Salla — Lagus against the 9th Army

The Soviet 9th Army under General Mikhail Chuikov attacks central Finnish Lapland on 30 November 1939, in a zone reputed to be impassable: virgin forests, frozen marshes, night temperatures of -40°C. It fields three divisions — the 44th, 54th and 163rd — about 47,000 men with 60 tanks in support, with the mission of crossing Finland to Sweden, at Tornio on the Gulf of Bothnia, to cut the country in two and take Helsinki in a north-south pincer.

Opposing it stands the Finnish Salla Brigade — 3,000 poorly equipped men, no heavy artillery and no armour, under Colonel Roine Lagus, 41, a former cavalry instructor. What remain are the advantages of terrain and of cold. Lagus applies the motti doctrine adapted to great distances: 100-man ski groups, ambushes on a 200 km front, planned withdrawals to positions prepared in advance and supplied from forest caches.

On 17 December 1939, after two weeks of fighting withdrawal, the Soviet 9th Army is halted at Märkäjärvi, 80 km inside Finnish territory.

Lagus must decide what to do next.