Death Valley. The story of the death of the 18 Infantry Division during the Soviet-Finnish (Winter) War
70 years ago, 30 November 1939, the Soviet-Finnish (winter), "not famous" war began. 105 days were fierce and stubborn battles that brought a lot of grief to the Soviet people and the Finns. Unfortunately, in Russia only a few media outlets briefly reported this sad date. And from our leadership there was no reaction at all. Probably, the indication of the May meeting of 1940 of the year at the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), at which the analysis of the hostilities took place, is not recommended to be remembered about this war, is still in effect. In Finland, the opposite is true. In Helsinki, mourning events were held at the monument to Marshal Karl Mannerheim and at the military cemetery in Hietaniemi. In addition, a memorial service was held in the Cathedral of the Finnish capital, in which President Tarja Halonen and her spouse took part.
We want to address our material to anyone interested. history fatherland, who cherish the concept of honor, valor, heroism of the Russian warrior. And we will tell about the little-known fact of the death of the 18 th rifle division in the infamous "Death Valley" near the Karelian town of Pitkäranta. These people had a terrible fate.
THE SMELL OF WAR
From the beginning of November, the division was already preparing for war. The mood of the fighters was elevated, and no one doubted a quick victory. The roads from Petrozavodsk and Lodeynoye Fields were blocked by troops. But 7 on November, when everyone was listening to the speech of the People's Commissar Voroshilov before the troops, not a word was said about relations with Finland. The commanders began to draw bold conclusions: the diplomats agreed, the Finns agreed with our sensible demands, seeing the power that was rushing to their borders. And on November 12 Voroshilov ordered to bring the troops of the Leningrad Military District to combat readiness and to be ready for anything by November 17. On November 20, the division was visited by the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), the Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee Zhdanov and the Commander of the Leningrad Military District Meretskov. They were met by the commander of the Division Cherepanov and the regimental commissar Razumov. Guests were taken to the demonstrative 316-th regiment, commanded by Colonel Kondrashov. There they were shown excellent training of snipers, they were told that winters are not afraid and they train to sleep in huts without stoves and heating. The mood of the fighters in combat - to teach a damned Finnish pug-dog. Guests are satisfied. Zhdanov announced that the division was fully operational, and ordered the creation of an 15-day supply of food, ammunition and fodder. 28 on November, the whole division began to seethe: Minil fired at our guns, there are dead and wounded. It is broadcast on radio that rallies are going on all over the country and the Soviet people declare that the White Finnish adventurers will be punished for the blood of our comrades. In the evening, by secretary of the Military Council of the Leningrad Military District Zhdanov, the secretary of the regional committee of the Karelian party Kupriyanov and a representative of the 8 Army headquarters, which included a division, arrived from Petrozavodsk. An order was read out by the 8 Army for the appointment of Cherepanov as commander of the 56 Corps, and the commander of the 18 Division was Colonel Kondrashov with the assignment of an extraordinary military commander status.
TOMORROW WILL BE A WAR
In the evening of 29, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the division, at which an order was read to the troops of the Leningrad Military District.
Then the division's task was set:
1. Take over the border village of Käsniaselka. Further, adhering to the main road leading south to Pitkäranta-Sortavala, the offensive line is up to 8 kilometers.
2. Master the villages of Wauma, Lavayarvi, Mitro, South Lemetti, Coyrinoya.
3. Go to the direction of Impilahti-Lässel-Sortavala and immediately seize the city of Sortavala.
4. At the final stage it goes to the rear of the Finnish troops and connects with our troops, leading the battles on the Karelian Isthmus.
After the meeting, it was reported that Molotov had spoken on the radio and reported the break in relations with Finland. So began the Soviet-Finnish war.
WAR
The war began on November 30 1939 of the year at 8 in the morning hours. First there was shelling, and then Soviet troops crossed the border. Border Käsniaselka was busy quickly, without a fight. The first casualties appeared - the T-26 tank was blown up by a mine and the entire crew was killed. A division rushed further to the west, because the birthday of Stalin had to perform a combat mission.
By December 19, the division advanced 40 kilometers to the west and captured South Lemetti. There were the first battles for the villages of Wom and Lavayarvi. And the fighters were faced with an unusual tactics of the Finns - the column rested on a blockage arranged on the road, and as soon as the sappers set about clearing, the shelling of snipers (cuckoos) began. Second, the method was rather psychological. Usually, in the morning, from the forest, a group of skiers would emerge from two, from three sides, shoot five to ten minutes from the trees and go back to the forest. The method is very effective. The goal is to intimidate the enemy and create panic.
Already there were losses, self-arrows and deserters.
Divisions in the reinforcement was attached 34-I light tank brigade under the command of the brigade Commander Kondratieff. And all this armada was moving westward along a narrow road, until it rested ...
ENVIRONMENT
December 28 - the day the division began. Finns, secretly passing through forest roads, came to Lavayarvi and, taking advantage of surprise, seized the garrison. The battle lasted almost the whole day, but our Finns were not able to knock back - the road to Petrozavodsk was cut.
Then the second group of Finns hit Wom. The telephone connection to the center was interrupted, apparently, the wires were cut, and not by radio. Wuma - this was the rear of the division: food depots, shells, ammunition, gasoline, horse feed, uniform.
The convoy carrying the winter uniform failed to pass through the Finns, and the rank and file of the division remained without short fur coats, felt boots, quilted jackets, and the frost was getting stronger.
The divisional commander Kondrashov did not want to go to the rescue of the rear garrisons (then it would be necessary to abandon the offensive, the schedule and order of the command would be violated).
And in early January, the Finns began to surround the southern and northern Lemetti. The sentries began to disappear from the posts, and only in the morning was found the ski run leaving the forest, saying that at night the Finnish scouts again visited the garrison.
On January 3, the Finns went to the garrison from three sides. They were eager for two headquarters dugouts, apparently already knew who was sitting where. The attack was amicably repelled. The Finns dragged their dead with them, ours remained lying still. Then the Finns secretly pulled up artillery and daily began to fire at the division’s positions, especially the tankers had to tighten, the Finnish artillery methodically shot the crowded motionless Tanks. Telephone communication with the shelves was broken and then restored; the Finns apparently restored, and now, probably, the entire telephone line is being tapped. The snipers intensified, especially they were interested in the commanders, who were not difficult to calculate by the white fur coats. Now moving around the garrison is no longer safe.
