Finland, near Salla
0900 hrs 01 July 1941
Turns 35
Scenario Size: Medium
C&C Friendly
MADE FOR ENH 2009
SCENARIO NOTES:
Take the Russian line of resistance and secure the railroadline to Murmansk. Viel Glueck!
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
Northern Finland, 1941. Near Sallo. The soldiers of Feiges XXXVI Corps, in the Central Corridor, attacked on the afternoon of 1 July, surging forward with the arctic sun at their backs. In the midst of the Midnight Sun season, day and night had lost their meaning; it was bright daylight around the clock, as the sun simply moved around the sky in a huge circle.
The ill-trained SS-Infantry Regiments 6 and 7 of SS-Division NORD experienced a baptism of fire that would have shaken soldiers of even thebest-trained units. In a frontal attack against what came to be known as The Jungle Fortress Of Salla, these unprepaired units hurled themselves against the Red Armys 42d Rifle Corps, consisting of the 104th and the 112d Rifle Divisions, reinforced by about fifty tanks. This and the subsequent frontal attacks not only failed, but caused the combat novices of the SS-Infantry Regimants to panic.
This disaster had numerous causes. Lack of adequate reconnaissance effectively blinded leaders at all levels. Indirect preparatory fires, both from artillery and Stuka divebombers, began a massive conflagration in the thoroughly dried-out forrest through which the assault troops had to advance; maintaining orientation would have been difficult for highly trained leaders, and for the poorly trained leaders of SS-Infantry Regiments 6 and 7, it was hopeless. Further, the thick smoke from the fires obscured Soviet defensive positions, and further blinded leaders already bereft of intelligence from reconaissance.
Not all of their difficulties came from their own faults or inexperience, however. In the fifteen months during which they had occupied the conquered territory, the Soviets had heavily fortified the border region. Fully cognizant of the criticality of the open-water port at Murmansk and the rail line connecting it to the rest of the Soviet Empire, they had turned the sector into a veritable fortress, defended by high-quality troops. The terrain that the Soviets had fortified lent many advantages to such a usage. On the Soviet side of the border, the hills were 250-450 meters higher inrelief than the undulating ground on the Finnish side , affording the defenders exceptional fields of ire and observation of up to five kilometers deep in Finnish territory. Artfully camouflaged tanks, dug in up to their turrets, faced west across these same killing grounds.
Further reading:
Wolf T. Zoepf; Seven Days In January. With The 6th SS-Mountain Division In Operation Nordwind.
DESIGNER NOTES
Have FUN!
