Arctic Front: Grim Days of Winter (IN PROGRESS)

[Crossroads]

description initially available, with OoB research progressing... As a 3x3 team game, this will be a big one! This scenario will also receive the Arctic Front prefix into its name.

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ARCTIC FRONT: GRIM DAYS OF WINTER
March 9, 1940


Anti-tank gun being towed into the new demarcation line in Viborg (13 March 1940). © SA-kuva.fi

Having been finally pushed out from the Mannerheim Line, the Finnish Army of Isthmus had fallen back to their Interim Line in good order. Worryingly for them, under the ever relentless Red Army pressure, they soon had no option but to again shorten their front with a retreat to the northern shores of Viborg Bay, with a road network to mainland Finland right behind their back.

Adding a new danger to the Finnish plans was the record cold winter, which has resulted in Bay of Viborg being covered in thick ice, now strong enough to withstand even the weight of tanks and other heavy equipment. The Soviet 7th Army ordered soon took an advantage out of the situation, sending no less than full two Army Corps to cross the ice of Viborg Bay on a wide front, with another two Army Corps with an attempt of advancing into city of Viborg from Northeast of City.

Lt Gen Heinrichs, commander of the Finnish Army of Isthmus, was counting the odds. Estimating he’d have men and ammunition for only two more weeks, he could only hope the few grim days of winter ahead of him would be enough to enable a political solution to end the war.

As it was, the Winter War was to end in four days time, in March 13, with city of Viborg still in Finnish hands. However, it was estimated the very next Red Army offensive would have likely resulted in a decisive collapse of city defences.