Continuation War, day by day.

[Dowly]

30 September 1941

Soviet forces begin to withdraw from Petroskoi.

11.Division cuts the city's railway and road connections to north.

Finnish daily losses: 102


Finnish tanks on the road to Petroskoi.

[Dowly]

1 October 1941

Petroskoi is captured:

The attack towards Soviet Karelia's capital continued on 25.9. It was joined by the rested, but understrength 1.Division, which was reformed as Battlegroup Paalu. It began to advance towards Petroskoi from Lake Jandri to the Southwest.

The 11.Division which bore the main responsibility of the attack didn't participate in the capture of the Petroskoi, but instead continued to the north of the city to Suolusmäki.

Approaching from the south Detachment Lagus' and 7.Division's attack got stuck on 29.9. in Orsega, where Soviet troops made fierce counter-attacks. The exhausted Finns were not able to continue until the next day and by the evening progressed about one kilometer from the town.

Around midnight, Soviet troops were seen leaving the city and blowing up buildings as they went. Early in the morning, at 4.30 am, Light Detachment 8 entered the city center from the southwest without encountering resistance. Advancing from the south Detachment Lagus arrived in the morning at 10.00 am.

The Karelian Army is ordered to continue its attack towards Karhumäki.



Finnish daily losses: 61

Finnish losses in September: 4949

Finnish losses in the war (so far): 20 344


Petroskoi

Mannerheim Cross recipient(s):

2nd Lieutenant Pentti Iisalo
- For leading his platoon behind the enemy during the battle of Tiuri and holding the position until reinforcements arrived.

***

2 October 1941

VII AK's attack towards Karhumäki begins.

7.Division reaches eastern Svir.

Finnish daily losses: 83


Horses were of great help in getting supplies to areas inaccessable by vehicles.

***

3 October 1941

US Foreign Minister Cordell Hull congratulates Finnish ambassador Procopè for Finnish army's success on recapturing Karelia.

Finnish daily losses: 72


At-gun in position. (4.Division's area)

Mannerheim Cross recipient(s)

Major-General Taavetti Laatikainen
- For leading the II AK.

[Dowly]

4 October 1941

Battlegroup Kuistio, formed from elements of 7.Division, refuses to cross River Svir at Voznesenye.

The men are exhausted after fighting almost constantly for three months and cannot understand why they should advance further east.



The age limit on driver's license is dropped to 17 years.

Finnish daily losses: 53


Young Karelian boy and his kitten.

***

5 October 1941

4.Division's attack towards Kontupohja begins.



Crossing River Svir fails again, as 7.Division's troops refuse to advance.

Finnish daily losses: 74


Award ceremony for German soldiers.

[Dowly]

6 October 1941

The twice failed crossing of the Svir will be tried for the third time at 14.00. This time the battlegroup commander, Colonel Kuistio, has ordered the artillery group to support the crossing.

After artillery fire preparation the troops move across the river under a smokescreen without much difficulty and the attack can continue.
The strongly fortified Voznesenye is captured by midnight. At the crossroads south of the town, the battlegroup is divided into two parts: IR 9 continues to the southeast and IR 51 to the west.

Finnish daily losses: 72


First snow falls on Summa.

[Dowly]

7 October 1941

Group O reaches the village of Munjärvi.



President Ryti awards Mannerheim with the 1. and 2. class Mannerheim Cross.

Others who received the Mannerheim Cross on this day:

Medical Colonel Simo Brofeldt (#19)
- For organising the evacuation of Detachment Lagus' wounded soldiers by air in East Karelia.

Sergeant Eino Mallila (#20)
- For leading his MG section out of encirclement, fighting through three enemy lines.

Colonel Kaarlo Heiskanen (#21)
- For successfully leading the 11.Division through operations with minimal own losses.

Finnish daily losses: 54


Camouflaged AT-gun.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Dowly

7 October 1941

Camouflaged AT-gun.

It won't be long and that thing will get a new name: The tank knock on device.

[Dowly]

Posts #166, #169, #180, #184, #186, #190, #203 and #212 updated with Mannerheim Cross recipients.

[Dowly]

8 October 1941

Supply & Service ministry urges building managers and janitors to make sure windows are kept closed to save fuel on heating.

Finnish daily losses: 71


Sergeant Skyttä leading an assault on enemy positions in Honkaselkä.

***

9 October 1941

The prolonged war begins to cause growing problems in the national economy and the livelihood of the population.

