Venäläiset poistuvat 17. maaliskuuta 1940. Kuva on otettu salaa, koska venäläiset kielsivät kuvaamisen. SA-kuva.

Klemetti battle site and memorial

The Klemetti area was the theatre for a counterattack by the Finnish Brigade Vuokko on 8 December 1939. Even if the brigade’s attack was not successful as a whole, the attack by an enemy division was thwarted by the end of December. At the beginning of February, Finnish troops encircled the Klemetti area, where the enemy fought doggedly until the end of the war.

Winter War battles in Klemetti

The first battle in the Klemetti area took place on 8 December 1939. The 3rd Battalion of Brigade Vuokko (3rd/Inf Regt 25), subordinated to Group Ilomäki that was responsible for the Kuhmo area at the time, attacked the area from the north and came into contact with the enemy on the west side of Klemetti around noon.

The 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion (9th Coy/3rd Bn/Inf Regt 25) was the first to cut off the road west of Klemetti. The rest of the battalion then occupied the Klemetti area by attacking. However, the area could not be held for very long because the enemy’s counterattack from the east was supported by tanks. The Finnish battalion did not have any anti-tank guns at its disposal, so it had to break away from the roadside. The fighting continued in the area until about 5.30 p.m. when the battalion was ordered to retreat.

A small encirclement (motti) was formed in the Klemetti area when the Finns launched a counterattack at the end of January 1940. The motti was created when the 2nd Battalion of Brigade Vuokko (2nd/Inf Regt 25) cut off the road on the west side of Klemetti on 30 January and on the east side on 5 February 1940.

The motti persisted despite the Finnish attempts to take over the enemy positions, and after the peace arrived, around 150 Soviet soldiers survived. A small motti had also been formed a couple of kilometres (1.2 miles) further to the east, referred to as Strongpoint 101.

Taivalkoskelaisten muistomerkki. Kuva Lassi Piirainen.

Memorial to the soldiers from Taivalkoski

In the battles of Kuhmo, 27 soldiers from Taivalkoski fell, most of whom served in the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of Infantry Regiment 25 (3rd Coy/1st Bn/Inf Regt 25). The company was commanded by Lieutenant Reino Karkama. The memorial to the soldiers from Taivalkoski who fell on the Kuhmo front during the Winter War is located about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) east of Klemetti. Nineteen soldiers from Taivalkoski were killed in an ambush near the memorial on 4 February 1940. The memorial was designed by Tuomo

Horsma and implemented by the municipality, reservists and veterans’ organisations of Taivalkoski. The memorial was unveiled on 30 November 1997.