The role of the Leningrad militia in the stabilization of the Svir sector of the Soviet-Finnish front in October 1941

The article presents the results of the research of the confrontation between the Soviet and the Finnish troops in the Svir sector of the Soviet-Finnish front in the autumn of 1941. The research is based on archival materials mainly introduced into academic use for the first time. The critical stage of the formation of the frontline from Lake Ladoga to Lake Onega is investigated. In October 1941, while the Red Army units were on their way from Moscow, Kazakhstan, Transbaikalia, and the Far East, the Finnish combat groups, having already captured a number of bridges on the southern bank of the Svir River, started their offensive. The present paper aims to examine and emphasize the importance of the role played during this period by small detachments of Soviet troops, which prevented the advance of the superior forces of the Finnish army. Such detachments ensured the deployment of the arriving divisions of the Red Army, which, in their turn, prevented Finnish and German armies from uniting in the Tikhvin and Volkhov sectors. The key units that provided significant resistance to the Finnish troops were the remnants of the 3rd Leningrad Division of the People's Militia, the parts of the 67th Rifle Division, and the detachment of artillerists of the military engineer 2nd rank M. S. Sorokin. The existence of Sorokin's detachment is revealed for the first time in the historiography of the Great Patriotic War, as well as its decisive role in preventing the Finnish breakthrough in the central (Vonozero) subsector. The paper analyzes the rates of saturation of the front with infantry and artillery of the opposing sides and the dynamics of changes in the balance of forces in the Svir lodgement.