LogFAQs > #964663966

Thompson posted...

While that does look like a plausible assessment that I'm unfortunately unable to verify as being true, it nonetheless presents a picture of a series of attacks on or past the borders, with the primary and most consolidated thrust being on breaking through the defenses on the Karelian Ishtmus. However, the Soviet 163rd Rifle Division was specifically tasked with advancing into Oulu, a city on the Finnish west coast, essentially cutting Finland in half; this attempt was decisively thwarted in what came to be known as the Battle of Suomussalmi.

Reason being that breaking through The Mannerheim line in the Isthmus would open the way into Finland proper. Beyond that ways to contain a Russian breakthrough were essentially negligible, since the Isthmus was the best defensive terrain available to the Finns. After the early fighting on the wider front it was realized by the Russians after about three weeks "we aren't very good at this and need to concentrate our power and focus". So they scaled back the other larger operations, but kept them big enough that the Finns would still have to oppose them, and then spent time building up forces in the isthmus, unleashing them once they had an absolutely overwhelming advantage is size and operational strength.

I'm not arguing that the Russians wouldn't have taken all of Finland had Finnish resistance not kicked the dick harder than they could have imagined. 163rd was a single division though, it was thrown in that direction as a "well, if this works we'll really have fucked them for a minimal cost. If it doesn't, well it's only a single infantry division of which we have 100s".

In war you always have a goal in mind that you would like to have, and then the one you know you can reasonably achieve. Sometimes you get the first, sometimes you can't even get the latter.