This battle was notable for being fought by tanks, the only time they were used en masse in combat by Finnish forces in the Winter War.

At 10:15 pm, the commander of the Jaeger Battalion 3, Captain I. Kunnas and Lieutenant O. Heinonen of the 4th Armoured Company received orders to attack.

On the nights of 25 and 26 February, members of the Jaeger Battalion were carried by truck to Heponotko, which was about three km away from a depot in Honkaniemi (now Lebedevka).

Seeing this as a major blow to their offensive capabilities, Captain Kunnas split his remaining tanks between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Jaeger Companies.

During the preliminary artillery barrage, some of the shells landed at the start point, resulting in 30 Finns being killed or wounded.

One of its tanks got stuck in a ditch; the turret was damaged in the process and it had to retreat back to the starting point.

In order to save money, the tanks had been bought from the UK without guns, optics and radios, and some even without the driver's seat.

The battle caused the deaths of one NCO while injuring two officers and two NCOs; three privates were reported missing in action.

Even though the Soviets had a huge advantage over the Finns in numbers and weapons, the Finnish troopers pressed home the attack.