February 11, 1940 · Karelian Isthmus Theater
February 11, 1940
After a month-long reorganization under the newly appointed Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, the Soviet Northwestern Front launched a massive prepared assault against the Summa sector of the Mannerheim Line on February 11, 1940. Preceded by days of intense artillery bombardment involving over 3,000 guns — one of the most concentrated artillery barrages in history to that point — Soviet forces finally breached the Finnish defenses. Finnish troops, exhausted after 75 days of continuous combat and desperately short of ammunition and replacements, could not plug the gap. The Mannerheim Line had been broken.
Commanders