Winter War in real time

[lordroel]

Day 63 of Winter War, January 31st 1940

Marshal Timoshenko has been planning an assault on the very heart of the Mannerheim Line for most of the month. The Soviets have moved in 12 fresh divisions on the Karelian Isthmus alone. Opposite Summa, which Soviet artillery has been pounding with 7,000 shells per day for two weeks, he has assembled 400 heavy artillery pieces (200 mm or more). The Soviet rear is crowded with innumerable smaller artillery pieces, many of which cannot find room close enough to the front to be useful.

Soviet dispositions are aided by the lack of an effective Finnish bomber force, though that has been slightly remedied by the actions of a volunteer Swedish air group. Basically, the Soviets plan to swing an axe right at the heart of the Finnish defenses and then just keep going. To do it, they have brought a mass of men and weapons to overpower the crafty but thinly stretched Finnish forces and blast through the Mannerheim Line.

Winter War Air Operations

The Finns claim to have brought down 5 Soviet planes during a bombing raid on Rovaniemi in which at least 150 bombs were dropped.

Stalin likes to pick "significant" days for his intra-war offensives, and one is straight ahead: the first day of February.

[lordroel]

Day 64 of Winter War, February 1st 1940

Winter War Army Operations

The Second Battle of Summa begins. Dispensing with any attempt at subtlety, the Soviet 7th Army dispatches an army of tanks, many pulling armoured infantry sledged quickly dubbed "Molotov Coffins" directly at the center of the Mannerheim Line. It is a 12 mile stretch of open land, good tank terrain absent rivers and lakes, near Summa. Beyond is the key city of Viipuri, the ultimate objective.

The artillery barrage ramps up to 300,000 shells in 24 hours, more than has been fired at Summa since the start of the campaign. The 13th Army joins in, though the main effort is at 7th Army. Together, the two Soviet armies have 14 divisions and six tank brigades, along with reserves filling the rest of the Karelian Isthmus.

Only regiment probing-style attacks are launched. The idea is to test the Finnish defenses, wear the Finns down and soften the defenses, not break through - yet.

New tank tactics also are tested. The tanks come in smaller numbers and with more infantry support, making them harder to destroy. A rarity in warfare up to this point, they also use tank flamethrowers. The Soviets escalate their artillery and air bombards, and attacks are screened with smoke. Unconcerned about losses, the Soviet Generals send their troops straight at the fortifications in dense masses in the distinctive attack known as à la russe.

The Finnish defense is complicated due to troop rotations they recently have made. The Finnish 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment has been brought to the area of the attack. While capable troops, the 9th Infantry Regiment happens to be completely Swedish-speaking. This is not unusual in Finland - some 6% of all Finns speak Swedish - but it creates communications issues.

While the Mannerheim Line has been battered by weeks of artillery barrages, the ruins serve as effective firing positions. The Finns hold the line for the time being. This first day is just an appetizer.

Winter War Air Operations

Aside from supporting the attack at Summa, the Soviets bomb Rovaniemi and Kemi. The Finns have both aircraft now from several nations, including the Americans and the British. Swedish volunteers are flying off of a frozen lake at Kemi.

[lordroel]

Day 65 of Winter War, February 2nd 1940

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviets continue their massive bombardment of the Finnish Mannerheim Line, along with probing attacks all along the line. They send a special assault squad against the Millionaire bunker, which captures it. The Soviets affix a 50 kg explosive to the roof and blow a hole in the roof and wall. The squad then retreats back to Soviet lines, suffering 75% killed in action. The Finns then recapture the bunker temporarily.

Otherwise, the Soviet 7th and 13th Armies only mount demonstration attacks, not intended to capture ground but to soften the defenses.

Further north, Finnish 9th Division maintains its grip on Soviet 54th Division near Kuhmo. A Siberian ski battalion under Colonel Vyatsheslav Dmitrievitsh Dolin attempts to make contact with the trapped men, who otherwise are completely forgotten by the Kremlin as the main effort shifts to the Karelian Isthmus.

Winter War Air Operations

The Soviets continue bombing Finnish cities, including Helsinki and Sortavala. The Finns claim to have shot down at least five Soviet planes.

[lordroel]

Day 66 of Winter War, February 3rd 1940

War Army Operations:

Day three of the Second Battle of Summa, and the Finns continue holding their positions against Soviet probing attacks. The Stavka gives final approval to Timoshenko's plan for breaking through the Mannerheim Line there.

