It is summer 1941, and the world is in flames.
The Wehrmacht is rolling across the Soviet border, taking town after town in its sweeping Blitzkrieg. The Red Army is routed, desperately holding on to its Western strongholds – yet losing more and more every day. Every man is needed on the front, leaving parts of the national border exposed.
It is during such times that one usually finds out how many enemies he's made over the years.
The Finnish Invasion of the Karelian Isthmus happened at the beginning of the Continuation War, Finland's payback for the humiliating peace treaty a year prior.
It was an exciting time for the tiny nordic democracy: its army was rapidly modernizing and rearming, the public approval for the upcoming "just war" was incredibly high, and more than that, Finland stood a real chance to win back its lost territories and even hold them. All because of the plan's timing: the liberation of Karelia was to take place just as the Third Reich entered the USSR.
The Finns weren't thrilled about their partnership with Germany – the amount of coordination between the two was certainly insufficient to call it an "alliance" – but with an enemy like the USSR, Finland wasn't going to pick and choose where its material aid came from. The Germans had their own designs for the Soviet North, and saw Finland as a convenient staging ground – they didn't even coordinate their invasion with the Finnish High Command. Luckily, the USSR was as heavy-handed as ever – expecting Northern aggression well in advance, the Soviet High Command decided to deter Finland by launching a strategic bombing campaign on June 25th. With the casus belli presented to him, President Risto Ryti declared war the very next day, announcing it over the national radio.
"Citizens! For the annihilation of this eternal threat from the East, for safeguarding the happy and peaceful life of future generations we now take up arms!"
The careful push across the border began immediately, but a few weeks later, in late July, the Finnish Army entered Karelia in full force. General Paavo Talvela led the offensive into Ladoga Karelia (and was the first among the generals to achieve his strategic objective), while General Karl Lennart Oesch led the IV Corps across the Isthmus. Poor communication with the HQ resulted in heavy delays, but thanks to Oesch's initiative, the attack began right on time, turning the Red Army's organized retreat into a rout. Not only did the IV Corps trap the enemy in numerous encirclements, it chased some 26,000 Soviet troops to the islands of Lake Ladoga, forcing them to be evacuated or destroyed.
Oesch's forces liberated Viipuri within mere weeks, completing their strategic objective and allowing the Finns to keep pushing forward. And with the defeats the Red Army kept suffering down South, in the Baltics and Ukraine, its forces in Karelia were in no position to push back or even halt the Finnish Army.
Viipuri, Finland's second-largest city, was where the four months long Winter War had ended. Now, it was the city where the Continuation War had properly begun, and it wouldn't be over nearly so soon.
In the game
It is probably the first large-scale strategic offensive operation carried out by the Finnish Army. It is a signature type of operation in the Strategic Mind series - where you have to advance fast and complete the side objectives. While it may sound straightforward, it is much easier said than done.
See previous scenario overviews:
The Battle of Taipale
The Battle of Tolvajarvi
Battle of Suomussalmi and Raate Road
Battle of Viipuri Bay
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With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team