[1] The provincial town of Suomussalmi, with a population of some 4,000 inhabitants, was a target for the Red Army largely due its position on the east side of the narrow "waist" of Finland, sitting astride the shortest route to Oulu, at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia.

When the 163rd crossed the border on November 30 it was burdened with such extraneous frills as a brass band, printing presses, plus truckloads of propaganda leaflets and of good-will gifts for the local populace.

Meanwhile, another regiment was moving into Suomussalmi itself via the Raate Road after overcoming the resistance of two platoons of border guards and a pair of improvised roadblocks by the end of December 1.

By the morning of December 7 all civilians had been evacuated from the town, and most of its buildings were set afire, but it was a hasty job and some were missed while others were saved by Zelentsov's men after they entered.

By noon the whole battalion had taken up good defensive ground near Lake Piispajärvi, in time to meet the probing attacks of the lead elements of the 662nd Rifle Regiment, which had orders to reach Peranka by nightfall.

Sharov made his situation worse on December 11 by sending a radio message to the rear, soon deciphered by Finnish intelligence, in which he complained that his men lacked boots, snowsuits, and adequate food.

Further communications revealed that one of the divisional political officers had been "fragged" by some of his men, and a transmission on December 13 reported 160 battle casualties and 48 frostbite cases in the regiment to date, some 10 percent of its active strength, all while skirmishing.

[6] Sharov tried to regain the initiative on December 14-15 and managed to make a temporary advance from Haapavaara to Ketola, but this was halted by mortar and Maxim machine gun fire.

Any Soviet forces that arrived to rescue the 163rd would have to attack across the frozen lakes in the face of machine gun fire to outflank the roadblock; just 350 men were left to hold it against the eventual relief attempt by 44th Rifle Division.

[12] Already on December 13 Siilasvuo's single reconnaissance aircraft had reported that a fresh Soviet division was moving slowly westward along the Raate Road; again due to poor radio security this was soon identified as the 44th, under command of Kombrig A. I. Vinogradov.

A following combination of sniper attacks, five-minute mortar bombardments, and ski raids by night caused his men to lose sleep and hot meals, and he soon entirely lost his nerve.

The Finns lost ground in several places due to Soviet firepower and armor, but always retook their original positions within 24 hours, usually at night, which was almost continual at this latitude at this time of the year.

The push at Hulkoniemi faced strong resistance, and Detachment Paavola got mixed up on open ice against several small Soviet groups with tank support.

These had to be taken one after the next with grenades and sub-machine guns, but the position was utterly untenable, and soon the survivors were also streaming across the ice, as vulnerable as those who had come before, or more so as Siilasvuo and his staff had anticipated the directions they would follow and had strung barbed wire entanglements while also bringing the artillery to bear.

Siilasvuo again anticipated some of these efforts and attempted to intercept with motorized machine gun crews and even a rare air strike by a pair of Bristol Blenheim bombers.

Its order of battle, as of the beginning of the German invasion, was as follows: Before this time it had been assigned to 1st Mechanized Corps, along with the 3rd Tank Division and 5th Motorcycle Regiment, in the Leningrad Military District, which was soon redesignated as Northern Front.

Most notably the 202nd and 163rd Motorized, which were now in 34th Army, joined the 25th Cavalry Division in a lunge that pushed 40km westward through the German defensive cordon and reached the Staraya Russa–Dno rail line early on August 14.

Following the Staraya Russa fighting the commander of Army Group North, Field Marshal W. J. F. von Leeb, resolved to ensure that his right flank was secure before beginning the final push on Leningrad.

Demyansk was taken in early September, but by now LVI Motorized Corps was in an absurd position at the end of a single 90km-long dirt road through swamps back to the railhead at Staraya Russa.

On the night of the operation's third day the Army was to deploy along the 11km-wide front from Kresanov to Soldatskoye while its main forces concentrated in the center to break through the German defense along the 6km sector Kasilovo–Novo-Berezovka.

Having crushed the resistance of the 57th Infantry Division both Armies broke through the German front along a 26km-wide sector and by the close of the day had advanced in fighting 8-20km and reached the line Starosele–Kasilovo–Ivanovskaya Lisitsa–Nikitskoe.

On the morning of August 10 Vatutin was informed by Zhukov that the STAVKA's top priority was to isolate Kharkiv in a joint effort by 1st and 5th Guards Tank Armies.

The attempted advance by 1st Tanks ran into further German reserves, including 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, and by the end of August 11 it had been halted and even forced back on several sectors.

This fighting continued into September 28 in the area of Brovary and Darnitsa and the Corps was unable to break through to the crossing points to disrupt the German evacuation over the Dniepr.

During the fighting in Romania in later 1944 he was seriously wounded with a bullet through his neck which damaged his jaw, and he never returned to the front, although he lived until February 4, 1984, after working as chairman of a collective farm in his native village near Kirov.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Kiev, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 6 November 1943, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.

[48] On November 7 the Army was directed to advance toward Bila Tserkva and it covered 6-12km, with 50th Corps reaching the Vasylkiv area, but this was considerably short of its assigned goals.

Konev immediately began planning a new push, ordering General Zhmachenko to organize and conduct two secondary supporting attacks in the area north of Târgu Neamț and Pașcani to tie down German and Romanian reserves.

The first echelon rifle divisions had successfully carried out their combat tasks for the day; among these was opening a breach to allow the 6th Tank Army to be committed and begin its exploitation role.

The troops who participated in the capture of Focsani and Râmnicu Sărat, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 27 August 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.