The Soviets form an assault party to capture and destroy a particularly vexing bunker known as bunker No. 2. The men are riflemen of the 5th Company, 355th Rifle Regiment, along with two T-26 tanks and two squads of sappers. Fighting hand-to-hand through Finnish trenches, they make their way to the bunker and plant 3,500 kg of explosives on its roof during the night, along with other charges totalling 5,300 kg. The men of the 5th company blow the bunker up. It is the first large bunker occupied even temporarily by the Soviet troops, and the 100th Rifle Division commander, Yernakov, focuses his attack in this direction. The Finns, though, hold fast in the forest north of the bunker and prevent any further incursion.

Winter War Air Operations

The Finns claim in a communique that they have brought down another 13 Soviet planes over the scene of the fighting on the Karelian Isthmus. The Soviets also send bombers against various Finnish cities, including Kuopio and Pori on the Bothnian coast.

[lordroel]

Day 67 of Winter War, February 4th 1940

Reports surface that the Germans are sending arms by sea to the Soviets at Petsamo (occupied by the Soviet 14th Army) and Murmansk.

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviet 7th Army advances on Summa Village in fierce fighting. The Finns are fighting fiercely in return from the woods while the Soviets consolidate their capture of Finnish bunkers. The Soviets still have not launched their main attack.

At Kuhmo, the Siberian ski battalion (Col. Dolin) has reached the trapped Soviet 54th Division. The Siberians counterattack the Finnish 9th Division. Elsewhere, Finnish IV Corps destroys the West Lemetti motti (log), capturing 4 field guns, 2 antitank guns, 1 mortar, 32 tanks, 6 machineguns, 120 rifles and 26 trucks. The official orders use the word "motti" for the first time.

Winter War Air Operations

Soviet bombers attack targets throughout Finland, including 141 towns, railways and harbors. Viipuri suffers terribly, with other attacks on Ekenaes and Rovaniemi. In Helsinki, 14 are killed and 179 injured. The Soviets drop about 6,800 bombs. Overall, there is a total of 193 casualties, mostly civilians. The Finns claim to have shot down 11 more Soviet planes.

Winter War Peace Efforts

The Finnish Foreign Minister travels to Stockholm for secret negotiations with Soviet ambassador Madame Kollontai.

[lordroel]

Day 68 of Winter War, February 5th 1940

Winter War Army Operations

Soviet 7th and 13th Armies continue attacking the Mannerheim Line. The Soviets are not advancing, but they are not trying yet. For now, they are weakening the Finnish Mannerheim line in aid of a breakthrough at a later point.

War Air Operations

Soviet air raids continue. The monastery of Valamo on Lake Ladoga is among the places hit, as well as churches.

Winter War Peace Talks

Secret peace talks continue between the Finnish Foreign Minister and Madame Kollontai, the Soviet ambassador to Sweden.

[lordroel]

Day 69 of Winter War, February 6th 1940

Winter War Army Operations

Soviet shelling of the Mannerheim Line continues. There are probing infantry and tank attacks on Summa village and Marjapellonmäki in the nearby Karhula sector (Hill 38).

The Soviets send a tank landing party behind the Mannerheim Line in an effort to turn it. The 335th Rifle Regiment task force includes five T-28 tanks which tow armoured infantry sleds, three flame-thrower tanks, 105 men with four heavy machine guns, and two mortars. The men in charge ae Senior Lieutenant Lobodin and Commissar Chausov.

The mission is a disaster from the start: Finnish artillery and mortar pounds the landing force immediately, and the tanks run out of control and almost run over the armoured infantry sledges. When the men in the sleds run to a ditch to take cover, one of the tanks mistakes them for Finns and opens fire on them. The Finns destroy all five tanks, and the unit is withdrawn to its original starting point.

Further north, Finnish 9th Division continues cutting the trapped Soviet 54th Division into mottis (logs).

Winter War Peace Talks

The Finnish Foreign Minister returns to Helsinki from Stockholm with the Soviet proposals.

[lordroel]

Day 70 of Winter War, February 7th 1940

The British newspapers somehow get ahold of the Allied Supreme War Council's plan to send troops to Finland. This news is not taken completely positively by the Finns, who disapprove of a plan by the French and British to land their troops at Petsamo. Relations with Norway and Sweden, who have not consented to the use of their territory, and certainly not occupation of it, become more complicated. The plan does, though, receive widespread public support.

Winter War Army Operations

The Red Army continues hammering the Mannerheim Line at Summa. There is no breakthrough, but the Soviets are making small penetrations into the defenses and drawing in Finnish reserves.

Winter War Air Operations

The Finnish government now believes that every town in Finland has been bombed by Soviet planes.

