We marched into Poland and through Poland, so that the Germans would not capture entire country. We started our march from Vinnitsa and reached San river, town of Peremyshl, and there we stopped. I was sent to the war from there. One night, when I was in the field training with the forward observation platoon, I was summoned to the regiment’s HQ. I was the platoon leader. Our job was to spot the explosions, spot targets, adjust and lead artillery fire. My regiment’s commander was Korobchenko, later he became commander of the Artillery Academy. I stayed friends with him until his death. So, he summoned me and asked: “are you from Leningrad?” I answered: “Yes, comrade Colonel!” He said: “So just go there. Go to the warehouse now and pick up the winter uniforms” I did not have the slightest idea that I was being sent to the war. I thought that was just a trip to Leningrad military district. I went to the warehouse, picked up valenki, padded pants, sheepskin coat, in which I was photographed later and skies. A regimental truck took me to Lvov, and there I took a train. We were a full train of rank and file men, NCOs and officers. There was even one colonel on the train. We went to Leningrad. In Leningrad all officers went to Peter and Paul fortress, while NCOs and rank and file men were sent to Fontanka 90 – an army personnel distribution office. I don’t know, maybe the Russian Army still uses the building for the same purpose. Personnel were distributed according to their military professions: forward observers, phone and radio operators, calculators, fire platoon leaders and gun layers and so on. I was the only person sent to the Winter War from our Corps 269th Artillery Regiment. Major Belousov from the Artillery Academy was recruiting personnel for the hundred 120 mm mortar batteries. These mortars could fire as far as almost six kilometers. A top secret weapon, this and that. We received the mortars, optic sights, periscopes, binoculars and so on. After the battery was fully manned, we went to Toksovo firing range for exercises – to see that the mortars really fired in the right direction. Now this area is called Rzhevski firing range. Those days we called it Toksovo, as it was in fact between oksovo and Rzhevka. We were done with firing practice some time in early January.

As early as after completion of our campaign in Western Ukraine, when we were based in Mostiska, next to Peremyshl, our political workers were telling us about the negotiations with Finland. We also read about that from the newspapers. Tehre was a joint commission created, on the Finnish side it was Ryti, Tanner, and someone else, I might be mistaken. On our side there was a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The point of the negotiations was that the Nazi aggression was approaching the Soviet borders, also through Finland. Our government proposed Finns moving the border, as the border was in just 32 kilometers from Leningrad. It was right behind Beloostrov, Sestra river was the border – that’s it! Because of the upcoming Nazi invasion we proposed moving the border to some area around Vyborg. To compensate, we were proposing Finns areas in the north, at the eastern borders of Finland, the territory was four times larger than the one that we asked for from the Finns. We were only asking to move the border, to that the Nazi troops would not attack us. The negotiations lasted probably for six weeks and came to nothing. Then, on November 26 the negotiations failed, and it was the Finnish fault. Then, I think also on November 26, few shots were fired from the Finnish side in Mainila area. As a result, two men were killed, four wounded. Our government protested, and on November 30 it started. If you do not want to do it in a peaceful way, we will move our borders by force. This is the way I understood the whole thing then, those days I was just a young Lieutenant. On November 30 our troops crossed Sestra river, and entire border of Finland. This is how Winter War started.

We, the 68th Independent Mortar Battery, entered the battle in early January. From Toksovo we came back to Leningrad for final preparations. These mortars, designed by Shavyrin, were top secret weapon, designed in 1938, only few mortars were sent to the troops. They were always covered with tarpaulin, we all signed papers about keeping the military secret and so on. With guards, with mortars covered with tarpaulin we went to the front through entire city of Leningrad. We arrived at Summa – Hotinen area, and as soon as we arrived, we were immediately sent to the 51st Rifle Division. The battery commander was Senior Lieutenant Vnukov, from the Artillery Academy. I, forward observation platoon leader, went to report to the Chief of Artillery of the Division. It was Colonel Moskalenko who was the Chief of Artillery. He later became Marshal of the Soviet Union. I came to him and reported: “Comrade Colonel, the 68th Independent Mortar Battery arrived at your disposal”

- Oh, the mortars? – he thought that we had 82 mm or 50 mm mortars. Go to the 23rd Rifle Regiment for fire support.
I just kept on standing there.
- Why are you standing here – he asked. Then he asked:
- What kind of mortars do you have?
I answered:
- 120 millimeter mortars.
- How is that?

