Battle of Kollaa

Battle of Kollaa
Part of the Winter War
Date December 7, 1939 to March 13, 1940 Location Kollaa river, Finland Result Finnish victory
Belligerents
Finland	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Woldemar Hägglund Division: Lauri Tiainen (until 31 January) Antero Svensson (from 1 February)	Ivan Khabarov (until 13 December) Grigori Shtern (from 13 December) Division: (December) M.S. Yevstigneyev Corps: (February–March) Dmitri Kozlov V.G. Vorontsov
Strength
1 division and some small units	4 divisions, 1 tank brigade
Casualties and losses
1,500 dead or wounded (estimate)	8,000 dead or wounded (estimate)

The Battle of Kollaa was fought from December 7, 1939 - March 13, 1940 in the Ladoga's Karelia, Finland as a part of the Winter War.

Despite having far fewer troops than the Soviets, the Finnish forces (12th division) repelled the Red Army because the Soviets were only prepared to proceed along roads. The Kollaa area had very few roads, all of them guarded by Finnish troops, and the Soviets were not able to proceed cross-country without skis.

Kollaa is often considered to have been one of the most difficult places to defend during the Winter War. It has been estimated that the Red Army fired almost 40,000 artillery rounds at the defence line during a single day, whereas the Finnish Artillery could fire only 1,000 rounds per day at the very best.

Finnish military leaders of the battle of Kollaa.

Although they stopped the Red Army, the 12th Division suffered heavy losses, with the Battle of Kollaa continuing until the end of the Winter War. The Red Army managed to penetrate the Finnish defence line in Kollaa several times, thus pushing the Finns out of their positions but the Finns systematically counter-attacked to restore the integrity of their defence line. The Finnish defence came close to a collapse at the very end of the war - in fact, the Soviets managed to form a 0.5 - 1.5 kilometres deep fracture point into the Finnish defense line on March 12. As a result, the commander of the 12th division of the Finnish Army considered abandoning the main defence line at Kollaa, but as the news from the sector were that the situation was "not yet that alarming", the commander ordered a counter-attack and the defence line to be retaken the following day. However, as the information of the concluded peace treaty reached the front, those orders were cancelled and the men were told to hold their current positions until the end of hostilities.

A memorable quote from the Battle of Kollaa is Major General Hägglund's question, "Will Kollaa hold? (Kestääkö Kollaa)", to which Lieutenant Aarne Juutilainen replied, "Kollaa will hold (Kollaa kestää), unless the orders are to run."

The legendary sniper Simo Häyhä served in the Kollaa front.