Winter War in real time

[lordroel]

Day 36 of Winter War, January 4th 1940

Support for the Finns continues to pour in from abroad. The first contingent of Norwegian volunteers leaves Oslo.

Great Britain and France are formulating plans to send troops to Finland via the Narvik railway. That line extends from the port to Oulu and Helsinki, but it passes through Sweden. Swedish iron ore at Gällivare, which is typically shipped from Narvik, is on the priority list for seizure by both sides, so there may be ulterior motives behind these troop transfer requests. Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax asks Norway for permission to use the port, but curiously only copies Sweden on the request - when the Swedes have complete control over the line. It is as if he considers Swedish acquiescence a foregone conclusion. He cites German sinkings of British freighters as a pretext. Sweden, for its part, has been holding on to its neutrality with an iron fist, though if anything it leans toward the British and French.

Winter War Army Operations

Soviet troops are suffering in the worst of the winter weather. They are freezing to death, dying of starvation, suffering frostbite, and have all sorts of weather-related maladies which require amputations.

General Vinogradov orders - or, more aptly stated, permits - the trapped 44th Rifle Division to try to break out again. Just as on the 3rd, this attempt fails miserably.

General Chuikov in command of Ninth Army is running out of options. He cannot get supplies to the trapped men, and he discovers today that, contrary to false assurances from Colonel Volkov on the Ratte road, they have no connection to the outside world. Chuikov informs the Stavka that a disaster is brewing. He manages to get a plane in the air, which drops bags of dry tack. He tentatively plans for a full-scale relief attempt on the 5th.

The trapped Soviets, meanwhile, realize their predicament completely. Captain Pastukhov of the 2nd Battalion, 146th Rifle Regiment, whose troops have not eaten in four days, leaves his own position to consolidate his troops with the headquarters of the nearby 305th Rifle Regiment. He explains that he has no more ammunition anyway. Since this leaves a hole in the Soviet defenses, General Vinogradov orders him to return. Before he can get back there, though, the Finns move in and cut the road where his troops had been. This produces another Motti (log).

Further east, Task Force Kari takes the village of Eskola.

Winter War Air Operations

The Soviets attack the vital Finnish railway line that heads through Sweden to Narvik.

The Finns bomb Soviet island bases on Oesel and Dagoe.

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Day 37 of Winter War, January 5th 1940

Winter War

More volunteers continue flooding into Finland. The first contingent from Sweden arrives.

Winter War Army Operations

The Finns encircle the Soviet 18th Division.

Captain Lassila's battalion holds its road block against rabid Soviet attempts to break through and takes 96 casualties among its 1000-man force.

The Finns (Task Force Fagernas) blow up the Purasjoki River bridge five miles from the border at 22:00. This further isolates the Soviet troops further west. Task Force Fagernas thus prevents a relief force of the NKVD 3rd Regiment from reaching the bulk of the 44th Rifle Division on the Ratte road.

In the evening, the Finns destroy the HQ of the 25th Rifle Regiment, which had been leading the way west. They also attack the HQ of the 146th Rifle Regiment, which has been a source of strength in the middle of the column, and wipe it out. The commander sends a last radio message, "God help us, we are dying here." Many of the Soviet men escape through the woods but have nowhere to go.

Winter War Naval Operations

Soviet cruiser Kiroff is damaged by Finnish coastal batteries (near misses) and is towed back to the Soviet naval base at Liepāja.

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Day 38 of Winter War, January 6th 1940

The Finnish 12th and 13th Infantry Divisions attack the Soviet 8th Army north of Lake Ladoga early.

Time to finish off the reeling Soviet 44th Rifle Division. On the Raate road, the Finns begin at 3 a.m. They attack 5 miles east of Mäkinen’s original roadblock near Suomussalmi. The Soviet soldiers flee into the forests, where the Finns on skis track them down. In any event, there is nothing for them there, no shelter, so most soon perish in the bitter, lifeless cold.

Task Force Fagernas continues holding the Purasjoki River crossing area where they blew up the bridge on January 5th 1940. The NKVD troops from the USSR attempt to get by them to relieve their comrades further east, but fail. The Task Force also has enough troops to spare to cut the Ratte road further west as well.

Comrade Vinogradov, in command of Soviet 44th Rifle Division, radios Chuikov at 9th Army HQ that his men can only return through the forest and must leave all their equipment behind. Chuikov replies that the men must wait where they are until relief forces arrive. However, Chuikov himself asks the Stavka for instructions, requesting a breakout without the heavy equipment.

Division headquarter has lost all contact with the Division on the Ratte road except with the 122nd Artillery Regiment and the 305th Rifle Regiment.

Late in the day, the Finns construct a barrier near the border. Vinogradov breaks down at 16:00 and tells his subordinates to break out at 22:00. Everything is put into the effort, which is led by two rifle companies of the 25th Rifle Regiment under Major Plyukhin. Two batteries of artillery, tanks, and the rest of the Division follow along. The vast majority of the wounded are left behind on the road.