[lordroel]

Day 71 of Winter War, February 8th 1940

The Finnish government announces that a Swedish brigade of 6,000 men is manning part of the line on the Salla front.

Winter War Army Operations

Attacks at Summa continue without much change aside from the gradual attrition of the Finnish defenders. Soviet tanks continue dragging armoured sleds full of explosives which are detonated near Finnish fortifications.

At 10:15, the Soviets open an attack at Taipale. Two Soviet Divisions shell the Kirvesmäki Cape and attack across the River Taipale. The Soviets take two Finnish strongholds at Terenttilä at the extreme East end of the Mannerheim Line where the River Taipale empties into Lake Ladoga. Finnish casualties are extreme for them: 219 men, with 32 killed.

Further north, the Finnish 9th Division finishes its work around Kuhmo. It destroys the 1500 Soviet soldiers of the Soviet 54th Division that have been surrounded near Kuhmo in separate mottis (logs).

Winter War Peace Talks

Discussions continue in Stockholm, but the Soviets show no inclination to bargain. The Soviets require an island in the Gulf of Finland to serve as a Soviet naval base.

[lordroel]

Day 72 of Winter War, February 9th 1940

In the Kremlin, the top Soviet leaderships give final approval to a full-scale offensive on the Karelian Isthmus to begin February 11th.

Winter War Army Operations

Soviet troops take a bunker near the village of Karhula, north of Marjapellonmäki (Hill 38) and hold it against fierce Finnish counterattacks.

Near Kuhmo, the Finnish 9th Division surrounds the Soviet 203rd Regiment, creating a "regimental motti."

[lordroel]

Day 73 of Winter War, February 10th 1940

The Finnish Defense Council meets to review the war situation, which is deteriorating. Commander-in-chief Field Marshal Mannerheim takes personal control of the fighting on the Karelian Isthmus.

The familiar pattern of the past week, with the Soviets launching probing attacks that occasionally gain some ground, continues. There are minor Soviet advances in the Munasuo swamp and the Merkki sector, both of which have few fixed defenses and rely primarily on barbed wire and infantry defenses.

The Soviet 7th and 13th Armies on the Karelian Isthmus make final preparations for a full-scale assault on the heart of the Mannerheim Line.

Winter War Army Operations

Siberian ski troops attack Finnish defenses. The Finns can ski, too, though, so the Siberian troops have no advantage.

[lordroel]

Day 74 of Winter War, February 11th 1940

The frost returns to Europe. It is possible to walk across the Kattegat from Jutland to Sweden. The Finnish command summarizes Soviet losses to date as 327 airplanes, 594 tanks, and 206 guns captured.

After a month of retraining, reinforcement, bombardment, and probing attacks, the Soviet Army launches a major attack on the Karelian Isthmus to break through the Mannerheim Line. The Soviets have about 460,000 men, over 3,350 artillery pieces, about 3,000 tanks and about 1,300 aircraft deployed on the Karelian Isthmus. In the front line, they dispose of 120,000 men. All told, the Soviets have available about 7 men per yard of the 12-mile front.

Opposing them, the Finns have 150,000 men in total, organized into 8 Divisions. The Finns are deficient in each weapons category by vast margins. Superior mastery of the terrain and weather does little to help them in a brutal frontal assault.

The Soviet barrage opens at 08:40. It can be heard 100 miles away. It lasts until 11:00. Four Soviet artillery regiments fire at the Finns near Summa. The 24th Corps Artillery Regiment alone fires 14,769 shells. The Finns attempt counter-fire, but it is quickly silenced.

At 11:00, the 245th Rifle Regiment of the Soviet 123rd Division, 7th Army, supported by heavy T-28 and light T-26 tanks, attacks the Poppius bunker in the center of the line at Lähde. While the bunker has been destroyed previously, it still constitutes a rallying point for the Finns. The Soviet troops capture the bunker for good at 12:24, using armoured cars parked in front of the bunker to block machine gun fire from the Finns inside. By the end of the day, the Finnish company defending the bunker has just 16 men left out of the 100 with which they started. The 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment which defends the sector loses control of the situation. The Soviets, having made their first real breach in force of the entire campaign, dig in for the night, but fighting continues around the Millionaire bunker.

One aspect of the Soviet effort fails completely. They attempt to outflank the Mannerheim Line on the ice of Lake Ladoga. The attempt fails completely.

North of Lake Ladoga, the Finns ambush a Soviet supply convoy of 60 trucks.