The divisional commander Kondrashov, in agreement with the tank commander Kondratiev, issued an order to organize the all-round defense of the Southern Lemetti. This means that it is necessary to distribute the remnants of artillery in the proposed areas of the offensive of the Finns, the device of the bunker, machine-gun nests, trenches and trenches. An order was also issued to move to a reduced nutritional rate. In order for the fighters not to relax, they arranged a demonstrative shooting of three people: two crossbowmen and a sentinel who fell asleep at the post. The scouts took prisoners and in the division they heard the name of the Finnish commander who led the South Lemetti entourage - Major Aarnio Matti Armas "Motti Matti" (master of the boilers Matti), commander of the 4 th Jäger battalion. Finnish planes threw leaflets at the garrison calling on ordinary soldiers to surrender, and brought with them weapon exchange for money. A particularly flattering offer was for tankers: 10000 rubles were offered for a tank. The fighters of course laughed at these "creations" of the Finns, and in their hearts there was anxiety, confusion and fear. But the worst was yet to come. A new misfortune was approaching - frosts, and ours were not ready for them.
The first alarming cryptogram flew to the headquarters of the 8 Army:
A map-diagram of the surrounded garrison in South Lemetti. Compiled at the headquarters of the 39 Infantry Regiment of the Finnish Army
1. Howitzer regiment cannons. 2. Dugouts political department. 3. The headquarters of the 18 th Infantry Division. 4. Sign for discharge of cargo from the air. 5. The positions of artillery, machine gun points. 6. Communications battalion. 7. Chemical platoon tanks (flame throwers). 8.The headquarters of the 34 st tank brigade. 9. Anti-tank artillery division. 10.Tanki protected by infantry (buried in the snow). Residential dugout. I / JR-39 - The First Battalion of the 39 Finnish Infantry Regiment. 1.K - First company. 2.K - The second company. 3.K. - The third company.
January 16 was one of the worst days. Frost 40 degrees. They say at night it was up to 50 degrees. Many sentries froze their arms and legs. The medical battalion is full. This is the first trouble, and the second is the endless shelling all day. For the first time, Finnish bombers arrived and bombarded the garrison. At dinner, the dining room was announced to be closing. Too great a risk of movement of people in the garrison, besides there is no meat, bread, and the remaining products are subject to careful accounting and will be issued by dry ration to the units. The horses had already been eaten by everyone — some were slaughtered, some were numb about by themselves, because there was no longer any oats or hay left. But nevertheless the garrison fiercely resisted, and was not going to surrender.
On January 19, a small squad of tank crews from the 34 light tank brigade escaped from the Northern Lemetti and made their way to the Southern Lemetti garrison. Tankers told that they were surrounded too. Artillery first thing destroyed the tank trucks and immobilized tanks. The cars themselves tried not to destroy, but only to damage, the Finns needed the tanks themselves and they tried to capture them. When the situation became completely hopeless, it was decided to break through to their own, in South Lemetti. They began to destroy the remaining tanks, blew up and burned about 50 machines. The waste remained to be covered by Vladimir Tereshkov (father of the first woman cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova) and Vladimir Gryaznov, while the convoy was leaving, they all shot at the Finns. They stayed for about an hour, until the last shell, then they died.
And in South Lemetti, famine began. The code to the headquarters of the 8 Army from 28.01.40:
The planes flew in and dumped cargo, but most of them either hit the Finns, or crashed when they fell. There was still not enough food, and some fighters had already begun to cook a stew of leather belts.
But the garrison stood, resisted and still hoped for help.
In early February, the Finns began to entangle the garrison with barbed wire. We nailed the thorn straight to the trees in several rows at different heights. Now the division was already in the trap. Snipers shoot all day all who appear in the affected area. The impression was that the Finns had turned the garrison into a shooting range and organized sports competitions. And only at dusk the garrison began to revive. Scouts' raids into the rear of the Finns almost ceased, and if they did, the scouts as a rule did not return back.
16 February, the morning began mortar shelling. Then the machine guns started talking. The Finns went on the attack, but having fallen under our machine-gun fire, they retreated. Frost reached 40 degrees. Then the psychic attack began: Finnish women sang in the forest, beat tambourines and danced. They were followed by former sailors, members of the Kronstadt insurrection who had settled in Finland. Gorlanili in Russian "Yablochko" under the accordion and swearing. Covered their cadets Vyborg military school. The garrison defenders decided they were crazy.
Meanwhile, in this hype, without any permission to leave the encirclement, at our own risk, a dozen of our tanks went to break through the ring. With the tank crews, the remnants of two battalions of the tank brigade of the 179 motorized rifle and 224 th reconnaissance, the remnants of the 208 th and 316 th rushed. But they failed to break out, ran into an ambush and almost all died - 1700 people.
The code from 19.02.40:
The code from 22.02.40:
All those who remained alive after the encirclement recalled that they regarded this bombing as a unique gift from the command for the Day of the Red Army.
February 23 - Soviet Army Day began with shelling of Finnish artillery. The Finns rolled out the guns (which at one time captured the division) at direct fire and from about three hundred meters fired at the remnants of the division’s tanks at direct fire. After two hours, almost all the tanks were destroyed. That was the end. All the hope of the defense of the division, all its firepower - were tank guns.
The code from 23.02.40:
... Commands for the exit, for the breakthrough did not follow.
The code from 27.02.40:
And finally, the long-awaited order came ...
BREAKTHROUGH
28.02.40 In 18.00, permission to exit the environment is obtained. A breakthrough will be made in 21.00. The remnants of the division and the 34 armored brigade will be divided into two columns. The stronger ones are in the first column - they are led by the division commander Kondrashov and the brigade commander Kondratiev. In the second column go weak. The whole operation is commanded by Colonel Alekseev, the Chief of Staff of the division, who will lead the second column. Military Commissar Razumov, instructed to carry and save the banner of the division. It was decided to leave the wounded, and there were more than three hundred people at the mercy of the winner. Collection in 20.30.
In 21.00, intelligence went ahead, followed by sappers with scissors. When the thorn was cut - the whole column rushed forward. Everyone shouted "Hurray!" And shot on the move to the horizon. The vanguard ran into the Finnish camp, the existence of which did not know. The fight there began a very brutal, and it saved the main column from inevitable death. In this battle, about two hundred people died, including Commissioner Alexei Razumov, the division’s banner was captured by the enemy (the Finns broadcasted it and wrote in leaflets). And the column went further ... There were still clashes with the Finnish guard posts, but they were bombarded with grenades and fled further. Alekseev encouraged: do not feel sorry for sweat - you will save blood! When it dawned, our planes appeared and began to show the path of advancement and soon the convoy went out to their own.
