Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

During this time, the Soviet and Finnish armies simply lived in different worlds.

Finland has a long winter, with only 7 hours of daylight; what’s even more terrible is that this winter is the coldest winter in Europe in a century, with night temperatures in Finland generally falling below -35°.

As mentioned before, Stalin did not send troops from the Leningrad Military District because he was afraid that the troops close to Finland had indescribable relations or culture with Finland. Instead, he sent troops from the southern Soviet Union to participate in the war.

These Soviet soldiers, who were wearing thin M35-style uniforms, "Budjoni" field caps, and summer leather boots, could use a temporary house built on a slope or dig a shallow cave to escape the cold. , covered with branches; or just use branches to build a shelter on the roadside or in a dry ditch. If they were lucky, they could also light a pile of firewood; of course, this would involve the risk of being sniped by the White Deaths.

Once night falls, the temperature will quickly drop to minus 30 to minus 40 degrees Celsius. Military uniforms made of khaki cloth soaked in ice and snow will not be dried in time and will soon be frozen into a hard shell in the bone-chilling cold wind at night. It may cause frostbite in mild cases, or loss of life in severe cases. These large numbers of non-combat attrition required medical treatment, which made it more difficult for the already stretched Soviet army to supply supplies, seriously depleting the Soviet army's combat effectiveness.

On the other hand, the Finnish army stayed comfortably in military tents. Each tent had a wood-burning stove. Even on the coldest night, the 20 people staying in the tent would feel very warm. Wearing military uniforms and lying on soft pine branches, these Finnish soldiers didn't even need blankets to cover them when sleeping at night.

These tents fold up and can be easily transported in a small boat-like sled called an "Akhio". This sled is pulled by three skiers, with one person behind to balance the sled while skiing. The Finns also used this simple carrier to haul mortars, heavy machine guns, and other supplies, as well as to evacuate the wounded.

The Finnish army also invented the "motti tactic". The so-called "motti" in Finnish refers to firewood piled together to be chopped. The Finnish logging habit is to cut down trees first and pile them into piles, and then deal with them one by one later. The Finnish army used a similar method to deal with the Soviet Red Army - first, the terrain and weather blocked the Soviet column, then used constant harassment tactics to spy on the strength of the enemy units in the column, and then selected weak points to break through and establish a blockade across the road. , cutting the Soviet column into small pockets at the battalion and company levels, and finally eating them one by one.

The first victims of this tactic were the Soviet 163rd and 44th Divisions.

On December 7, the 163rd Division of the Soviet 9th Army, on orders from Chuikov, attacked the village of Suaumusalmi in Finland. The Soviet Union's goal was to capture the city of Oulu, cut Finland's territory in two, force Finland to fight on two fronts to defend the country, and cut off an important railway line to Sweden.

There was only one Finnish battalion stationed in the village of Suaumusalmi. When the Soviet army arrived, all the villagers had evacuated. The entire village had been burned to the ground by the Finnish army. The 163rd Division did not receive any supplies or shelter.

After a short rest, on December 8, the Soviet army continued to attack westward, but encountered Finnish reinforcements and had to retreat to the village of Suaumusalmi, in a very dangerous situation.

Seeing that his main force was about to be trapped to death, Chuikov had to ask for help from the rear. The 44th Motorized Infantry Division, commanded by Vinogradov, came to support the 163rd Division.

The 44th Motorized Rifle Division comes from Ukraine. It won the title of "Kiev Honorary Division" in the Russian Civil War. It won the Order of the Red Banner in the All-Soviet Military and Political Competition in the early 1930s. It is first-class in terms of equipment and training. However, this division was also poorly prepared for winter operations. Since the rescue order was very urgent, the entire division actually went to the battlefield wearing autumn clothes brought from Ukraine! However, their commander was very confident. This unit, which had participated in the Red Square parade, also brought its own band and beautiful uniforms and prepared to hold a victory parade in Finnish cities.

Finnish reconnaissance planes discovered the column of the Soviet 44th Division approaching Suaomusalmi. After Colonel Silasvuot noticed the Soviet army's attempt, he sensitively realized that he must find ways to separate the enemy's 163rd Division and 44th Division, otherwise failure would be inevitable.

Silasvuo mobilized two companies and rushed 10 kilometers away, setting up a line of defense on the ridgeline between Lake Kuivas and Lake Kuomas, preparing to block the Soviet 44th Division here.

There is a large forest here, flanked by frozen lakes, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

After a fierce battle, the 44th Division was forced to stop the attack. The Finnish army used 350 men to successfully block a Soviet division in front of the position.

The success of this blocking battle was mainly due to the Finnish army giving full play to its initiative and mobility. At the same time, the Soviet army, which could only march along the road, did not fully understand the strength and deployment of the Finnish army. It was also an important reason.

The 44th Soviet Motorized Rifle Division had a large number of motorized vehicles and about fifty tanks, but these vehicles could only move along the only narrow dirt road through the pine forest. In this case, it could not output firepower at all against the Finnish army holding the roadblock. Although the division was equipped with hundreds of pairs of skis, few were used.

Therefore, even infantry can only move near the sides of the road. The situation of the Finnish army is exactly the opposite. Skiing has long been a skill that everyone has mastered. The Finnish army adopted mobile guerrilla tactics and continuously launched attacks on the two wings of the division day and night. The two wings of the 44th Division stretched nearly 20 miles from the national border to the roadblocks set up by the Finnish army. The Finnish attack team wore white camouflage uniforms and used skis to sneak up on the division, often achieving complete surprise. Their Somi submachine guns were particularly effective when the raiding party opened fire from close range using the cover of trees.

The Finnish army launched frequent attacks and achieved good results. The commander of the 44th Soviet Motorized Rifle Division, Vinogradov, mistakenly believed that he had encountered a large Finnish force. He hurriedly ordered the troops to stop attacking and advancing, completely forgetting the mission of rescuing the 163rd Division, and went to Latei on his own. Haukila next to the road turned to defense, completely ignoring the fact that it would be able to rendezvous with the 163rd Division by advancing ten kilometers further.

After removing the threat behind them, the Finnish army shouted to the 163rd Division: "Put down your weapons, surrender and avoid death." Major General Shedrensov, commander of the 163rd Division, responded angrily. "I would rather die standing than live on my knees!"

The Finnish Army Division Commander Silas Vuor issued an order one after another and launched a fierce attack on the 163rd Division.

After a fierce battle, the 163rd Division suffered heavy casualties and was unable to wait for reinforcements. It left about 5,000 corpses behind and retreated hastily to the northeast. Holding on to a glimmer of hope that they might be able to return to their motherland, they collapsed in the wilderness of ice and snow.

However, the Soviet troops ignored each other and were cut into several large pieces by the Finnish troops. After a whole day of bloody fighting, the Soviet 163rd Division was annihilated and the division commander was killed.