The breakout begins sometime during the night. The breakout failed immediately. The Soviets abandoned their heavy equipment and ran north of the road, into the woods. The vast majority of the heavy equipment remained intact. The fleeing Soviet troops then headed eastward through deep snow, about 2-3 kilometers away toward the border. One group, the 305th Regiment, escaped without opposition. Vinogradov, who had joined the column at some point, escaped guarded by two rifle companies and a Guard Platoon.

Winter War Air Operations

A group of 8 Soviet Ilyushin DB-3s bombers are flying over Utti, 60 miles northeast of Helsinki, when two Finnish Fokker D.XXI fighters intercept them and shoot seven of them down. Finnish pilot Jorma Sarvanto shoots down six of them in 25 minutes.

Photo: Finnish ace pilot Jorma Sarvanto.

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Day 39 of Winter War, January 7th 1940

Finland claims to have killed 50,000 Soviet troops since the start of the war.

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviet 44th Rifle Division on the Ratte road collapses. The western end of the column disintegrates, with the Soviet survivors fleeing aimlessly into the frozen woods which are hip-deep in show. At the destroyed Purasjoki Bridge crossing, the Finnish 9th Division maintains its roadblock. Facing eastward, other Finnish troops at Ratte on the border block any Soviet attempt at relief.

There are still scattered pockets of armed Soviet survivors back on the Ratte road, including unattended wounded.

The survivors are not greeted warmly on the Soviet side of the border. The 305th Rifle Regiment (Captain Chervyakov), the only relatively intact Soviet formation to make it back, is immediately ordered to man the border against the nearby Finns. Many the men no longer have rifles, and some 40% have no gloves or mittens.

There is no food at the border for the troops of the 44th Rifle Division that escaped. They had abandoned their own field kitchens and supplies to the Finns. The Soviets behind the lines do not believe in helping losers.

Soviet Military

There is a major command shake-up. Marshal Voroshilov takes personal command of the Soviet armies in Finland, while General Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko takes over the 7th and 13th Armies in the Karelian Isthmus. This command is now named the Northwestern Front.

[lordroel]

Day 40 of Winter War, January 8th 1940

The Finns have astounded the world by beating back most of the Soviet incursions on their territory, including all of the most deadly ones.

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviet holdouts on the Ratte road surrender around Lakes Kuivasjarvi and Kuomasjarvi (near Captain Mäkinen’s original roadblock). The Finns will take a few days to finish off the remaining Soviet stragglers who ran into the woods or are still hiding in abandoned equipment on the Ratte road. In essence, though, they now have completely eliminated what had been considered the most dangerous advance into the country.

Casualties of the 44th Rifle Division totalled over 5,000 men. All told, in the Suomussalmi battles, the Soviets lost 13,000-27,500 dead or missing, with 2,100 prisoners, 71 field guns, 260 trucks, 1,170 horses, 29 anti-tank guns, and 43 tanks captured.

While it is an epic defeat, the Soviet Union is far from defeated.

[lordroel]

Day 41 of Winter War, January 9th 1940

The Soviets issue a communiqué admitting that they had to retreat from Suomussalmi.

Winter War Army Operations

The Finns once again stage a secret operation and cut the Leningrad-Murmansk railway.

Winter War Air Operations

Soviet bombers raid six small towns in Finland.

Winter War Peace Talks

There are unofficial peace talks in Stockholm between Hella Wuolijoki, an Estonian-born Finnish writer, and Alexandra Kollontai, the Soviet ambassador to Sweden. Both had been friends of Lenin.

In addition, the Finnish Foreign Affairs Committee seeks US mediation.

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Day 42 of Winter War, January 10th 1940

Some 350 Hungarian men begin military training. They are to be formed into the Hungarian Volunteer Detached Battalion. It will be commanded by Lieutenant Imre Kémeri Nagy and have 24 officers, 52 NCOs, 2 doctors and 2 Padres.

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviet command is consumed with recriminations about the defeats suffered to date. It is not a time for grand operations. Much of the rest of January is consumed with court martials, command changes and replacement of lost troops.

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Day 43 of Winter War, January 11th 1940

Kombrig Vinogradov, Commissar Parkhomenko, and Chief of Staff Volkov of the 44th Rifle Division each are found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. The charges are irrelevant, the outcome was preordained by the military defeat, but they are accused among other things of leaving behind wounded to die. They are executed in Vazhenvaara by firing squad in front of what remains of their troops. The commissar of the Ninth Army, Furt, is appointed the acting commander of the 44th Rifle Division, which must be completely rebuilt.

Winter War Army Operations: The Finnish IV Corps (12th Infantry Division and 13th Infantry Division) surround the 34th Tank Brigade, Soviet 168th Division and 18th Rifle Division of Soviet 8th Army north of Lake Ladoga. They call this the "Great Mottie of Kitilä." The weather is good enough for the Soviets to supply the pocket by air, but the men inside are miserable and immobilized. The Finns beat off a Soviet relief attempt and set to work cutting up the pocket as they did near Suomussalmi. Major Matti Aarnio of the 4th Jaeger battalion leads the effort and becomes famous as "Motti-Matti."

