The following outlines the goals and logistical support for Operation Sabaton.
OPERATION SABATON
GOAL: To capture the French city of Avignon, thus opening up the southern route to Lyon.
TIME FRAME: Start date is October 20th, 1944 at 00:00
LOGISTICS: A detachment of Third Army will conduct this offense. Its size will be whatever is deemed necessary by head of Third Army, General George S. Patton.
OPPOSITION: Elements of the 7th Panzer Division are stationed in several cities leading up to Avignon. As you may have heard, Erwin Rommel recently died, and we aren't clear on who is taking his place. Regardless, the forces you will be facing are lacking transportation and motorized vehicles for their infantry. Intelligence suggests that these elements are on their way, but due to the increased harassment from our Flyboys, they will take about three days to reach the frontlines. In conclusion, you have three days to capture as much territory as you can, before the enemy becomes mobile again, and is able to launch counter-offensives.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Finnish God of Death
I have already discussed the Finnish Winter War, but now it is time to take a closer look and examine a hero that fought during the conflict.
Simo Häyhä was born in the early 1900’s (like any good hero, his origins are not exactly known). Before the Finnish Winter War, he joined the army for one mandatory year of service. He left with the rank of Corporal in a bicycle (!) unit. After, he joined the Civil Guard, which is similar to the US National Guard. When the Finnish Winter War broke out, Simo was approaching middle age.
Simo himself was a small man with a thin frame. He only stood at 5’3’. It did not seem like this diminutive man was destined for glory. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Simo was a sniper. His weaponry was unlike other snipers, however. Simo used a M/28 Mosin Nagant bolt-action carbine. A carbine is essentially a regular rifle with a shorter barrel. It is lighter, and more maneuverable, but it has less accuracy. Simo stated that he liked the gun because it fit his small frame.
What is even more amazing is that he did not use a scope, preferring iron-sights instead. When you use a scope, your head is slightly higher than it would be when using iron-sights. This would make Simo’s profile larger, and thus, a larger target.
Simo’s hunting grounds were the Kollaa line, which, I must add, has its own tales of bravery. Apparently, there is a hill called “Killer Hill”, where 32 Finns fought off 4,000 Russians.
Back on topic. Simo immediately started to drop Russians like flies. His kill count soared, beyond what would be expected for a sniper, far beyond what would be expected for a human being. The Soviets nicknamed him the “Belaya Smert”, or “White Death” in English. The White part of the title is refrenence to the white camouflage suit Simo wore.
The Soviets started to realize how troublesome this one man was. They actually put a bounty on Simo’s head. They sent their best snipers after him, all of whom Simo personally killed. They even dedicated ENTIRE REGIMENTAL ARTILLERY BARRAGES IN THE NAME OF KILLING HIM. Regimental artillery is usually used on fortified lines, with the purpose of killing hundreds. When you use such a powerful tool on one man, it can only mean one thing – desperation.
None of these techniques worked, and the artillery only managed to put a small tear in his camo suit.
Simo met the end of his service when he was shot in the face during close combat. The bullet went in one cheek, tumbled, and then exited through the other jaw. Despite being shot in the face, he still had enough “Sisu” (“guts” in English), to find his rifle, and shoot his attacker dead. No one touches Simo, and gets away with it.
The Finnish soldiers that found him said that he did not have a face. However, this was just the blood, and Simo would make a full recovery. Sadly, by the time he got out of his coma, the Finnish Winter War was over.
At the end of the war, Simo had 542 confirmed kills with his rifle. Please take a moment to think about that. One man killed 542 others. That’s not all; he also has 100 unconfirmed kills with his rifle. Going against all of the basic sniping principles, most of these shots were done without a spotter. Even more ridiculously, he did most of these shots from beyond 400 yards (1,200 feet), in the sitting position. Most snipers need to lie down to make that kind of shot, with a scope and a dedicated sniper rifle no less.
Just in case you were thinking that Simo was a cowardly camper who didn’t know the true art of combat, get this; he also has 200 unconfirmed kills with his K31 SMG. Yeah, this guy was a monster, even in close combat.