And the first column suffered a completely different fate - a tragic one. This train was to follow the second column, to close the line. There were relatively strong fighters in it, and in the event of persecution they had to repel the Finns and protect the second, weaker column. But this column, almost a 2000 man, moved along the road to Käsniaselka, which led them to Lemetti. The Finns provided for such an option and made blockages on the road, laid mines, and after blockages on both sides of the road they built bunkers. After letting the column down, driving it into mines, the Finns began to destroy the column and completely destroyed it. All column was killed and captured. All but the division commander Kondrashov and his adjutant. Kondrashov dressed in the uniform of an ordinary Red Army man, took off his overcoat and budenovka from a dead soldier, and along with his adjutant caught up with the second column and trudged around its very tail. Destroyed the first column 4 th Jäger battalion under the command of Major Matti Aarnio (Matti master of boilers).
The divisional commander Kondrashov was shot 29 in February 1940 of the year without trial in the courtyard of the hospital of the village of Salmi, the fate of the brigade commander Kondratieff is unknown.
Thus, the 18 Infantry Division, the Order of the Red Banner, and the division perished. 15000 people came out of the 1237 environment, half of them injured, frostbite. The death toll on this small patch made up 10 percent of the total death toll in the entire Soviet - Finnish war.
RESULTS
The fighting near the city of Pitkyaranta was extremely fierce in nature and units of the Red Army suffered heavy losses in this direction. 18-i sd was almost completely destroyed (out of 15, thousands survived about 1300 people). In the course of the winter war, this was the only compound of the Red Army that was completely destroyed. Since the inhabitants of Karelia were mainly called to this division, this meant that in 1940 thousands of children in the KASSR were left orphans.
The irretrievable losses of the Red Army (killed, dead from wounds and missing) on the Pitkyaranta direction in general amounted to at least 30.11.1939 thousand people with 13.3.1940 through 35. These are the greatest losses suffered by the Armed Forces of the USSR for the entire period of the Second World War on the front from Svir to the Barents Sea.
Bitter Lessons
From the memoirs of the General of the Army, the former commander of the Leningrad Military District, Anatoly Ivanovich Gribkov
The “winter” war is well known to me, since I participated in it as a twenty-year-old lieutenant, commander of a tank platoon in the 100 th separate tank battalion of the 122 rifle division in the Kandalaksha direction.
Many documents and testimonies made public today give reason to believe that the village of Mineila did not have any shelling of our territory from the Finns. All this was fabricated by our respective services.
I survived the 105 day of this shameful war, for which our "valiant and legendary" Red Army was not ready. The sad fate of the 18 Division befell our other divisions and brigades.
The brutal and sad lessons of the Soviet-Finnish war were considered at the March (1940) plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), and in April at a meeting of the Main Military Council. Commissar of Defense, Marshal K. Ye. Voroshilov, as it became known now, said that neither he, nor the General Staff, nor the command of the Leningrad Military District could even imagine all the difficulties that the Red Army would face.
And indeed it is. What was the powerful line of Mannerheim, we learned only when we came to the pillboxes. In this war, much was not in our favor. The Finnish soldier was warmly and comfortably dressed in white camouflage jackets and pants, skied well, skillfully owned the Suomi machinegun on 69 cartridges. And our fighter went to battle in a cold overcoat, budenovka, boots with windings, a 1891-1930 rifle with skis in hand. Although the border troops and the troops of the NKVD were already armed with automatic weapons. Marshal G. I. Kulik, Deputy Commissar of Defense, said: “The automatic is for the American gangsters, and our Red Army man needs a rifle with a long four-sided bayonet.”
I witnessed scenes - these are indicative courts, shootings of fighters and commanders before the ranks, and executions without trial or investigation.
In the seventies, being the commander of the troops of the Leningrad Military District, I officially visited Finland several times and met with Finnish veterans of that war. They told me that the red commanders who were captured were most afraid of their senior commanders and KGB officers, rather than the enemy.
When I, as a participant in the Finnish war, are asked how we fought, I recall with bitterness how the Finns taught us to fight in practice. The rear of our regiments, divisions, corps were not ready for war. The interaction between the kinds of troops organized very badly. Discipline was built on fear of superiors. The cowardly Leo Mehlis was especially rampant. He was even afraid of the commanders of armies and fronts in both the Finnish and the Patriotic War. Historians must calculate how much he ruined the command and political staff, how much.
During the Tehran conference in 1943, as R. Sherwood mentions in his book “Roosevelt and Hopkins,” Stalin said at lunch that “the Soviet Army proved to be poorly organized and very bad at war with Finland.”
In May, 1940, the new People's Commissar of Defense, S. K. Tymoshenko, in his order No. 120, self-critically summed up the main results of the war, revealed all the unpreparedness of our troops, set tough, specific tasks of retraining the Red Army. I remember how our commander of the 39 Tank Brigade, D. D. Lelushenko, brought this order to the commanders. Unfortunately, there was little time to prepare for a big war. She was already standing on the threshold of our house.
Until recently, our true losses were hidden in the “winter” war. It is now accepted that 126 875 people died. Losses of Finns - five times less.
A few years ago, the government of Finland allowed Russia to erect a monument on its territory in the Suomussalmi region, a monument to the dead soldiers of the 163 and 44 divisions. Together with Patriarch Alexy II, I participated in the opening of this monument. I stood at the "Grieving Russia" and thought about what the soldiers and commanders of these divisions and other parts who were surrounded by survived?
We want to address our material to anyone interested. history fatherland, who cherish the concept of honor, valor, heroism of the Russian warrior. And we will tell about the little-known fact of the death of the 18 th rifle division in the infamous "Death Valley" near the Karelian town of Pitkäranta. These people had a terrible fate.
THE SMELL OF WAR
From the beginning of November, the division was already preparing for war. The mood of the fighters was elevated, and no one doubted a quick victory. The roads from Petrozavodsk and Lodeynoye Fields were blocked by troops. But 7 on November, when everyone was listening to the speech of the People's Commissar Voroshilov before the troops, not a word was said about relations with Finland. The commanders began to draw bold conclusions: the diplomats agreed, the Finns agreed with our sensible demands, seeing the power that was rushing to their borders. And on November 12 Voroshilov ordered to bring the troops of the Leningrad Military District to combat readiness and to be ready for anything by November 17. On November 20, the division was visited by the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), the Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee Zhdanov and the Commander of the Leningrad Military District Meretskov. They were met by the commander of the Division Cherepanov and the regimental commissar Razumov. Guests were taken to the demonstrative 316-th regiment, commanded by Colonel Kondrashov. There they were shown excellent training of snipers, they were told that winters are not afraid and they train to sleep in huts without stoves and heating. The mood of the fighters in combat - to teach a damned Finnish pug-dog. Guests are satisfied. Zhdanov announced that the division was fully operational, and ordered the creation of an 15-day supply of food, ammunition and fodder. 28 on November, the whole division began to seethe: Minil fired at our guns, there are dead and wounded. It is broadcast on radio that rallies are going on all over the country and the Soviet people declare that the White Finnish adventurers will be punished for the blood of our comrades. In the evening, by secretary of the Military Council of the Leningrad Military District Zhdanov, the secretary of the regional committee of the Karelian party Kupriyanov and a representative of the 8 Army headquarters, which included a division, arrived from Petrozavodsk. An order was read out by the 8 Army for the appointment of Cherepanov as commander of the 56 Corps, and the commander of the 18 Division was Colonel Kondrashov with the assignment of an extraordinary military commander status.
