The Cause and Process of Fen-Su War

The Finnish-Soviet War was a winter war.

The cause of the war:

In order to compensate Finland for its territorial losses, the former Soviet Union expressed its willingness to hand over the land in the northwest of Lake Onega to Finland, which was twice the area ceded by Finland. However, Hanko Peninsula is Finland's natural barrier against the Soviet Union, and the motives of the Soviet Union make Finland suspicious. At that time, the Finnish government rejected the Soviet Union's proposal, and the Soviet Union created the "Mannila Incident", claiming that the Finnish army shelled Mannila village, causing the death of Soviet soldiers, and then asked the Finnish government to apologize and withdraw its troops for 20 to 25 kilometers, but it was rejected by the Finnish government. The Soviet Union used this as an excuse to abolish the Sino-Finnish non-aggression treaty. 165438+1On October 30th, 450,000 troops from 23 divisions invaded the Finnish border and quickly reached the Mannheim defence.

After the war:

The Sino-Finnish war started on 1939, 165438+ 10 on October 30th and ended on March 30th, 1940. It lasted nearly three and a half months and was divided into two stages. Throughout the war, the Soviet Red Army was always on the offensive with superior forces. The attempt is to concentrate the main force to attack in karelian isthmus, to contain the Finnish army with some forces in other areas, to crush the main force of the Finnish army, and to force Finland to make peace and end the war in the shortest time. The inferior Finnish army is always on the defensive. The attempt is to concentrate on defending Mannheim defense line in karelian isthmus and conduct positional warfare, and to use favorable terrain to conduct mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare with a small amount of troops in other areas, so as to delay the attack of the Soviet Red Army to the maximum extent, wait for western aid, and strive to make peace with the Soviet Union under favorable conditions.

First stage

This phase starts from1939165438+1October 30th and ends at1940 65438+1October 30th, lasting 62 days. 1939165438+1On October 30th, the Soviet Red Army launched an attack in four areas along the Sufen border. After fierce fighting, the Soviet Red Army was defeated in other areas except the northern end of the front line and was forced to stop attacking, readjust its deployment, increase its troops and prepare for another attack.

In karelian isthmus, the Soviet Red Army failed to break through Mannheim's defence. The 7th Army of the Soviet Red Army, Vsevolod Feodorovich Jakovleff, has seven infantry divisions, 1 tank troops and two tank brigades, forming a battle formation with a long battle position and deep pace, and launched an attack in karelian isthmus, mainly aiming at the direction of Viborg. The attack first started in the eastern part of the isthmus in an attempt to attract the Finnish Army Reserve to the east, and then carried out a large-scale surprise attack in the western part of the isthmus.

The Finnish army concentrated two armies and five divisions to defend the area. First of all, it uses cover troops to defend every narrow approach area in the safety zone. During the day, the Finnish army attacked and killed the enemy's effective forces with melee firepower and favorable conditions, and destroyed Soviet tanks from nearby with various anti-tank weapons. At night, a ski squad was sent to harass the rear of the Soviet Red Army and attack the Soviet Red Army sleeping in the snow. The Soviet Red Army was exhausted.

Although the Red Army of the Soviet Union put in 1 echelon and 1 echelon to attack in turn, it failed to find out the main defense zones and safety zones of the Finnish army, the fortifications and obstacles of the Finnish army, and its coordination and command were weak. By the end of 12, after paying a heavy price, only the safety zone with a depth of 20-60 kilometers was captured. At this time, the Soviet Red Army could not break through the main defensive areas of the Finnish army and was forced to stop attacking on the spot. The two sides formed a confrontation and evolved into a harassment war.

In the northeast of Lake Ladoga, two normal divisions of the Soviet Red Army were wiped out and forced to turn to defense. The Eighth Army of the Soviet Red Army has five infantry divisions and 1 tank brigade, which attack in two ways: north and south. Its task is to contain the Finnish army from the flank and cooperate with the attack of the 7 th Army. After crossing the border, the Soviet Red Army was blocked by two divisions of the Finnish army and harassed by guerrillas at night, and the progress was slow. Six days later, the north road cluster advanced 40 kilometers. In the Torva Lake area, fierce fighting took place between the two sides. As a result, the Soviet Red Army suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and its supply was passive, so it was forced to turn to the defense and never dared to attack again. After more than 40 kilometers, the South Road Cluster fought in Kitler for 1 month. At 1, 940, 1, 654, 38+0, it was divided and surrounded by the Finnish army, and the supply was interrupted. Two normal universities were completely annihilated, with casualties of 1.9 million. The rest of the troops retreated and turned to defense.