Finnish daily losses: 86


Pommiansa M/41

Pommiansa m/41 (bomb trap m/41) was first presented in 14th of May 1941 and Engineer Office II of Finnish Armed Forces General Headquarters ordered 5,000 of them only two months later. Production started swiftly and the first batch was issued to Finnish troops in autumn of 1941, but already by October of that year complaints about reliability of the mine started so surface. The early tests done in 1st Army Corps revealed that only about 30 % of the mines worked as intended and once larger tests were organised by Pioneeripataljoona 14 (Engineer Battalion 14) their reliability rate proved to be only staggering 20 %. Around 1,500 - 2,000 mines were manufactured before the production was halted. The investigation that followed revealed obvious neglect - while fuses used in the mines had been tested and manufactured mines quickly inspected for visible flaws, neither manufacturer nor organisation responsible acquiring them had properly tested the complete mines for quality and reliability. The already manufactured mines were returned to Tekko Oy, who tried to fix the problem, but failed to reach the now appearing unrealistically high quality demands. While the small scale testing of the fixed mines done in January of 1941 suggested that after fixing 60 % of the mines worked exactly as intended (exploded at correct height) and that about 87 % detonated, this still fell short of the now demanded 99 % reliability rate. The reasons for reliability problem proved to be a multitude. Many of the mines either failed to "bounce", or didn't explode at correct height, but also air bubbles in cast steel body of the mine, dud percussion caps and even stiffened felt gaskets caused dud mines. Since Tekko Oy failed reaching the demanded reliability rate, Finnish military decided to withhold payment of the already existing mines and cancelled rest of the order. Since both parties were somewhat guilty of neglecting the proper testing process, there doesn't seem to have been other ramifications.

http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/landmines2.htm

[sublynx]

That picture about a sergeant leading his men in an attack is a harrowing one. The one man every rifle is pointed at at that moment and if he gets shot right there, the attack might stall immediately. No wonder officer and underofficer mortality was especially high.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by sublynx

That picture about a sergeant leading his men in an attack is a harrowing one. The one man every rifle is pointed at at that moment and if he gets shot right there, the attack might stall immediately. No wonder officer and underofficer mortality was especially high.

Would be interesting to know the NCO casualty figures for Continuation War. I believe about 3,500 NCOs died during the Winter War.

[sublynx]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Would be interesting to know the NCO casualty figures for Continuation War. I believe about 3,500 NCOs died during the Winter War.

Here's some numbers from "Jatkosodan pikkujättiläinen":

Combat deaths during the whole of Continuation War:

Officers 6,2 % of the total
NCO's 18 % "
The grunts 75,7 %

Here's some numbers from the battle of Vuosalmi in July 1944 for the Jääkäriprikaati (JaegerBrigade of the Finnish Armoured Division). The numbers are from Lauri Jäntti's book "Kannaksen suurtaisteluissa kesällä 1944". Jäntti served in the Finnish Armoured Division.

At the beginning of the battle the brigade had a combat strength of 144 officers +479 NCO's +2712 men = 3335 altogether
- about 25 officers and 100 NCO's per battalion

The losses after the first day of battle at Vuosalmi (the unit counterattacked the attacking Red Army) were 25 officers, 64 NCO's and 309 men. After four days of battle the unit had on third of its strength left, 1093 combatants. Jääkäriprikaati was always thrown into the worst places, and it was 1944, not 1941, but maybe the numbers are still indicative.

According to "Taktikens utveckling i sovjetarmén under det Stora Fosterländska Kriget 1941 - 1945" (edited by Lieutenant General K.S. Kolganov from the Red Army) the Red Army of 1941 had its leaders leading by example which led to big losses among the officers and NCO's. By the winter of 1941 the opposite was the truth, the leaders were giving orders to the men and then following if any advance was made. This led to communication breakdowns, which was fixed by an order in the autumn of 1942, where it stated that leaders should stay in a place where there would a good balance of being able to observe the battlefield, and lead.

The lesson of all this: to maximise the chance of survival one should be a grunt in the beginning of a war, and at end of it an officer

[Dowly]

Thanks for the info, sublynx. Much appreciated.

[Dowly]

10 October 1941

The Finnish Army offers to transfer those buried in field cemeteries to their home regions, if it is the wish of the relatives.

AOK Norwegen's attack towards Murmansk railway is halted by order of Hitler.

Finnish daily losses: 81


Brewster with engine heater.

[Dowly]

11 October 1941

Of the ~38 million marks in the President Kallio Fund, 37,8 millions have so far been given to a total of 22 412 families.

Finnish daily losses: 51


Panoramic view of Lahdenpohja.

[Dowly]

12 October 1941

Victory parade is held in Petroskoi. Major-General Talvela notes on his diary:

"I was very touched when I saw our brave Jaegers drive past us on their
bicycles. Their struggle has been nothing less than a hero story. In their
dirty and worn summer uniforms, the remnants of these brave troops
drove past us - more than half of them have fallen or are wounded. Now
they can have a little break, but soon new heroic deeds await them."

Brigade K(uussaari) captures Porajärvi.



Finnish daily losses: 61


German tank advancing. (East of Kiestinki)

Mannerheim Cross recipient(s):

Colonel Einar Vihma
- For successfully leading his troops during the Battle of Viipuri

Corporal Antti Sokka
- For using his AT-rifle to destroy numerous tanks and trucks in a number of battles.

Pfc. Tauno Savolainen
- For showing personal bravery and cool-headedness while being alone and surrounded by enemy forces not once, but in two occasions. Both times, he drove the enemy away capturing some of them as prisoners of war.