TOMORROW WILL BE A WAR
In the evening of 29, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the division, at which an order was read to the troops of the Leningrad Military District.
"ORDER TO TROOPS OF THE LENINGRAD MILITARY DISTRICT"
November 29 1939 city
The patience of the Soviet people and the Red Army came to an end. It is time to teach the overblown and impudent political gamblers, who have defied the Soviet people, and completely destroy the center of anti-Soviet provocations and threats to Leningrad!
Comrades, Red Army men, commanders, commissioners and political workers!
Fulfilling the sacred will of the Soviet Government and our Great Folk, I order:
The troops of the Leningrad Military District will cross the border, crush the Finnish troops and once and for all ensure the security of the north-western borders of the Soviet Union and the city of Lenin, the cradle of the proletarian revolution.
We are not going to Finland as conquerors, but as friends and liberators of the Finnish people from the oppression of landlords and capitalists.
We are not going against the Finnish people, but against the government of Cayander-Erkno, which oppresses the Finnish people and provoked a war with the USSR.
We respect the freedom and independence of Finland obtained by the Finnish people as a result of the October Revolution and the victory of the Soviet Power.
Together with the Finnish people, the Russian Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Stalin, fought for this independence.
For the security of the north-western borders of the USSR and the glorious city of Lenin!
For our beloved homeland! For the Great Stalin!
Forward, the sons of the Soviet people, the soldiers of the Red Army, to the complete destruction of the enemy.
The commander of the LenVO troops Comrade. Meretskov K.A.
Member of the Military Council Comrade. Zhdanov A.A. ”
November 29 1939 city
The patience of the Soviet people and the Red Army came to an end. It is time to teach the overblown and impudent political gamblers, who have defied the Soviet people, and completely destroy the center of anti-Soviet provocations and threats to Leningrad!
Comrades, Red Army men, commanders, commissioners and political workers!
Fulfilling the sacred will of the Soviet Government and our Great Folk, I order:
The troops of the Leningrad Military District will cross the border, crush the Finnish troops and once and for all ensure the security of the north-western borders of the Soviet Union and the city of Lenin, the cradle of the proletarian revolution.
We are not going to Finland as conquerors, but as friends and liberators of the Finnish people from the oppression of landlords and capitalists.
We are not going against the Finnish people, but against the government of Cayander-Erkno, which oppresses the Finnish people and provoked a war with the USSR.
We respect the freedom and independence of Finland obtained by the Finnish people as a result of the October Revolution and the victory of the Soviet Power.
Together with the Finnish people, the Russian Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Stalin, fought for this independence.
For the security of the north-western borders of the USSR and the glorious city of Lenin!
For our beloved homeland! For the Great Stalin!
Forward, the sons of the Soviet people, the soldiers of the Red Army, to the complete destruction of the enemy.
The commander of the LenVO troops Comrade. Meretskov K.A.
Member of the Military Council Comrade. Zhdanov A.A. ”
Then the division's task was set:
1. Take over the border village of Käsniaselka. Further, adhering to the main road leading south to Pitkäranta-Sortavala, the offensive line is up to 8 kilometers.
2. Master the villages of Wauma, Lavayarvi, Mitro, South Lemetti, Coyrinoya.
3. Go to the direction of Impilahti-Lässel-Sortavala and immediately seize the city of Sortavala.
4. At the final stage it goes to the rear of the Finnish troops and connects with our troops, leading the battles on the Karelian Isthmus.
After the meeting, it was reported that Molotov had spoken on the radio and reported the break in relations with Finland. So began the Soviet-Finnish war.
WAR
The war began on November 30 1939 of the year at 8 in the morning hours. First there was shelling, and then Soviet troops crossed the border. Border Käsniaselka was busy quickly, without a fight. The first casualties appeared - the T-26 tank was blown up by a mine and the entire crew was killed. A division rushed further to the west, because the birthday of Stalin had to perform a combat mission.
By December 19, the division advanced 40 kilometers to the west and captured South Lemetti. There were the first battles for the villages of Wom and Lavayarvi. And the fighters were faced with an unusual tactics of the Finns - the column rested on a blockage arranged on the road, and as soon as the sappers set about clearing, the shelling of snipers (cuckoos) began. Second, the method was rather psychological. Usually, in the morning, from the forest, a group of skiers would emerge from two, from three sides, shoot five to ten minutes from the trees and go back to the forest. The method is very effective. The goal is to intimidate the enemy and create panic.
Already there were losses, self-arrows and deserters.
Divisions in the reinforcement was attached 34-I light tank brigade under the command of the brigade Commander Kondratieff. And all this armada was moving westward along a narrow road, until it rested ...
ENVIRONMENT
December 28 - the day the division began. Finns, secretly passing through forest roads, came to Lavayarvi and, taking advantage of surprise, seized the garrison. The battle lasted almost the whole day, but our Finns were not able to knock back - the road to Petrozavodsk was cut.
Then the second group of Finns hit Wom. The telephone connection to the center was interrupted, apparently, the wires were cut, and not by radio. Wuma - this was the rear of the division: food depots, shells, ammunition, gasoline, horse feed, uniform.
The convoy carrying the winter uniform failed to pass through the Finns, and the rank and file of the division remained without short fur coats, felt boots, quilted jackets, and the frost was getting stronger.
The divisional commander Kondrashov did not want to go to the rescue of the rear garrisons (then it would be necessary to abandon the offensive, the schedule and order of the command would be violated).
And in early January, the Finns began to surround the southern and northern Lemetti. The sentries began to disappear from the posts, and only in the morning was found the ski run leaving the forest, saying that at night the Finnish scouts again visited the garrison.
On January 3, the Finns went to the garrison from three sides. They were eager for two headquarters dugouts, apparently already knew who was sitting where. The attack was amicably repelled. The Finns dragged their dead with them, ours remained lying still. Then the Finns secretly pulled up artillery and daily began to fire at the division’s positions, especially the tankers had to tighten, the Finnish artillery methodically shot the crowded motionless Tanks. Telephone communication with the shelves was broken and then restored; the Finns apparently restored, and now, probably, the entire telephone line is being tapped. The snipers intensified, especially they were interested in the commanders, who were not difficult to calculate by the white fur coats. Now moving around the garrison is no longer safe.
