Word: suomussalmi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Suomussalmi...
When the Russians first tried to walk into Finland, across the Karelian Isthmus and around the shores of Lake Laatokka, the Finns described the troops they slaughtered as cannon fodder. When Russia's thrusts across Finland's narrow waist bogged down, then turned into the rout of Suomussalmi, the Finns contemptuously pointed out that the drives had been haphazardly planned, poorly supplied. But when, last fortnight, Russia began pounding away on all fronts, there was every indication that this mightiest offensive of the war had been carefully planned, was well supplied, and employed seasoned Red Army troops...
...with the bombings came the firehose attacks, stubborn onslaughts that were wasteful of men and materials alike. From Petsamo in the far north (where the Russians tried and failed to push on to Hoyhenjarvi) down through the Salla and Suomussalmi sectors (where the Finns stopped them before they got going) and the new front at Kuhmo (where the Finns beat them back with heavy losses) to the shores of Lake Laatokka and the Karelian Isthmus, the Russians attacked simultaneously. The Finns were in their tightest spot since the war began...
...them the Finns were beginning to close in, ahead of them the Finns had already trapped two divisions of their comrades. These two beleaguered Russian divisions were at Kitela, only 24 miles east of Sortavala, and had been there for weeks. Using the same tactics that had won at Suomussalmi (TIME, Jan. 22), the Finns had first retreated, then made a stand at Kitela, while encircling forces cut the Russian supply lines. Their food gone, the Russians had to live on provisions dropped by parachute. But last week help was no nearer than the Kollaan and Aitto rivers...
Last week the Moscow radio broadcast a threat : unless the Finns give back the weapons they stole from the Russians in the battle of Suomussalmi, Russia will declare war on Finland...