Battle of Tali–Ihantala
The Battle of Tali-Ihantala was a battle in World War II, part of the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union. It lasted from June 25 to July 9, 1944 in the small area (100km²) between the Gulf of Viipuri and Vuoksi river, and ended with Soviet forces giving up, unsuccessfully, on their attempts to force their way through the Finnish defences.
| Battle of Tali-Ihantala | |
|---|---|
| Conflict | Continuation War |
| Date | June 25 to July 9, 1944 |
| Place | Karelian Isthmus, Finland |
| Result | Soviet advance is stopped |
| Combatants | |
| Finland | Soviet Union |
| Commanders | |
| - | - |
| Strength | |
| 50,000 | 150,000 |
| Casualties | |
| 8,800 | 22,000 |
Background
Soviet Union started massive attack on the Finnish front on the Karelian Isthmus on June 9, 1944 (coordinated with Invasion of Normandy).
The attack soon breached the Finnish front line of defence in Valkeasaari on June 10 and Finnish forces retreated to secondary defence line, the VT-line aka. Vammelsuu-Taipale -line. Soviet attack was supported by massive artillery and air bombardments and armored forces.
The VT-line was breached in Sahakylä and Kuuterselkä on June 14 and after failed counterattack in Kuuterselkä by the Finnish armoured division the defence was pulled back to VKT-line (Viipuri (Vyborg) - Kuparsaari - Taipale).
This was followed by two weeks of retreat and delaying battles. The city of Vyborg was captured by the Soviets without any significant battle on June 20.
Finland sued for peace June 21, Soviet Union replied that only unconditional surrender was acceptable.
Forces
- Finnish IV AK
- 3rd Brigade "Blue Brigade"
- Finnish 3rd Division
- Finnish 4th Division
- Finnish 18th Division, since June 27 11th Division.
- Finnish 6th Division
- Finnish Armoured Division
- German Unit Kuhlmey arrived to Finland June 16, it consisted of 32 Fw-190 fighters and ground attack planes and 32 Ju-87 Stukas.
- German Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 303 arrived to Finland June 22. While unloading, the overloaded ship Marsk Stig capsized in Helsinki harbour and some of the vehicles sank into the basin.
- Soviet: 21st Army's 15 Divisions.
The Battle
Soviet attack was concentrated on area east of Vyborg, from south village of Tali to north towards Ihantala. This was only suitable terrain for armoured forces in Karelian Isthmus, 10 km wide and limited by lakes and the river Vuoksi on the east.
By this time Finnish army had concentrated half of it's artillery in to area, along with army's only armoured division with StuG III assault guns and German 303. assault gun brigade. The troops finally had new German anti-tank weapons that were previously kept in storage.
Fighting in area began June 25 and June 30 Finnish forces retreat from Tali. Heaviest fighting tooks place between July 1-July 2 when Finnish lost 800 men per day.
On July 2 Finnish captured a radio message, according to Soviet 63rd Division and 30. Armored Brigade were to launch attack on on July 3 0400. The following morning, 2 minutes before supposed attack, 40 Finnish and 40 German bombers bombed Soviet troops and 250 guns fired 4000 artillery shells into the area.
On the same day, beginning at 06:00, 200 Soviet planes and infantry attacked Finnish troops. By 19:00 the Finnish troops had restored their lines.
On July 6 Soviet forces had some success despite Finnish 6th Division's support of 18 artillery battalions and one heavy battery. Soviets were thrown back following day and their counterattacks at 13:30 and 19:00 did not succeed. By July 7 focus of attacks was already changing to Vuoksi and Soviets started transferring their best troops to Estonia to fight the Germans. By July 9 Soviet troops no longer attempted break-through despite smaller fighting continued.
Losses
Soviet army has been reported to lost from 400 to 600 tanks in Tali-Ihantala area, mainly to air attacks and close defence weapons. 120-280 Soviet planes were shot down.
Finnish army lost 8561 men wounded, lost or killed. Soviet estimates is 18000-22000 killed or wounded.
Majority of losses were due artillery fire.
Other fronts
At the same time Soviet 59. Army attacked across the islands of gulf of Vyborg from July 4, but attack on mainland was thrown back into the sea by the German 122nd Division of the V AK on July 10.
After failure at Tali on July 3. Soviet 23rd Army tried crossing the river Vuoksi July 4 at Vuosalmi, but was not able to expand the beachhead despite 3 divisions there against Finnish 2nd Division. Breakthrough attempts lasted until July 21.
By July 12 Soviet Union was ready to discuss peace terms with Finland.
Before the end of war in Finnish were still able to encircle two Soviet divisions near Ilomantsi.
End of War
Cease-fire between the Soviet Union and Finland began 07:00 September 4 1944 for Finnish and for Soviet forces 24 hours later.