Kuusamo
A soldier from 9. Divisioona
lying in wait in the forests of Kuusamo. small Ambushes like this one slowed the Soviet advance to a crawl, and cost many lives...
28 GSD
being Ambushed at every turn by 9. Divisioona's
8.698 men, using the dense forest as the perfect cover. Maj. General
Susaikov was pulling his hair out at the reports from the front, if you could even call it that, and at Midnight on the 30th, he had enough of the slow pace of the advance, and especially the price being paid for every gained meter, he ordered a full retreat, but for 189 of his Mountaineers it had been too late, the fact that 105 Finnish Infantrymen were also killed in the initial stages of the attack was little consolation, as this late in the war, the price seemed just too steep, Maj. General
Sundman thus cunningly won this battle, for a price, even though he could never hope to win the war...
Värtsilä
The battle for Värtsilä continued, and at 3am, Maj. General Vatutin SK4 managed to reinforce his Attack another 9.960 men in the shape of 78 SD. No reinforcements were available for the 8.808 Defending Finns. Hoping to press home his numerical advantage, Maj. General Vatutin ordered a full-on Assault, and Maj. General Hanell SK2, DD tried to use the increased speed of the Soviet advance against them through the use of Elastic Defence tactics. It was clear 11. Divisioona was never going to win this one, but they put up a remarkably good fight, with 400 Soviet and 475 Finnish soldiers killed in action.
Suojärvi 2
After the 3rd battle for Vokhtozero, Maj. General
Eremenko SK3 decided to eliminate the source of Maj. General
Popov's problems. At 1pm on the 31st of March, he sent 29.998 Motorised Riflemen into an Attack on Suojärvi:
With 15 MSD
and 36 MSD
coming from Salmi in the South-East, and 84 MSD
coming from Veshkelitsy in the South, 21 Divisioona
's 8.998 men were sure to have a hard time Defending the province.
On the 1st of April, as the Soviets stepped up their efforts with an Assault on the Finnish lines, Maj. General
Talvela SK3, OD ordered Ambushes to be set up, hoping to catch the Soviet columns on the move. However, they lost the element of surprise to our valiant Motorcyclists, and a 3am the next day, we had won the battle, with 203 Soviet, and 411 Finnish casualties.
Motorcycle troops, essential to scout the road and sniff out ambushes ahead of the main columns of our Motorised Rifle Divisions. These men use a TIZ AM-600 motorcycle from 1936. (Lucky there weren't any Polish Cavalrymen in those bushes, or some might have lost their head the old fashioned way...)
Tohmajärvi & Tolvajärvi
In a small ten minute skirmish, Maj. General
Firin's fresh 9.991 man 4 SD
chased away the tired 8.990 man 12. DIvisioona
which had stumbled into it's path in Tohmajärvi. 4 Russians, and 7 Finns were killed around 4am on the 6th of April.
On the 7th, Maj. General
Vatutin SK4 made, what can only be described as the boldest move of the war. He sent his own 9.992 man 43 SD
into a Shock attack on the 25.182 Finnish troops stationed in Tolvajärvi. General
Walden SK3 was leading 21. Divisioona, 12. Divisioona,
and 13. Divisioona
from his 1st Army HQ
. He tried to Delay the overeager Riflemen, but this was just what had been expected, making their Shock tactics even more effective. The chaos amongst the already exhausted Finns was complete, and soon 2 entire Divisions were fleeing the battlefield, 13. Divisioona
fled at 8pm and 21. Divisioona
at 10pm. 12. Divisioona
managed to hang on until the next morning until, outnumbered and disorganised, they gave up at 8am. 189 Soviet and 79 Finnish casualties were counted.
Helsinki, Lohja, & Lohja 2
Helsinki, peaceful as ever, only a few shots were fired at the city's outskirts, and no bombs were dropped on it, it is thus quite pristine...
On the 2nd of April, Maj. General
Solyankin SK2, BM and his 9.997 man 191 SD
, took control of Helsinki. Resting on their laurels wasn't an option for the Riflemen, as the next day, at 2pm, 10.496 Finns were Attacking their own capital. Lead by Maj. General
Valve SK3, 4. DIvisioona
is a well-lead and tough veteran unit and although it wasn't fully reinforced nor rested, our riflemen were preparing to Defend for a while. Maj. General
Valve had other ideas, and an hour later he pulled back his men, having lost 8 of his men, and killed 13 of ours. Some in the committee have suggested that he wanted to rattle the Soviets so their advance would be delayed.
If the intent had been to delay 191 SD
, 2 days was all that was achieved, as at 7am on the 5th, Maj. General
Solyankin sent his 9.996 men into Lohja, where they aimed to Shock 4. Divisioona
out of the trenches the now 10.834 men were Defending. Thanks to the element of surprise, the violence of the Soviet attack, Naval and Air bombardment, the battle only lasted until 6pm, when the once proud 4. Divisioona
retreated towards Hanko in disarray, leaving 88 of their comrades, and 76 dead Russians behind.