At Salla, the Soviets try another attack toward the Kemijarvi-Tornio railway but make a little progress.

Winter War Air Operations

At frozen Lake Kemi, the Swedish volunteer air group, Flygflottilj 19, starts off with a dozen obsolete Gladiator Gloster fighters and 4 Hart light bombers. They are a good match for Soviet airplanes, however, which in general are also obsolete by current standards.

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Day 44 of Winter War, January 12th 1940

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviets of 7th Army, now under Kirill Meretskov, attempt to cross the River Taipale, which is ice-bound. They choose a 16 km area between Taipale and the Munasuo swamp. They use an armoured wedge to break through, followed by infantry and other forces. They have built up their tank force and drastically increased manpower. The ultimate aim is Viipuri.

Winter War Peace Talks

There is a secret meeting between Finnish representatives and Madame Kollontai, the Soviet ambassador to Sweden, in Stockholm.

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Day 45 of Winter War, January 13th 1940

Winter War Army Operations

At Sallaa, the Soviet 9th Army orders the 122nd Division to retreat to the Märkäjärvi village. This helps the two prongs of the Soviet effort, on the north and south forks of the road, to form a tighter overall perimeter.

Winter War Air Operations

The Soviets bomb Helsinki, Turku, and nearby towns.

Winter War Naval Operations

Soviet submarine ShCh-324 surfaces within a convoy in the Sea of Åland, fires a torpedo, and misses. Finnish naval escort Aura II, which previously had been the Presidential yacht, damages ShCh-324 with depth charges. However, one of the depth charges explodes on the ship, utterly destroying it. There are 15 survivors and 26 perish. ShCh-324 escapes.

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Day 46 of Winter War, January 14th 1940

Inter War Air Operations: Soviet bombers apparently mistakenly violate Norwegian airspace and drop bombs on Lulea, Sweden. Both file diplomatic protests. Another flight of 40 planes bombs the Petamo front in the far north, and Helsinki is bombed twice.

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Day 47 of Winter War, January 15th 1940

The Soviets no longer take the Finns lightly by 15 January 1940. Whereas during the first days of the invasion in December they blithely waltzed in expecting no serious opposition, now they prepare their attacks more carefully.

Winter War Army Operations

Soviet heavy artillery opens up in sustained fashion on the Summa section of the Mannerheim. Such bombardments are typically a prelude to a set-piece attack, but such an attack is nowhere in sight yet. The bombardment provides the Finns no rest and damages their fixed fortifications (which are minimal anyway, such as barbed wire).

Elsewhere, the Soviet armies are largely on their own. Stalin has no big tasks for them, and instead is focusing on new, better-planned operations with fresh troops. Without attention and replenishment, the Soviet forces along the line are gradually weakening and making it easier for the Finns to carve them up into mottis (logs).

Winter War Air Operations

Soviet bombers attack Viipuri and other Finnish cities.

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Day 48 of Winter War, January 16th 1940

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviet artillery pounding of Summa continues without respite on 16 January 1940. Stalin considers artillery to be the "Queen of Battle."

Winter War Air Operations

In extremely frosty weather, the Soviets launch more raids on southern Finland. Since January 12th, the Soviets have dropped almost 3,000 bombs on 50 cities. That is tiny by later standards, but Finland is a small country.

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Day 49 of Winter War, January 17th 1940

An anonymous individual comes up to the Finnish Minister in London, Mr. Gripenberg and hands him £5,000, and walks away.

It is a brutal winter, so brutal that the waters between Sweden and Denmark are said to have frozen over. In Moscow, 79 degrees of frost are recorded. The mercury drops to −43°C (−45°F) on the Karelian Isthmus, −45°C (−49°F) further north in Summa. At noon it is −39°C (−38°F) in Taipale. Lake Lagoda freezes over completely. It is frosty across Europe, and it would have been a terrible day for Hitler's Fall Gelb. On the whole, it benefits the Finns, who have mastered the skill of staying warm while the Soviet soldiers often freeze to death, but everyone on both sides has a hard time with the brutal weather.

Winter War Army Operations

Finns take Kursu near Salla after driving the Soviets back about 12 miles.

The Soviets keep pounding away with their artillery at Summa.

Winter War Air Operations

Fokker fighters from the 24th Squadron shot down 8 enemy Tupolev SB "high speed bomber" over the Isthmus.

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Day 50 of Winter War, January 18th 1940

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviet 9th Army at Salla completes its withdrawal to Maerkaejaervi on 18 January 1940.

General Siilasvuo takes his Finnish 9th Division 30 miles south to Kuhmo. There, he attacks another division of Vasily Chuikov's 9th Army, the 54th Division.

Winter War Air Operations

Soviet bombers raid the port of Kotka, damaging Finnish icebreaker Tarmo. The Finns claim to have brought down five Soviet bombers.