General Meretskov is now very restless. As the commander-in-chief of the southern offensive, he joined the Soviet army in 1918. Graduated from the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Military Academy (1921) and the Advanced Training Course for Senior Leaders (1928). During the Civil War, he participated in the battle against the White Bandits in the Eastern Front Army and the Southern Front Army, and served successively as political commissar of the detachment, deputy chief of staff of the brigade and deputy chief of staff of the division. From 1922, he successively served as chief of staff of the 1st Siberian Cavalry Division in Tomsk, deputy chief of staff of the 15th Infantry Corps, and chief of staff of the 9th Don Infantry Division. In July 1924, he was appointed director of the Mobilization Department of the Moscow Military District, assistant chief of staff in September, and deputy chief of staff in July 1928. From 1930 to 1931, he served as commander and political commissar of the 14th Infantry Division. From 1931 to 1934, he served as chief of staff of the Moscow Military District and the Belarusian Military District. From January 1935, he served as chief of staff of the Red Flag Far East Special Group Army.
General Meretskov, who had just turned forty-three years old, as the commander-in-chief of the Seventh Army, should be the most youthful and powerful in his life, but the current battle situation at Lake Ladoga made him unhappy no matter what. The Soviet Seventh and Eighth Army were only blocked by three Finnish divisions. Although this was related to the terrain that the Finnish army was familiar with, the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army did worry General Meretskov. Now the Eighth Army The encirclement of the 18th Motorized Infantry Division also illustrates this point.
"It's difficult!" General Meretskov said with a frown as he looked at the topographic map of Lake Ladoga.
The terrain of Lake Ladoga is complex. More than a thousand lakes fragmented the offensive route of the Soviet army. If they did not break through here, it would be impossible to attack and break through the Mannering Line of Defense.
"General, the general secretary called and ordered us to immediately deal with the Finnish army on Lake Ladoga and break through the Mannering Line of Defense." The person who spoke was the second-in-command of the Seventh Army, his political commissar. General Meretskov disapproved of the political commissar system pioneered by Stalin. In his opinion, the role of political commissars without much combat literacy was better than nothing. Moreover, General Meretskov was also deeply dissatisfied with Stalin's act of extending his hands to the army. Of course, he was only dissatisfied in his heart.
Therefore, General Meretskov did not dare to reveal his dissatisfaction in front of the political commissar. He could only say, "Comrade political commissar, the general secretary may not know much about the situation here. The difficulties we are facing now are mainly not The Finnish Army, but the complex terrain here.”
"Terrain is not a problem!" General Meretskov was interrupted by the political commissar before he finished speaking; "Finland was originally occupied by the Belarusian bandits. It is full of the copper stench of capitalism. We The great Soviet Red Army is here to liberate this place. I think the Finnish people will definitely support us if they know this. The reason why they are fighting against us now with the Finnish capitalists is because they have been brainwashed by the evil capitalists. And for this great To achieve the goal, sacrifices are inevitable, and I think all the officers and soldiers of the Red Army think so too."
General Meretskov really wants to strangle this person now. Except for the political commissar who is full of fanaticism and the communist program and is useless, he has no idea how many people will die in a war. He also didn’t know the resistance will of the Finnish military and civilians. If it was true as he said, General Meretskov would not be so helpless.
Resisting the urge to strangle the person, General Meretskov said coldly. "Comrade Political Commissar, I, Meretskov, don't need you to teach me how to fight."
The political commissar also found that General Meretskov was indeed a little angry, but he had his own support, and said not to be outdone, "General Meretskov, if I find that your position is not firm, I will definitely report it to the General Secretary." "Secretary's", this sentence can be either big or small. The Great Purge has just ended, but people are still being imprisoned in labor camps and Gulags (a system of concentration camps, at least not on the scale of Auschwitz and Damon), it is really hard to say what will happen once Stalin discovers that his position is not firm. And the higher the position, the more dangerous it is. If you think about the case of Marshal Tukhachevsky, you will know that the higher the official, the more involved he is.
General Meretskov was obviously shocked by the words of the political commissar. As a person who survived the Great Purge, no one knows better than him the feeling of panic and uneasiness, the feeling of not knowing when it will mysteriously disappear. of panic. As a last resort, General Meretskov said softly, "Comrade Political Commissar, I hope you can tell the General Secretary that the battle situation here is indeed difficult. It is not the fault of the Red Army, but the terrain restrictions on the Red Army are too great."
"I hope you will make a decision early, General Meretskov. The General Secretary urgently needs a victory now to refute the rumors spread by some people and to prove that the so-called rumors of the Soviet military's inferiority are self-defeating. ", the political commissar said coldly.