The divisional commander Kondrashov, in agreement with the tank commander Kondratiev, issued an order to organize the all-round defense of the Southern Lemetti. This means that it is necessary to distribute the remnants of artillery in the proposed areas of the offensive of the Finns, the device of the bunker, machine-gun nests, trenches and trenches. An order was also issued to move to a reduced nutritional rate. In order for the fighters not to relax, they arranged a demonstrative shooting of three people: two crossbowmen and a sentinel who fell asleep at the post. The scouts took prisoners and in the division they heard the name of the Finnish commander who led the South Lemetti entourage - Major Aarnio Matti Armas "Motti Matti" (master of the boilers Matti), commander of the 4 th Jäger battalion. Finnish planes threw leaflets at the garrison calling on ordinary soldiers to surrender, and brought with them weapon exchange for money. A particularly flattering offer was for tankers: 10000 rubles were offered for a tank. The fighters of course laughed at these "creations" of the Finns, and in their hearts there was anxiety, confusion and fear. But the worst was yet to come. A new misfortune was approaching - frosts, and ours were not ready for them.
The first alarming cryptogram flew to the headquarters of the 8 Army:
“The situation is critical. The command posts of the regiments are continuously attacked. A 30-40 man remained in the companies. The rear has not arrived. Urgent, effective assistance is required, otherwise it will be too late. ”
1. Howitzer regiment cannons. 2. Dugouts political department. 3. The headquarters of the 18 th Infantry Division. 4. Sign for discharge of cargo from the air. 5. The positions of artillery, machine gun points. 6. Communications battalion. 7. Chemical platoon tanks (flame throwers). 8.The headquarters of the 34 st tank brigade. 9. Anti-tank artillery division. 10.Tanki protected by infantry (buried in the snow). Residential dugout. I / JR-39 - The First Battalion of the 39 Finnish Infantry Regiment. 1.K - First company. 2.K - The second company. 3.K. - The third company.
January 16 was one of the worst days. Frost 40 degrees. They say at night it was up to 50 degrees. Many sentries froze their arms and legs. The medical battalion is full. This is the first trouble, and the second is the endless shelling all day. For the first time, Finnish bombers arrived and bombarded the garrison. At dinner, the dining room was announced to be closing. Too great a risk of movement of people in the garrison, besides there is no meat, bread, and the remaining products are subject to careful accounting and will be issued by dry ration to the units. The horses had already been eaten by everyone — some were slaughtered, some were numb about by themselves, because there was no longer any oats or hay left. But nevertheless the garrison fiercely resisted, and was not going to surrender.
On January 19, a small squad of tank crews from the 34 light tank brigade escaped from the Northern Lemetti and made their way to the Southern Lemetti garrison. Tankers told that they were surrounded too. Artillery first thing destroyed the tank trucks and immobilized tanks. The cars themselves tried not to destroy, but only to damage, the Finns needed the tanks themselves and they tried to capture them. When the situation became completely hopeless, it was decided to break through to their own, in South Lemetti. They began to destroy the remaining tanks, blew up and burned about 50 machines. The waste remained to be covered by Vladimir Tereshkov (father of the first woman cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova) and Vladimir Gryaznov, while the convoy was leaving, they all shot at the Finns. They stayed for about an hour, until the last shell, then they died.
And in South Lemetti, famine began. The code to the headquarters of the 8 Army from 28.01.40:
“Held on horses. Now they are not - ate. Aircraft shed little and irregularly. No products, depleted. They threw salt, but it crumbled. The people are exhausted. It is necessary to throw crackers, concentrate, salt. Take action.
The planes flew in and dumped cargo, but most of them either hit the Finns, or crashed when they fell. There was still not enough food, and some fighters had already begun to cook a stew of leather belts.
But the garrison stood, resisted and still hoped for help.
In early February, the Finns began to entangle the garrison with barbed wire. We nailed the thorn straight to the trees in several rows at different heights. Now the division was already in the trap. Snipers shoot all day all who appear in the affected area. The impression was that the Finns had turned the garrison into a shooting range and organized sports competitions. And only at dusk the garrison began to revive. Scouts' raids into the rear of the Finns almost ceased, and if they did, the scouts as a rule did not return back.
16 February, the morning began mortar shelling. Then the machine guns started talking. The Finns went on the attack, but having fallen under our machine-gun fire, they retreated. Frost reached 40 degrees. Then the psychic attack began: Finnish women sang in the forest, beat tambourines and danced. They were followed by former sailors, members of the Kronstadt insurrection who had settled in Finland. Gorlanili in Russian "Yablochko" under the accordion and swearing. Covered their cadets Vyborg military school. The garrison defenders decided they were crazy.
Meanwhile, in this hype, without any permission to leave the encirclement, at our own risk, a dozen of our tanks went to break through the ring. With the tank crews, the remnants of two battalions of the tank brigade of the 179 motorized rifle and 224 th reconnaissance, the remnants of the 208 th and 316 th rushed. But they failed to break out, ran into an ambush and almost all died - 1700 people.
The code from 19.02.40:
“Army headquarters. Kovalev. Why starve? Give foods. Help, help out, otherwise we will perish everything. Kondrashov.
“The situation is difficult. We are losing healthy 360, 750 patients. Weakened completely. Help urgently. Hold no strength.
The code from 22.02.40:
“Cherepanov, Seryukov. Aviation mistakenly bombed us. Help. Help out otherwise we will perish. ”
All those who remained alive after the encirclement recalled that they regarded this bombing as a unique gift from the command for the Day of the Red Army.
February 23 - Soviet Army Day began with shelling of Finnish artillery. The Finns rolled out the guns (which at one time captured the division) at direct fire and from about three hundred meters fired at the remnants of the division’s tanks at direct fire. After two hours, almost all the tanks were destroyed. That was the end. All the hope of the defense of the division, all its firepower - were tank guns.
The code from 23.02.40:
“We die. The disaster began. We require permission to exit. Waiting until 16 hours. Kondrashov. Kondratyev.
... Commands for the exit, for the breakthrough did not follow.
The code from 27.02.40:
“You persuade us all the time, like little children. It's a shame to die when there is such a large army nearby. We demand immediate permission to exit. If this permission is not given, we will accept it ourselves or Red Army men will accept it. Kondrashov. Kondratyev.
And finally, the long-awaited order came ...
