The Long Walk Home - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

Kaurita, 190km NNE of Vyborg Finland: NIGHT [Best played as Allied] The main hope for Finland in the "Winter War" was the Mannerheim Line across the Karelian Isthmus between Leningrad and Vyborg. However, immediately north of Lake Ladoga there was only the IV Corps commanded by General Talvela with two infantry divisions to face the entire Russian 8th Army! The attack had begun at the worst time of the year for the Russians and as the temperatures fell the fighting quickly assumed an attritional nature. By 10 December, 8th Army's strung out divisions were forced to stop and regroup giving General Talvela an opportunity to counterattack at Tolvajarvi and send the Soviet 139th and 75th Rifle Divisions fleeing in panic. As the battered Russian 609th Rifle Regiment struggled to withdraw along the narrow roads that sliced through the snow blanketed forests east of Tolvajarvi, it faced repeated attacks by the ghost-like ski troops of the Finnish 28th Infantry Regiment. Many would pay a high price on the long walk home.