He, Moskalenko, knew nothing of our mortars, although he was then Chief of Artillery. Probably he had only heard about the 120 mm mortars entering service. He told me, let’s go and see your stuff. I showed the mortars to him, he told me that our battery will be part of the Divisional artillery group and would only attack targets on orders of Chief of Artillery. So, the battery was now directly under command of the Division’s Chief of Artillery.

The battles started, and we were sent to the 100th Rifle Division.

Our firing positions were in some 1500 – 2000 meters from the frontline, but never closer than 800 meters. I, as a forward observer, was always with infantry at the front – I had binoculars, calculating men and phone operators with me – unfortunately, I did not have a radio set in the Winter War. Phone operators would set up the phone line, I would tell the calculating men: get me coordinates of target this and that. The calculating man had a map case, he would answer me: coordinates X – so much, coordinates Y – so much. My task was to prepare firing mission data – sight, angle, level. I was always with infantry. Infantry could do nothing without us, and we could do nothing without them. “Hey, artilleryman” – they would tell me – they did not ask for my name or for my rank, as I was in the sheepskin coat. So, they called me “artilleryman” or “mortar man”, or whatever they wanted to call me. “Suppress that machine gun, we cannot move any further” The calculators would define the coordinates, I would prepare fire mission data, and our battery fired. Of course, we could not hit the target with the first round, especially with the mortar, as the barrel does not have any treads and there is high deviation of rounds. Then we would get explosions close to the target and hit it. Or maybe not.

When the grand offensive started on February 11, I do not remember in which division we were – maybe in the 123rd? We were always transferred from one division to another. All I know that we were in the 7th Army under Kirill Meretskov. My direct commander was Moskalenko, and he would tell: now you go to this division, get in touch with commander of this regiment. We were always on the move. From January to early March we fought in three divisions: the 51st, the 100th and the 123rd.

This is how I always worked at the front line with a company or with a battalion. I mention the battalion because sometimes there was very little left of the companies. There used to be losses when a Rifle Regiment would have eleven men left from the original number of 1800.

So, we started to prepare to storming the Mannerheim Line, they said: “we will assault the Millionaire bunker” I do not want to lie to you, I do not remember which division it was. I think we were supporting the 1000th Rifle Division, not far from the main highway. I do not know the number of the bunker, they just called it Millionaire I remember well how infantry was preparing for it. They cut down trees, and made large sleds out of them, place the armored shields on the front and the sides, so that the infantry could lie with some protection on them. . This armored sled was towed by a tank. These were T-26 tanks, rather small ones. They were easily knocked out. I do not remember seeing T-28, maybe they were around. There were also flamethrower tanks, and everyone wanted to have them, as they were few. There were very few flamethrower tanks attached to Rifle Divisions. Infantry only used the armored shields on the sleds, as the larger armored shields weighted quite a lot. This is why they were only used in order to cross the Finnish trenches on the sleds. As soon as the Mannerheim Line was captured, everyone dumped them.

On February 11, 1940, there was a very strong artillery fire, we hit them hard. There were pine trees on the Millionaire bunker, some forty years old. They were also all knocked own by our artillery. Our task was to open the Millionaire bunker from sand, stones and soil, knock down the trees and so on. Then the infantry moved forward. There had been also an air bombardment of the bunkers by our air force. Everyone was talking that it was Michail Vodopianov, our famous test pilot, who was taking part in those air raids on the bunkers, they used TB-3 bombers. Their task was to penetrate the bunkers with bombs. The TB-3 bombers were quite large bombers. I heard our pilots calling them with a despising name, something like “flying targets”/ So, all this hell was over. I do not know how long the artillery fire lasted, but it was quite long. So, when the Millionaire bunker was cleaned of its protective layer, the infantry moved forward. I advanced together with the infantry, with company or battalion commanders. I don’t even know what their names were, and I did not ask for any names. It was only in the end of the war that I remember that I was with Captain Sokolov, rifle battalion commander. I don’t know if it was the same Sokolov who later became the Minister of Defence of Soviet Union.

I had not seen a single Finnish airplane throughout the whole war, I should tell you. Despite this, we were always camouflaged from the air with white sheets of linen.

