The Battle of Tolvajärvi was fought on December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 19 days remaining. Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh 1531 - Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City 1719 - The first U.S. newspaper (the Boston Gazette) is published 1781 - The British... December 12th in 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). Events January-June January 2 - End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson. January 24 - Earthquake kills 30.000 in Chile – about 50.000 sq... 1939 between The Republic of Finland ( Finnish: Suomen tasavalta, Swedish: Republiken Finland) is a Nordic country in northeastern Europe, bordered by the Baltic Sea to the southwest, the Gulf of Finland to the southeast and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. Finland has land frontiers with Sweden, Norway and Russia and... Finnish and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) .( Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик... Soviet forces. It was the first big victory for the Finns in the The Winter War (also known as the Russo-Finnish War) broke out when the Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30, 1939, three months after the start of World War II. As a consequence, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14th. Stalin had expected... Winter War.

Prelude

After the Winter War broke out on November 30 is the 334th day (335th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 31 days remaining. Events 1700-1899 1782 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized in the... November 30th, the Finnish troops north of Map of Scandinavia Lake Ladoga (Russian: Ладожское озеро, Finnish: Laatokka) is the largest lake in Europe, located in Karelia, since WWII in northwestern Russia near the border to Finland. The area of the lake is 17,700 km... Lake Ladoga began a pre-planned retreat before the overwhelming opposition. It was not thought possible for the Soviets to deploy large number of troops in this rugged and almost roadless area, but the Soviets deployed an entire division which advanced along the road between Suojärvi and Tolvajärvi. The Soviet advance was a serious threat to the Finnish IV Corps' lines of communication. To counter this threat the Finnish high command assembled "Group Talvela" commanded by A Colonel is also a non-military honorary title awarded by some U.S. Southern states. Colonel is a military rank, usually the highest below general grades, and just above Lieutenant Colonel. The word is pronounced similarly to kernel, perhaps from the Spanish form coronel. In the US military, a... colonel Paavo Talvela (1897-1973) was a Finnish soldier. Paavo Talvela was one of the volunteers who served in the Finnish Jaeger battalion in Germany in 1916 to 1917. He was a battalion commander in the Finnish Civil War. In 1919 he took part in the Aunus expedition as Commander in... Paavo Talvela.

Combatants

• Finnish "Group Talvela" consisting of the 16th Infantry regiment (JR 16) commanded by Aaro Pajari, "Detachment Räsänen" consisting of four separate battalions, ErP 9, ErP 10, ErP 112 and PPP 7 and one battalion from the 6th Artillery regiment.

• Soviet 139th division, commanded by General Beljajev, consisting of the 718th, 609th and 364th infantry regiments.

The plan

The Finnish plan was to encircle the Soviet division by two pincer-attacks over the frozen lakes Hirvasjärvi and Tolvajärvi. The northern attack over Hirvasjärvi was to begin at 8.00 and the second would start when the first had brought results. This was later changed and both attacks were to begin at 8.00.

The battle

The northern group consistíng of two battalions soon met Soviet resistance. In fact, they met the Soviet 718th regiment which was preparing to make its own attack on the Finnish flank. By noon, the Finnish troops withdrew to their own lines. Although this attack was a failure, it prevented the 718th from attacking the Finnish flank, and also from sending reinforcements to the south.

While the second battalion of the Finnish 16th infantry regiment (II/JR 16) was preparing to attack along the road it was interrupted by an attack from the Soviet 609th regiment. The Finns were still able to attack after they got some artillery support. The Finnish attack continued towards a hotel located on a thin isthmus between the two lakes. Pajari decided to commit his reserves in a pincer attack at the Soviet troops around the hotel. In the end the hotel was captured and in it were found a dead Soviet regiment commander and all the regiment's papers.

The Finns withdrew back over the lakes for the night. In the morning colonel Talvela demanded a new attack and the 139th division was pushed back and later (20 - 22 December) destroyed around Ägläjärvi (some 20 km from Tolvajärvi). Contact was also made with the 75th Soviet division which was sent as reinforcements.

Aftermath

Finnish losses were over 100 dead and 250 wounded. The Soviet losses are thought to be over 1000 dead and a lot of equipment: the guns of two artillery batteries, AT-guns, some twenty tanks ( General characteristics Length: 4.88 m Width: 2.41 m Height: 2.08 m Weight: 10.3 t Speed: 30 km/h (road) km/h (off-road) Range: 150-225 Primary armament: 45 mm gun (from 1933 on) Secondary armament: 1 or 2 x 7.62 mm MG Maximum armour... T-26s for example) and 60 machineguns. The battle was an important offensive victory for the Finns and was very important for the morale of the whole Finnish Army.