Stalin's Claws by Hooton E. R.;

Author:Hooton, E. R.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 6402965
Publisher: Tattered Flag
Published: 2013-06-10T00:00:00+00:00

Two Red Army scouts clad in snow capes are briefed by a junior officer prior to a mission behind Finnish lines in the winter of 1939-40. The soldier to the left is armed with a Simonov AVS 36 automatic rifle. (Courtesy of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, Moscow, via Stavka)

The village had been burned by the retreating Finns, but was hastily fortified and the first Finnish assault, on 14 December, was beaten back but it was isolated from the north. Renewed assaults also failed, machine-gunners whom the Finns had not mopped up firing from their rear. Exhaustion, together with casualties, caused Siilasvuo to abandon his attacks after four days. They were renewed after a brief pause supported by two batteries and two anti-tank guns, but again without success as the trapped Russians fought desperately in the hope of relief.

With Zelentsov under growing pressure, Dukhanov ordered his reserve, Kombrig Alexei Vinogradov’s 44th Rifle Division, to relieve him, but Vinogradov detrained on 14 December to discover there were not enough vehicles to move the whole division. He decided to hasten to Zelentsov’s aid on foot with support units following in what vehicles were available, but Dukhanov’s headquarters radioed his orders en clair and these were picked up by Finnish comint. A small force was hastily despatched to block the Raate road about a dozen kilometres east of Suomussalmi, between Lakes Kuomas and Kuivas on 23 December. They held the Russians for a fortnight leaving Vinogradov’s division strung out along some 30 kilometres of road all the way to the border. Komkor Vasilii Chuikov, like Rubin fresh from China, replaced Dukhanov on 22 December and he immediately recommended that Vinogradov secure his communications. He was ignored.53

Siilasvuo was reinforced and on 22 December his forces, 11,500 strong, were redesignated Ninth Division. Two days later he was ordered to retake Suomussalmi which he planned to envelop from east and west and, after engulfing it, he would slice up 163rd Division into more digestible pieces. The attack was delayed a day on 24-25 December by furious Russian efforts, with air support, to relieve Zelentsov. All failed however and on 27 December the Finns struck from the west, taking Hulkonniemi across the frozen Lake Kianta from Suomussalmi, driving the demoralised survivors across the ice. The following day the remaining 163rd Division mottis were also attacked and destroyed, despite numerous Russian attempts to break out. By dusk the 163rd Division had been destroyed, Russian records showing 11,601 casualties or 70 per cent of the men including 1,043 dead and missing, of whom 500 were captured with a dozen tanks, two dozen guns, 150 trucks, 250 horses and large amounts of weapons, ammunition and equipment.54

After giving his tired troops a brief rest, Siilasvuo sent them against the 44th Division. The Russians had created strongpoints based upon trenches straddling the road and had cleared a 50-metre area of trees to provide open fields of fire, while armoured patrols attempted to keep open the roads. They largely remained in

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