Toaw Scenario: Karelian Isthmus 44

Finland,
September 06, 1944,

Soviet army of 450 units opposed to Finnish army of 264 units
for a battle of complexity 1.46 at Battalion(II) level
on a 2.5 Km/Hex map
for 35 turns of Full Day each.

by Sakari Lahti submited on 04-01-2003

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Briefing
Karelian Isthmus: The Final Chapter v.1.0 Having lost the Karelian Ishmus to the Soviet Union in the Russo-Finnish War of 1939-1940, Finland used the opportunity to recapture it after Germany had invaded Russia. In the summer of 1944, Stavka decided to strike back, and remove Finland from the war in order to be able to relocate more troops to fight the Germans in the south. The offensive began in June 9th. After more than two years of quiet trench war, the few Finnish infantry divisions guarding the border were suddenly being bombarded with the force of 220 artillery battalions, and assaulted by 21 Soviet infantry divisions and hundreds of tanks. Finns were forced to retreat to the so-called VT-Line, but it was breached in two days. After this, the Finnish forces were driven day by day closer to the town of Viipuri, capital of the Karelian Isthmus. Eleven days after the offensive began, Viipuri had already been lost, and Finnish troops deployed to defend the poorly fortified VKT-Line which was essentially the last place where it was strategically possible to stop the Soviet invasion. Miraculously, the VKT-line held, and this marked perhaps the only occasion during the entire WW2 that a large scale assault was stopped after only a couple of weeks of fighting. In the middle of July, Soviet high command decided that there was no more time to have a large number of divisions fighting the Finns, and so the offensive was halted. Thus the Finnish Army had managed to give politicians a possibility to negotiate reasonable terms of peace with the Soviet Union. Fighting finally ceased in September. Date: 06/09/1944 Location: Karelian Isthmus, Finland Map scale: 2.5 km/hex Time Scale: Full day turns Length: 35 turns Unit Scale: Battalion UNIT COLORS Finnish Army: Light blue on white with the following exceptions: Finnish Armored Division: Grey on white Finnish Coastal units: Light blue on light blue Finnish Air Forces: Blue on light blue German units: Wehrmacht: White on light grey Luftwaffe: Light blue on light grey All Finnish units may cooperate freely, but only limited cooperation is possible between the Finnish and German units. Soviet Army: Each Soviet corps has its own unit color. Units in the same corps cooperate freely, while only limited cooperation is possible between different corps, and no cooperation is possible between different armies. Units belonging to the 21th Army have dark red background color, and units belonging to the 23th Army have red background color. Soviet Navy: Red on dark blue Soviet Air Forces: Dark red on dark blue Independent Soviet units: Red on light brown SIGNIFICANT EVENTS Air shock factors have been modified to reflect the superior effectiveness of the Finnish and German air forces. If any of the following hexes is captured by the Soviet Army, the scenario ends, and Soviet Army will be awarded additional victory points: (0,24), (0,18), (0,32), (0,10) The Soviet Army has a shock factor of 130 during the second and third turn of the scenario. The Finnish shock factor is increased to 120 around turn 13. As the offensive continued, the Finnish soldiers learned new effective tactics, and their morale increased when the fighting was getting nearer the areas where many of them had homes. OTHER COMMENTS The Finnish Army is recommended to be played by a human since AI is not able to form effective defensive lines. There was some equipment used by the Finnish forces that are not included in the game. Therefore, I have replaced them as follows: Landsverk II anti-aircraft tank: Flakpanzer 38t Morane-Saulnier 406 fighter: M.C. 200 Saetta Brewster B-239 fighter: P-35 Fokker C.X fighter: Fokker D XXI Unit names are in Finnish for added realism. This should not cause any difficulties since unit symbols give description of the unit types at glance. ******************* Feel free to send any comments to me! I would like to know your opinion about this scenario. Scenario design: Sakari Lahti E-mail: slahti@iki.fi

Briefing

Karelian Isthmus: The Final Chapter v.1.0

Having lost the Karelian Ishmus to the Soviet Union in the Russo-Finnish War of 1939-1940, Finland used the opportunity to recapture it after Germany had invaded Russia. In the summer of 1944, Stavka decided to strike back, and remove Finland from the war in order to be able to relocate more troops to fight the Germans in the south.

The offensive began in June 9th. After more than two years of quiet trench war, the few Finnish infantry divisions guarding the border were suddenly being bombarded with the force of 220 artillery battalions, and assaulted by 21 Soviet infantry divisions and hundreds of tanks. Finns were forced to retreat to the so-called VT-Line, but it was breached in two days.

After this, the Finnish forces were driven day by day closer to the town of Viipuri, capital of the Karelian Isthmus. Eleven days after the offensive began, Viipuri had already been lost, and Finnish troops deployed to defend the poorly fortified VKT-Line which was essentially the last place where it was strategically possible to stop the Soviet invasion.

Miraculously, the VKT-line held, and this marked perhaps the only occasion during the entire WW2 that a large scale assault was stopped after only a couple of weeks of fighting.

In the middle of July, Soviet high command decided that there was no more time to have a large number of divisions fighting the Finns, and so the offensive was halted. Thus the Finnish Army had managed to give politicians a possibility to negotiate reasonable terms of peace with the Soviet Union. Fighting finally ceased in September.

Date: 06/09/1944
Location: Karelian Isthmus, Finland
Map scale: 2.5 km/hex
Time Scale: Full day turns
Length: 35 turns
Unit Scale: Battalion

UNIT COLORS

Finnish Army:

Light blue on white with the following exceptions:

Finnish Armored Division: Grey on white
Finnish Coastal units: Light blue on light blue
Finnish Air Forces: Blue on light blue

German units:
Wehrmacht: White on light grey
Luftwaffe: Light blue on light grey

All Finnish units may cooperate freely, but only limited cooperation is possible between the Finnish and German units.

Soviet Army:

Each Soviet corps has its own unit color. Units in the same corps cooperate freely, while only limited cooperation is possible between different corps, and no cooperation is possible between different armies. Units belonging to the 21th Army have dark red background color, and units belonging to the 23th Army have red background color.

Soviet Navy: Red on dark blue
Soviet Air Forces: Dark red on dark blue
Independent Soviet units: Red on light brown

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

Air shock factors have been modified to reflect the superior effectiveness of the Finnish and German air forces.

If any of the following hexes is captured by the Soviet Army, the scenario ends, and Soviet Army will be awarded additional victory points: (0,24), (0,18), (0,32), (0,10)

The Soviet Army has a shock factor of 130 during the second and third turn of the scenario.

The Finnish shock factor is increased to 120 around turn 13. As the offensive continued, the Finnish soldiers learned new effective tactics, and their morale increased when the fighting was getting nearer the areas where many of them had homes.

OTHER COMMENTS

The Finnish Army is recommended to be played by a human since AI is not able to form effective defensive lines.

There was some equipment used by the Finnish forces that are not included in the game. Therefore, I have replaced them as follows:

Landsverk II anti-aircraft tank: Flakpanzer 38t
Morane-Saulnier 406 fighter: M.C. 200 Saetta
Brewster B-239 fighter: P-35
Fokker C.X fighter: Fokker D XXI

Unit names are in Finnish for added realism. This should not cause any difficulties since unit symbols give description of the unit types at glance.

*******************
Feel free to send any comments to me! I would like to know your opinion about this scenario.

Scenario design: Sakari Lahti
E-mail: slahti@iki.fi