At this time, Colonel Silas Vuau arrived with the 9th Finnish Infantry Division. After the Northern Combat Group and the 9th Finnish Infantry Division reunited, their strength has surpassed the Soviet 123rd Motorized Infantry Division, but At this time, Colonel Michel Gebermeier no longer dared to take such risky actions, because if he was not careful, the reinforcements that came to support him would also be ruined.
After the two armies joined together, they immediately launched a counterattack against the pursuing Soviet 123rd Motorized Infantry Division. After successfully forcing the Soviet Red Army to retreat, under the cover of the Finnish 9th Infantry Division, the Northern Combat Group began to slowly move toward the second line. The defense line retreated. After the Northern Combat Group retreated, the soldiers of the Finnish 9th Infantry Division easily paddled their sleds and took the path that was not conducive to pursuit, and quickly got rid of the entanglement of the Soviet 123rd Motorized Infantry Division.
Seeing the Finnish army entering the trail, the Soviet Red Army did not dare to continue the pursuit because they were unfamiliar with the terrain. Instead, they corrected on the spot and waited for the 90th Infantry Division and the 43rd Infantry Division. After the unexpected attack by the Northern Combat Group, the Soviet 123rd Motorized Infantry Division also suffered heavy casualties. Don’t dare to be too arrogant.
In the battle between Finland and the Soviet Union, retreat and pursuit, the Finnish army finally successfully retreated to the second line of defense. The Soviet side is not without gains. At least the second line of defense is no longer as easy to defend and difficult to attack as the first line of defense. Moreover, the length of the second line of defense is much longer than that of the first line. The Finnish army's already thin strength is naturally even more stretched.
In fact, this was indeed the case. Since the second defense zone was a temporary defense line, the Soviet army began to be full of confidence in victory. They felt that the war would be over soon; for the Finnish army, they were making plans to regain their lost ground. In fact, the second defensive zone was longer than the original defensive zone. After the Finnish army's reserve force was deployed, its strength was very thin. Although the Finnish army continued to counterattack, the Finnish army soon made necessary retreats many times. Their front line was like a cloth. Baskets full of holes are about to collapse in the face of the Soviet offensive. Once broken through, there will be no chance to make amends.
Sometimes, Soviet tanks dared to venture deep into the rear of the Finnish defense lines without infantry support, but they were at a loss as soon as they got there. When night fell, "the god of death would knock on their doors." If these If the Soviet tank crews had to spend the night in their cars, they would always form a circle around their tanks, just like the wagon camps in the American West, and fire aimlessly in all directions from time to time.
Just when General Mannerheim thought that the Soviet Red Army would catch up soon and prepared for a war. However, Timoshenko ordered the Soviet Red Army to stop the pursuit, because when it broke through the first line of defense, the Soviet Red Army suffered huge losses. Although it did not appear to be completely wiped out before, the attrition of each unit was very serious, especially when attacking the Soviet Union. The consumption of several Soviet Red Army divisions in Macun was even greater.
In view of this, Timoshenko stopped the pursuit, allowing the Soviet Red Army ample time to rest. There is also time to adjust deployment and prepare for the next attack. General Mannerheim breathed a sigh of relief at the news that the Soviet Red Army had ceased operations. Taking advantage of the time spent by the Soviet Red Army to adjust, the Finnish army, which was exhausted from days of fighting, also took this opportunity to rest and recuperate.
The personnel can rest and recuperate, but there is really no way to solve the lack of weapons and ammunition. Germany can only transport them secretly, and the quantity is not large. Most of them are equipped to the Northern Combat Group, leaving ordinary Finnish troops very short of weapons. There were so few artillery that General Mannerheim ordered that the artillery be moved from one section to another to avoid losses from Soviet shelling. The Finnish 2nd Army, which is under tremendous pressure, only allows each artillery to be allocated 2 to 3 rounds of artillery shells, and strictly orders each unit to apply for artillery support only when it finds that the enemy in front of it reaches the size of more than one battalion!
From March 1st to March 3rd, both armies passed by while resting and recuperating. On March 4, the Soviet Red Army first launched an offensive. With the support of the Baltic Fleet, the Red Army captured the Koivisto Island Fortress located in the Gulf of Finland against the attack of the island's shore artillery.
On March 5, the Soviet army arrived at Honkaniemi, a hub station along the Vyborg-Helsinki railway, and gradually approached Vyborg. Fierce fighting continued in temporary and intermediate defensive positions. Except for the successful Soviet breakthrough in the Naki Lake area, all Soviet attacks in other areas were repelled. A newly formed 23rd Division, composed mainly of aging reservists, faced tremendous difficulties. The Russians emerged from the ice again, ignoring the Finns' anti-tank trenches and threatening the right flank of the Finnish defenses.
