Smiling Maki turned to Hale and said, “They’ve completely stopped the first attack cold.”
“What happens next?” Hale asked.
“According to the training I received from the war college. Whoever is in charge of the Soviet’s will now take their time to deploy the regiment. They won’t move forward again until they form a large front. When all are ready, they will advance again.” Maki replied.
The two men sat in silence and watched as the men that survived the first assault on the village slowly crawled south back down the road. The engines of the advancing regiment dropped in volume as they came to a stop and began to idle. As the two men sat in their position and listened, the voices of angry Sergeants began to pierce the forest. I t took nearly an hour for the Russians to form themselves up into a brigade sized formation.
“Does it normally take this long to form men up for an attack?” Hale asked.
Maki shook his head, “No, it should have taken maybe ten minutes at most to debark this amount of men from the trucks, ensure all was at the ready, and then form them up into a line. The amount of time this is taking is beyond pathetic. It really shows just how poorly trained these communist swine are.”
“With such a large well equipped army, why send the untrained against us?” Hale wondered.
“It doesn’t make any sense does it?” Maki replied.
“No. Why waste the resources when you don’t have to?” Hale said.
The pair of men fell silent as they watched the Soviet brigade sized formation cautiously advanced toward the village. To Hale’s trained eye, they looked fearful and uncertain about the forest. They stepped in all the wrong places, made too much noise, and failed to use the trees as cover, as they slowly crept toward their goal.
Whoever was in charge of the battalion of Finns in the village was a smart tactician. The Finns held their fire until the Soviets had advanced well beyond the position they had been engaged at earlier. The closer they drew to the village, the sloppier and more incautious they became thinking the Finnish defenders had fled. Finally, when Hales heart seemed as if it would burst from the anticipation of the coming attack, the weapons in the village burst to life.
Simultaneously a series of explosions ripped through the advancing line of Soviet soldiers. The kinetic energy from the detonations flung the hapless Russians and pieces of Russians in all directions. Those that still stood, were quickly cut down by the wall of steel that slammed into the brigade. Hale watch as nearly a thousand men perished in the course of a minute.
Those that survived broke and fled back the direction they had come. Sergeants and Commissars roared with displeasure at the fleeing men, but their calls to turn around went unheeded. Ignoring their leaders, the broken men fled away from the Finnish battalion as fast as their legs would carry them.
Maki laughed openly at the scene. Curious Hale turned to his Lieutenant and asked, “What is so amusing about this?”
“There are maybe three hundred Finns in Kivennapa. The Russians have the entire 24th Motorized Rifle Division bearing down on them. Thus far three hundred men have held up ten thousand for the better part of an hour while slaying around a thousand of them.”
“When you put it that way it is pretty amusing. Maybe they can hold and we won’t even have to engage?” Hale said.
Maki made eye contact with Hale, “No, sadly our time will come. They’ll be more careful this time. They’ll probably take the time to bring up some tanks and have another brigade advance behind those metal monsters.”
“Will our men be able to stop more than one tank?” Hale asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe, if in addition to the explosives they set, the men had time to lay some mines. Then with some luck, perhaps they can hold a third time.” Maki replied.
The Lieutenant took a breath to keep speaking, but Hale raised an index finger to his lips to shush his superior officer. Maki nodded and gave Hale a little shrug as if to ask what is going on? Hale picked up on the non-verbal cue and pointed south east.
Maki stared in the direction for nearly a minute before his eyes were able to pick out what Hale had been pointing at. A lone Soviet soldier, was very slowly climbing up a tree. Like the Finns, the man wore a white colored overcoat that helped him to blend into the terrain around him. On his back, was a rifle with a long scope mounted to the top.
Maki whispered, “A Russian sniper.”
Hale nodded in response before saying, “Let’s keep an eye on him.”
“Good plan. We can’t kill him now. There may be others that we can’t see and we would only draw attention to ourselves.” Maki said.