BREAKTHROUGH
28.02.40 In 18.00, permission to exit the environment is obtained. A breakthrough will be made in 21.00. The remnants of the division and the 34 armored brigade will be divided into two columns. The stronger ones are in the first column - they are led by the division commander Kondrashov and the brigade commander Kondratiev. In the second column go weak. The whole operation is commanded by Colonel Alekseev, the Chief of Staff of the division, who will lead the second column. Military Commissar Razumov, instructed to carry and save the banner of the division. It was decided to leave the wounded, and there were more than three hundred people at the mercy of the winner. Collection in 20.30.
In 21.00, intelligence went ahead, followed by sappers with scissors. When the thorn was cut - the whole column rushed forward. Everyone shouted "Hurray!" And shot on the move to the horizon. The vanguard ran into the Finnish camp, the existence of which did not know. The fight there began a very brutal, and it saved the main column from inevitable death. In this battle, about two hundred people died, including Commissioner Alexei Razumov, the division’s banner was captured by the enemy (the Finns broadcasted it and wrote in leaflets). And the column went further ... There were still clashes with the Finnish guard posts, but they were bombarded with grenades and fled further. Alekseev encouraged: do not feel sorry for sweat - you will save blood! When it dawned, our planes appeared and began to show the path of advancement and soon the convoy went out to their own.
And the first column suffered a completely different fate - a tragic one. This train was to follow the second column, to close the line. There were relatively strong fighters in it, and in the event of persecution they had to repel the Finns and protect the second, weaker column. But this column, almost a 2000 man, moved along the road to Käsniaselka, which led them to Lemetti. The Finns provided for such an option and made blockages on the road, laid mines, and after blockages on both sides of the road they built bunkers. After letting the column down, driving it into mines, the Finns began to destroy the column and completely destroyed it. All column was killed and captured. All but the division commander Kondrashov and his adjutant. Kondrashov dressed in the uniform of an ordinary Red Army man, took off his overcoat and budenovka from a dead soldier, and along with his adjutant caught up with the second column and trudged around its very tail. Destroyed the first column 4 th Jäger battalion under the command of Major Matti Aarnio (Matti master of boilers).
The divisional commander Kondrashov was shot 29 in February 1940 of the year without trial in the courtyard of the hospital of the village of Salmi, the fate of the brigade commander Kondratieff is unknown.
Thus, the 18 Infantry Division, the Order of the Red Banner, and the division perished. 15000 people came out of the 1237 environment, half of them injured, frostbite. The death toll on this small patch made up 10 percent of the total death toll in the entire Soviet - Finnish war.
Alexey Nikolaevich Razumov - head of the division's political department, regimental commissar.
South Lemetti after the capture of the Finnish troops. Photos from the Finnish archives.
RESULTS
The fighting near the city of Pitkyaranta was extremely fierce in nature and units of the Red Army suffered heavy losses in this direction. 18-i sd was almost completely destroyed (out of 15, thousands survived about 1300 people). In the course of the winter war, this was the only compound of the Red Army that was completely destroyed. Since the inhabitants of Karelia were mainly called to this division, this meant that in 1940 thousands of children in the KASSR were left orphans.
The irretrievable losses of the Red Army (killed, dead from wounds and missing) on the Pitkyaranta direction in general amounted to at least 30.11.1939 thousand people with 13.3.1940 through 35. These are the greatest losses suffered by the Armed Forces of the USSR for the entire period of the Second World War on the front from Svir to the Barents Sea.
Ow. top secret
ACT
17 March 1940. Lemetti Southern.
On the basis of the order of the 15 commander of the Army, the commander of the 2 rank of comrade. Kurdyumov, a commission chaired by the Military Commissioner 56 Rifle Corps - Brigadier Commissar Comrade. Seryukova composed of members: and. the commander of 18 SD - Colonel Alekseev, and. military commissar 18 CD - Art. political instructor Natsuna, deputy. beginning Special Section 56 SC - Art. Lieutenant Kozlov, Head of the 2 Division of the 56 SC, Captain Mochalov, examined the Lemetti South area and found the following:
Lemetti Yuzhnoye carries traces of fierce and stubborn fighting, representing a complete cemetery of corpses, broken fighting and transport vehicles. The entire defense area of the control unit 18 SD is pitted with shells craters, the trees at 90% in the defense area are mowed down art. shells. 10 dugouts destroyed art. shells 152 m / m artillery, with the people there. The remaining dugouts were mostly blown up by the Finns as they occupied Lemetti. Found 18 corpses of the Red Army, with
burnt by the Finns in dugouts, one dead body was found in the mud hut, tied to the planks with wires and shot, and one dead body with a tight rope around its neck. Machines, trees, iron pipes of the dugout furnaces and all local objects are riddled with bullets and shell fragments. All military-economic property and personal demolished and piled Finns heaps along the road.
KP 18-th SD was surrounded by an adversary with a force over the regiment, as evidenced by the presence of trenches equipped with machine-gun fire points and artillery firing positions, and the presence of a Finnish camp and command point of the Finns in 2,5 km east of Lemetti Yuzhnoye (4022Г coordinates, 4024А coordinates XNX coordinates) . The enemy's trenches were located from the trenches of the defenders of Lemetti in some places in the distance of 100.000-50.
Finns in front of the trenches installed a wire fence in the 3 series (the wire is stretched over trees) and one row of spiral wire barbed wire. For the most part, the trenches of the Finns are dug out in full profile and connected by communications between themselves and with dugouts, located half a kilometer from the trenches. On the road in the direction of Lovayarvi, an anti-tank ditch was dug out by the Finns in 400 meters from the front edge of the defense and a blockage was made. The road in the direction of Lovayarvi has large debris, sometimes reaching up to a kilometer.
The firing positions of the artillery of the Finns, which fired on the 18 SD, were: 152 battery m / m in the Mitro region, 2 122 guns in the Lemetti Northern (3 AP 3 battery, captured by the Finns in late January 1940 g .), the 76 battery m / m near the Lovayarvi-Koivuselka road fork and the 76 battery m / m near the farm southwest of Lemetti South. The presence of 2-x last batteries is confirmed by the found equipped OP (firing positions) and cartridge cases in the OP region. Polukaponiry anti-tank guns, 2 in the area of the antitank ditch, 2 at height against the southeastern defense sector and one against the southwestern defense sector were also found.
Inspection found 16 equipped trenches for heavy machine guns. The rest of the enemy grouping was located on high ground along the Lovayarvi road and at a height southeast of Lemetti.
On site in the area of KP defense, 513 of our corpses was found, both in the trenches and outside the trenches.
In the area of the enemy’s defense breakthrough, a column of Colonel Alekseev’s headquarters 18 SD was found to have a corpse, mainly in the area of the enemy’s defense and at the wire barriers. In the area of the enemy’s defense breakthrough, a column of the headquarters of 201 LTBR Colonel Smirnov discovered 34 corpses, 150 corpses of the remaining seriously wounded were found in hospital dugouts. Finnish corpses were not found, because those by the Finns were removed from 120 to 29.2.40.