It was hopeless to stop the enemy in such extremely cold conditions. The Soviet army had already attacked the Ural Islands in Vyborg Bay, and the Finns in Kovisto began to retreat across the frozen water towards the west coast of the bay. The Soviet army continued to expand its breakthrough at Lake Naki. The Finns were forced to withdraw from their hastily established defense line and return to the Vyborg-Tali-Natali-Kartovis-Vvokos line. The Finns fought to almost the last man in many battles on the islands near Vyborg. Only a small number of people were able to return to their defense lines under the cover of darkness.
On March 6, the Finnish Army dispatched the 4th Tank Detachment Company to launch a counterattack against the Soviet Army that was making a breakthrough in the Honkaniemi area to support the exhausted 3rd Infantry Battalion of the Finnish Army. The counterattack began at 6:30 in the morning. 15 Vickers 6-ton light tanks provided by the British covered a company of the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the Finnish Army, which was the only one with combat effectiveness, to launch an almost suicidal counterattack. This tank was inferior to the Soviet 27 tanks. The ton-heavy T-28 tank has advanced performance and is difficult to maneuver in the snow. The Finnish infantry in front mistook the friendly forces appearing behind it as a roundabout encirclement by Soviet armored forces, and fell into chaos for a while, which had a negative impact on the counterattack. . The Soviet army held a large number of anti-tank guns. In the end, only three Finnish tanks rushed to the Soviet defense line and were destroyed one by one there. By about 9 o'clock, the entire counterattack failed, and only 7 tanks of the 4th Tank Detachment Company were still in use.
Two days later, the Finns in Karelia witnessed a Russian disaster. The Soviets launched a massive artillery barrage and the Finns awaited the Soviet attack. But the attack never took place, and a Finnish officer later described what happened:
"Throughout the day we heard various sounds in no man's land. These were the sounds of people in pain. We saw some Russians crawling around on the ground and suddenly it became quiet (the Finns had been there before Already firing with artillery and mortars). Then, a voice screamed: 'Stalin, Stalin, Stalin!' It was eerie to hear this voice on a silent night. It was clear that the Russian soldier had hit us We decided that if any Russians came to rescue us, we would let them go. But no one came. Since we didn't want to send our own people over, we fired a burst of machine gun bullets at the man, who was screaming. The sound stopped."
The next night, two Finnish patrols visited the place and found dead Russians. After daybreak, the Finnish patrol went to the location again and confirmed the night patrol's report, and the mystery was revealed. There were 400 bodies covering an area of 2 acres, almost side by side. Many had slices of bread in their hands and were eating when they were struck. The situation is now clear. The range of the Soviet artillery fire on the night of the 28th was one kilometer shorter. Therefore, these artillery fires did not fall on the heads of the Finns, but on the heads of a Soviet infantry battalion that had just arrived at the front line. This Soviet infantry battalion was only 200 meters away from the Finnish position. The original plan was to surround the Finns. However, during the two hours of Soviet artillery preparations, everyone in the battalion was killed. Even Soviet artillery observers were found sitting on the ground, clutching maps and telephones. Perhaps he was killed when he first opened fire and did not have time to correct the Soviet artillery's mistake. The Soviets opened fire with 16- and 18-inch guns, the largest artillery on the front line. A Soviet soldier was blown in half, and the upper part of his body fell on the neck of another man, who still maintained an upright position. A fallen lieutenant colonel held a bread box in his hand, some canned goods on his lap, and a bottle of vodka.
Later I learned that this Soviet battalion had just graduated from the Leningrad Military Academy, and maybe they had eaten in the canteen in Leningrad two days ago. Most were about 22 or 23 years old, handsome in appearance, and wearing brand new uniforms made of silk and wool. All wore flannel underwear. Their faces were clean, their beards neatly shaved, and no one was affected by the cold. There were several captains, lieutenants, and sergeants.
On March 8, the Finnish Defense Council ordered all units to retreat to the newly established positions north of Vyborg City. At the same time, the 2nd Army was divided into two corps to facilitate the command and control of the 1st Army (the 1st and 2nd Divisions). On the front line from the railway to the Wokoski Canal, the 2nd Army (administrating the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 23rd Divisions) stood firm in Vyborg, assuming a fight to the death with the Soviet army.
The Northern Combat Group commanded by Colonel Michel Gebermeier fought bravely as always, but the Soviet Red Army, which had broken through the most dangerous area, could no longer be stopped by a mere Northern Combat Group. Although they are still so brave, they are full of enthusiasm for fighting. However, as more and more Soviet Red Army troops crossed the Karelian Isthmus, Colonel Michel Gebermeier really felt what large-scale group operations meant.