"Pursue on great, decisive, aim with force and determination" Carl von Clausewitz, västvärldens störste militäre tänkare. 1780-1831. Författare bl a till "Om kriget", standardverk vid alla militära akademier.
With the commencement of hostilities on 30 November 1939, Soviet 9th Army Commander Tjujkov committed his two lead divisions, the 163rd and 44th Rifle Divisions, to a two-pronged attack aimed at the road junction of Suomussalmi.The 163rd, under Division Commander Selendsov, was committed first as the 9th Army main effort, attacking to seize the Suomussalmi road junktion to allow the 9th Army to attack both Peranka and Hyrynsalmi. The 163rd Division supporting effort, the 759th Rifle Regiment and the 163rd Recon Battalion, advanced up the Raate road from the south, while the main effort, comprising the remainder of the Division took the northern Juntusranta-Palovaara road.
Tjujkov's intent was for the 163rd to push the northern Finn defenders past Suomussalmi, south out of his zone of operations. The 9th Army supporting effort, the 44thRifle division (following the 759th Rifle Regiment by about 48 hours) would squeeze the retreating Finns from the south. Eventually the Finns would be pushed out onto the ice-covered lakes and eliminated.With Finn resistance crushed , the 9th Army would then be free to advance via Hyrynsalmi and Puolanka to Oulu (Uleåborg), cutting Finland in half and severing the main rail connection to Sweden. Selendsov's higher commander's guidance included instructions to avoid occupying Suomussalmi itself, because of the potential for any unit doing so to be trapped between the lakes on either side of the town.The Finns did not expect an attack in the vicinity of Juntusranta. The roads in this area were so spectacularly bad that they hadn't even been considered as an avenue of advance and so the Finns had shifted the covering force of two battalions of Civic Guards under major Kari south towards Raate. When Selendsov crossed the border with the 662nd and 81st Rifle Regiment and the 163rd division troops, the Finns were able to offer only token resistance from the sole remaining 50-man border police company under command of Lt Elo. Nevertheless, the Soviets found it extremely slow going. Lead elements only reached Palovaara late on the 5. of December.At Palovaara, Seledsov ordered the 662nd Regiment minus one battalion (division reserve), to move north to seize Peranka by nightfall on the 6. of December, to protect the Division northern flank. The 81st continued south to the town, with the remainder of the 163rd, to link up with the 759th Regiment advancing on Suomussalmi from the south. It was at this time that MG Tuomp, commanding the Finn Northern Group of Forces (P-SRE), decided that this was the Soviet main effort in this area, and dispatched his reserve, the 16th Separate Infantry Battalion (ErP16) under Mj Pallari, from Kuusamo via Peranka to reinforce Mj Kari's two Civic Guard battalions which had already moved back to this area.This force arrived in the vicinity of Lake Piipasjärvi at approximately 01:00 on the 6. of December and, by noon, occupied defencive positions to block the Kuusamo road to deny further movement north by the 163rd. Making [fighting] contact here late on the 6. of December, the 662nd stopped and began to probe.Early on the 7 December, the Finns evacuated and burned the town of Suomussalmi. The demolition was incomplete, however, and a substantial number of buildings remained intact. Lead elements of the 81st Rifle Regiment and the 163rd Division Troops arrived later that day, joined by the end of the day by the 759th Regiment and the 163rd Recon Battalion from the Raate road to the south. Pausing, Seledsov issued orders for the 759th Regiment to attack and to seize Puolanka via Hyrynsalmi, and for the 662nd to attack to seize Puolanka via Peranka to allow the division to continue its movement west. the 662nd started first. Facerd with the bitter cold and a shortage of tents, meanwhile, Selendsov was unable to resist the temptation to occupy the town and the surrounding areas from Kylänmäki to the lake Kuomasjärvi. The 662nd Regiment, however, was unable to make any headway against ErP16 toward Peranka.On 8 December Maj Pallari of ErP16 was wounded, and was replaced by LtC Susitaival, on leave from his duties as a member of the Finnish Parliament. With LtC Susitaival given command of all units north and east of Palovaara the command of ErP16 devolved on Cpt Salske.
To be continued....
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