The Soviet colonel looked solemnly to Captain Feodor Oklopkov, who was running up from the back of the convoy: "Finnish snipers are obviously experts. They can kill us one after another in such a short period of time."
The 11 senior officers, even among the snipers, they can definitely be considered the best! Ordinary soldiers can't hold them back at all, and the howitzer just now is unlikely to kill them all."
The colonel looked at him seriously, gritted his teeth and said: "On our side, the only ones who can deal with them are your sniper team. You are our strongest sniper, I can only rely on you!"
Captain Feodor nodded and said calmly: "No problem, but you have to let at least one platoon rush forward immediately. Our team will follow closely behind to ensure that this arrogant Finnish sniper team is killed."
Looking at the cold and conceited Feodor, the colonel followed his advice without hesitation: "Second Battalion Commander! Let your people rush in front and cooperate with our snipers!"
Although the colonel didn't understand, the reason for Feodor's request was, firstly, to attract the firepower that Simon and the others might inflict, and to try to expose the opponent's position through the angle at which the charging troops were hit. Secondly, it was to use this group of
The cannon fodder on the surface provides cover for their sniper team, ensuring the relative concealment of the sniper team. Third, if the Finnish snipers are too powerful, Feodor and the others can also choose to fight with them to cover the approaching conventional troops.
, kill the opponent's sniper at close range.
But the colonel knows one thing, that is, Captain Feodor, a true Yakut, is a master of long-range hunting of prey just like his ancestors who bent their bows to shoot eagles. Since the war began, Feodor has sniped more than 100,000 prey.
The 20 Finnish soldiers became a great pride of the Soviet camp.
On the big picture, the Soviet army started the war with thunderous momentum, but in the end they fell into a dilemma. There was nothing to praise in the battle situation, so the Soviet army naturally could only show off individual cases like Feodor repeatedly, and they had reached the point where
The role of boosting morale.
The Battle of Finland has been going on for more than a month. The Soviet army, under the command of General Kirill Afanasievich Meretskov, commander of the Leningrad Military District, dispatched 350,000 troops and a total of 4 armies.
, 18 infantry divisions, 1 tank corps, 4 tank brigades, approximately 1,200 tanks, and more than 800 aircraft.
General Meretskov is a veteran Soviet general, and coupled with his overwhelming advantage in military strength, this battle should have ended quickly.
But now, the war has been going on for nearly more than a month. Some mobilization has also been carried out domestically, and "shadow troops" have even begun to be formed. The number of frontline troops has expanded to nearly 550,000, but not even half of the predetermined strategic goals have been achieved.
In the south, there are five infantry divisions of the Ninth Army, nearly 100,000 men, 275 tanks, 360 artillery pieces and 100 aircraft. The original plan was to attack through Somus Salmi
Oulu, located on the Gulf of Bothnia, cut Finland in half and cut off land transportation with Sweden. But in fact, they are still stuck in the area of Somus and Salmi, making no progress.
In the center, General Meretskov deployed two corps, intending to crush the Finnish army's resistance with a pincer offensive.
Among them, the Seventh Army has ten infantry divisions, six tank brigades, a total of 240,000 troops, 1,500 tanks, 900 cannons, and 300 aircraft. It plans to start from the north of Leningrad along the
Attack north along the west shore of Lake Ladoga, break through Finland's Mannheim Line of Defense, seize Finland's second largest city, Viipuri, and then advance towards the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
The Eighth Army has seven infantry divisions, one tank brigade, a total of 150,000 troops, 545 tanks, 520 artillery pieces, and 200 aircraft. It plans to head west along the north shore of Lake Ladoga
Attack, join forces with the Seventh Army and advance toward the hinterland of Finland together.
As a result, two divisions of the Eighth Army were attacked in the northeastern area of Lake Ladoga, and most of them were wiped out. Under constant blocking by the Finnish army and nighttime harassment by the guerrillas, they had to switch to a defensive posture.
The Seventh Army was badly beaten on the Mannerheim line of defense. Although it invested echelon after echelon and attacked in turns, it failed to identify the main defense and support areas of the Finnish army.
Due to the combination of the army's fortifications and obstacles, coupled with poor coordination and poor command, until now, the 7th Army has only captured the Finnish army's 20 to 60 kilometers deep support zone after paying a heavy price.
At this time, the 7th Army had suffered heavy losses and was unable to break through the main defensive zone of the Finnish army, and was forced to stop the attack on the spot. The two sides formed a confrontation and turned into a harassment battle. This created the current situation where Simon and others repeatedly harassed the Soviet army.
The Soviet 14th Army in the north fought well. With the cooperation of the Northern Fleet with the battleship "Peter the Great", the 14th Army attacked along the Barents coast and quickly occupied the port of Besamou and the Rybachi Peninsula.
, blocking Finland’s access to the Barents Sea and Norway. However, after leaving the naval gun support, the 14th Army is now making slow progress.
Today is a critical period in the confrontation between the two sides. At this time, if Finnish snipers killed the top commanders of three divisions at once, the blow to morale would be devastating.
Only by killing this Finnish sniper team can we regain some dignity and avoid losing face!
Watching Fedor trotting away with the two young snipers, the colonel looked pale and prayed that they could defeat the Finnish snipers.
The colonel knew a little bit about the two snipers that Feodor brought with him.
One of them, Vasily Zaitsev, was a naval shore officer. Because of his good marksmanship, he was temporarily transferred from the Northern Fleet to deal with Finnish snipers.
The colonel forgot the name of the other sniper. He only remembered that he was the son of an Orion. He was also transferred from the rear to deal with Finnish snipers because of his good marksmanship. Everyone usually called him by his nickname, "Beagle"
”.
"Second Battalion Commander!" The colonel confirmed to the Second Battalion Commander worriedly: "How many people did you send just now? Is it a little less?"
The second battalion commander looked at the somewhat ugly-looking colonel, and patted his chest in a comforting manner: "Commander, don't worry. Although the captain only has one platoon, I just asked Knopf to bring two more.
Line up. The remaining people will stay and guard the Italian artillery. But if necessary, I can draw one or two more platoons of soldiers to make up for it."
Although he had narrowly escaped death, the colonel could not help but be afraid when he thought that he had almost become one of the 11 corpses of senior officers around him: "Forget it, since Feodor himself said that only one platoon is needed, the two
The number of people in the platoon must be enough. The remaining people will spread out to guard me and be responsible for protecting my safety."
"After all, if I die, the top brass of our three new divisions will be wiped out." The colonel excused himself for his timidity.