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Fourth strategic offensive
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fourth strategic offensive | |||||||
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| Part of World War II,Continuation War | |||||||
 The start of the Soviet offensive on June 9, 1944. |
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| Combatants | |||||||
 Finland , Germany |
 Soviet Union |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| C.G.E. Mannerheim Karl Lennart Oesch |
Leonid Govorov Kirill Meretskov |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 268,000 soldiers 1,930 guns 110 tanks 248 planes |
375,000 soldiers 10,500 guns 800 tanks 1,600 planes |
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| Casualties | |||||||
| 18,000 killed 45,000 wounded 3,000 captured |
40,000 killed 130,000 wounded[1] |
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| Continuation War |
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| Silberfuchs – Hanko – Uhtua-Kiestinki – Repola-Rukajärvi – Porlammi – 1st Tuulos – Suursaari – Fourth strategic offensive – Valkeasaari – Kuuterselkä – Siiranmäki – Tienhaara – Tali-Ihantala – 2nd Kollaa – Syväri – Bay of Viipuri – Vuosalmi – 2nd Tuulos – Nietjärvi – Ilomantsi |
During World War II, in the Continuation War, the Fourth Strategic Offensive was the general attack by the Soviet Union against the Finns at the Karelian Isthmus and in East Karelia. The result was a stalemate: even though the Soviets liberated East Karelia and captured Vyborg (Viipuri), they didn't achieve the objective of Kymi River and the destruction of the Finnish army.
Contents |
During the winter of 1944, Soviet forces had broken the Siege of Leningrad and driven the German Army Group North to the Narwa-Lake Ilmen-Pskov line. Finland had queried for peace conditions in February, but the given conditions were considered impossible to fulfil. When the Finnish rejection became known, the STAVKA started to prepare for an offensive against the Finns.
The Soviet plan called for a two-pronged assault, one from Leningrad through Vyborg to the River Kymijoki, and the second across the River Svir through Petrozavodsk and Sortavala past the 1940 border, preparing for an advance deep into Finland. The plan called for the Finnish army to be destroyed in the Karelian Isthmus, and the remains would be pocketed on the western shore of Lake Ladoga between the two assaults and Lake Saimaa.
The Finns had been preparing defensive fortifications since 1941, and on the Karelian Isthmus there were three lines of defence. The first two were the "Main line", which was constructed along the frontline of 1941, and the "VT-line" (Vammelsuu-Taipale) running 20km behind the main line. These lines were reinforced with numerous concrete fortifications, but the work was still ongoing. The third line, the "VKT-line" (Viipuri-Kuparsaari-Taipale) was still on the drawingboard and the construction of the fortifications of this line began in late May 1944 at the front of Vyborg. At the northern shore of the River Svir the Finns had prepared a deep area which was fortified with strongpoints with concrete pillboxes, barbed wire, obstacles and trenches. Behind the border of 1940 there was still the Salpaline with concrete bunkers in front of the River Kymijoki.
To overcome these obstacles, the STAVKA gave the Leningrad Front 11 divisions and 9 tank and assault gun regiments. That meant that at the Isthmus there were 19 divisions, 2 division strength fortified areas, 2 tank brigades, 14 tank/assault gun regiments and over 220 artillery and rocket launcher battery groups (almost 3,000 guns/launchers). Around 1500 planes from the 13. Air Army and the Baltic Fleet Air also contributed to the attack with the Soviet Baltic fleet.
To the East of Karelia, the STAVKA ordered 9 divisions, 2 pioneer brigades, 2 tank brigades and 3 assault gun regiments, raising the whole strength to 16 divisions, 2 fortified areas, 5 brigades, 2 tank brigades, 3 assault gun regiments and 3 tank battalions. They were supported by Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega naval detachments and the 7. Air Army.
Against them were 268,000 Finns with 2,350 guns, 110 tanks/assault guns and 250 planes; 40% of the men and guns and all the tanks were on the Isthmus.
All in all, the Soviets had a 6:5 advantage in men and 3-5:1 advantage in guns, planes and tanks against the Finns.
At the Karelian Isthmus, there were on average 120 Soviet artillery pieces every kilometer, raising up to 220/km at the breakthrough sector at Valkeasaari. On June 9, the Soviet offensive began, surprising the defending Finns. During the day, the Soviets captured frontline trenches and destroyed fortifications, so they were in good starting positions when the main thrust began at the morning of June 10, which shattered the Finnish defence at the breakthrough sector. Already, on June 13, the VT-line was reached and although it held out in the Siiranmäki, it was breached at the Kuuterselkä on June 15.
The Finns tried to buy time by delaying actions when retreating so that additional forces from East Karelia would reach the front and the VKT-line could be prepared for battle. By June 19 the first Soviet forces had reached Vyborg, and the first phase of the offensive was crowned by the capture of the city June 20 when Finnish defenders fled in panic.
