Special Events Arena 02/04/2006
Event begins at 3PM EST and will run for 2 hours
All are welcome to attend,bring a squad, friend or enemy
BATTLE OF TALI-IHANTALA
BACKGROUND
Battle of Tali-Ihantala June-July 1944 - which decided the fate of Finland.
After loss of Viipuri town situation was dramatic. The Red Army had advanced in two weeks more than it had in the whole Winter War. War Marshall Mannerheim messaged the troops: the enemy advance must be stopped. The coming battles will decide the independence of the nation.
Stalin belived the next defensive line to fall easily. Soviets planned to force-march to Lappeenranta-Imatra - and then to Helsinki. Finland would be forced to accept unconditional surrender.
The Soviet offensive renewed at Tali, morning of 25th June 1944. The new defensive line, VKT-line, did not have any pre made defensive positions, but it was rocky area with lots of lakes and streams. Even when the troops were tired they kept counter-attacking.
The Soviet forces could not advance and the battle prolonged. The front line seesawed - forward and backward. The Soviet forces almost broke through several times. Over 100 000 soldiers were deadlocked in heavy struggle in tiny 10 x 10 kilometers area.
During next week the Finnish forces slowly withdrew to Ihantala. The Finnish reinforcements had arrived from eastern Karelia, and the Soviet forces were tired and had suffered losses. The German reinforcements, Stukas and Focke Wulf jabos, attacked Soviet supply routes and the later famous bridges of Tali were destroyed daily, often several times a day, making it hard to bring supplies and reinforcements forward.
Finnish Air Force flew daily with its whole strength, bombing Soviet positions. Finnish artillery was concentrated and for once there was no lack of ammuniation. Several soviet attacks were blunted with artillery only, with 250 heavy artillery pieces being able to concentrate their fire
into a single spot.
In total there was over 200 000 soldiers in the various phases at battle of Tali-Ihantala, with heave losses. Finns had 8500 casualties, 1100 dead. Soviet forces lost up to 20 000 men, 4500-5500 dead.
Finnish and German air force claimed 569 Soviet aircraft shot down during the Soviet offensive, half of these lost over Tali-Ihantala. Soviet army lost their TOTAL tank strength - about 600 tanks - that they had had on the beginning of the offensive.
Soviet attack was concentrated on area east of Viipuri, from south village of Tali to north towards Ihantala. This was only suitable terrain for armoured forces in Karelian Isthmus, 10 km wide and limited by lakes and the river Vuoksi on the east.
By this time Finnish army had concentrated half of it's artillery in to area, along with army's only armoured division with StuG III assault guns and German 303. assault gun brigade. The troops finally had new German anti-tank weapons that were previously kept in storage.
Fighting in area began June 25 and June 30 Finnish forces retreat from Tali. Heaviest fighting took place between July 1-July 2 when Finnish lost 800 men per day.
By July 7 focus of attacks was already changing to Vuoksi and Soviets started transferring their best troops to Estonia to fight the Germans. By July 9 Soviet troops no longer attempted break-through despite smaller fighting continued.
SETUP
COUNTRY PERCENTAGES
BISHOPS VVS 60% of players
KNIGHTS FAF/LW 40% of players
FINLAND
PLANE SETUP
Bf 109 G-2
Bf 109 G-6
Brewster (FM2)
Ju88 A-4
Fw 190 A-8 (Detachment Kuhlmey's, limited)
Ju-87 (Detachment Kuhlmey's, limited)
Panzzer
M3
M8
M16
COMMON ORDERS
*Defend Suojärvi base (V49) and stop the Soviets’ advancement in all forces you have.
ORDERS TO THE FINNISH AIR FORCE (FAF)
FIGHTER SQUADRONS
*Your home bases are Mensuvaara (A44) and Hirvas (A50)
*Escort and protect the Finnish bombers’ and Detachment Kuhlmey’s bombers and jabos.
*Shoot down Soviet’s bombers and assault planes flying over the Suojärvis’s area.
BOMBER SQUADRON
*Your home base is Joensuu (A54)
*Destroy the Nurmoila base (A46). Your primary target is Vehicle hangar.
ORDERS TO THE DETACHMENT KUHLMEY’S (LUFTWAFFE)
*Your home base is Lappeenranta (A43)
*Destroy the the enemy tanks near Suojärvi (V49).
SOVIET UNION
PLANE SETUP
Hurricane II C
P40E
La-5FN
Yak9T
Boston III
IL2
C47
M3
M8
M16
T34
COMMON ORDERS
*Break through to Suojärvi base (V49) and capture it in all forces you have.
ORDERS TO THE VOENNO VOZDUSHNYE SILY (VVS)
FIGHTER REGIMETS
*Your home bases are Nurmoila (A46), Latva (A47), Petroskiy Yam (A18), Mergino (A7) and Ostha (A10).
*Escort and protect Russian bombers and jabos.
*Shoot down the Finnish bombers and Luftwaffe’s dive bombers and jabos.
BOMBER AND JABO REGIMENTS
*Your home base is Oshta (A10) and Petroskiy Yam (A18)
*Destroy the Suojärvi base (V49).
ARENA SETTINGS
Terrain: FinRus Summer
Event start, game time: 8:00
Time multiplier: 1.0
Fuel Multiplier: 1.0
Rebuild time multiplier: 5.0
Icons: Icons short,3k
Radar: All radar and sector bars disabled.
Base flashing set to 5 miles.
Killshooter: Off.
Friendly collisions: Off.
Kill messages: Off.
Death time minutes is set to 5 min (remark!)
Remark: The death time is set to 5 minutes. If you ditch, bail or crash, you have to wait 5
minutes to take off again.
TIMETABLE
*This is a two hour event: T+0 ... T+120 minutes.
*Logs will be opened at T-5 and closed at T+130.
* All hostilities must stop T+120.
*All aircraft/vehicles in the air at T+130 are considered destroyed for scoring purposes.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
The country holding Suojärvi (V49) at T+120 is the winner.
