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| Part of the Continuation War | |||||||
 Finnish soldiers marching next to destroyed Soviet T-34 tank | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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Finland Germany | Soviet Union | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Karl Lennart Oesch | Dmitrii N. Gusev | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 50,000 | 150,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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1,100 killed 1,100 missing 6,300 wounded |
4,500-5,500 killed 13,500-14,500 wounded | ||||||
| Continuation War | |
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The Battle of Tali-Ihantala lasted from June 25 to July 9, 1944. It occurred during World War II, as part of the Continuation War (1941-1944) between Finland and the Soviet Union. German units also took part in the battle. The battle ended in a decisive Finnish victory which ultimately ensured Finnish independence.
Background
- Main article: Continuation war
The Continuation War was initiated with the Finland-based hostile actions against the USSR on June 21 and June 22, leading the Soviets to send some 500 planes in a massive air attack against Finnish targets within the boundaries of the Republic of Finland on June 25, 1941. It is perceived by some as a continuation of the Finnish-Soviet Winter War (1939-1940).
After the initial Finnish offensive of 1941, the Continuation War was stabilized to the trench warfare with very little activity on either side. After the Siege of Leningrad was lifted January 1944, STAVKA received orders to plan offensive against Finland to push it out of war.
Soviet Union attack on the Finnish front started on the Karelian Isthmus on June 9, 1944, (coordinated with Invasion of Normandy). The three armies were hurdled against the Finns, among them several Guard formations, Soviet crack troops.
The attack soon breached the Finnish front line of defence in Valkeasaari on June 10 and the Finnish forces retreated to their secondary defence line, the VT-line (a.k.a. Vammelsuu-Taipale -line). The Soviet attack was supported by a massive artillery and air bombardments and armoured forces.
The VT-line was breached in Sahakylä and Kuuterselkä on June 14 and after a failed counterattack in Kuuterselkä by the Finnish armoured division the Finnish defence had to be pulled back to the VKT-line (Viipuri (Vyborg) - Kuparsaari - Taipale).
The abandoment of VT-line was followed by week of retreat and delaying battles. The Soviet offensive was crowned when the city of Viipuri (Vyborg) was captured by the Soviets on June 20 with only a short battle.
Mannerheim had asked German help June 12, and June 16 Flight detachment Kuhlmey arrived to Finland. A few days later also 303.Assault Gun Brigade and 122.D arrived, but after that Germans offered only material, which the most important were close range anti tank weapons.
Finland sued for peace on June 21, and the Soviet Union replied that only unconditional surrender was acceptable. Finland refused, thus precipitating the Battle of Tali-Ihantala. German foreign minister Ribbentrop arrived June 22 and demanded a guarantee that Finland would fight to the end as a precondition of continued German military support. President Ryti gave this guarantee as a personal undertaking.
June 21 STAVKA ordered Leningrad front to breach VKT-line at Tali, and to advance to Lake Saimaa.
Forces
Finnish:
- Finnish IV AK (Lt.Gen. Taavetti Laatikainen)
- 3rd Brigade "Blue Brigade"
- Finnish 3rd Division
- Finnish 4th Division
- Finnish 18th Division, since June 27 11th Division.
- Finnish 6th Division
- Finnish Armoured Division (Mj.Gen. Ruben Lagus)
- LeR 3 (Lt.Col E. Magnusson) (33 Bf-109, 18 Brewster Buffalo 239 Fighters and 1 Fokker C.X reconnaissance)
- LeR 4 (Col. O. Sarko) (33 Bristol Blenheim, 12 Junkers Ju 88, 8 Dornier Do 17Z Bombers)
German:
- German air unit Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey (Lt.Col. Kurt Kuhlmey) arrived in Finland on June 16. (23-43 Fw-190 A-6/F-8 fighters and ground attack aircraft, 24-30 Ju-87 D Stukas and 1-8 Bf-109 G-8 reconnaissance fighters)
- German Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 303 (Cpt. Hans-Wilhelm Cardeneo) arrived in Finland on June 22. (22 StuG III Ausf. G assault guns, 9 StuH 42 assault howizers)
Soviet:
- Soviet 21st Army (Col.Gen Dmitrii N. Gusev) (15 divisions)
The battle
The Battle of Tali-Ihantala was fought in a small area (100km²) between the Gulf of Viipuri and the River Vuoksi. For every 100-meter stretch of the Karelian Isthmus the Red Army placed no less than 10 pieces of artillery, in one sector all of 400 cannons over a distance of only one kilometer. Since the extremely hard pressed Finns could provide their artillery with only 268 cannons in total, their defence had only 5 cannons for each kilometer.
The artillery odds were thus over 20 to 1 in the attacker's favor. Besides, with some 400 bombers and over 600 fighters thrown into the fray, the Soviet forces had overwhelming air superiority. Official Russian records reveal that during the Soviet summer offensive on the Finnish Karelian Isthmus, the aircraft of the 13th Soviet Air Force carried out "more than 9 000 combat missions" against the Finnish forces.
The Soviet artillery fire aimed at the Finnish targets has been described by some researchers as the most massive in the world military history. The following Finnish concentration of artillery fire - based on the famed fire correction method of a Finnish Artillery General Vilho Petter Nenonen - was very accurate and the heaviest in the country's military history. It has been described as even heavier than the Soviet fire in the siege of Berlin. At the critical Ihantala sector of the battle the Finnish defenders managed to concentrate their fire to the extent of smashing the advancing Soviet spearhead.
