Chapter 308: Praise
The next day, just as Alikov had predicted, the Soviet Army launched another large scale offensive.
Although April was already drawing to a close and the bitter Arctic cold had begun to give way to the spring breeze, conditions on the battlefield remained miserable.
Snowfall had grown sparse, but the forests, lingering snowdrifts, and endless mud remained formidable obstacles to the Soviet advance. Worse still, the fluctuating temperatures had begun melting many of the frozen lakes, making movement through the region even more difficult.
Taking advantage of the terrain, the 3rd Infantry Division led the Soviet 10th and 11th Motorized Infantry Divisions in circles through the forest.
This time, however, the Finns were no longer the side suffering from inferior firepower.
Artillery shells of every caliber rained down upon the Soviet positions.
The offensive continued for two full days.
Despite suffering heavy casualties, the Soviet forces managed to seize only thirty percent of the forest belt.
Fortunately for them, the telegram sent by the political staff officer had received a response, and the main Soviet force had begun converging on Kimmo Village.
Believing that a decisive breakthrough was finally within reach, Nikolai Lorich, commander of the Soviet forces in the northern theater, threw nearly all of his strength into the offensive.
Even units originally assigned to defensive positions began concentrating around Kimmo Village.
None of them noticed that another force had quietly bypassed the frontal battlefield and was preparing to strike from behind.
Under the cover of darkness, two Finnish scouts crawled slowly across the frozen ground.
A searchlight mounted on a high platform swept repeatedly across the patches of remaining snow.
Whenever the beam approached, the scouts immediately flattened themselves against the ground and remained completely still.
Only after the light moved away did they rise again, press themselves against the trees, and lift their binoculars.
The Soviet defenses were surprisingly loose.
Because no one had anticipated an attack this deep behind the front, the sentries were not particularly alert. Some were even dozing off at their posts.
After confirming the situation, the two scouts exchanged glances.
They pulled out bright yellow signal flags and waved them toward the forest on the opposite side.
The signal was received.
A sniper slowly raised his rifle.
Bang!
The bullet tore through a sentry's jaw.
Blood sprayed across the searchlight, staining the glass and casting a grotesque shadow through the beam shining toward the ground.
The single gunshot plunged the camp into chaos.
Nikolai, who had been staying up late studying the battlefield situation, was startled by the sound.
He immediately looked around.
"Whose gun was that?"
His answer came a moment later.
Boom!
Several artillery shells exploded throughout the village.
Only then did the officers realize they were under attack.
They threw themselves to the ground while Nikolai stared in disbelief.
"What is going on? How could the Finns possibly be here?"
No one answered.
Another artillery salvo fell under the cover of darkness.
A group of messengers had barely finished transmitting a telegram reporting the attack when a mortar round landed directly among them.
The explosion tore them apart.
Burned flesh and blood splattered across Nikolai's face.
The garrison regiment had no contingency plan for an attack like this.
Panic spread almost instantly.
No one even seriously considered organizing a counterattack or an orderly retreat.
By the following morning, the main force of the Finnish 2nd Infantry Division had already begun converging on the area.
Only then did the Soviet garrison finally realize that they needed to escape.
They hurriedly began arranging the withdrawal of personnel and requested emergency aircraft to evacuate the senior officers first.
The attack on the command post threw the Soviet frontline units into even greater confusion.
The soldiers and officers feared that if any high ranking commander were killed or captured, the blame would eventually fall on them, and they might all be dragged away and executed.
One division headquarters after another ignored the previous order to continue attacking.
Instead, they began withdrawing en masse toward the border town of Calonne.
By the time they arrived, the Soviet 2nd Infantry Division had already recognized that the situation was deteriorating and withdrawn long before them.
Seeing the Soviet retreat, the Finnish 3rd Infantry Division and 1st Elite Brigade, supported by guerrilla units, immediately launched counterattacks and rapidly recovered all the positions they had previously lost.