I was dressed in felt boots (valenki), padded pants, padded jacket and a white sheepskin coat over it. I never took it off during the war. I put it on in Leningrad before the war and walked in it at the front even in March, when it was already quite warm. I only had Nagant revolver with me. Our officers were only starting to get TT pistols. I did not have hand grenades, and men of my platoon were armed with carbines.

When we entered the Millionaire bunker, we went downstairs, some three meters underground. The bunker was fully made of concrete. I did not see an armored cupola. There were rumors that bunkers were made of rubber and could not be penetrated – this was pure nonsense. We heard those rumors as early as on our wa to the front. During a quiet period I decided to take a look at those bunkers. Non eof them had rubber covering, it was all rumors and lies. I asked quite many veterans, and they all told me that there was no rubber on the bunkers. There was a lot of confusion in the beginning of the war, they said that our grenade would hit the bunker and ricochet. There were such fantasies. The bunker that I visited only had small arms, like machine guns. The bunker itself was not seriously damaged by artillery, they were destroyed after the war – it is still a territory of Bobochino firing range.

Finns had everything in that bunker – electricity, weapons, a lot of food. I will never forget the moment when we entered the bunker and there was a drunk Finnish corporal sitting there. Maybe he was not a corporal, but at least this was what he told us. We searched him, and he had a lot of old pre-revolutionary Russian money – hundred ruble, fifty ruble and thousand ruble bills. We asked him, why he needed those. He answered, that Marshal Mannerheim announced to the Army that those bills would again be in use when the Finnish Army reaches Ural mountains. This is how they were cheated.

I had not personally seen the previous infantry assaults on that bunker. But there were a lot of dead bodies around it, including burnt-down corpses – apparently, they were burnt with a flame thrower. There were also detached parts of bodies, like legs and hands lying around. I should tell you straight that there were a lot of dead bodies. All the area of Summa – Hottinen was destroyed and smashed by artillery. There were only stumps left from the forest. Artillery was firing very well, they did not think about saving ammo. It is also important to mention that we were insufficiently experienced. It is not a secret, that after the Finnish War Timoshenko ordered troops to train for battles in forest and swamp terrain. It was as early as 1940 when assaults on such fortified lines, as Mannerheim Line, was introduced in our battle training programs.

I heard that Finns were dropping some leaflets on our positions, and they were all saying pretty much the same thing: “Get out from our land”. I only heard about the leaflets, I did not see them myself. Once some guys asked me if I picked up the leaflets. I asked them, where I could get them. They told me: “Over there, some leaflets lying in the snow”.

There were also Swedes fighting on the Finnish side, but those were only volunteers. Why we knew they were Swedes – how can you know if the dead person were a Finn, a Russian, or a Swede. Some men would take off boots off the dead men – I don’t know who was doing that, but there was a rumor among Red Army troops on the Karelian Isthmus: if a dead guy has polished nails on his toes, this is a Swede.

I do not really like Finnish artillery, just like the German artillery – despite all its advantages, it is heavier than the Russian one. On the other hand, they fired more precisely. I did not see any Finnish artillery pieces – Finns always tried to destroy everything during their retreat.

I was under Finnish cuckoo sniper fire several times. I experienced Finnish mortar fire as well, but it was insignificant. The cuckoos were strong. Me and a rifle company commander were lying at a large boulder, a cuckoo spotted us and opened fire on us. I rolled on the ground several times so that the cuckoo would not see it and set up my position on the other side of the boulder, observing the battlefield from binoculars. By the way, Finns had some sort of leaflet, saying something like “kill officers in sheepskin coats” o something like that. They even made that slogan rhyme. Despite the fact that I knew that Finns were hunting for those dressed in sheepskin coats, I never took it off. It was of very light shade, so it was a good option for camouflage on the snow. So it was an even choice – they hunted for me but I was well-camouflaged.

Speaking about sheepskin coats, the mortar crews of our battery were dressed in black sheepskin coats. Even the officers, who were part of mortar crews, also had black sheepskin coats. I, as a forward observation platoon leader, received a white overcoat so that I could camouflage myself in snow. Yes I know that they say that Finns were trying to kill men in sheepskin coats first, but I believe that they were firing at everyone, without priorities, as all my men in the platoon had the same white sheepskin coats.

