After a long period of fierce fighting, the Soviet Red Army, which had a numerical advantage, continued to approach Suma Village. This time the Soviets were also ruthless and did not care about the casualties. If one fell, the other would catch up. It's basically walking on corpses.
"Randall Bellev! How are the Finnish troops on the left and right wings doing?" Michel Gabermeier rubbed his sore eyes and asked breathlessly.
Like Michelle Gabbermeier, Randall Bellev now has a pair of rabbit eyes and a tired face. However, he still carried out his duties and replied, "The Finnish 3rd Infantry Division on the left is in good condition, and the situation on the right is also very good. It seems that we are the only one here who is having a lively fight!" Randall Bellev's words were quite indignant. Uneven taste.
"Who knows if these Soviets took the wrong medicine!" Michel Gabermeier also joined the ranks of condemning the Soviets. Maybe it was because they were too tired from the fight during the day, but now the two of them got angry whenever the Soviets were mentioned.
In fact, the Soviet Red Army troops attacking Suma Village are even more furious now. The troops on the opposite side don't know what kind of medicine they have taken, and their combat effectiveness is so high. That's all. But this troop is not at all the Finnish army they encountered before. That way, anti-tank weapons and heavy weapons are missing. It is more like a French or German integrated division, with anti-tank rockets and heavy machine guns that look like Gatling guns but have more powerful firepower.
In order to capture Suma Village, Meretskov specially mobilized six divisions. On the surface, it seemed that the fate of Suma Village had been doomed. But after a whole day of attack, except for thousands of corpses dropped outside the village of Suma, the Soviet Red Army got nothing. How could Meretskov not be furious
At this time, the most depressing thing for Meretskov was that Stalin sent someone to take over his command and serve as the commander of the Northwest Front Army that had just been ordered to be established. This man was Timoshenko. In Meretskov's view, this was Stalin's warning for the setbacks in the offensive during his command. It also shows that he is no longer trusted.
Although reluctant, Meretskov decided to tell Timoshenko his thoughts and see what he thought. After listening to Meretskov's statement, Timoshenko lowered his head and thought for a long time, then asked, "General Meretskov, do you mean that the troops stationed in the Suma Village area are different from the general ones?" Is the Finnish army different?”
"Yes, General Timoshenko!" Meretskov said, "Not only that, even the weapons they use are different from the general Finnish army."
"Is that so?" Timoshenko asked seriously, "I wonder, did the soldiers below pick up the weapons used by the other party? I want to take a look."
"I need to investigate this!" Meretskov immediately started asking people to ask. After a while, someone sent the weapons used by the Northern Combat Group that the soldiers below picked up on the battlefield.
Timoshenko carefully looked at the sight of the anti-tank rocket that was handed over. After a long time, the leader said in one breath, "Iron Fist? This weapon is the anti-tank weapon of the German Army! How could he appear here!" "
"What?" Meretskov's face suddenly turned livid, "What do these Germans want to do? Why did this kind of weapon appear in Finland?" No wonder Meretskov and Timoshenko couldn't figure it out. Although the relationship between the Soviet Union and Germany so far is not as close as it was in the 1920s, the war to carve up Poland also gave others the impression that the Soviet Union and Germany were advancing and retreating together, and now this kind of weapon appears in Finland In the army, it was an obvious provocation to the Soviet government.
"Things are in trouble! We need to report this situation to the General Secretary!" Timoshenko decided.
"So what about the current offensive? What to do?" Meretskov asked.
"Everything remains as usual, just do whatever you want! The offensive cannot stop at all. Now the General Secretary urgently needs our victory!" Timoshenko said, "We have been big with a small country like Finland for so long, if There is no result yet, and if it ends in this situation, it will be a huge blow to the prestige of the Soviet Union."
Subsequently, following the radio waves, Timoshenko and Meretskov sent the news of the discovery of German standard weapons on the Finnish battlefield to the Kremlin via telegram.
The Kremlin in the middle of the night was far from as peaceful as it seemed on the surface. After receiving the telegram, the secretary in the office did not dare to neglect for a moment and immediately handed it over to Stalin.
Stalin got up in the middle of the night. After seeing this telegram, he immediately couldn't restrain his anger. It took him a long time to calm down and said to his secretary, "Go and find Beria!"
"Okay, General Secretary!" the secretary said tremblingly.
After a while, Beria, the director of the Soviet State Security Service, came over in a hurry. For a figure who made the entire Soviet Union change his mind, perhaps Stalin was the only one in the entire Soviet Union who could make Beria come to report so late at night.