"Well, please tell the General Secretary that the Red Army will soon prove the strength of the Red Army," General Meretskov said. After the political commissar left, General Meretskov spat fiercely and said to the staff viciously, "I'm sorry, all the division commanders I can contact now come to my place for a meeting immediately. I want to announce a new battle plan." .
At this time, Colonel Michel Gebermeier led the Northern Combat Group, joined the Finnish army, and launched a tentative attack on the 18th Motorized Infantry Division of the Soviet Eighth Army in the encirclement. Within meters, As expected by Colonel Sher Gebermeier, the Soviet army in the encirclement was now at the end of its tether.
In fact, this situation is normal. After all, the 18th Motorized Infantry Division has been surrounded for a long time. As early as January, when the Northern Combat Group and the Finnish 9th Infantry Division worked together to annihilate the Soviet 44th and 163rd Divisions, the 18th Motorized Rifle Division had already been surrounded. Being able to persist for such a long time while being surrounded is enough to prove the extraordinary nature of this division. It can be said that the Northern Combat Group is just here to pick up peaches. When the Finns and the Soviet Union were finished, and both sides suffered losses, and no one was able to eat the other, the Northern Combat Group appeared.
After a short rest for a day, on February 8, 1940, the Northern Combat Group began an attack on the Soviet 18th Motorized Rifle Division surrounded in the northwest of Lake Ladoga.
Although the number of artillery was far less than that in the Polish campaign, the Northern Combat Group still concentrated all its firepower and borrowed some artillery from the nearby Finnish army, making this battle a rare occurrence in the Finnish war. In a battle, in order to achieve the suddenness of the battle, Colonel Michel Gebermeier ordered the Third Grenadier Regiment of the Northern Combat Group to conduct an assault from the southeast corner near Lake Ladoga. He led most of the remaining Northern Combat Group in a frontal attack.
The southeast corner is a dangerous area, where there are two small lakes, connected to Lake Ladoga, and there is a mountain col next to the lake. In February, the weather in Finland begins to get warmer, and there are lakes in the Lake Ladoga area. The place has begun to thaw, and attacking from there will undoubtedly require great courage.
February 8, 1940. At 8:30 in the morning, under the bombardment of hundreds of artillery pieces, the northwest part of Lake Ladoga turned into a sea of flames. Everyone knew that the Soviet 18th Motorized Infantry Division surrounded there was already in danger, and the approaching 18th Motorized Infantry Division was in danger. The 139th Division of the Seventh Army immediately went to support, but several small roads capable of movement were blocked by the Finnish army. As for the road, there is no road at all.
After blocking almost all the supporting units of the Soviet army, the Northern Combat Group, the 1st and 2nd Grenadier Regiments launched a pincer attack from the left and right, striving to divide the already weak 18th Motorized Infantry Division of the Soviet Union. For two. The 3rd Grenadier Regiment attacked from the southeast corner where the Soviets were weakly defended. The soldiers of the 3rd Grenadier Regiment, paddling sleds and sliding on the ice that could break at any time, quietly approached the rear of the Soviet 18th Magically Weakened Infantry Division.
In order to resist the attack of the Northern Combat Group, it was not divided into two. The Soviet 18th Motorized Infantry Division resisted with almost all its strength, even pulling out the only reserves. But after all, they had been surrounded for nearly a month, and their mental and physical abilities had reached their limits. Therefore, the positions they can control are getting smaller and smaller.
As a last resort, the Soviet Union had no choice but to put the garrison defending the southeast corner into the frontal battlefield. After all, the weather had begun to get warmer in February. The Soviets would not have thought that someone would risk their main troops falling into the lake and attack from the lake. With the addition of the garrison, the pressure on the frontal battlefield was finally greatly reduced.
But at this time, gunshots that made the Soviet army despair came from the southeast corner that they had always thought was safe. The only troops they left there were only two companies, which could not resist for long, and the enemy troops on the front were still coming. Constant attack. Even if we reluctantly send troops to support there, the frontal position will not be able to withstand it.
General Meretskov also knew that the Soviet 18th Motorized Infantry Division was doomed, but he still wanted to do his best, maybe he could save some people, so he sent out the few snow troops under his command —Siberian Ski Tour.
The Siberian Ski Brigade is composed of the 9th, 30th and 34th Ski Battalions. It is one of the few troops that knows snow warfare among the Soviet troops attacking Finland.
The Soviet 18th Motorized Infantry Division had called for help many times via radio, but most of the Soviet troops were unable to pass through the Finnish army's blockade and could only do nothing to help. Unexpectedly, the commander-in-chief of the southern offensive, General Meretskov, , personally dispatched a rescue force to them, and it was one of the few snow warfare troops, the Siberian Ski Brigade, which immediately gave the officers and soldiers of the 18th Motorized Infantry Division a glimmer of hope in their hearts.