Battle of Taipale

Battle of Taipale
	Part of the Winter War
Date	6 December 1939 – 27 December 1939
Location	Metsäpirtti, Karelian Isthmus60°30′26.43″N 29°0′44.60″E / 60.5073417°N 29.0123889°E
Result	Finnish victory
Belligerents
Finland	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Viljo Kauppila	Vladimir Grendal
Units involved
10th Division	4th Rifle Division 49th Rifle Division 142nd Rifle Division 150th Rifle Division 39th Armored Brigade
Casualties and losses
2,250 killed and wounded	10,000+ killed
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Leningrad Oblast Battle of Taipale (Finland)

The Battle of Taipale was a series of battles fought during the Winter War between Finland and Soviet Union from 6 to 27 December 1939. The battles were part of a Soviet campaign to penetrate the Finnish Mannerheim Line in the Karelian Isthmus region to open a route into southern Finland. Despite their numerical superiority, the Soviet forces were unable to break through the Finnish defences.

Position of Taipale at eastern end of Mannerheim Line

Prelude: 30 November – 6 December

On 30 November, Soviet forces crossed the Finnish border and bombarded civilian targets from the air. The Karelian Isthmus was split into two military sectors by both belligerents: one on the side of Lake Ladoga and the other on the side of the Gulf of Finland. In the Ladoga sector, the Soviet commanding officer was Vladimir Grendahl and on the Finnish side, Erik Heinrichs. On 3 December, Grendahl received orders to make a breakthrough in his sector, as the defenders in the other sector were more numerous and offered fiercer resistance. The former objective of reaching Viipuri on the Gulf side of the Karelian Isthmus became a secondary priority. The attack began on 6 December, when the Finns had retreated to the Mannerheim Line.

The battle: 6–27 December

The Battle of Taipale began on 6 December, started when the Soviet 49th and 150th Rifle Divisions of the 7th Army tried to cross the Taipale River at three locations. The terrain was flat farmland, so the Soviets had no cover, and the Finnish 10th Division's accurate artillery inflicted heavy losses. However, due to the sheer size of the Soviet forces, the attackers managed to establish a bridgehead over the river. The Finns inflicted such severe casualties that some units (even as large as a regiment) had to be withdrawn. In the following days, the Finns repelled more assaults and inflicted even more casualties, causing the collapse of many Soviet units. Despite this, however, they were not strong enough to stop the Soviet advance, and soon the bridgehead was gradually enlarged, securing ground for the reinforcements that were on the way (the 39th Armoured Brigade). By 12 December, the bridgehead was large enough to support an advance into the Taipale sector.

Notes

^ Grendal was at the beginning of the Battles of Taipale the commander of 7th Army Right Wing Group, then from late December 1939 the commander of the newly formed 13th Army.^[1]

References

Citations

^ Raunio & Kilin 2010, pp. 29.
^ Raunio & Kilin 2010, pp. 56.

Sources

In English

Engle, Eloise; Paananen, Lauri (1985) [1973]. The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish Conflict, 1939–40. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-0149-1.
Nenye, Vesa; Munter, Peter; Wirtanen, Toni; Birks, Chris (2015). Finland at War: The Winter War 1939–40. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-147-280-631-4.
Trotter, William R. (2002) [1991]. The Winter War: The Russo–Finnish War of 1939–40 (5th ed.). Aurum Press. ISBN 1-85410-881-6.

Online sources

Raunio, Ari (2017). "Defensive battles in December 1939". Talvisotayhdistys. Retrieved 13 August 2019.

In Finnish

Raunio, Ari; Kilin, Juri (2010). Talvisodan taisteluja (3rd revised ed.). Karttakeskus. ISBN 978-951-593-415-4.
Sotatieteen Laitos. (1978). Talvisodan historia 2 : Sotatoimet Karjalan kannaksella. WSOY. ISBN 951-0-08147-7.
Sorko, Kimmo; Strang, Mikko (2010). Taipaleen päiviä. Talvisota Itä-Kannaksella 1939-1940. Historiatyöryhmä. ISBN 978-952-92-6803-0.
Sorko, Kimmo (1998). Keskisuomalaisten Taipale 1939-1940. ISBN 952-91-0231-3.

In Russian

Иринчеев, Баир (2016). Оболганная победа Сталина. Штурм Линии Маннергейма. (The stunned victory of Stalin. The assault on the Mannerheim Line.). Эксмо. ISBN 978-5-699-86363-1.
Якимович, Кирилл (2010). На фланге линии Маннергейма. Битва за Тайпале. (On the flank of the Mannerheim line. Battle of Taipale.). Вече. ISBN 978-5-4444-5645-3.