On the 7th at 3am, Maj. General
Valve, having retreated his 10.474 men of 4. Divisioona
into a corner (Hanko), launched another surprising Attack on Maj. General
Solyankin's 191. SD
, this time in Lohja. With their backs against the wall, the Gulf of Finland in this case, it seems that the Finns decided that this would be their last hurrah. The 9.995 Defending riflemen were stunned by the Finns' eagerness to continue the fight. On the 8th, as things were getting ever more desperate for 4. Divisioona
, the Finns went all out with a Reckless Assault, which Maj. General
Solyankin tried to Delay, knowing that the Finns were exhausted close to the point of breaking. This made the Finns even more reckless, before they inevitably broke at 7am, after 4 hours of sprinting, not cautiously advancing, towards a dug in enemy. In a mere 28 hours of fighting, 206 Finns and 196 Soviets were killed.
Finnish reinforcements arrive at Lohja to join 4. Divisioona
, right before 191 SD
Attacks the province.
NB: Finnish Coast
Following the capture of Helsinki, the Heavy Cruiser Ilmarinen, flagship of the Finnish Navy was forced out of it's port, and straight into the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, led by Rear Admiral
Kuznetsov SK3, ST. At noon on the 2nd of April, the ship was sighted and both 1. KPA,
and 2. KPA
scrambled from the flight decks of the Moskva and the Leningrad respectively to engage it. Finnish navy Rear Admiral
Horola SK2 wasn't rattled by the first bombs and torpedoes and manoeuvred his ship to get the best possible shot at the Soviet Battleship closest to him, the Parizhskaya Kommuna. While the Finns fired their first salvos at the old Dreadnought (previously the "Sevastopol"), the Parizhskaya Kommuna, as well as it's sister ship and pride of the Soviet Navy, Oktyabrskaya Revoluciya, as well as the Heavy Cruiser Krasnyi Kavkaz, and a couple of Norvik-Class Destroyers of 5. FE opened fire all at the same time. At 3pm, the Ilmarinen,
pride (and all) of the Finnish navy, went down, and it's 403 man crew with it, the kill was attributed to the Parizhskaya Kommuna, which itself sustained extensive damage to it's front turret and the loss of
172 crew members, another
97 sailors died on board of various
Norvik-Class Destroyers, as they tried to shield the Battleship from the Finnish Cruiser's shells.
The Parizhkaya Kommuna claimed it's first kill, the pride of the Finnish Navy, at the cost of 172 of it's sailors...
The war from the Air
Lt. General
Yakovlev SK3, TB 's II BAK flew 14 missions with it's 200 Yak-4's based out of Leningrad:
From the 30th of March to the 1st of April, 8 missions were flown over Värtsilä, killing 730 out of 14.912 Finns, 4 downed Aeroplanes.
On the 1st and the 2nd of April, 3 missions were flown over Suojärvi, killing 262 out of 8.737 Finns, 1 downed Aeroplanes.
On the 7th and the 8th of April, 3 missions were flown over Tolvajärvi, killing 260 out of 34.050 Finns, 3 downed Aeroplanes.
Lt. General
Zhigarev SK3, TB 's I ShAK flew 8 missions with it's 200 Il-2's, and 100 La-5's based out of Leningrad:
On the 3rd of April, 1 mission was flown over Lohja, killing 47 out of 10.483 Finns, no downed Aeroplanes.
On the 5th of April, another 2 missions were flown over Lohja, killing 147 out of 10.826 Finns,1 downed Il-2 Aeroplane.
On the 7th and the 8th of April, 5 missions were flown over Hanko, killing 207 out of 10.744 Finns, 1 Il-2 and 1 La-5 downed.
Lt. General
Golovanov SK3, CB 's I BAK flew just 2 missions with it's 200 Yak-4's, based out of Murmansk.
All were flown over Kuusamo on the 30th, killing 116 out of 8.493 Finns, 1 downed Aeroplanes.
To sum things up:
Soviet Union:
Men sent into Battle: 1.476.414 (+89.929), ground combat casualties for finished battles: 8.595 (+1.270) men,
Planes sent into Battle: 5.697 = (Air Battles only), 170 (+12) planes lost (99(+9) Yak-4's, 2 DB-3's, 22 SB-2's, 12(+5) CAG's, 9(+2) Il-2, 10(+1) La-5's, 23 Su-2's, 5 I-16's)
Men lost at sea: 269 (+269)
Finland:
Men sent into Battle: 807.109 (+75.247), ground combat casualties for finished battles 14.748 (+1.379) men, Bombing Casualties: 22.913 (+1.769), POW: ca. 38.860
Planes sent into Battle: 1.029 = (Air Battles only), at least 1/4 planes lost.
Men lost at sea: 963 (+403) The casualties of the previous naval battle were added to the total of this one...
Finland on the 9th of April 1940,
note the heroic 4. Divisioona
still holding out in Hanko
note the Finns about to get encircled once Tolvajärvi is in our hands
note 70 SD
, already moving into Turku unopposed
There was a small boost in Finnish Supplies and reinforcement, as Supply networks were established from Vaasa after the fall of Helsinki, which had been the heart of the centralised supply system, it had been linked with the rest of the country by only a single road for a while...Vaasa doesn't have that problem...yet...
Our spies and Analysts are having trouble making out if Finland will surrender after the fall of Turku or if we also need to capture Vaasa as well, we will have to see once our troops get to Turku...
The next step after the now clearly inevitable victory over Finland is being heavily debated, and with Germans in Norway, the supporters of the Sweden strategy have lost some support, some members are talking about taking Turkey, just because we can, and to make sure, but as both countries are pretty neutral right now, we are talking long term benefits and short term drawbacks here. More elaborate proposals will surely be submitted by the end of the current war. A fragile peace is also an option of course...
Greetings,
'Odin'