[lordroel]

Day 75 of Winter War, February 12th 1940

Winter War Army Operations

The Soviet offensive against the Mannerheim Line on the Karelian Isthmus continues. At 05:00, The Soviet 255th Rifle Regiment leads an assault on the front near Summa. Soviet tanks drag explosives-laden armoured sleds up to the Millionaire Fort at Lahde and destroy it, killing everyone inside. After capturing it, the Soviets hold it against all counterattacks.

On the Merkki sector, the Soviet 90th Rifle Division assaults a narrow front of 2.5 km. It is supported by massive artillery, including 48 152 mm guns, 20 122 mm guns, 37 76 mm guns and 24 45 mm guns. The main assault is on Hill 44.8, which is held by the 3d Battalion of Major Ruotsalo. The Soviets capture the Finnish trenches, and a night counter-attack fails to dislodge them. The Finns know that they must recapture their line or a major breakthrough will result.

At Taipale, the Soviets capture the Kirvesmäki stronghold and hold it against fierce counterattacks.

While there are breaches in the Mannerheim Line, the Soviets patiently work to expand their advantage.

Winter War Peace Talks

The Soviet negotiators in Stockholm harden their position and demand more from the Finns due the success of the Soviet offensive on the Karelian Isthmus.

The Finnish cabinet, meanwhile, agrees in secret that peace should be obtained if at all possible. The Finnish government appeals for direct aid from Sweden, which the Swedish government rejects.

[lordroel]

Day 76 of Winter War, February 13th 1940

The Finnish Foreign Minister travels to Stockholm for meetings with the Swedish government about support in the Winter War.

Winter War Army Operations

In the Merkki sector, the two sides are battling over the Finnish trenches, possession of which swings back and forth. The Soviets were sending chemical tanks and BHM flame-thrower tanks against the Finns in the trenches. The Finns knocked out several Soviet tanks and held the trenches throughout the day.

At Lahde, Soviets continue fighting off Finnish counterattacks. While giving up ground grudgingly, the Soviets have enough firepower to slowly hack away at the Finnish strong points, none of which can be recovered by the Finns for good once they are taken.

The Kirvesmaki stronghold on the Taipale River continues changing hands, as both sides realize it is the key to the defense.

[lordroel]

Day 77 of Winter War, February 14th 1940

The Finns send numerous foreign governments notes accusing the Soviets of using "illegal" methods in the Winter War. These include indiscriminate bombing of unprotected towns, hospitals, railways and other sensitive facilities. They also accuse Soviet soldiers of pretending to surrender while waving the white flag, then attacking.

The Finns also admit that their forward line on the Karelian Isthmus has been breached, but also say that the Soviet advance has been stopped at a second line of defenses.

The British government gives formal permission for British volunteers to serve in the Finnish armed forces. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the United Kingdom’s Home Department Osbert Peake says: “A general license has been granted to British subjects to enlist in the Finnish forces, and a license has been granted to the recruiting organization which has been established in London.”

Winter War Army Operations

It has now been 72 continuous hours of horrific bombardment and Soviet attacks against the entire line. The temperature decreases in the morning to minus 31 degrees Celsius, and there are no reserves. When ammunition is sent forward, it typically is with a message that this is the last of it, so use it wisely.

The fighting becomes medieval. In one section of the line, on the eastern end of the Suursuo swamp, the Soviets open a renewed attack in the morning with the 24th Rifle Division, composed of the 274th and 168th Regiments. Earlier, at 03:45, the 1st Division HQ refused an order for the 2nd Brigade to retreat. The Soviet offensive on a wide track fails after desperate Finnish resistance by a dwindling group of men (248 men hold a 3-km front, all that is left of 3 battalions). The Finns counterattack by attempting to blow up a key Soviet bunker, but the Soviet 274th Regiment beats them back with a hail of machine gun fire. After that, the Soviets counterattack again, and the two sides remain in hand-to-hand combat all night long.

On a different section of the line, Finnish General-Major Laatikainen in command of the 1st Division orders his men in the 1st Brigade to withdraw behind the River Peronjoki. This is a switch position that can only be held temporarily. By withdrawing, the General uncovers the flanks of adjoining units, but the position simply cannot be held. War requires difficult decisions. The Finns have used up their reserves and the Mannerheim Line can no longer be held in the Lahde sector.

In the Lähde sector of the Mannerheim line, the Soviet troops are in possession of a 2-3 km section of the line. The Soviets take the Kirvesmäki stronghold on the Taipale River for the final time after it has switched hands repeatedly.

The Finns all along the line are running out of ammunition, and losses in men are becoming critical. Among many other issues, Finnish artillery observers rely on phone lines which the Soviet artillery blasts continually sever despite the best efforts of the Signal Corps to keep them operational.