{"id":1713,"date":"2017-11-24T18:33:35","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T16:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-talvisota.digiasites.com\/?page_id=1713"},"modified":"2018-04-26T09:11:33","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T06:11:33","slug":"joutsijarvi-area-1939%e2%88%9240","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/en\/battles\/lapland-group\/joutsijarvi-area-1939%e2%88%9240\/","title":{"rendered":"Joutsij\u00e4rvi area 1939\u221240"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Edited map from the work Raunio, Ari, Sotatoimet \u2013 Suomen sotien 1939\u221245 kulku kartoin (Military Operations \u2013 The Course of Finnish Wars in 1939\u201345 with Maps), 3rd edition, Karttakeskus 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n

Battle of M\u00e4ntyvaara<\/strong><\/p>\n

An enemy division attempted to continue advancing from Joutsij\u00e4rvi to Kemij\u00e4rvi in December. Detachment Roininen, commanded by Jaeger Officer, Major Vilho Roininen<\/a>, repelled all attacks. An enemy battalion advanced to the Finnish forces\u2019 rear in M\u00e4ntyvaara on 20 December. Two companies from a Finnish battalion (17th SepBn) that had been transferred to the reserve from the front line had just arrived there. In the battle, which devolved into hand-to-hand fighting, the Finns forced the enemy forces to withdraw from the area. Approximately 300 enemy corpses were left in the area. On the Finnish side, 17\u00a0men were killed.<\/p>\n

Finnish counteroffensives in Joutsij\u00e4rvi<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A ski patrol in position in the Joutsij\u00e4rvi area on 18 January 1940. SA-kuva.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the Joutsij\u00e4rvi area, Detachment Roininen launched counteroffensives to the enemy\u2019s positions with a company and a battalion. The Lapland Group increased its offensive strength in the Joutsij\u00e4rvi area by transferring an infantry regiment (40th IR) there from the Pelkosenniemi\u2013Savukoski area. The regiment was ordered to take over responsibility for the front from Detachment Roininen. At the Lapland Group\u2019s order, the detachment was to attack the flank of the enemy\u2019s positions from the north. The offensive started on 3 January. The Lapland Group aborted Detachment Roininen\u2019s offensive the next day. A day after, an enemy battalion attacked the withdrawing forces of Detachment Roininen.<\/p>\n

Soviet forces withdrew to M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi in January<\/strong><\/p>\n

Soviet forces began to withdraw from their positions in Joutsij\u00e4rvi to M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi on 13 January. The withdrawal was successful. On 14 January, the Finnish forces found the positions in front of them to be empty. The next day, the Finnish forces started their advance, which was stopped at the enemy\u2019s defensive positions in M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi. Parts of a new Soviet rifle division (88th RD) had by this time arrived in the Salla area.<\/p>\n

The Salla front in January 1940<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Edited map from the work Raunio, Ari, Sotatoimet \u2013 Suomen sotien 1939\u221245 kulku kartoin (Military Operations \u2013 The Course of Finnish Wars in 1939\u201345 with Maps), 3rd edition, Karttakeskus 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Lapland Group tried to break the enemy\u2019s defence with the troops it had deployed in the M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi area. The enemy forces held their positions. The front lines stabilised at Saija and M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi until the end of the war. The bulk of the force was deployed in the area along the M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi\u2013Kemij\u00e4rvi road, where Detachment Roininen and Perki\u00f6\u2019s infantry regiment (40th IR) took turns being in charge of the front. One separate battalion (17th SepBn) was deployed to the road leading south from M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi, south of Pyh\u00e4tunturi.<\/p>\n

A battle group of Swedish volunteers took charge of the front on 28 February 1940<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Edited map from the work Raunio, Ari, Sotatoimet \u2013 Suomen sotien 1939\u221245 kulku kartoin (Military Operations \u2013 The Course of Finnish Wars in 1939\u201345 with Maps), 3rd edition, Karttakeskus 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi area, the battle group Stridsgruppen Svenska Frivilligk\u00e5ren (Stridsgruppen SFK), which was formed mostly of Swedish volunteers, took charge of the front on 25 February. It comprised approximately two battalions. The battle group also included Norwegian volunteers.<\/p>\n

The duties of Battle Group SFK\u2019s commander were performed by the commander of the 1st Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Magnus Dyrssen, alongside his own duties. The 2nd Battalion\u2019s commander was Lieutenant Colonel Viking Tamm. The battle group\u2019s commander, Colonel Arthur Nordenswan, did not arrive in M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi until 7 March. The 3rd Battalion of the battle group failed to arrive at the front line before the end of the war.<\/p>\n

Both battalions of the battle group comprised three rifle companies, a Jaeger company, a heavy company, a battery, a ploughing platoon and a logistics column. The battery was armed with four 75 mm model 1902 field guns. The actual strengths of the battalions ranged from 1,200 to 1,380 men. The rifle companies included three rifle platoons and an anti-tank platoon, among other units. The actual strength of a company included 248 men, 27 vehicles, 20 horses and 10 sled dogs, among other things. The actual strength of a Jaeger company was 168 men. A heavy company was armed with heavy machine guns, anti-tank rifles and light mortars, among other things.<\/p>\n

The 1st Battalion of the battle group took up the positions vacated by the Finns along the road. The battle group\u2019s left flank was protected by the 2nd Battalion, which was deployed as a reserve on the north side of the road while being one company short.<\/p>\n

The battle group saw limited action in M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi. The volunteer group suffered its first two fatalities on 1 March. One of them was Lieutenant Colonel Dyrssen, who was killed by enemy artillery fire while inspecting the fortification at the front line. During the little over two weeks that the volunteer force of over 2,500 men served at the front, it suffered the loss of approximately 70 men, of whom approximately ten were killed by enemy fire on the\u00a0last day of the war on 13 March 1940.<\/p>\n

In accordance with the peace treaty signed in Moscow on 12 March, Salla was left on the east side of the new national border. M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi became the new Salla.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A field service of Battle Group Svenska Frivilligk\u00e5ren in M\u00e4rk\u00e4j\u00e4rvi on 17 March 1940. SA-kuva.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ari Raunio<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edited map from the work Raunio, Ari, Sotatoimet \u2013 Suomen sotien 1939\u221245 kulku kartoin (Military Operations \u2013 The Course of Finnish Wars in 1939\u201345 with Maps), 3rd edition, Karttakeskus 2013. Battle of M\u00e4ntyvaara An enemy division attempted to continue advancing from Joutsij\u00e4rvi to Kemij\u00e4rvi in December. Detachment Roininen, commanded by Jaeger Officer, Major Vilho Roininen, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":904,"parent":1707,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"custom-templates\/child-level.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1713","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2950,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1713\/revisions\/2950"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}