The 44th division of the Red Army, approaching from the direction of the Raate road, had grouped in a defensive position on the road. The Soviet 163rd division had been rendered unable to fight, and its equipment was left to Finns. By noon, the Finns had occupied the village, and on the next day, the last Russian nests were broken, and the division fell back to Juntusranta, where the front line stayed for the remainder of the war. In the morning of 28 December 1939, the Finns saw long lines of Russians retreating from the village and Hulkonniemi. Siilasvuo decided to settle the battle in the village before the new enemy division had a chance to intervene.īattles raged in Suomussalmi for over two weeks. At the same time, Siilasvuo received intelligence about a new, large group approaching from the direction of the Raate road. Partially surrounded, these troops bound the entire 163rd division to battles in the church village and it's environment. The Siilasvuo troops attacked on 11 December 1939.

His task was to beat the enemy that had advanced to Suomussalmi. The transferred regiment and the troops already in Suomussalmi became a brigade, and colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo was named as its commander. The gravity of the situation was soon realised, and the Commander-in-Chief transferred one infantry regiment to Suomussalmi. The troops took a defensive position at Niskanselkä, on the south-western side of lake Kiantajärvi. In the Juntusranta direction, the Finnish troops fell back via Palovaara and Kuurtola to the Suomussalmi church village, which the Finns burnt down on 6 December, the Independence Day. In the direction of the Raate road, the Finns held their defence in Purasjoki, which had been rearmed to some extent in advance, but they had to retreat to Haukiperä, near Ämmänsaari on 7 December. Juntusranta had only a platoon of border guards, and there was a company of border guards in the Raate road. Majority of the battalion was in Suomussalmi.

When the offensive began, the Finns had only one separate battalion (ErP 15) near Suomussalmi. The strength of the attacking troops was 17,500 men. The focus at this point was in the direction of Juntusranta. The Soviet 163rd division launched an offensive to Suomussalmi in the morning of 30 November using two roads: in north-east from Juntusranta and from the Raate road in south-east.

Battle of raate road