[7] The 155th Rifle Division, led by Brigade Commander Peter Alexandrov,[8] crossed the Soviet-Finnish border at three points and headed toward Ilomantsi.

Being heavily outnumbered by the 155th Division, ErP 11 retreated toward the villages of Möhkö and Kallioniemi while engaging in delaying tactics.

Major Nikoskelainen requested permission from Colonel Ekholm to withdraw his ErP 11 battalion, exhausted from their retreating fight from the frontier, to Oinaansalmi.

Ekholm granted him permission to do so, but was overruled by Talvela, who emphatically intervened by phone to insist on holding Möhkö.

Discovered by a Finnish patrol, the defenders encircled the Soviet battalion with automatic weapons under the cover of darkness.

It was the first complete victory of the war for the Finns, and Group Talvela received a much-needed morale boost.

[18] Though the Finns had halted the progress of the 155th Division and prevented it from reaching the Ilomantsi road junction, they were unable to retake Möhkö, and the village would remain under Soviet control until the end of the war in March 1940.

[20][21] The casualties of Task Force A included 125 killed, 275 injured, and 22 missing (these figures are for the entire duration of the war).