As soon as Beria arrived at Stalin's office, he was scolded all over his face, "Beria, what does your State Security Administration do for food? Why is there German standard equipment on the Finnish battlefield? I now doubt, The intelligence agents in Germany have betrayed our noble ideals and become the lackeys of the Communist Party! I need an explanation now!"
Beria braced himself and listened to Stalin vent his dissatisfaction until Stalin's anger subsided. Beria held his own eyes and said slowly, "General Secretary, only German equipment appears on the battlefield in Finland now." , this kind of thing is too likely to happen! Maybe they are weapons purchased by the Finns at high prices. After all, if the Germans are allowed to push out the door-to-door business, I think it is unlikely. It is more likely that the weapons themselves were smuggled into Finland ! And the greatest possibility..."
"Go on..." Stalin urged.
"With all due respect, the German intelligence officers had no news at all before this. This is abnormal!" Beria said slowly, "The relationship between Germany and us is pretty good so far, although this time The offensive against Finland itself had the intention of defending against Germany... "
"To get to the point..." Stalin interrupted again. Everyone in the world could see his intention to guard against Germany. Although the relationship between the Soviet Union and Germany is not bad now, it is necessary to guard against others. Of course, Stalin did not expect Germany and the Soviet Union to The relationship between the two countries has always been so friendly. This offensive in Finland does have the purpose of preventing Germany, but this does not mean that Stalin is willing to let people say it openly. After all, it will harm the relationship between Germany and the Soviet Union.
"Okay, General Secretary!" Although Beria was interrupted one after another, but now the person in front of him has such qualifications, so he still said pleasantly, "Germany has a good relationship with us. I think there is no need for Germany to be like this." Do, but the British have always wanted the Germans to shift their attention eastward!"
"You mean? This incident was deliberately caused by the British?" Stalin asked in confusion. What most people don't know is that in Stalin's eyes, the British are a greater threat than Germany, and he himself is very hostile to the British. There is a natural sense of fear. This is mainly due to the impression that the British gathered intervention forces in the early days of the Soviet Union, which left a very deep impression on Stalin at the time.
"I'm just saying that this possibility cannot be ruled out!" After so many years in the State Security Administration, Beria can't say enough about his profound guidance.
"Let me think about it!" Stalin took his big pipe and smoked hard. After a while, when Beria's legs began to feel numb, Stalin finally said, "Beria, what you said makes sense, but we should still ask Molotov to give the German head of state a Wake up and give appropriate guidance to make Germany think that the British are conspiring to cause trouble between the Soviet Union and Germany. This will also allow the German head of state to temporarily put his energy to the west."
"Yes, General Secretary, this is indeed the best choice at the moment!" Beria said with a small compliment.
In the early hours of the morning, after a brief negotiation with the German Foreign Ministry, Molotov, a staunch supporter of Stalin, immediately got on a plane and headed for Berlin. The main purpose this time was to discuss with Ribbentrop the emergence of Germany during the Finnish war. Issues with standard equipment.
At the same time, Timoshenko continued to launch an offensive on the Mannerheim Defense Line and assured Stalin that he would break through the Mannerheim Defense Line within half a month.
However, the Soviet Red Army's offensive was still so rigid and rigid. In defensive operations, after the Soviet army successfully launched a surprise fire attack on the Finnish army, it usually took several hours before the real attack began. Therefore, the Finnish army usually had enough time to prepare to fire before the main Soviet army arrived. Because the Finnish army made full use of the concealment effect, the Soviet army could not accurately detect the target. In addition, the positions of the two armies were intertwined, which often hindered the use of their main firepower. The Finnish army could effectively use its close combat firepower from the sheltered position. Due to the lack of anti-tank guns, the Finnish army staged the tragedy of "people fighting tanks" along the entire "Mannerheim Line of Defense".
An anti-tank weapon nicknamed the "Molotov Cocktail" was delivered to Finnish soldiers in large quantities. The weapon was a "mixed drink" of crude oil, asphalt and gasoline put into a standard one-fifth-gallon wine bottle.
During combat, soldiers tied bottlenecks with gasoline-soaked cloth strips, lit them on fire and threw them into the vents or open hatches of Soviet tanks. The consequences can be imagined. Some Finnish engineers and even cooks even stuffed logs or crowbars into the moving tank tracks to prevent them from moving due to decoupling. When the Soviet tank soldiers climbed out to make repairs, they were shot by Finnish machine gunners.