The artillery of general Tsvetayev’s southern group in the defense of Olonets

This article examines the confrontation between Soviet and Finnish artillery in the Olonets direction in the summer of 1941, based on previously undisclosed Russian and Finnish archival documents. By analyzing these events, which are not widely known in modern historiography, the study reveals the crucial role played by artillery in the defense of Olonets and uncovers the dynamics of artillery groups’ saturation and maneuvering on both sides. Despite the significant artillery and tank superiority of the VI Finnish Army Corps over the Southern Group of the 7th Army (a military formation of the Red Army led by Lieutenant General V. D. Tsvetaev) the latter’s strength was nearly ified upon the arrival of an incomplete artillery regiment of the 3rd Leningrad People’s Militia Division. Although the militia’s outdated and limited ammunition guns were operated by inexperienced calculations, they successfully resisted the numerically superior Finnish artillery group. These actions enabled the Red Army’s sailors, motorized riflemen, and volunteers to hold off the Finnish troops in the Eastern Ladoga region for 42 days. However, due to the Soviet command’s underestimation of the role of artillery in the Olonets direction, the artillery group was not reinforced. Consequently, on 4 September 1941, the Finns, with overwhelming artillery superiority, broke through the defense of the Red Army and reached the Svir River, posing a threat of a second blockade of Leningrad. This study expanded the existing list of reasons for the Red Army’s defeat in the Olonets direction.