“When the Russians attack the village again, I’ll use the noise to take him out. For now, we should duck down into our cover. We don’t want to become targets ourselves.” Hale replied.
The two men lowered themselves to the frozen earth. For the next hour they sat safely behind the firing position they had built, invisible to curious eyes. Finally, as the Sun neared its zenith, the ground began to vibrate beneath them. The two men shared a look as if to say this is it.
A few minutes later the vibration manifested itself into the loud rumble of a dozen tank engines. In between the noise of the engines, the sounds of the squeaking tank tracks permeated the air as the metal monsters slowly advanced toward Kivennapa.
The two men, one at a time, careful not to make too many sudden moves that would attract the eyes of a sniper, peered out from their protected enclosure. Their eyes took in the scene. As Maki had feared, at least a dozen Soviet tanks advanced toward the village. The metal monsters were a mixture of T-28 medium and T-26 light tanks. All were olive drab green in coloration and sported Red Stars on their turrets.
Behind the tanks, careful to use them and the trees as cover, advanced a line of Russian Infantry. They stayed low and advanced cautiously as the metal beasts slowly lumbered forward through the trees. Hale noticed that there were no exposed men jutting from the tanks this time. All the hatches were buttoned up neatly to afford the crew inside maximum protection.
Maki stole a quick glance, and then sat back down on the frozen earth. He leaned toward Hale and whispered into his ear, “Get ready to take out the sniper. I don’t know how many anti-tank rifles they have in the village, but I suspect its only one or two. If that is the case, they will have to engage momentarily. Otherwise they won’t have a chance of stopping the tanks before they reach the village.”
Hale nodded in response, and peeked out over their barricade. He quickly spotted the Russian sniper. The man hadn’t moved since he took up his position in a large oak tree some four hundred feet south east of their position.
“Go ahead and take aim at him.” Maki said,
Hale scooped up some snow with his hand and placed it in his mouth. He then slowly raised his head. He spotted the sniper in the distant oak, still sitting still. The man hasn’t moved for at least an hour. He must be freezing. Hale thought. He slowly brought his rifle up and rested it on the log the two men had been using for cover.
Looking down the long barrel of his Mosin-Nagant, he took careful aim at the distant figure of the Soviet through his iron sites. Hale slowed his breathing as he waited for the sound of the anti-tank rifle. A few seconds past, then a few dozen, and finally a few minutes. Hale began to wonder if the battalion of his countrymen had abandoned the village when sudden very loud, low-pitched rifle report, rumbled through the forest.
The lead tank in the Soviet advance, a T-26, suddenly erupted into flames as the anti-tank rifle round struck its front armor and penetrated. The thin armor of the light tank did little to stop the anti-tank rifle round. As the round passed through the crew cabin, it cut the loader in half, and tore the legs off the gunner below the knees. Now covered in blood, it kept moving through the tank until it slammed into the ammunition bin in the back of the crew compartment.
The ammunition was ignited and detonated with a spectacular explosion shooting the turret into the air and lifting the bo
dy of the tank off the ground. Simultaneously, Hale held his breath and gently squeezed the trigger. His rifle kicked against his shoulder, sending forth 7.62mm of brass jacketed death and a shot of pain to his injured shoulder.
The young Finnish sniper’s aim was perfect, as it struck the Soviet in the left side of the torso. The bullet, shattered two of the man’s ribs as it passed into his chest and cleaved a path through the man’s lungs. The Soviet sniper toppled forward and struck the ground with a thud that was drowned out by the sound of weapons fire.
Hale smiled as he watched his adversary fall from the tree. His jubilation was short lived as a bullet slammed into the log just a few inches from his head, “What the fuck?” He said as Maki pulled him down.
As Hale looked up at his Lieutenant looming over him with wide eyes Maki said, “Stay down, there must be another sniper out there!”