Of all the combat vehicles, the weapons were withdrawn and the Finns removed; all transport vehicles removed the wheels and a large part of the motors. An insignificant part of combat and transport vehicles was taken out by the Finns, as evidenced by traces of the withdrawal of vehicles. All the material part in its condition is irretrievably lost.
With respect to the northern column, it has been established:
The path of movement passed from the defense area to the north-east direction later along the Finnish road, which goes one and a half kilometers parallel to the Lemetti-Lovayarvi road. 150 killed during the withdrawal of corpses along the Finnish road, 78 corpses along the Finnish road were found along the way of the column, including military commissar 34 LTBR regimental commissar Gaponyuk.
Around 400 killed were found in the Finnish camp area that 2,5 km east of Lemetti, among which are identified: The Head of the Political Department 18 SD - battalion commissar Comrade. Razumov, early. Artillery 56 SC - Colonel Bolotov, Commissar 97 OBS - Senior Politrub Tyurin, Commissar 56 ORB - Art. political officer Suvorov, pom. The political department chief of the Komsomol — political instructor Samoznaev, the instructor of the political department 18 SD - political instructor Smirnov and his wife, representative of the 8 BBC Army — Lieutenant Permyakov, Head. VHS 18 SD — Major Bulynin, Chief of the Division’s fleet - ml. military technician Kulpin, political instructor Ilinsky and doctor Balueva. The rest of the people of the North column are wanted.
In the area of the death of the Northern Column, the following was established: the trees for the most part bear traces of a two-way firefight, which indicates armed resistance of the Northern Group. Upon examination, it was established that, despite the presence of fatal injuries, a significant part of the dead has traces of targeting in the head and finishing with rifle butts. One of the dead, shod in Finnish boots, pieksas, was attached to the tree upside down. The wife of the instructor of the political department 18 SD Smirnova (who worked at the school party in the political department) was naked and our hand grenade was inserted between the legs. With most of the commanders, buttonholes and sleeve insignia have been torn off. Orders that were held by the commanders, the Finns broke free with matter.
The way out of both columns is tactically correct, since leaving the defense zone in other directions, in particular to the south, would be disastrous for both columns due to the presence of enemy defenses in the area of Koivuselka, Kuikka, as well as the presence of a large number of fire weapons and enemy activity lately from the south.
Careful preparation for the exit was not made. The presence of the Finnish camp did not know due to the lack of deep intelligence in recent times. The exit was made hastily, as evidenced by the receipt by the head of the 18 SD headquarters - Colonel Alekseev of the order to exit to 18.00 28.2.40, which indicated the beginning of the exit to 21.00. The remaining 3 hours before the release were clearly insufficient to organize the exit.
Chairman of the Commission, Military Commissioner 56 SC, Brigadier Commissioner Seryukov
Members:
I. D. Commander 18 SD Col. Alekseev
I.D. Military Commissioner 18 SDT. political instructor Natsun
Deputy beginning Special Department of the NKVD 56 SC Art. Lieutenant Kozlov
Early 2 Division 56 SC Captain Mochalov
ACT
17 March 1940. Lemetti Southern.
On the basis of the order of the 15 commander of the Army, the commander of the 2 rank of comrade. Kurdyumov, a commission chaired by the Military Commissioner 56 Rifle Corps - Brigadier Commissar Comrade. Seryukova composed of members: and. the commander of 18 SD - Colonel Alekseev, and. military commissar 18 CD - Art. political instructor Natsuna, deputy. beginning Special Section 56 SC - Art. Lieutenant Kozlov, Head of the 2 Division of the 56 SC, Captain Mochalov, examined the Lemetti South area and found the following:
Lemetti Yuzhnoye carries traces of fierce and stubborn fighting, representing a complete cemetery of corpses, broken fighting and transport vehicles. The entire defense area of the control unit 18 SD is pitted with shells craters, the trees at 90% in the defense area are mowed down art. shells. 10 dugouts destroyed art. shells 152 m / m artillery, with the people there. The remaining dugouts were mostly blown up by the Finns as they occupied Lemetti. Found 18 corpses of the Red Army, with
burnt by the Finns in dugouts, one dead body was found in the mud hut, tied to the planks with wires and shot, and one dead body with a tight rope around its neck. Machines, trees, iron pipes of the dugout furnaces and all local objects are riddled with bullets and shell fragments. All military-economic property and personal demolished and piled Finns heaps along the road.
KP 18-th SD was surrounded by an adversary with a force over the regiment, as evidenced by the presence of trenches equipped with machine-gun fire points and artillery firing positions, and the presence of a Finnish camp and command point of the Finns in 2,5 km east of Lemetti Yuzhnoye (4022Г coordinates, 4024А coordinates XNX coordinates) . The enemy's trenches were located from the trenches of the defenders of Lemetti in some places in the distance of 100.000-50.
Finns in front of the trenches installed a wire fence in the 3 series (the wire is stretched over trees) and one row of spiral wire barbed wire. For the most part, the trenches of the Finns are dug out in full profile and connected by communications between themselves and with dugouts, located half a kilometer from the trenches. On the road in the direction of Lovayarvi, an anti-tank ditch was dug out by the Finns in 400 meters from the front edge of the defense and a blockage was made. The road in the direction of Lovayarvi has large debris, sometimes reaching up to a kilometer.
The firing positions of the artillery of the Finns, which fired on the 18 SD, were: 152 battery m / m in the Mitro region, 2 122 guns in the Lemetti Northern (3 AP 3 battery, captured by the Finns in late January 1940 g .), the 76 battery m / m near the Lovayarvi-Koivuselka road fork and the 76 battery m / m near the farm southwest of Lemetti South. The presence of 2-x last batteries is confirmed by the found equipped OP (firing positions) and cartridge cases in the OP region. Polukaponiry anti-tank guns, 2 in the area of the antitank ditch, 2 at height against the southeastern defense sector and one against the southwestern defense sector were also found.
Inspection found 16 equipped trenches for heavy machine guns. The rest of the enemy grouping was located on high ground along the Lovayarvi road and at a height southeast of Lemetti.
On site in the area of KP defense, 513 of our corpses was found, both in the trenches and outside the trenches.
In the area of the enemy’s defense breakthrough, a column of Colonel Alekseev’s headquarters 18 SD was found to have a corpse, mainly in the area of the enemy’s defense and at the wire barriers. In the area of the enemy’s defense breakthrough, a column of the headquarters of 201 LTBR Colonel Smirnov discovered 34 corpses, 150 corpses of the remaining seriously wounded were found in hospital dugouts. Finnish corpses were not found, because those by the Finns were removed from 120 to 29.2.40.