When Kirill received the report, he did not sleep for the entire night.
The offensive had not merely failed.
Every gain achieved over the previous two weeks had been lost.
The enormous contrast between expectation and reality, combined with his helplessness in the face of the deteriorating command situation, weighed heavily on him.
After spending the entire night in deep thought, Kirill chose to resign.
With the supreme commander stepping down, the grand illusion Yenov had created could no longer be maintained.
The Emperor's New Clothes had finally been stripped away.
The truth inevitably reached Moscow.
And Stalin had already chosen the person who would bear responsibility.
Yenov was removed from the NKVD.
His position was taken by Beria, whom Stalin had already prepared as his replacement.
Pravda immediately began spreading the news throughout the Soviet Union.
Yenov, who had basked in seemingly limitless prestige only days earlier, suddenly found himself on the front page of Pravda for an entirely different reason.
The article did not accuse him outright.
It did not need to.
Its wording had already subtly linked him with representatives of the bourgeoisie.
And everyone knew what that meant.
The last people publicly associated with such language had been the Trotskyists whom Yenov himself had personally helped purge and execute.
Only then did Yenov truly panic.
He repeatedly requested a personal meeting with Stalin.
Stalin, of course, had no intention of seeing him.
However, in order to keep Yenov calm for the time being, Stalin specifically summoned Khrushchev.
"Comrade Stalin, did you call me here regarding the supply situation? The grain is already being transported, and I…"
Stalin, holding an old fashioned pipe, slowly shook his head.
His normally mild expression carried an unmistakable trace of coldness.
He leaned slightly toward Khrushchev and spoke in a low voice.
"Comrade Yenov has recently developed some resistance toward the Party."
"I want you to speak with him."
"Clear up the misunderstandings and make sure he does nothing extreme."
As one of Stalin's trusted confidants, Khrushchev immediately understood the meaning hidden beneath those words.
"Rest assured, Comrade Stalin."
"I will have a sincere conversation with Comrade Yenov and make him understand that everything he has suffered recently is merely a special difficulty arising from a special period."
"Once this special period ends, he will receive what he wants."
Seeing that Khrushchev had understood, Stalin patted him on the shoulder.
His tone remained deliberately ambiguous.
"Very good."
"Remember, you must ensure Comrade Yenov's personal safety."
Khrushchev's smile stiffened.
With only a few sentences, Stalin had already distanced himself from whatever might happen next.
On the surface, Stalin had left the choice to him.
In reality, Khrushchev had simply been selected as the next person who could be blamed.
If anything happened to Yenov afterward, responsibility could conveniently be pushed onto Khrushchev.
"I understand, Comrade Stalin."
"I will handle it immediately."
After Khrushchev left, the mild expression disappeared from Stalin's face.
His gaze turned cold.
At that moment, the telephone rang.
Stalin picked up the receiver.
Boris's voice came from the other end.
"Comrade Stalin, I recommend suspending the current offensive operations."
"We should first resolve the confusion within the command structure and stabilize the ideological situation before launching another offensive."
Stalin rejected the proposal immediately.
"Boris, I did not restore you to your position so that you could stop the offensive."
"We cannot stop."
"Germany is advancing triumphantly through North Africa. I have a feeling that Britain and France will not be able to resist Germany for much longer."
"We must accelerate our own operations."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"As for the Army, transfer another group of elite troops from the Moscow Military District and use them for the next assault."
"As for the Air Force, starting now, deploy bomber formations to conduct indiscriminate air raids against Finland's major cities."
The words "indiscriminate air raids" caused Boris to fall silent.
After a moment, he spoke again.
"Comrade Stalin, are you certain?"
"Indiscriminate bombing could create serious diplomatic and humanitarian consequences for us…"
"When Germany bombed the residential districts of Warsaw, there were people who condemned them as well."
Stalin answered his own argument with chilling calm.
"And now?"
"Only praise remains."
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