In praised Russian book Bitva za Leningrad 1941-1944 ("The Battle of Leningrad") edited by Lieutenant General S.P. Platonov, it is stated:
"The repeated offensive attempts by the Soviet Forces failed ... to gain results. The enemy succeeded in significantly tightening its ranks in this area and repulse all the attacks of our troops ... During the offensive operations lasting over three weeks, from June 21 to mid-July, the forces of the right flank of the Leningrad front failed to carry out the tasks assigned to them on the orders of the Supreme Command issued on June 21st."
Soviet attack was concentrated on the area east of the city of Viipuri (Vyborg), from the southern village of Tali to north towards Ihantala. This was the only suitable terrain for armoured forces on the Karelian Isthmus, 10 km wide and limited by lakes and the River Vuoksi on the east.
By this time the Finnish army had concentrated half of its artillery in the area, along with the army's only armoured division, with StuG III assault guns and German 303, an assault gun brigade. The defenders now finally had new German anti-tank weapons that were previously kept in storage.
The fighting in the area began on June 25, and on June 30 the Finnish forces retreated from Tali. The heaviest fighting took place between July 1 and July 2 when the Finns lost some 800 men per day.
On July 2 the Finns captured a radio message, according to which the Soviet 63rd Division and 30th Armored Brigade were to launch an attack on July 3 at 04:00 hours. The following morning, two minutes before the supposed attack, 40 Finnish and 40 German bombers bombed the Soviet troops, and 250 guns fired total of 4000 artillery shells into the area of the Soviets. On the same day, beginning at 06:00, 200 Soviet planes and their infantry attacked against the Finnish troops. By 19:00 the Finnish troops had restored their lines.
On July 6 the Soviet forces had some success, despite of the Finnish 6th Division's support of 18 artillery battalions and one heavy battery for their defence. However, the Soviets were thrown back on the following day, and their counterattacks at 13:30 and 19:00 that day did not mount to success. By July 7 the focus of the Soviet attacks was already changing to the area of Vuoksi and the Soviets now began transferring their best troops to Estonia, to fight the Germans. From July 9th on the Soviet troops no longer attempted a break-through. Nevertheless, smaller fighting continued.
Losses
The Soviet army has been reported to have lost from 400 to 600 tanks in the Tali-Ihantala area, mainly to air attacks and close defence weapons. 120-280 Soviet aircraft were shot down.
Finnish army lost 8,561 men wounded, missing or killed. The Soviets have reported their estimates as 18,000-22,000 killed or wounded. However, the Soviet figure is - by many researchers - estimated to be larger.
The majority of losses were due to artillery fire.
Impact
The Battle of Tali-Ihantala finally convinced the Soviet leadership that conquering Finland was - if not impossible - extremely hard, and not worth the cost. The Red Army, which for the previous two years had marched from one victory to another at the other scenes of WW2, had concentrated an overwhelming force against Finland and failed.
The Battle of Tali-Ihantala was possibly the single most important battle fought in Finland's Continuation War, as it largely determined the outcome of the entire war - or more precisely, the final outcome of two sequential wars, including the Winter War of 1939-1940 - and the following and final peace negotiations between Finland and the Soviet Union, while the World War II was still going on.
A part of the reasons leading to the Soviet failure was that the Finns were able to intercept the Soviet radio messages and to forewarn and prompt the Finnish Army to put a firmly resolved defence. Also, the existence of the Finnish Salpa Defence Line was an important matter in the peace negotiations in Autumn 1944.
The Soviet Union would have had adequate resources for defeating Finland, if they were not needed elsewhere. Finland had not made conquering the country impossible, but they had made it far too costly. What had taken place on the Finnish Karelian Isthmus in the end of the summer 1944, led to the final peace talks between Finland and the Soviet Union, and to Finland's continued existence as an autonomous and independent nation. The cease-fire between the Soviet Union and Finland began 07:00 September 4 1944, although for the following 24 hours the Red Army failed to comply with it.
Related operations
At the same time, the Soviet 59th Army attacked across the islands of the Bay of Viipuri from July 4th on, but the attack to the mainland was thrown back to the sea by the German 122nd Division of the V AK on July 10th.
After the Soviet failure at Tali on July 3rd, the Soviet 23rd Army tried crossing the River Vuoksi on July 4th at Vuosalmi, but was not able to expand the beachhead, despite of the fact that it had three divisions there against the Finnish 2nd Division. The Soviet breakthrough attempts lasted there until July 21st.
Before the end of the war the Finns were still able to encircle two more Soviet divisions near Ilomantsi. By July 12th the Soviet Union was ready to discuss peace terms with Finland.
In addition to the defensive victory gained at Tali-Ihantala, the front line held fast at Kivisilta and Tienhaara to the north of the Bay of Viipuri, and at Vuosalmi on the shores of the River Vuoksi. Further defensive victories were achieved at the Bay of Viipuri and on the northeast side of Lake Ladoga, and in Ilomantsi the Soviet contingent was besieged.
On July 12th, the Soviet troops received an order to stop their attempts to advance and to dig in. Soon, the Finnish scouts noticed trains with empty trucks advancing towards the city of Viipuri to take troops away from the Finnish front. They were needed for the great push towards Berlin.
Look also
- Tali-Ihantala 1944 (film)
References
- Nordberg, Erkki, Arvio ja ennuste Venäjän sotilaspolitiikasta Suomen suunnalla, Helsinki, 2003, ISBN 951-884-362-7
- Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Finland, Moscow, 1974, ISBN 0028800109
- Encyclopædia Britannica Premium, Finland, 2006, http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-26105