In total, Simo killed over 800 people. Try to fathom that. That is more than all of the people killed in the movie 300, and it is about the same amount of people killed during Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
It is extraordinary for a sniper to get thirty kills, let alone a hundred. The highest scoring Russian sniper has about 500.
The ridiculousness of his story keeps getting better. Simo was only deployed for 90 days. Because of the winter solstice, there were only 5 hours of daylight per day. Both sides really didn’t fight at night, because of the extreme cold. If you take his confirmed kills alone, Simo killed ONE MAN FOR EVERY HOUR OF DAYLIGHT THAT HE WAS ACTIVE.
To get a better understanding of this, next time you wake up, make a mental note of the time. For example, let’s say you wake up at eight o’clock sharp. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and you’ve got no plans. Later on in the day, after visiting with friends, eating, swimming, wrestling, kicking ass, or whatever it is you do, it is five in the afternoon. Realize that you have just killed nine more people. Do this for about a week, and you can start to imagine this man’s skill.
Despite having killed more people than John Rambo, Simo remained a humble man. According to the site www.mosin-nagant.net, “I am pleased to report the second meeting that took place in May of 2001 was even more pleasant, as Simo Häyhä was at ease with us from the start. He commented that he was glad to see us again and he was honored that we had taken the time to spend with him. This was quite humbling to us, as Mr. Häyhä could have never understood just how much we appreciated his time.”
A reporter also asked Simo how he felt about killing so many people. He replied, “I did what I was told to as well as I could.”
Simo, in his later life, became a moose hunter (woe betide to any of Nature’s children that cross me, for I am Death) and a successful dog breeder. His hometown was given to the Russians, so Simo moved to a small village called Ruokolahti located in the southeast of Finland, “within firing range of the Russian border.”
Simo passed away on April 1st, 2002. Simo merely returned home.
Simo Häyhä will forever go down in history as a hero of Finland. Simo was an Angel of Death, a Scion of Doom, a Templar of Purgatation, a Beast of Annihilation, an Immortal Deamon, and a Champion of Extermination. His deeds are legendary – no, his deeds are Mythic.
And forever, we will remember him.
SOURCES
"Simo Hayha." Mosin Nagant. 19 Apr. 2009 <http://www.mosinnagant.net
"Simo Häyhä -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 19 Apr. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
"Simo Häyhä the Greatest Sniper: Credited with as many as 700 kills during the Finnish Winter War." Military History @ Suite101.com: Armed struggle on land, sky and seas via naval battle, land warfare, and aerospace conflict, from civil to World Wars, colonial revolutions and bios of military leaders. 19 Apr. 2009 <http://militaryhistory.sui
The Talvisota
Ah, the Russians and their winters. Whether it was freezing Frenchmen into little, flamboyant popsicles, or freezing Nazis into little, evil popsicles, Mother Nature has usually been kind to Mother Russia. Usually. There is at least one time that the two Mothers got into a little spat, and slaps started to fly, and a lot of Russians died as a result.
Early in World War II, the Russians invaded the small country of Finland, starting the Finnish Winter War, or Talvisota in the Finnish language. By all means, Finland should have collapsed in days; somehow, they not only held out, but also inflicted some of the most remarkable losses in military history.
The time frame is November 1939, just a few months after the surrender of Poland (both the Germans and Russians invaded Poland, so they could carve it up afterwards). Finland had gained it’s independence from Russia during the clusterf**k years of the Communist revolution in Russia. Although communists had tried to convert Finland to communism, the Finnish government firmly said no (the Finnish Civil War). This made things very tense between Finland and Russia.
Things came to a boil during the autumn of 1939, when Russia demanded that Finland was to move its border 16 miles away from the vital Russian city of Leningrad (the fear was that the Nazis, or Britain, or France, or anyone would attack through Finland and overwhelm Leningrad.) They also wanted Finland to rent out a coastal strip of land to them, so they could construct a naval base there. In return, the Russians would give Finland an amount of land some twice the size of what was being asked. The Finnish referred to this as, “Giving away two pounds of dirt, for a pound of gold.”
