is so damn cold. If I had known that I would be in such a damn place, I would never have been called up to the army." He couldn't help cursing the officer in charge of the assignment in his heart, whether he was an idiot.
His companion beside him was also shivering with cold. "That's right, why do we southerners have to fight in the north?" If it was summer, it would be fine, but now it's winter, which is quite deadly.
Because he was afraid that the troops close to the Finnish part had an indescribable relationship or culture with Finland; Stalin did not send the troops of the Leningrad Military District, but mobilized troops from the southern Soviet Union to participate in the war.
Finland is located at a high latitude, and the northern part is located within the Arctic Circle, so the winter is extremely cold. The winter of 1939 was one of the three coldest winters in Finnish history. The daytime temperature has dropped to more than 20 degrees below zero. These soldiers from relatively warm areas such as southern Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia cannot adapt to such cold snowy combat at all. They are simply freezing to death!
"Hey, Bolshak, you guys go get some firewood!" At this time, a second lieutenant came over and shouted at the two. "There's not enough firewood!"
"Damn it, these bastards only know how to order people around, can't you go by yourself?!" Bolshak cursed softly and stood up helplessly. "Let's go, it's better to walk around than to freeze here." Then he looked at the second lieutenant and asked. "Sir! Where should we go to get firewood?"
"Are you idiots?!" The second lieutenant pointed to a forest a few hundred meters away with an angry face. "Do you see it? Go..." Before he finished speaking, there was a light sound of "Puff!" The second lieutenant felt as if he was hit by something, and his body swayed and stepped back a few steps. He looked down at his chest blankly, raised his head and looked at the forest in front of him, and slowly fell down.
"What happened to him?" The Soviet soldiers gathered around and saw that the chest of the second lieutenant officer lying on the ground was stained with blood. His eyes were wide open and lifeless. He was already dead.
"This!" Was he shot? !
Before everyone could react, several snow piles 200 meters away from them suddenly moved. Several Finnish soldiers in snow suits jumped up and fired submachine guns at the Soviet soldiers who were gathered together, knocking them to the ground in an instant.
Most submachine guns in World War II had a practical range of 50-150 meters, but there was a submachine gun with an effective range of more than 200 meters, and even performed extremely accurately at a range of 300 meters.
This submachine gun is the famous Finnish Suomi M1931 submachine gun.
The word "Somi" evolved from the word "Finland" in Finnish. The designer Lati dared to name the submachine gun he designed with the name of his motherland, which shows that he was full of confidence in his design. In actual combat, the "Somi" submachine gun did live up to expectations. In the Soviet-Finnish War, the "Somi" submachine gun dealt a heavy blow to the Soviet army and even affected the development of Soviet submachine guns.
The Suomi M1931 submachine gun has nothing special in design. It adopts a conventional recoil operation system and a traditional submachine gun layout.
What is really impressive about it is its excellent workmanship and incredible precision. The material selection of the Suomi submachine gun is almost luxurious. From the gun frame and bolt to a screw, they are all made of solid metal. They are all made of high-quality Swedish chromium-nickel steel. The processing is also very fine, even reaching the manufacturing process standards of sniper rifles.
The fine workmanship and excellent materials make the Suomi submachine gun extremely reliable under any conditions, but it also limits its production quantity. Only about 1,000 were equipped in the Soviet-Finnish War.
Therefore, in 1944, Finland copied the Soviet PPS submachine gun and changed the caliber to 9MM Parabellum pistol bullet. Under the premise of slightly reduced accuracy, it obtained a lighter and much easier to produce M44 submachine gun. 10,000 were produced in 1945 alone.
The M44 9mm submachine gun has a simple structure, convenient processing, and is easy to mass produce. The gun adopts the free bolt working principle, with an open bolt and can only fire continuously. The ammunition feeder uses the 36-round magazine and 71-round drum of the Finnish M1931 Suomi submachine gun (in the mid-1950s, it was replaced by the Gustav 36-round magazine).
The 50,000 submachine guns that Yannick supported Finland were this type of M44 9mm submachine gun.
However, due to the special nature of these German snipers, they were equipped with the best Suomi submachine guns. Moreover, Model and the Finnish military leaders did not restrict their performance, and they were almost independent of the main force. They were divided into countless small teams, attacking these small Soviet targets everywhere.
The rest of the Soviet soldiers were about to resist, but they were shot and fell to the ground by bullets flying from another direction. Soon, this small Soviet camp was slaughtered.
"What's going on? Why did they shoot in advance?!" This is a field kitchen. According to their previous observations, the supply convoy will not come for another hour. Why did they suddenly shoot?
Among the few people who came from the woods, a young soldier scratched his head embarrassedly. "Sorry, that guy just pointed at us, and I thought I was exposed, so I shot."
"You idiot! Be careful next time!" After scolding a few words, the commander of the squad took out a map. "The Soviet troops nearby will definitely come. Hakkinen, let's take a detour to deal with the supply convoy." No matter how well-trained they are, they are in a foreign country after all, and they are unfamiliar with the place. Fortunately, there are many experienced hunters in the Finnish army, and each squad has one or two Finns to assist them in the battle.
The group of ten people paddled the famous sled and left here. The Soviet soldiers who heard the news saw only a mess and the corpses of a platoon of soldiers.