Tank guns, anti-tank rifles, rifles, and automatic weapons fire continued to create a horrible racket. Coming out of his shock Hale said, “Do you have any idea where the shot came from?”
Maki pointed up at the top of the log they hid behind and said, “The shot hit there. It struck slightly below the top of the log and deflected splinters toward you.”
“Which means it did not come from behind us.” Hale replied.
“If the sniper was set up to our west, one of us would be dead by now. Thankfully these Russian swine don’t stray too far from the safety of the road.” Maki added.
“Since the splinters flew toward us, the shot really couldn’t have come from the north or south.” Hale said.
“Which leaves one direction, east.” Maki said.
“East makes sense as that is the direction of the Soviet force. Could it have been a stray bullet that almost got lucky?” Hale asked.
Maki shrugged, “There is one way we can find out.”
Maki took off his white, fur covered hat, and drew his pukko blade from its sheath. He placed the hat on the curved blade and slowly raised it above the top of the log. A moment after the top of the hat passed above the threshold of the log, and became visible, a shot rang out and struck the log narrowly missing Maki’s hat.
Maki dropped his arm and plucked his hat from the end of the blade. He glanced in the direction of the village in time to see a large explosion engulf one of the buildings as a high explosive tank round struck it, “It’s a good thing the bastards haven’t brought up their artillery yet.”
“Why.” Hale asked.
“They could use it to level the village. Our men wouldn’t stand a chance.” Maki paused and sighted in frustration, “Never mind that for now. We’ve got to figure out where that second sniper is so we can get into this fight. Judging by that last explosion the Soviets are finally pressing home their attack. I wish we could see what was going on.”
“I have an idea.” Hale said.
Maki met Hale’s eyes and waited a few moments before impatiently blurting, “Well spit it out already.”
“I’ll shift positions. When I’m set, you can play that trick with your hat again. Hopefully the sniper will expose themselves to take the shot.” Hale proposed.
Maki pondered the idea for a few moments and then slowly nodded in understanding of Hale’s plan, “That seems logical.”
Hale flashed the Lieutenant a smile and then slowly began crawling to the north. When he reached the end of the log they were using for cover, he shifted his direction and began crawling to the west, directly away from the log. By staying low, he was able to use using log as cover. He quickly reached the nearest tree and paused for a moment. The sound of his heart beat thundered in his ears. The sniper didn’t see me. That means he is a bit to the south east of our position instead of straight east.
Here comes the hard part. He looked back and made eye contact with Maki who waved his PPD 34 above the log. Another shot rang out and struck the earth behind the Lieutenant. Maki quickly jerked his arm back behind the cover the log afforded.
Hale used the distraction to dash forward twenty feet and dove for cover behind another fallen tree. He took his rifle off his shoulder and made ready to shoot. I’m pretty sure the shot came from a position two hundred or so feet further north from the first sniper’s tree.
“I need one more distraction and I think I’ll have him.” Hale said loudly over the din of battle.
“You had better figure it out this time. These distractions are going to get me shot.” Maki fired back flippantly.
“I’ll get him this time. I swear.” Hale reassured.
Maki took his fur lined white cap off again, drew his pukko blade, and proceeded to slowly lift his hat above the top of the log so that it was visible to the sniper. Nothing happened. He moved the hat from side to side a bit, creating movement to attract the enemy sniper.
“Well, go ahead and shoot it already.” Hale said.
“I am trying, the bastard isn’t cooperating.” Maki fired back.
“Try harder!” Hale demanded.
“Fuck you too Private!” Maki roared in response.
Suddenly a shot rang out. Hale moved out from his hiding place and took aim at the position he thought the sniper occupied. There was no one there, “The fucker moved!” Hale yelled.
“Great! Any idea where he moved to?” Maki asked.
Another shot rang out. This one smacked into the tree trunk right next to Hale’s head with a dull thud. The young Finn jerked back under cover and yelled, “He’s on me now, can you see him?”
