Chapter 424: Soviet-Finnish War (27)

During this period, the Soviet and Finnish armies lived in different worlds.

Finland has a long winter with only 7 hours of daylight; what's worse is that this year's winter is the coldest in Europe in a hundred years, and the night temperature in Finland is generally below -35°.

As mentioned earlier, Stalin did not send troops from the Leningrad Military District, but mobilized troops from the southern Soviet Union to participate in the war because he was afraid that the troops close to Finland had an indescribable relationship or culture with Finland.

These Soviet soldiers, wearing thin M35 uniforms, "Budonny" field caps, and summer leather boots, had a so-called way to avoid the cold, which was a temporary house built on the slope, or a shallow cave covered with branches, or a shed built with branches on the roadside or in a dry ditch. If they were lucky, they could also light a pile of firewood; of course, this would risk being sniped by the white death.

Once night falls, the temperature will drop rapidly to minus 30-minus 40 degrees Celsius. The military uniforms made of khaki soaked in ice and snow will soon be frozen into hard shells in the bone-chilling wind at night if they are not dried in time. Frostbite may be caused at the least, and life may be lost at the worst. These large numbers of non-combat casualties require medical treatment, which makes it more difficult for the already stretched Soviet army to supply, and seriously depletes the Soviet army's combat effectiveness.

On the other hand, the Finnish army stayed comfortably in military tents. Each tent had a wood-burning stove. Even on the coldest night, the 20 people staying in the tent would feel very warm. Wearing military uniforms and lying on soft pine branches, these Finnish soldiers did not even need blankets to cover themselves when they slept at night.

These tents can be folded and easily transported in a boat-like sled called "Akhio". This sled is pulled by three skiers, and there is another person behind to keep the sled balanced while skiing. The Finns also used this simple vehicle to pull mortars, heavy machine guns and other supplies, and also to evacuate the wounded.

The Finnish army also invented the "motti tactic". The so-called "motti" refers to the firewood piled together in Finnish to be chopped. The Finnish people's habit of logging is to cut down trees and pile them up first, and then deal with them one by one later. The Finnish army used a similar method to deal with the Soviet Red Army - first blocking the Soviet column with terrain and weather, and then using constant harassment tactics to probe the strength of the enemy's various units in the column, and then choosing weaknesses to break through, establish a blockade across the road, cut the Soviet column into small pockets at the battalion and company level, and finally eat them one by one.

The first victims of this tactic were the Soviet 163rd and 44th Divisions.

On December 7, the 163rd Division of the Soviet 9th Army, under the order of Chuikov, attacked the Finnish village of Suomussalmi. The Soviet Union's goal was to capture the city of Oulu, cut Finnish territory in two, force Finland to fight on two fronts to defend the country, and cut off an important railway line to Sweden.

There was only one Finnish battalion stationed in the village of Suomusalmi. When the Soviet army arrived, all the villagers had evacuated and the entire village had been burned by the Finnish army. The 163rd Division did not receive any supplies or shelter.

After a short rest on December 8, the Soviet army continued to attack westward, but encountered Finnish reinforcements and had to retreat to the village of Suomusalmi, which was in a very dangerous situation.

Seeing that his main force was about to be trapped, Chuikov had to ask for help from the rear, and the 44th Motorized Infantry Division, led by Vinogradov, came to support the 163rd Division.

The 44th Motorized Infantry Division came from Ukraine and was awarded the title of "Kiev Honor Division" in the Russian Civil War. In the early 1930s, it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in the All-Soviet Military and Political Competition. Both its equipment and training were first-class. But this division was also not well prepared for winter operations. Since the rescue order was very urgent, the entire division actually went to the battlefield wearing autumn clothes brought from Ukraine! However, their commander was very confident. This unit, which had participated in the Red Square parade, also brought its own band and beautiful dresses, preparing to hold a victory parade in the Finnish city.

Finnish reconnaissance aircraft discovered that the column of the Soviet 44th Division was approaching Suomussalmi. After Colonel Silasvuo noticed the Soviet intention, he sensitively realized that he must find ways to separate the enemy's 163rd Division and the 44th Division, otherwise failure was inevitable.

Silasvuo dispatched two companies and rushed to 10 kilometers away. He set up a line of defense on the ridge between Lake Kuivas and Lake Kuomas, preparing to block the Soviet 44th Division here.

There are large forests here, with frozen lakes on both sides, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack.

After a fierce battle, the 44th Division was forced to stop the attack. The Finnish army successfully blocked a Soviet division with 350 men.

The success of this blocking battle was mainly due to the Finnish army's full use of initiative and mobility. At the same time, the Soviet army, which could only move along the road, had no idea of ​​the Finnish army's strength and deployment.

The Soviet 44th Motorized Infantry Division had a large number of motorized vehicles and about 50 tanks, but these vehicles could only move along the only narrow dirt road through the pine forest. In this case, it could not output firepower to the Finnish army guarding the roadblock. Although the division was equipped with hundreds of pairs of skis, they were hardly used.

Therefore, even infantry can only move near the sides of the road. The situation of the Finnish army is exactly the opposite. Skiing has long been a skill that everyone has mastered. The Finnish army adopted mobile guerrilla tactics and continuously launched attacks on the two wings of the division day and night. The two wings of the 44th Division stretched nearly 20 miles from the national border to the roadblocks preset by the Finnish army. The Finnish attack team wore white camouflage uniforms and used skis to sneak up on the division, often achieving complete surprise. Their Somi submachine guns were particularly effective when the raiding party opened fire from close range using the cover of trees.

The Finnish army launched frequent attacks and achieved good results. Vinogradov, the commander of the 44th Motorized Rifle Division of the Soviet Army, mistakenly believed that he had encountered a large Finnish force. He hurriedly ordered the troops to stop attacking and advancing, completely forgetting the mission of rescuing the 163rd Division, and went to Latei on his own. Haukila next to the road turned to defense, completely ignoring the fact that it would be able to meet up with the 163rd Division by advancing another ten kilometers.

After removing the threat behind them, the Finnish army shouted to the 163rd Division: "Put down your weapons, surrender and avoid death." Major General Shedrensov, commander of the 163rd Division, responded angrily. "I would rather die standing than live on my knees!"

The Finnish Army Division Commander Silas Vuor issued an order one by one and launched a fierce attack on the 163rd Division.

After a fierce battle, the 163rd Division suffered heavy casualties and was unable to wait for reinforcements. It left about 5,000 corpses behind and retreated hastily to the northeast. Holding on to a glimmer of hope that they might be able to return to their motherland, they collapsed in the wilderness of ice and snow.

However, the Soviet troops ignored each other and were cut into several large pieces by the Finnish troops. After a whole day of bloody fighting, the Soviet 163rd Division was annihilated and the division commander was killed.