Sixty years ago today: Decisive battles of the Continuation War begin

Evidence suggests stormy weather saved Vyborg from destruction from aerial bombing

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Whilst the attention of the world’s media has focused quite naturally on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy and the setting up of a second Allied front in Europe, the first days of June 1944 were also of critical importance to the Finns and to the outcome of the Continuation War, and indeed to the preservation of Finnish independence. The Continuation War was the 1941-44 conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland, as the Finns - allied by this stage with Germany - sought to regain the territory lost in the Winter War of 1939-40.
      By early June of 1944, the writing was on the wall for the Finnish troops in the Karelian Isthmus: the long siege of Leningrad had been relieved some months previously, the Isthmus had lost its buffer of German troops, and the Red Army forces were massing for a huge assault.
     
It came at 5.55 am on June 9th, 60 years ago today. Although a Soviet offensive was regarded as inevitable, given that the Normandy landings had launched a race for Berlin between the Western Allies and Stalin’s Soviet Union, many in the Finnish leadership felt that the Karelian Isthmus would be a secondary consideration, and that Stalin would order his advance in the direct line through the Baltic States and Prussia.
      Stalin had other ideas. He wanted to shore up his northern flank against the possible irritation of a million German and Finnish soldiers still in Finland and Norway, and to provide a secure maritime buffer around Leningrad.
      By this time, the war was also regarded in Moscow as a matter of principle: in the Finnish advances of 1941 and 1942, Finnish troops had taken over part of former Soviet territory, and - in the view of the Russian side - had set about a process of ethnic cleansing there. Stalin decided that the Western Allies could wait; after all, he had had to wait years for the promised second front.
     
The artillery bombardment that began in Valkeasaari on June 9th was among the largest single concentrations of firepower seen during the Second World War. It was a softening-up process, a prelude to the actual infantry and tank attack on the following day.
      The Finns retreated in the face of overwhelming superiority of arms and men (the Red Army had twenty times the artillery and grenade launcher firepower, and a ten-fold superiority in troops), and headed north-west towards the city of Vyborg (or Viipuri as it was known when it was part of Finland).
     
Stalin had a further surprise in store: already on the 9th, orders were issued for a massive air-raid on Vyborg.
      Later research has shown that the decision to flatten Vyborg from the air was taken some days earlier, as the Soviets sought the assistance of the United States Air Force. Moscow had permitted American bombers to strike at targets in Germany from bases in the Ukraine, and requested that they make a detour over the Isthmus and take out Vyborg.
      The reply from Washington was negative: the U.S. Flying Fortresses did not have the range, and furthermore the United States had not formally declared war on Finland.
      Consequently, some 500 Soviet long-range bombers were readied for a night assault from bases in the Ukraine, with the objective of destroying the "Vyborg railway node".
     
Some of the planes were already in the air on the evening of the 9th, bound for Vyborg, when they were ordered to turn back: a large storm front in Central Russia blocked their path and threatened their safe passage.
      Military analysts agree that had the bombers got through, the damage would have been many times worse than that experienced in Helsinki in the spring of 1944. A combination of a destroyed city in front of them and the advancing Soviet army behind them as the Finnish troops retreated in the next few days might have had a very considerable bearing on the outcome of the fighting.
     
In the space of ten days, the Red Army advanced to Vyborg and retook the city. Thereafter, however, their path was blocked. The retreating Finnish forces fell back in relatively good order, were able to pick up supplies in Vyborg, and were not destroyed. Conversely the Red Army exhausted much of its strength in driving them back as far as they did.
      When the Russian forces were prevented (for example at the battle of Tali-Ihantala, where the now-reinforced Finns inflicted serious casualties on the enemy) from advancing towards the old frontier, the fighting moved into a defensive mode, Finland was able to salvage a moral victory from the jaws of defeat, and was ultimately able to retain its independence after the guns fell silent in early September.
     
     
The print newspaper of Helsingin Sanomat is running a series of articles on the last days of the Continuation War during the summer, to mark the 60th anniversary of the event. It is possible we may return to the subject, but anyone interested should consult the links below or use a search-engine.


Links:
  The Continuation War
  More on the Continuation War
  Tali-Ihantala

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