Battle of Vuosalmi
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| Battle of Vuosalmi | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Continuation War | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
 Finland |
 Soviet Union |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 30,000 | 60,000 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 795 killed in action 4,976 wounded 754 missing |
3,050 killed in action 11,750 wounded 250 missing |
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| Continuation War |
|---|
| Silberfuchs – Hanko – Uhtua-Kiestinki – Repola-Rukajärvi – Porlammi – 1st Tuulos – Suursaari – Fourth strategic offensive – Valkeasaari – Kuuterselkä – Siiranmäki – Tienhaara – Tali-Ihantala – 2nd Kollaa – Syväri – Bay of Viipuri – Vuosalmi – 2nd Tuulos – Nietjärvi – Ilomantsi |
The Battle of Vuosalmi (also known as the Battle of Äyräpää-Vuosalmi) – the main bulk of it – lasted from July 4 to July 11, 1944. It was a battle during the World War II, a part of the Continuation War (1941–1944) between Finland and the Soviet Union.
[edit] Background
After the Soviets saw that they had failed in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala against the Finnish defenders in the late June and early July 1944, they tried to break the Finnish positions in Vuosalmi and encircle the southern part of the Finnish forces in the Karelian Isthmus.
[edit] The battle
The Finnish positions were very unfavourably located in the ridge of Äyräpää, with the wide River Vuoksi behind. The Red Army 115th Corps soon forced the Finns across the river, but despite of the fields on the other side, which were advantageous to the Soviet armor, the Finns were able to stop all further Soviet advances.
The depleted Finnish Armoured Division was sent to help the Finnish 2nd Division, as the situation in Ihantala had become more stable. In somewhat simultaneous battles the Soviet Red Army had suffered massive losses on the Karelian Isthmus, with more than 15 000 Soviet soldiers buried in the nearby ridge of Äyräpää alone.
The following Finnish counter attacks in Vuosalmi at this point amounted to no much success either, and thus both sides were on defensive here in mid-July, 1944.
The Finnish artillery fired altogether over 122 000 rounds of ordnance in Äyräpää and Vuosalmi, from June 20 to July 17, 1944 – same amount, as in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, which was fought during the ecaxt same time period in a near vicinity, on the relatively narrow Karelian Isthmus of Finland.