Maki raised his head and peered out from behind the log he was using as a hiding place. As he drew in the breath to yell no, a bullet slammed into the log sending small splintery bits into his face. Maki dropped to the earth a moment before a second shot rang out. This one missed the log and impacted into the ground behind him with a dull thud.
A moment after the sound of the second shot registered in Maki’s ears. A third shot rang out. After a brief pause Hale said, “Got him.”
“Are you sure this time? Are there anymore out there?” Maki asked and then added, “I don’t really feel like eating a bullet for lunch today.”
Hale removed his white, fur-lined cap, placed it on the end of his pukko, and stuck it out from behind the tree he was using as a hiding spot. He waved it back and forth trying to attract attention from the enemy. Nothing happened.
“I think that was all of them.” Hale said. Before he could continue, a pair of the Soviet T-28 tanks fired simultaneously into the village. Two wooden structures erupted into gouts of flame, as high explosive rounds tore into them, flinging bits of wood in all directions. A moment later the dull rumble of the anti-tank rifle responded to the salvo taking out another T-26.
With a roar, the brigade of Soviet infantry abandoned their positions behind the tanks, and trees and charged toward the village. The Finns responded with intense automatic weapons fire. A heavy machine gun fired continuously at the oncoming Russian horde. The bullets from this gun quickly zeroed in on the advancing wall of flesh. In the space of a few moments, the Finnish gun crew sent nearly a hundred Red Army soldiers to their party dictated afterlife.
Maki stood up and watched the advancing Soviets as they bore down on the village, “It’s too late, once those fuckers reach the village, our men won’t be able to hold.”
Before he could continue his lamentation, a series of explosions erupted, as the enemy drew within fifty feet of the village. The explosions sent shrapnel flying through the air. The metal fragments shredded the bodies of hundreds of advancing Russians. In reaction Maki started laughing.
“What is happening? Where are those explosions coming from?” Hale asked.
As the two men watched, the momentum of the attack broke and the men of the Red Army turned away from the village and fled. The pressure on the Finns relieved, the heavy machine gun was soon joined by automatic weapons fire, and single shot rifles. Many of the bullets found their way into the backs of the retreating Soviets before the tanks fired another salvo with their main guns at the Fin
nish line. The tanks quickly followed this up by laying down a suppressing fire into the village with their machine guns. This fire helped to protect the backs of their retreating comrades as they fled from the Finnish wall of lead.
“Here’s our chance to get into this fight. Grab your PPD 34, we’re going to put the bastards in a cross fire and cut them down so their yellow asses will keep running until they reach Leningrad.” Maki ordered.
Hale nodded, slung his Mosin-Nagant onto his right shoulder and drew the PPD 34 submachine gun from his left. He slipped the safety off the submachine gun with his gloved hand. He felt awkward running with the gun he had taken from the Russians earlier that morning. The two men rushed forward about three hundred feet to get in position for their attack. Breathing hard from their exertions, they stopped and sought the cover of two trees.
From behind the safety of his chosen tree, Maki made eye contact with Hale and said, “Wait until they are abreast of us, and then let them have it.”
“Yes sir.” Hale responded.
Each second seemed to take a small eternity as they slowly ticked by. Finally, the ragged line of retreating Soviets drew near. Maki moved from behind the tree he was using as cover and opened fire on a dozen Russians as they ran by. The fleeing Soviets were quickly cut down by his attack.
This caused another nearby group, who were beginning to rally and slow their headlong rush away from Kivennapa, to resume their flight. Hale opened fire on this group, sending many of them to their grave. The rest dove to the ground seeking any shred of cover that would protect them from this unexpected assault.
The two men quickly spent their bullets and ducked back behind the trees they were using as cover. Maki ejected the magazine from his gun and slammed a new one home. Hale looked over at him and said, “I don’t have another magazine for this gun.”
“See what you can do with your rifle, I’ll cover you.” Maki ordered.
The Winter Sniper Page 14