Despite this, the Finnish weren’t going to have any of it. They promptly denied the offer, and any further negotiation. Well, this, coupled with Finland’s earlier communism suppression really did not sit well in the smoldering cauldron of pure hate, distrust, evil, and ruthlessness that was Joseph Stalin’s (dictator of Russia) mind. Invasion plans were immediately drawn up.
The Russians were expecting little or no resistance. In fact, Russian propaganda had the Red Army troops thinking that the Finns were going to invite them with flags and candy. They would be sorely proven wrong.
At the beginning of the war, around 100,000 poorly equipped men stood ready to defend Finland. Finland did not even have enough uniforms for everyone, so most just had to go out with their civilian winter clothing. In addition, they had only 130 planes at their disposal, and 30 tanks.
The Russians invaded with 250,000 soldiers, equipped with thousands of aircraft, artillery guns, and tanks. The Red Army General, Meretskov, assures Stalin it will only take 10 to 12 days to reach the Finnish capital of Helsinki. The Russians are so confident, they don’t bring along winter clothing, but they bring marching bands instead.
Immediately, something goes wrong with the Russian plan. The Finnish use brilliant Guerilla tactics to harass and disrupt the Russians. Although the Finnish are lightly armed, they are equipped with skis. Yes, just regular skis. It sounds ridiculous, but they use the skis to move very quickly in the frozen landscape. The Finnish try not to do full frontal attacks, as that would be suicide. Instead, they do surprise ambushes, and attack “food kitchens”. Literally, they are destroying the Russians food supplies.
As well as starving the Russians, their constant attacks are forcing the Russians to get up and move, and thus move away from the comforting fires. This is important, due to the fact that the Winter War takes place during the second coldest winter in Finland since 1828. It would regularly get to 40 degrees below zero, and even colder. Many Russians would simply freeze to death during battle.
To the Russians’ horror, they realized they were losing men at ridiculous rates. Around 10,000 Russians died every day, while the Finns were only losing about 250. The Finns were using superior tactics, known as motti. The word motti refers to a way that Finnish loggers would cut up wood into 1 cubic meter stacks; scatter them around, to be collected later. The tactic called for rapid envelopment, harassment, and the division of the enemy, so that they would be separated into little groups that could be destroyed at will. One of the most famous, and most effective uses of the motti tactics came during the Battle of Suomussalmi.
A small Finnish force of 19,000 was all that stood before 44,000 Russians. The Finns split up into small teams and set about surrounding the Russians. They did, striking at vulnerable areas, food kitchens, and soldiers that were trying to get warm. At one point, an entire Russian division tried to retreat through a small mountain pass, only to be stopped by 350 Finns, who engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Take a moment to read that again. These Finns went up against maybe thousands of Russians, and stopped them in close combat. Seriously, WTF?
The Russians were completely demoralized, and they initiated a hasty withdrawal. Of the 44,000, only 5,000 Russians made it back. Around 900 Finns died. Imagine being a commander for a second, and winning a battle with only 900 of your men dead, while you inflicted THIRTY-NINE UN-FRIGGIN-BELIEVABLE THOUSAND DEATHS.
In addition to this, the victorious Finns captured some 85 tanks, 437 trucks, 20 tractors, 10 motorcycles, 1620 horses, 92 artillery pieces, 71 anti tank guns, 13 anti-aircraft guns, plus maybe 6,000 rifles, and thousands of machine guns, and a hoard of ammunition. All of these would be later used against the Russians.
The Russian Commander in charge of this operation was immediately shot when he got back to Russia, and although Russians were dying like fruit flies, Stalin was certain victory was in reach. The Russians kept up the pressure, sending wave after wave of soldiers, tanks, and aircraft.
As far as aircraft go, the Finns had little or nothing. However, they deployed their aircraft when it counted, using superior four-man scattered formations against the Red Air Force. The Finnish airmen’s’ credo was to strike, no matter the odds.
