8th Army (Soviet Union) - Winter War

Winter War

See also: Winter War, Battle of Tolvajärvi, and Battle of Kollaa

On 30 November 1939 the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the Winter War. The strength of the 8th Army, or overall the Red Army, in the north of Lake Ladoga (Ladoga Karelia), surprised the Finnish general staff. The Finns deployed only two divisions, and they had a support group of three brigades, bringing their total strength to over 30,000 uniforms. The Soviets had a division for almost all roads leading west to the Finnish border. The Eighth Army was led by Ivan Khabarov, but on 13 December he was replaced by Grigori Shtern. The Vice Commander of the Southern Group was Vladimir Kurdyumov from December 1939, who later was appointed the Vice Commander of the 15th Army.

The mission was to destroy the Finnish troops in the area of Ladoga Karelia and advance to the area between Sortavala and Joensuu within ten days. The Soviets had the advantage of a three-to-one ratio in men, five-to-one in artillery and also air supremacy.

The Finnish troops conducted a pre-planned retreat before the overwhelming opposition. On 7 December, in middle of the Ladoga Karelian front, the Finns retreated near the small stream of Kollaa. The waterway itself did not offer any protection, but alongside there were ridges up to ten meters. The battle of Kollaa lasted until the end of war. Up to north the Finns retreated from Ägläjärvi to Tolvajärvi on 5 December, and defeated Soviet attacks by the 139th Rifle Division and 75th Rifle Division in the battle of Tolvajärvi on 12 December.

In the south, two Soviet divisions were united on the northern side of the coastal road of Lake Ladoga. As before, these divisions were in a trap as the Finns could make counterattacks from a north to columns flank. The Finns made counterattacks in all fronts but were not successful – however the Red Army was now facing a position of defence rather than attack. On 19 December the Finns temporarily ceased their assaults as the soldiers were exhausted. It was not until the period 6 January to 16 January 1940 that the Finns made another major offensive, and cut the Soviet division into a smaller group of different sized mottis.

Contrary to Finnish expectation, the encircled Soviets divisions did not try to breakthrough to the east but instead they stayed put and entrenched themselves. The Soviets were expecting auxiliary troops and service shipments support to arrive by the air. However, the Finns repelled all efforts of the Soviet Eighth Army to resupply the encircled troops, and they did not get enough supplies from the air. As the Finns lacked the necessary heavy artillery equipment and were short of men, they did not directly attack the mottis they had created, but instead focussed on eliminating the most dangerous threats only and bide their time.