"Are all the Soviets crazy?!" In the Army Headquarters in the Finnish capital, Marshal Mannerheim, the commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defense Forces, angrily stared at the emergency document in his hand.
Mannerheim's hands were shaking a little, and his teeth were clenched for a long time. He knew very well what the news in the document in his hand meant to his country.
The fleet flying the Soviet flag was shelling the Finnish defenders on the Rybachi Peninsula in the Gulf of Finland.
The Soviet ambassador has just issued a statement saying that because the Finnish army shelled the village of Manila and killed Soviet soldiers, the heroic Soviet Red Army will launch a retaliatory counterattack.
"How is this possible?!" Taking the document handed over by Marshal Mannerheim, his confidant Colonel Silasvo immediately jumped up and said with a trembling voice: "The Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact we signed with the Soviet Union
"There are still three full years until expiration, how dare they openly break the contract and attack us!"
Although the military rank is only a colonel, in a small country like Finland, the value of a colonel is higher than that of a major general in Germany. After all, Germany has millions of troops assigned to commanders, but Finland is only a big country and how many troops can it have?
?!
As of November 26, that is, as of today, the Finnish Army has barely expanded to 127,000 people, organized into five corps. Colonel Silasvo is the commander of the third corps.
Among these five armies, there are only 9 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry brigade and some independent small border defense forces. As for armored forces, Finland does not have the national strength to develop and organize them.
In addition, Finland does have 300,000 reserve personnel, 100,000 reserve "civilian guards" and 100,000 women's service corps. But for these second-rate troops, the Finnish government cannot provide weapons and ammunition at all, let alone let them go into battle to kill the enemy.
.
Even the Finnish Defense Forces are in dire straits of a severe shortage of anti-tank guns, ammunition and fuel. The Finnish army only has about 100 anti-tank guns, with only enough ammunition for 2 months, and only enough artillery shells for 3 weeks of combat.
The Finnish Air Force is also insufficient, with a total of only 30 bombers, 56 fighter jets, and 59 reconnaissance aircraft.
Looking at this subordinate who was stunned by the situation, Mannerheim smiled sadly and shook his head: "Finland is a small country after all. Let alone confronting a behemoth like the Soviet Union, even stopping them is a big deal for us.
Something that is impossible to achieve!"
"These shameless Soviet politicians!" Colonel Silasvod slammed his fist on the desk in Mannerheim's office and gritted his teeth: "How can a big country, a former member of the League of Nations, be so calm and indifferent?
To tear up international peace agreements and start a war? This is simply an act of hooligans!"
Mannerheim looked at Silasvo with his deep eyes, and after sighing, he said quietly: "It's useless to say anything now. Since Germany and Poland went to war, and Britain, France and Germany declared war on each other, according to the words of the German reporters
For example, the Second World War has already begun. Looking at the whole of Europe, the war that happened here in Finland can barely be regarded as a local war."
Mannerheim knew very well that although this war meant the fate of the whole country for Finland, in the eyes of the European powers, it was just a medium-sized local battle, and no matter what the outcome was, it would not harm the overall situation.
In this way, the Soviet Union's blatant act of tearing up the peace treaty will not be severely attacked by Western powers because the consequences are not huge enough.
Taking a deep breath, Mannerheim looked helplessly at Silasvo, who was still shocked: "We can't count on the League of Nations. They won't give us any substantial help at all. At most, they will blame the Soviet Union for us.
sentence, and then let it go. They have always been like this over the years..."
"Then we should now..." Silasvo looked expectantly at the highest-ranking soldier in Finnish military history.
Even as the commander of the 3rd Finnish Army, Silasvo only holds the rank of colonel. But his boss, Mannerheim, has already surpassed the rank of general and reached the level of marshal of Finland!
To be able to hold such a position, Mannerheim relies entirely on his real talent and merit.
He was born in a lonely aristocratic family. With his outstanding military talent, he led the Finnish White Guards to win the civil war, became independent from Tsarist Russia, and established a tall image as the "Finnish God of War".
Later, because Germany, which was more accommodating to Finland, was defeated in the First World War, Mannerheim, who was supported by Germany, retired from the world and returned to the countryside, where he was able to hunt and plant flowers, which was quite comfortable.
However, as the international situation continued to deteriorate, Mannerheim had to re-emerge in 1931 as chairman of the Finnish Defense Council and assume command of the Finnish Defense Forces.
During his tenure, he reorganized the army, strengthened defense, and built a 105-kilometer-long defense line in Karelia on the Finnish-Soviet border, known in history as the "Mannerheim Line of Defense."
And this line of defense is Mannerheim’s current response!
Taking a deep breath, Mannerheim dragged his chin and analyzed: "In the League of Nations, I have asked people to ask for help, but most of them are of no use. The only thing we can count on is the Germans who have been guiding and helping us in recent years.
However, we still have to take this first step ourselves."
"Use the Mannerheim Line of Defense for static defense, and concentrate most of the troops on the Mannerheim Line of Defense on the west bank of Lake Laduga. After all, this narrow strip is the route that the Russians have traditionally used to invade Finland. As for Laduga
From the north shore of Lake Duga to the Barents Sea, only a small number of security forces are temporarily deployed to monitor the entire impenetrable dense forest and swamp wasteland." Mannerheim quickly began a step-by-step analysis and planning.
Although the Mannheim Line of Defense is actually not very strong, it mainly uses the bunker groups along the line as the focus of defense. The intervals between the bunker groups are also very large; many bunkers are only built of logs, not even concrete.
However, this line of defense constitutes a continuous defense belt, which can provide artificial defense barriers for the Finnish army. Coupled with natural barriers such as dense forests and swamps, the Finnish army, which is at a disadvantage in terms of strength, has a chance to fight the Soviet army.
The cost of defensive warfare.
Putting his hand on Silasvo's shoulder, Mannerheim solemnly told: "The Third Army under your command is the strongest unit of our army. Whether you can withstand it is directly related to the outcome of this battle.
.If you can withstand it, it will be heaven!”
"If you can't stand it..." Mannerheim looked serious: "Finland will become a synonym for history!"
Hearing this, Silasvo changed his panic attitude just now and said with a resolute expression: "My marshal! Please don't worry! As long as there is one person alive in our Third Army, we will never let the Soviets cross the defense zone.
Half a step!"
Although Silasvod was surprised by the Soviet attack, it was not because he was timid. Born in a family with no military background, Silasvod was not as eye-catching as Mannerheim and became his close confidant.
, it doesn’t rely on flattery.
If Mannerheim won the honor of being Finland's best scholar during World War I and was known as the "Finnish Wisdom", then Silasvo can be said to be the matching Finland's best brave general, worthy of being the "Finnish Brave"
!
In this war of "elephant versus ant", Finland, which symbolizes the ant side, can only rely on these two generals...