And as far as tanks go, the Finns had nothing. They also had very little in the way of conventional anti-tank weaponry. The Finns improvised. The Molotov cocktail was used to great extent throughout the Winter War. The four-man groups would run up to the Russian tanks, jam the treads with wood, the chuck a few cocktails at the engine compartment, causing the tank to catch on fire. When the crew would try to climb out, they would be mowed down by an SMG. Although cocktail crews’ casualties were 75%, the Russians lost 2,000 tanks to these heroic teams.
But the Russians kept coming. Sometimes, the waves would be literally running on top of a field of frozen, Russian corpses. When the Russians would attack over the frozen lakes, their piled bodies would be left there, until the thaw, when they would all sink to the bottom. As a Finnish veteran, Antti Olavi Pönkänen, would later say, “Our lakes are full of dead Russians.”
The last major offensive of the war would start on February 1st, 1940. On only 1.6 miles of front, 440 Russian cannons were grinding the Finns to dust. Or so they thought. 600,000 men with 500 aircraft and plenty of tanks charged the lines. Entire Red Army divisions were wiped out. But the Russians kept charging over the bodies of their comrades. The final attack would take place on the 6th, with three divisions supported by 150 tanks and 200 aircraft. By the 11th, the Russians had broken through, but the Finns (who were maybe one half or one third of their original strength) escaped, and dug into a new defensive line. The Russians did not pursue.
And so, the Russians finally realized they could no longer support an attack. Or so they thought. Little did they know, the Finns had almost completely run out of ammunition. If the Russians had attacked one more time, perhaps the Finns would have lost, solely because they had no more lead to pour on.
Personally, I doubt it.
Peace talks began, and the Finns were allowed their freedom, at the cost of some 22,000 square miles. One Russian general is noted as saying, “We have won enough ground to bury our dead. The Finns in the captured territory were given the option of becoming citizens of the Soviet Union, or moving to Finland. Most, if not all, left.
In total, 250,000 Finns answered the call to defend their country. Around 25,000 died for their country.
The Russian General Khrushchev asserts that, in total, 1.5 million Russians were sent to Finland. One million died. 1000 aircraft, 2,300 tanks and armored cars, in addition to gigantic amounts of other war materials were lost.
Just think about the numbers for a second. The Finns pulled off surviving complete annihilation, with a kill to death ratio of 40:1 (that magical number again). That is more than the majority of video gamers can claim in standard matches.
Another interesting thing came out of this war. When Stalin got his ass handed to him on silver, frozen platter, he realized that the Red Army needed to be reorganized. Krushchev said it best, “All of us – and Stalin first and foremost – sensed in our victory a defeat by the Finns. It was a dangerous defeat because it encouraged our enemies’ conviction that the Soviet Union was a colossus with feet of clay… We had to draw some lessons for the immediate future from what had happened.”
Stalin would put more trust into commanders, and took power away from the Political Commissars. These changes would come just in time to help the Russians defeat Nazi Germany (an article about that is on the way). Perhaps, if Finland had been more like France, and surrendered, the Russians would have been defeated by Nazi Germany. I shudder to think of the consequences, both in human lives and the wars’ course overall, if Nazi Germany had taken all of Russia and its oil fields.
The Finnish winter war is a remarkable story of bravery, selflessness, and pure badassery. The casualties inflicted by the Finns are some the most outrageous in all of military history.
The power-metal band Sabaton commemorated the Finns brutal struggle for survival in their song “Talvisota”. Here are the lyrics:
(Note that Kreml was a Russian commander)
Rise of nations pride!