In the middle of the border, two divisions of the Soviet Red Army were wiped out and the rest retreated. The 9th Army of vasily ivanovich chuikov, the Soviet Red Army, has four infantry divisions, divided into north and south, and attacked Botswana Bay in an attempt to cut Finland into two parts from the narrow waist area. The South Road Group attacked in the direction of Oulu Port along two forest roads covered by Zita Law. After the vanguard division arrived in Almi village, Suomus, about 40 kilometers away from the border, it was stubbornly blocked by the Finnish Army detachment relying on roadblocks. The division was forced to expand into a vertical formation of more than 20 kilometers along the highway, thus providing fighters for the Finnish army to divide and encircle. At this time, the Finnish Army Strategic Reserve 1 Division rushed to the battlefield. Under the command of the third army of Finland, hjalmar siilasvuo, the division won at the end of 12, and then other 1 divisions of the Soviet Red Army that tried to reinforce were intercepted and annihilated. The Finnish army lost more than 23,000 people in the Battle of Somme Salmi, creating a brilliant example of winning more with less. After the Soviet Red Army North Road cluster crossed the border, it did not meet resistance, and it was close to Kemi Lake, the eastern hub of Bolnia Railway, at 1939 12 16, which posed a great threat to the Finnish army. The Finnish army transferred 1 battalion from the reserve to cooperate with the border guards to carry out continuous assault on the flank of the Soviet Red Army. The Soviet Red Army had to retreat to Sarah because it could not understand the enemy's situation. Due to the constant harassment of Finnish guerrillas, it has been afraid to take positive action until the end of the war.

At the northern end of the front line, the Soviet Red Army captured Besamo and other places. Two infantry divisions under the jurisdiction of the Soviet Red Army 14 Army, with the cooperation of the northern fleet, attacked the Barents Sea coast. Without Finnish resistance, they quickly occupied the port of Besamo and Rehbach Peninsula, blocked Finland's access to Barents Sea and Norway, and immediately turned to defense on the spot.

1939 65438+In February, in view of the heavy losses of the Soviet Red Army on various fronts, the Soviet Red Army authorities decided to stop the attack, redraft the battle plan and organize a new attack. 1940 65438+1On October 7th, the Northwest Army was established in karelian isthmus. Shemmie konstantinovitch timushinko, the former commander of the Kiev Military Region, was appointed as the commander of the army, replacing Meretskov as the commander-in-chief of the front line. This army has jurisdiction over the Seventh Army and the newly established 13 Army. At the same time, 24 infantry divisions, 20 artillery regiments and 15 new aviation regiments were added to the Sufen border. From 1940 to 1, the Soviet Red Army in this area strengthened reconnaissance and training, and practiced effective methods to break through prepared defense lines and destroy solid fortifications.

At this time, the Finnish army also adjusted its deployment in this area, increasing the first-line troops from 5 divisions to 6 divisions, and only retaining 1 division as a deep reserve.

stage Ⅱ

This phase starts at 1 940 in February and ends at 13 in March, and lasts for 4 1 day. At this stage, the Northwest Army of the Soviet Red Army concentrated the forces of the 7th Army and 13, the * * * 21Infantry Division and six tank brigades, and carried out a key attack in karelian isthmus, with the adjacent wings of the two army groups carrying out a big assault in the direction of Viborg. After 1 months of hard fighting, the Soviet Red Army broke through the Mannheim Line and captured Viborg, forcing Finland to sign a peace treaty according to the conditions put forward by the former Soviet Union, thus ending the war.

Break through the Mannheim line and occupy Viborg. In February1940 ~ February 1 ~ 10, the Soviet Red Army dispatched more than 500 planes and fired more than 440 guns, which made intense preparations for the Finnish Army position and its rear in advance. In the 24 hours before the attack, * * * fired more than 300,000 shells, destroying most ammunition points of the Finnish army in the main direction.

In the early morning of February 1940, the Soviet Red Army resumed its attack. After three days of hard work, Meretskov's Seventh Army opened a 5-kilometer-wide and 5-6-kilometer-deep breakthrough in the main defense area of Mannheim Line, and put the rapid cluster into battle. Finnish troops voluntarily retreated to the second defense zone.

On February 1940 and 18, the 7th Army broke through the second defensive zone in the March, but its right wing was exposed due to the slow progress of 13 Army. In this case, the Soviet Red Army stopped attacking again and adjusted its deployment in order to break through the second line of defense. The Finnish army also took the opportunity to rest and transferred some troops north of Lake Ladoga to the south to strengthen karelian isthmus's defense.

On February 28th, 1940, the Soviet Red Army resumed its attack and quickly approached the defensive zone behind the Finnish army. The right-wing regiment of the Seventh Army surrounded the fortified area of Viborg from the northeast, and four divisions of its left-wing regiment crossed the Bay of Viborg from the frozen sea, bypassed the city of Viborg, cut off the road to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, and captured most of Viborg. In March 1940, 1 1, the Soviet Red Army stormed Viborg and seized the city.

By March 5, 1940, the Finnish army was on the verge of exhaustion, with no ammunition and food and no hope of foreign aid. Although Britain and France expressed their willingness to send troops to help Finland, Germany threatened that if Finland accepted British and French aid, the war would spread throughout Scandinavia. Under the pressure of Germany, Sweden and Norway refused the British and French troops to cross the border. Under this circumstance, the Finnish government sent representatives to Moscow on March 7 under the mediation of Sweden, but the contradiction with the former Soviet Union was not settled, resulting in Finland losing 1/l0, that is, more than 40,000 square kilometers of territory. Mannerhaim, commander-in-chief of the Finnish Army, said bitterly, "This treaty has brought disastrous consequences to China's strategic position. We have lost all the important places that can ensure that we can stop the invading army from advancing. The new border has exposed Finland to the invaders, and Hanko is like a pistol pointing to the heart of our country. "