Battle of Kollaa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Kollaa
Part of: Winter War
Map of the fighting around the Kollaanjoki around 1940
Map of the fighting around the Kollaanjoki around 1940
date December 7, 1939 to March 13, 1940
place Kollaa, Finland
output Finnish victory
Parties to the conflict

FinlandFinland Finland

Soviet Union 1923Soviet Union Soviet Union

Commander

FinlandFinland Woldemar Hägglund

Soviet Union 1923Soviet Union Ivan Khabarov
(until December 13th)
Grigori Shtern
(from December 13th)

Troop strength
1 division (12th division) and other small units 4 divisions and a tank brigade
losses

1500 (estimated)

8000 (estimated)

The Battle of Kollaa took place from December 2, 1939 to March 13, 1940 in the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union . Finnish troops defended a line on the Kollaanjoki River in front of a strategically important traffic junction.

prehistory

The Finnish defense in the Winter War of 1939 was concentrated in the Karelian Isthmus and the area north of Lake Ladoga . Only there the Finnish High Command found the traffic routes to be sufficient for the deployment of larger Soviet units. The Finnish commander Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim planned a defensive strategy on the so-called Mannerheim Line on the Karelian Isthmus . The units of the IV Corps , which stood north of Lake Ladoga, were supposed to repel Soviet attacks and then go over to counterattack.

Contrary to the expectations of the Finnish military leadership, the Soviet high command decided to advance across the breadth of the border. As part of this plan drawn up by the chief of the Leningrad Military District, Kirill Merezkov , the 56th Rifle Division was supposed to cross the border near the Suvilahti settlement . Their goal was to bypass the flank of the Finnish IV Corps and break into the region's rail network. The ultimate goal of these operations was to break up Finnish troops north of Lake Ladoga in order to launch an attack in the rear of the Mannerheim Line through the region.

course

In the early morning hours of November 30, 1939, the units of the 56th Rifle Division crossed the border in a pincer movement north and south of Suvilahti. On December 2nd, Finnish troops evacuated the settlement after the place was evacuated and burned down. Initially, the Finns were only able to oppose the Soviet invasion of the region by two infantry regiments (JR 34 and JR 36). After the fall of Suvilahti, the Finnish troops offered slow resistance and took up a new defensive position on the Piitsoinjoki River .

On December 3, against the advice of the commander of the JR 34 Regiment Wilhelm Teittinen , Mannerheim ordered a frontal counterattack. Teittinnen herself wanted to bring his main forces up to the Soviet flank on skis . The Finnish troops were exhausted from the previous skirmishes. Furthermore, some units were not yet equipped with winter equipment and weapons. The Finnish counterattack failed when the soldiers panicked retreated from the approaching Soviet tanks . This panic resulted in a disorderly retreat to the Kollaanjoki River near the Loimola settlement. This settlement, on the Matkaselkä – Suojärvi-rata railway line, was an important supply base for the troops of the IV Corps. On December 7th, the Soviet division tried unsuccessfully to break through the Finnish line; they attacked with tanks, infantry and airplanes.

The fighting around the Kollaanjoki were increasingly becoming a war of position . Until the end of the war in March 1940, the Soviets tried to put down the Finnish resistance. To this end, around 200 artillery pieces had been brought in by the end of January . The Finnish troops had a maximum of 20 guns. The Red Army temporarily provided some soldiers with metal shields to reduce the vulnerability of their infantry to Finnish fire. The section of the river front never came to a complete rest until the end of the war on March 13; but the Soviets failed to make a breakthrough. The Soviet troops were increased to four divisions by the end of the war. The Finnish units also received reinforcements from the IV Corps under General Woldemar Hägglund .

White death

The Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä , the most successful sniper in the world with more than 500 killed soldiers, took part in this battle in the JR 34 infantry regiment. The soldier referred to by the Red Army as the "White Death" achieved all of his kills in this battle.

consequences

The successful resistance of the Finnish troops in the area in front of Loimola prevented a break-in by the Soviet troops on the flank of the IV Corps. This meant that the Soviet troops could not achieve their strategic goal of bypassing and breaking up the Finnish IV Corps. The unexpected Soviet attack, however, meant that reserves of the IV Corps had to be withdrawn for the battle. This delayed the implementation of the counterattack by IV Corps.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anthony Upton: Finland 1939-1940, Newark, 1979, pp. 52-55.
  2. ^ A b c William Trotter: A Frozen Hell, Chapel Hill, 1991 pp. 123-130.