Russians on a way to ruin
Kreml is more then certain to win
Sent away an army to the west
Blizzard reigned the ground were chosen
Snow was deep and hell was frozen
Stalin was too eager to invade
He thought of the might he possessed
And not of his foe
Rage of winter
Rise, nations pride
Hold what’s yours
Strike’em were it hurts
Fight, hold your ground
Winter war
Reinforce the line
Split them into small divisions
Rip ’em of the conquest visions
Motti tactics used with great result
Snipers move unseen in snowfall
Force them to retreat and recall
Fight the Russian rule and their demand
With molotov coctail in hand
No fear of their tanks
Death or glory
Rise, nations pride
Hold whats yours
Strike’em were it hurts
Fight, hold your ground
Winter war
Reinforce the line
A slice of a knife to a throat
And their blood turns to ice
TALVISOTA!
Rise, nations pride
Hold whats yours
Strike’em were it hurts
Fight, hold your ground
Winter war
Reinforce the line!
Here’s the song, with footage from a movie called, “Talvisota”
Captain Raginis, and The Bold 700
One man leads a small contingent of a few hundred. He is fighting for his country, for his people – for freedom. This small band of warriors stares down a tyrannical monster, one that numbers in the thousands. These brave warriors are outnumbered by many, but they will not surrender. Here, they make their last stand. For their country, they will fight to the last.
Sound familiar? For those of us that have watched 300, this may ring a few bells. It may come as a surprise that I am not talking about Leonidas of Sparta and the Battle of Thermopylae. I am talking about Captain Wladyslaw Raginis and the Battle of Wizna.
Alrighty, so the date is September 1st 1939, and Nazi Germany is on the offensive. So far they have gained Austria and the Sudetenland by threats and negotiation (more like sophisticated threats) alone. Now, however, it is time for the Wehrmacht to officially bear its teeth, and the helpless victim happens to be Poland.
By now, the Nazis have gained valuable combat experience from the Spanish Civil War, which, among other things, taught them that coordinated tank and aircraft attacks kick ass. When the Nazis come barging in on Poland, the Polish are caught off guard by the stunning speed and cohesion of the attacks. The Polish are pushed back, but they are determined to fight on.
Enter Captain Raginis. It is now September 7th, and Raginis is in charge of Polish defenses near the town of Wizna. The defenses are 9 kilometers long, with a total of 12 bunkers along the line. Raginis has at his disposal 700 men and 20 officers, armed with 6 pieces of 76mm artillery (medium caliber), 24 heavy machine guns, 18 machine guns, and two Kb ppanc wz.35 anti-tank carbines (essentially an anti-tank rifle).
On the 7th, German recon units attacked the village of Wizna, and Polish light forces retreated back to the bunkers. When German tanks tried to cross the bridge leading to the bunkers, Polish Combat Engineers blew up the bridge underneath them. This would be the first on a long line of frustrations for the Nazis.
Well, Heinz Guderian himself (a father of modern tank tactics, the bastard who invented the infamous Blitzkrieg) gets charged with destroying the miniscule force at Wizna. Guderian gathers up for the attack, and by the morning of the 8th, he has brought along 41,000 men and 1,200 officers. Let that sink in. Raginis has 700 men. Guderian has 42,000. This is why the Battle of Wizna is often referred to as the Polish Thermopylae. What with inaccurate numbers and all, the Polish forces are outnumbered 40 to 1. If you take just the raw numbers though, the Polish are out numbered 60 to 1.
These 42,000 Nazis are armed with some 108 mortars, 58 pieces of artillery, 108 howitzers (light artillery), 188 grenade launchers, 288 heavy machine guns, and 689 machine guns. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, they also had 350 PANZER TANKS. At least the Polish outnumbered the German tanks…
The Polish forces aren’t exactly the most highly skilled skull crackers this side of the Maginot Line, either; as I have said, the Germans have much more combat experience, not to mention a very organized and generally badass officer cadre.
Modern military tactics demand that when a commander wants to attack a fortified enemy line, the commander must bring a force ratio of 3:1. So, the Germans have exceed this vital ratio by a factor of 20. Victory seems in the palm of the Nazis.
Raginis would have none of that, at least without giving them a piece of his mind (in this case, some red hot lead). The morning of September 8th yields Nazi leaflets falling from the sky, dropped by German planes. They ask the Polish to surrender, spreading the lie that most of Poland lay in German hands already, and (in a Borg-like voice I assume) announce that resistance is futile. To keep morale up, Raginis (inside the bunker that was smack dab in the middle of the line) makes a bold statement to his troops. Their Captain, their brave Captain, will not leave his post alive, and the defense shall continue.
