Battle of Kuhmo

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The Battle of Kuhmo was a series of skirmishes near the town of Kuhmo in the Soviet - Finnish Winter War . A Soviet division was encircled, but was able to hold out until the end of the war.

prehistory

The Soviet leadership wanted to achieve the occupation of the entire Finnish state by conquering northern Finland and cutting off the traffic routes to its neighbors during the war. In order to support the advance of the 163rd Rifle Division and 44th Motorized Rifle Division on Oulu , the 54th Rifle Division was to advance south to cut off any routes for reinforcements from the Finnish heartland.

course

After crossing the border, the 54th Division advanced towards Kuhmo . The Finnish army had only small border units stationed in this area as an attack in northern Finland was not expected. On December 3, 1939, the Finnish High Command under Mannerheim was forced to send a regiment from the reserve to slow down the advance of the Soviet division. By the New Year 1940, the Soviet units had moved within 15 kilometers of the village. There, the division was largely spared attacks by the outnumbered enemy. The commander of the division, General Gussewski , used this break to fortify the positions and even had a makeshift airfield built on a frozen lake. The division was in the form of an elongated column along the access road to Kuhmo.

After the 163rd and 44th Soviet divisions were defeated at the battle of Suomussalmi further north , Mannerheim sent the units from Suomussalmi towards Kuhmo. The 9th Division under Hjalmar Siilasvuo was outnumbered by the Soviet division and was now lacking ammunition and artillery . On January 28, 1940, the Finnish troops launched a counterattack. The Finns, who operated on skis from the forest like at Suomussalmi, succeeded in cutting off the Soviet division and dividing it into three parts, so-called Mottis (roughly: encirclements). The Finns used captured Soviet anti-tank guns in Suomussalmi to repel enemy counter-attacks with tanks . A stalemate was looming. The Soviets tried to relieve the surrounded units with a newly formed 2,000-man ski brigade and the deployment of the 23rd Rifle Division, but these attempts failed. However, the 54th Division was adequately supplied with supplies by the Soviet Air Force so that it was able to maintain its resistance until the armistice on March 13, 1940.

consequences

The importance of battle for the overall picture of war is ambiguous. On the one hand, the Finns were able to stop the advance of the Soviets and de facto tie up two Soviet divisions. The actual intention of the Finnish High Command to quickly defeat the Soviets in northern Finland in order to move the 9th Division to the decisive front on the Karelian Isthmus was not fulfilled either.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anthony Upton: Finland 1939–1940, Newark, 1974 pp. 51ff, 63ff.
  2. ^ William Trotter: A Frozen Hell, Chapel Hill, 1991 pp. 174 ff.
  3. ^ William Trotter: A Frozen Hell, Chapel Hill, 1991 pp. 174 ff.
  4. ^ William Trotter: A Frozen Hell, Chapel Hill, 1991 p. 174ff; Anthony Upton: Finland 1939-1940, Newark, 1974 p. 66, p. 88 ff.
  5. ^ William Trotter: A Frozen Hell, Chapel Hill, 1991 p. 174ff; Anthony Upton: Finland 1939-1940, Newark, 1974 p. 88 ff.