Mannerheim had asked for German help, and on June 17 Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey and on June 21 the at half strength 303.Assault gun brigade and the 122. infantry division arrived in Finland. Also new German anti tank weapons, Panzerfausts and Panzerschrecks were given to troops. At June 22 German foreign minister J. von Ribbentrop arrived to pressure the guarantee that Finland would fight to the end alongside with Germany.
STAVKA ordered on June 21 continued attacks on the Imatra-Lappeenranta-Virojoki-line, to the front of the Salpaline. Another group would attack northwards to Käkisalmi and encircle the Finns defending the eastern VKT-line. Also preparations would be made for an advance towards Kotka, Kouvola and the River Kymijoki.
The offensive continued until June 21, when the Soviets tried to breach the VKT-line at Tali, between the Bay of Vyborg and the Vuoksi River. In the ensuing battle, the Soviets managed to breach the VKT-line at Tali but were bogged down at Ihantala, in the largest battle in Nordic history. When it became evident that a breakthrough was not possible at Ihantala, the Soviets tried to encircle the defenders with the twin assaults of the Bay of Vyborg and the Vuosalmi. These fronts bent but did not break. On July 15th the troops were ordered to the defense, and offensive elements were transferred to the German front.
The Finns had withdrawn most of the forces from the southern shore of the Svir River before the Soviet offensive, so when the Soviet offensive started on June 20, they didn't manage to surprise the Finns. The river was crossed the next day and the Soviets secured an 8 km deep and 16 km wide beachhead. At June 23 Soviet marine brigade invaded and captured the beachhead behind the Finnish lines between the River Viteleenjoki and the River Tuuloksenjoki, thus severing the main road along the shore of Lake Ladoga. Olonets was liberated on June 25, and on June 29 one of the targets was reached when Petrozavodsk was liberated.
Like in Karelian Isthmus, also here the Finns retreated, delaying the Soviet advance the best they could so that the U-line, running northwards from Pitkäranta to Loimola and Kivijärvi, could be defended. The first Soviet units reached the U-line on July 10, but they were fatigued following the long offensive and failed to breach the line.
The last attempt to get the offensive going was carried out further north, where two Soviet divisions advanced towards Ilomantsi. At first the offensive was successful, and on July 21 they reached the border of 1940 (as the only Soviet units who did so in the offensive), but in the ensuing battle these divisions were shattered and driven back to the east.
The offensive succeeded in liberating East Karelia and driving the Finns to the northern side of Bay of Vyborg and River Vuoksi. It also opened Kirov railroad and White Sea Canal.
But the offensive didn't succeed in breaking the VKT-line and Salpaline, and it didn't succeed in destroying the Finnish army. In fact, despite the losses suffered, the Finnish army was better equipped after the offensive than before, thanks to the German delivered material. The Soviets didn't manage to encircle larger than battalion sized units, and even those managed to escape through forests by abandoning their heavy equipment. The reason for that was Finnish HQ opinion that pocketed units are wasted. To this goal worked also the Soviet army, as it was noted in the official history of IR58 (which fought against Soviets all the way from Valkeasaari to Vyborg), that several times the rigidness of operating areas of Soviet units and micromanaging of their commanding officers were the key to survival of the unit.[2]
The psychological effect of the offensive to the Finnish leadership should not be underestimated. Peace had to be achieved even with harsh conditions. On the other hand, the Finns stopping the offensive after only 100km at the Karelian Isthmus and the Battle of Ilomantsi had shown that Finns were still a hard nut to crack and a military solution needed fresh divisions from the German front. So instead of offering unconditional surrender as was done June 20 or following marshall Kliment Voroshilov's proposal where the border would had been moved to River Kymijoki, Stalin offered the same treaty as February with minor concessions, to secure the peace.
- S.P. Platonov: Bitva za Leningrad
- Ilya Moshansky: Sturm Karelskogo Vala. Vyborgsko-Petrozavodskaja strategicheskaja nastupatelnaja operazija 10 ijuna - 9 avgusta 1944 goda., "Vojennaja Letopis", BTV-MN, Moscow, 2005.
- ^ Ohto Manninen: Molotovin cocktail, Hitlerin sateenvarjo, ISBN 951-37-1495-0, Painatuskeskus, 1994, The numbers available in Krivoshejev's books are only up to the capture of Vyborg at Karelian Isthmus and up to end of July at Ladoga Karelia thus missing the heavy fighting between June 21-July 15 at Karelian Isthmus and the final Battle of Ilomantsi at Ladoga Karelia. Manninen had collected those numbers from corps level casualty reports from archives of Soviet Ministry of Defence.
- ^ Leo Saressalo et.al.: Kutsui ääni isänmaan, Jalkaväkirykmentti 58, JR58:n asevelitoimikunta, 1983