After the leaflets stop falling, enemy shells start to rain. German artillery grinds the Polish light arty to dust, and the Polish support guns are forced to retreat from the field. Raginis just lost his most reliable anti-tank weaponry.
Confident, the Nazis moved on. They launch an assault to the North and South of the line. To their surprise, resistance is stiff, and Nazi bodies start to litter the field. However, Polish forces were forced to retreat into the bunkers (tanks don’t play nice in the open). This allows the Nazi panzers to drive through the line, but they can’t, as the infantry is still getting ripped to shreds from the bunkers. The Nazis come to a distasteful stalemate. Its something they haven’t really tasted before.
The Polish kept on fighting, never giving ground until the 10th, two days later. At 12 o’clock noon that morning, German Combat Engineers (with the help of their tanks and artillery) had destroyed all but two of the original 12 bunkers. In an effort to make the Polish surrender, Guderian supposedly threatens that he will shoot POW’s if he doesn't see white flags. The rest of the Polish defenders, exhausted and numb, grudgingly surrender. All, save for Raginis.
Raginis proves to be a man of his word. He commits honor suicide by throwing himself on a grenade, to deny the enemy the satisfaction of taking him prisoner. I imagine Raginis climbing on top of his bunker, bullets whizzing all around him, then proceeding to do pelvic thrusts towards the Nazis while yelling, “You’ll never catch me alive b****es!!!” He then dunks a grenade over the side of the bunker, like an American Football Star scoring the winning touchdown, then leaping off the bunker, arms eagle-spread like those idiotic WWE wrestlers, all the while screaming, “FREEDOM!!!”
At this point, Raginis’ body was jam-packed with military-grade, high-explosive testosterone and adrenaline, so when the grenade went off, we can imagine the blast looked like this.
Overall, the Germans captured around 40 Polish, and an additional 40 Polish escaped (probably to go join the RAF, so that they could exact bloody revenge). In military combat, you usually capture an equal amount of soldiers that you kill (if you win). Not these guys. 90% of the Polish defenders gave their lives, selflessly, and without hesitation.
At this point, France and Britain had finally grown enough balls to declare war on the Nazis. However, they proceed to sit around and do f**king nothing. I curse because they really missed out on a prime time to strike; say, when their enemy was already tied up attacking a stubborn foe, and their rear was wide open. But noooo, that’s not how the French and British roll, apparently. Attacking at opportune moments, I mean.
Instead, they lounge around, not for a week, not for a month, but for eight months (!), drinking their tea/wine, so that when Nazi Germany attacks, they are standing there, pants down, with stupid looks on their collective faces. We all know how that goes.
Although their brave sacrifice did not save their country from Nazi and Communist rule, their fighting spirit lived on. Perhaps, the brave story of Raginis and his 700 gave the Polish populace courage and motivation to stand up against their oppressors (the TWO Warsaw uprisings).
Raginis is a national hero in Poland, and rightfully so. Recently, the Swedish power metal band Sabaton immortalized Raginis’ brave sacrifice in their aptly named song "40:1". Here is a sample of the lyrics.
So come bring on all that you’ve got,
come hell, come high water,
never stop!
Unless you are 40 to 1,
your lives will soon be undone,
undone!
Baptized in fire,
40 to 1!
Spirit of Spartans,
Death, and glory,
soldiers of Poland, second to none.
Wrath of the Wehrmacht,
Brought to a halt.
Always remember, a fallen soldier,
Always remember, fathers and sons at war,
Always remember, a fallen soldier,
Always remember, fathers and sons at war,
Always remember, a fallen soldier,
Always remember, buried in history!
No army may enter that land,
that is protected by Polish hand,
unless you are 40 to 1,
you force will soon be undone,
UNDONE!!!
Here’s a link to the video.
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