Relocation of the 9th Division from Suomussalmi to the Kuhmo area

Edited map from the work Raunio, Ari, Sotatoimet – Suomen sotien 1939−45 kulku kartoin (Military Operations – The Course of Finnish Wars in 1939–45 with Maps), 3rd edition, Karttakeskus 2013.

At the end of January, the majority of Siilasvuo’s division (9th D), which had fought successfully in Suomussalmi, was transferred to the Kuhmo area. All the troops deployed in the area were subordinated to the command of the division’s commander, Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo.

Siilasvuo’s division had two infantry regiments (65th IR and 27th IR) which had been relocated from Suomussalmi, Brigade Vuokko, which was a little under a regiment in strength, and Group Ilomäki, which consisted of a few battalions, at its disposal.

On 29 January, the division launched its attack to destroy the Soviet mountain division (54th MountD) that had placed itself in an advance formation. The attack did not achieve its main goal. The fighting continued until the end of the war.

Motti battles continued until the end of the war

Edited map from the work Raunio, Ari, Sotatoimet – Suomen sotien 1939−45 kulku kartoin (Military Operations – The Course of Finnish Wars in 1939–45 with Maps), 3rd edition, Karttakeskus 2013.

With its attack, Siilasvuo’s division (9th D) succeeded in cutting off the enemy division’s (54th MountD) road connection to the east through Kilpelänkangas and in dividing the enemy troops into several pockets, known in Finnish as mottis. The battles to destroy the mottis continued until the end of the war.

The hardest motti battles were fought against the triple motti of Luelahti. The Soviet troops trapped in mottis in the Luelahti area included a mountain rifle regiment (118th MountRR), the commander of the mountain division, Brigade Commander Nikolay A. Gusevsky, and the division’s headquarters, among others.

The Finns succeeded in capturing two of the three mottis before the end of the war. Out of the other larger mottis, the Finns were only able to capture the motti of Reuhkavaara.

Enemy forces trying to come to the trapped soldiers’ assistance were stopped in Kilpelänkangas

Soldiers of the Kuhmo area in a trench. The time and place are unknown. SA-kuva.

The 9th Army tried to open a road connection to the division trapped in a motti by launching attacks from the direction of Repola (Reboly). The hardest battles fought to repel these attacks took place in Kilpelänkangas. Siilasvuo’s troops were forced to abandon the area at the beginning of March. The Finns held their subsequent defensive positions in the Löytövaara area until the end of the war.

Destruction of Dolin’s ski brigade

In February, the 9th Army deployed Dolin’s ski brigade (SkiBde), which had the strength of approximately three battalions, through forests to assist the army’s mountain battalion (54th MountD), which was trapped in mottis. It was destroyed by Finnish forces in the Vetko area before it managed to make contact with any of the mottis.

Ari Raunio