Battle of Taipale

Battle of Taipale
Part of the Winter War
Date 6 December 1939 (1939-12-06) – 27 December 1939 (1939-12-27) Location Metsäpirtti, Karelian Isthmus 60°30′26.43″N29°0′44.60″E / 60.5073417°N 29.0123889°E / 60.5073417; 29.0123889 Result Finnish victory
Belligerents
Finland	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Viljo Kauppila	Vladimir Grendal [a]
Units involved
10th Division	4th Rifle Division 49th Rifle Division 142nd Rifle Division 150th Rifle Division 39th Armored Brigade [2]
Casualties and losses
2,250 killed and wounded	10,000+ killed
class=notpageimage| Location within Leningrad Oblast Show map of Leningrad Oblast Battle of Taipale (Finland) Show map of Finland

Position of Taipale at eastern end of Mannerheim Line.

The Battle of Taipale was a series of battles fought during the Winter War between Finland and Soviet Union from 6 to 27 December 1939. The battles were part of a Soviet campaign to penetrate the Finnish Mannerheim Line in the Karelian Isthmus region to open a route into southern Finland. Despite their numerical superiority, the Soviet forces were unable to break through the Finnish defences.

Memorial near Solovyovo (Taipale)

Prelude: 30 November – 6 December

On 30 November, Soviet forces crossed the Finnish border and bombarded civilian targets from the air. The Karelian Isthmus was split into two military sectors by both belligerents: one on the side of Lake Ladoga and the other on the side of the Gulf of Finland. In the Ladoga sector, the Soviet commanding officer was Vladimir Grendahl and on the Finnish side, Erik Heinrichs. On 3 December, Grendahl received orders to make a breakthrough in his sector, as the defenders in the other sector were more numerous and offered fiercer resistance. The former objective of reaching Viipuri on the Gulf side of the Karelian Isthmus became a secondary priority. The attack began on 6 December, when the Finns had retreated to the Mannerheim Line.

The battle: 6–27 December

The Battle of Taipale began on 6 December, started when the Soviet 49th and 150th Rifle Divisions of the 7th Army tried to cross the Taipale River at three locations.

According to Chew, "The 7th Army's offensive began in earnest on 15 December, when a new attack was launched against the eastern sector of the Line near Taipale. The same bloody scenario was repeated with fresh Soviet troops the enxt two days. Having an excellent field of fire, the Finnish gunners inflicted prohibitive losses on the enemy who had to advance across open fields and ice." ^[3]

Chew further states, "The endurance of the 10th Division at Taipale was remarkable. No other sector was subjected to such prolonged punishment - by artillery, aircraft, and ground attacks which frequently developed into major offensives. With the failure of these attacks, the fighting on the Isthmus reached a stalemate. Already on 27 December Soviet troops had been observed building field fortifications in the Summa sector, indicating a defensive posture." ^{[3] : 69–70}

Notes

1. Grendal was at the beginning of the Battles of Taipale the commander of 7th Army Right Wing Group, then from late December 1939 the commander of the newly formed 13th Army. ^[1]

References

Citations

1. Raunio & Kilin 2010, pp. 29.
2. Raunio & Kilin 2010, pp. 56.
3. Chew, Allen (1971). The White Death: The Epic of the Soviet-Finnish Winter War. Michigan State University Press. pp. 61–62.

Sources

In English

• Engle, Eloise; Paananen, Lauri (1985) [1973]. The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish Conflict, 1939–40. Westview Press. ISBN   0-8133-0149-1.
• Nenye, Vesa; Munter, Peter; Wirtanen, Toni; Birks, Chris (2015). Finland at War: The Winter War 1939–40. Osprey Publishing. ISBN   978-147-280-631-4.
• Trotter, William R. (2002) [1991]. The Winter War: The Russo–Finnish War of 1939–40 (5th ed.). Aurum Press. ISBN   1-85410-881-6.

Online sources

• Raunio, Ari (2017). "Defensive battles in December 1939". Talvisotayhdistys. Retrieved 13 August 2019.

In Finnish

• Raunio, Ari; Kilin, Juri (2010). Talvisodan taisteluja (3rd revised ed.). Karttakeskus. ISBN   978-951-593-415-4.
• Sotatieteen Laitos. (1978). Talvisodan historia 2 : Sotatoimet Karjalan kannaksella. WSOY. ISBN   951-0-08147-7.
• Sorko, Kimmo; Strang, Mikko (2010). Taipaleen päiviä. Talvisota Itä-Kannaksella 1939-1940. Historiatyöryhmä. ISBN   978-952-92-6803-0.
• Sorko, Kimmo (1998). Keskisuomalaisten Taipale 1939-1940. ISBN   952-91-0231-3.

In Russian

• Иринчеев, Баир (2016). Оболганная победа Сталина. Штурм Линии Маннергейма. (The stunned victory of Stalin. The assault on the Mannerheim Line.). Эксмо. ISBN   978-5-699-86363-1.
• Якимович, Кирилл (2010). На фланге линии Маннергейма. Битва за Тайпале. (On the flank of the Mannerheim line. Battle of Taipale.). Вече. ISBN   978-5-4444-5645-3.

Online sources

• Аптекарь, Павел (2017). "Первый месяц войны (The first month of the war)". rkka.ru. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
• Килин, Юрий Михайлович (2008). "Боевые действия на Карельском перешейке (The fighting on the Karelian Isthmus)". Petrozavodsk State University. Retrieved 13 August 2019.

Further reading

• Tuuri, Antti (2003) [1984]. The Winter War. Aspasia Books, Inc. ISBN   978-0973105339.

External links

• Военный альбом (photographs of the Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940)
• JR28 War diaries (The digitized contemporary war diaries of the Finnish regiment that fought in the Taipale front 1939–1940. In Finnish.)