Of all the combat vehicles, the weapons were withdrawn and the Finns removed; all transport vehicles removed the wheels and a large part of the motors. An insignificant part of combat and transport vehicles was taken out by the Finns, as evidenced by traces of the withdrawal of vehicles. All the material part in its condition is irretrievably lost.
With respect to the northern column, it has been established:
The path of movement passed from the defense area to the north-east direction later along the Finnish road, which goes one and a half kilometers parallel to the Lemetti-Lovayarvi road. 150 killed during the withdrawal of corpses along the Finnish road, 78 corpses along the Finnish road were found along the way of the column, including military commissar 34 LTBR regimental commissar Gaponyuk.
Around 400 killed were found in the Finnish camp area that 2,5 km east of Lemetti, among which are identified: The Head of the Political Department 18 SD - battalion commissar Comrade. Razumov, early. Artillery 56 SC - Colonel Bolotov, Commissar 97 OBS - Senior Politrub Tyurin, Commissar 56 ORB - Art. political officer Suvorov, pom. The political department chief of the Komsomol — political instructor Samoznaev, the instructor of the political department 18 SD - political instructor Smirnov and his wife, representative of the 8 BBC Army — Lieutenant Permyakov, Head. VHS 18 SD — Major Bulynin, Chief of the Division’s fleet - ml. military technician Kulpin, political instructor Ilinsky and doctor Balueva. The rest of the people of the North column are wanted.
In the area of the death of the Northern Column, the following was established: the trees for the most part bear traces of a two-way firefight, which indicates armed resistance of the Northern Group. Upon examination, it was established that, despite the presence of fatal injuries, a significant part of the dead has traces of targeting in the head and finishing with rifle butts. One of the dead, shod in Finnish boots, pieksas, was attached to the tree upside down. The wife of the instructor of the political department 18 SD Smirnova (who worked at the school party in the political department) was naked and our hand grenade was inserted between the legs. With most of the commanders, buttonholes and sleeve insignia have been torn off. Orders that were held by the commanders, the Finns broke free with matter.
The way out of both columns is tactically correct, since leaving the defense zone in other directions, in particular to the south, would be disastrous for both columns due to the presence of enemy defenses in the area of Koivuselka, Kuikka, as well as the presence of a large number of fire weapons and enemy activity lately from the south.
Careful preparation for the exit was not made. The presence of the Finnish camp did not know due to the lack of deep intelligence in recent times. The exit was made hastily, as evidenced by the receipt by the head of the 18 SD headquarters - Colonel Alekseev of the order to exit to 18.00 28.2.40, which indicated the beginning of the exit to 21.00. The remaining 3 hours before the release were clearly insufficient to organize the exit.
Chairman of the Commission, Military Commissioner 56 SC, Brigadier Commissioner Seryukov
Members:
I. D. Commander 18 SD Col. Alekseev
I.D. Military Commissioner 18 SDT. political instructor Natsun
Deputy beginning Special Department of the NKVD 56 SC Art. Lieutenant Kozlov
Early 2 Division 56 SC Captain Mochalov
Bitter Lessons
From the memoirs of the General of the Army, the former commander of the Leningrad Military District, Anatoly Ivanovich Gribkov
The “winter” war is well known to me, since I participated in it as a twenty-year-old lieutenant, commander of a tank platoon in the 100 th separate tank battalion of the 122 rifle division in the Kandalaksha direction.
Many documents and testimonies made public today give reason to believe that the village of Mineila did not have any shelling of our territory from the Finns. All this was fabricated by our respective services.
I survived the 105 day of this shameful war, for which our "valiant and legendary" Red Army was not ready. The sad fate of the 18 Division befell our other divisions and brigades.
The brutal and sad lessons of the Soviet-Finnish war were considered at the March (1940) plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), and in April at a meeting of the Main Military Council. Commissar of Defense, Marshal K. Ye. Voroshilov, as it became known now, said that neither he, nor the General Staff, nor the command of the Leningrad Military District could even imagine all the difficulties that the Red Army would face.
And indeed it is. What was the powerful line of Mannerheim, we learned only when we came to the pillboxes. In this war, much was not in our favor. The Finnish soldier was warmly and comfortably dressed in white camouflage jackets and pants, skied well, skillfully owned the Suomi machinegun on 69 cartridges. And our fighter went to battle in a cold overcoat, budenovka, boots with windings, a 1891-1930 rifle with skis in hand. Although the border troops and the troops of the NKVD were already armed with automatic weapons. Marshal G. I. Kulik, Deputy Commissar of Defense, said: “The automatic is for the American gangsters, and our Red Army man needs a rifle with a long four-sided bayonet.”
I witnessed scenes - these are indicative courts, shootings of fighters and commanders before the ranks, and executions without trial or investigation.
In the seventies, being the commander of the troops of the Leningrad Military District, I officially visited Finland several times and met with Finnish veterans of that war. They told me that the red commanders who were captured were most afraid of their senior commanders and KGB officers, rather than the enemy.
When I, as a participant in the Finnish war, are asked how we fought, I recall with bitterness how the Finns taught us to fight in practice. The rear of our regiments, divisions, corps were not ready for war. The interaction between the kinds of troops organized very badly. Discipline was built on fear of superiors. The cowardly Leo Mehlis was especially rampant. He was even afraid of the commanders of armies and fronts in both the Finnish and the Patriotic War. Historians must calculate how much he ruined the command and political staff, how much.
During the Tehran conference in 1943, as R. Sherwood mentions in his book “Roosevelt and Hopkins,” Stalin said at lunch that “the Soviet Army proved to be poorly organized and very bad at war with Finland.”
In May, 1940, the new People's Commissar of Defense, S. K. Tymoshenko, in his order No. 120, self-critically summed up the main results of the war, revealed all the unpreparedness of our troops, set tough, specific tasks of retraining the Red Army. I remember how our commander of the 39 Tank Brigade, D. D. Lelushenko, brought this order to the commanders. Unfortunately, there was little time to prepare for a big war. She was already standing on the threshold of our house.
Until recently, our true losses were hidden in the “winter” war. It is now accepted that 126 875 people died. Losses of Finns - five times less.
A few years ago, the government of Finland allowed Russia to erect a monument on its territory in the Suomussalmi region, a monument to the dead soldiers of the 163 and 44 divisions. Together with Patriarch Alexy II, I participated in the opening of this monument. I stood at the "Grieving Russia" and thought about what the soldiers and commanders of these divisions and other parts who were surrounded by survived?
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