When we broke through Mannerheim Line, we started to advance toward Vaasa – this was our mission. That was the ultimate goal for the 51st, 123rd and 100th Divisions. We had not even captured Vyborg, when we knew that our next goal will be Vaasa, or at least we were supposed to advance in direction of Vaasa.

On the very last day of the war the rifle regiment, which we were supporting, and particularly battalion under Captain Sokolov was given a mission of capturing Karisalmi village. It was on March 12, and I do not remember any rumors or conversations about the possible end of hostilities. We had planned a 40 minute fire mission, and after that we were supposed to capture Karisalmi. I discussed all matters with the battalion commander, which company assaults and when, and he asked me: “you understood me, mortar man?” He did not even know my name, as we were always shifted from one unit to another. “Yes, comrade Captain, all clear!”- I said. All of a sudden there was a phone call, Senior Lieutenant Vnukov, our battery commander, called me. He said: “Viktor, are you still fighting the war there? Are you planning to shoot?” “Yes!” - was my answer. I was in a very high spirit: the Mannerheim Line had been broken, I could see Vyborg burning – I can very well remember that. On our left we could see both fire and smoke coming out of the city. “So, the war is over,” he told me. I answered: “No way! Let’s go for Vaasa! We have just broken such a strong line, now we just have to go and capture Vaasa and other places!” Battalion commander Sokolov did not know anything about the end of hostilities either. Senior Lieutenant Vnukov told me over the phone: “You want to fight the war there, Viktor, but I am here at the firing positions, and I will not permit a single mine to be fired. The war is over, they signed an armistice yesterday”. I asked Captain Sokolov. He called the Regiment, and he was told there: “Yes, this is it. There will be no fire mission, soldiers to stay in the trenches, do not go out of the trenches and wait for further orders.” He told me: “That’s the way it is, Lieutenant” I answered: “OK, got you”

All firing immediately died out. No rifles and MGs, no mortars and artillery, and we could hear the birds singing – can you imagine?. And all of a sudden we saw a man in a white overall getting down from a tree – a young Finn, with a red face. He shouted in a scared manner: “War is over! War is over!” Finns walked out of Karisalmi village with vodka bottles and shouted: “Ruskies, come and drink vodka with us! Come and drink with us!” I asked Sokolov, what his commanders told him. Sokolov answered that we had orders to sit in the trenches in order to avoid provocations. So we just sat in the trenches. Finns saw that no one was coming to drink with them and went back into the houses. After that all movement died out. We were sitting there till the evening of March 13, and then an order came to deploy battery for march, concentrate in area so and so, and we drove home on Middle Vyborg highway. We became part of the 267th Howitzer Artillery Regiment and went into Belsk. We formed an independent battalion there, while I was immediately sent to the Artillery Academy. I went to Moscow from Brest-Litovsk by train in first class. That was the end of my Finnish war.

One thing that I remembered the most from the Winter War was how a cuckoo sniper was firing on me, when I was lying behind huge boulders with an infantry commander. Cuckoo snipers also killed one of crew members of our battery. When I meet the Finnish veterans, I always heatedly convince them that there were snipers in the trees. They deny the fact, but, apparently, this is a mere protection of national pride. I met Finnish veterans two times at Losevo (Kiviniemi) at Vuoksi river and we had a conversation with them there. I told them that I can understand that you deny the fact, that you were sitting on the trees – and they just laughed at me. I told them: “Apparently, you are just shy to acknowledge this, as it would hurt your national pride, and if I were you, I would probably do the same, I would tell people, that there were no snipers in the trees”. But there were snipers in the trees! Finns still say “No”.

The experience that I received during the Finnish war was very useful for me in the years of the Great Patriotic War. I had learnt to support the rifle units in battle and co-ordinate with them. During the Great Patriotic War, however, I never stayed with the rifle company commander, because there I would just be shot and that would be it. This is why I would normally stay at a command post of battalion or a regiment, but during the Finnish War they put me straight into the attacking line. As a rule, I was with a commanding officer of at least battalion level. Sometimes I was also even accompanying regiment commander, division commander of chief of artillery of a division. I started the Great Patriotic War as a battery commander.

© Bair Irincheev 2001 - 2003