"What? All 3 division commanders of the observation group were sniped, and the other 8 regiment commanders were not spared! General Meretskov, who learned about the situation from the commissar, nervously clenched his fists and propped himself up on the table and asked.

Since the beginning of the war, as the commander of the Leningrad Military District, Meretskov has brought almost all the main forces of the military district to the Finnish front. The 350,000 troops are all elite, and their weapons and equipment are also the best equipped among all the troops in the military region.

Nearly 1,000 planes and 1,200 tanks against the Finnish army, which was scarce even with heavy weapons. Meretskov really couldn't figure out why the war had been fought for more than a month, but he couldn't defeat such a small Finland.

Now, one wave of unsettled and another wave has risen again, and I wanted to mobilize and replenish 50,000 people from the "shadow troops" to make up for the huge battle losses on the front line in the past month, but this unit has not yet been assembled, and the commanders of their 3 divisions plus almost all the regiment commanders are gone?!

The commissar was sure that he had just said it very clearly. However, looking at Meretskov's look of disbelief, the commissar repeated again: "Yes, commander. Our mission was ambushed by Finnish snipers and lost its top brass, with only one regiment commander surviving. ”

Hearing this, Meretskov shouted from the commissar with undisguised anger: "That is, the Finnish snipers took out the command center of our three divisions in one fell swoop at our doorstep?" Are all the fools in charge of the vigilance wood! ”

After roaring for a while, Meretskov forced himself to calm down and asked the commissar who had innocently beaten himself: "And then? The special forces accompanying the mission should have sent someone to take out those damn Finns, right? ”

The commissar was a little embarrassed, and after sorting out his thoughts, he explained to Meretskov, who was looking expectant: "Actually, no! The Mission was accompanied by Captain Fyodor's sniper team, which was forced to retreat after losing 2 good snipers in pursuit of the Finnish snipers. ”

"Feodore escaped?" Meretskov was simply surprised and couldn't imagine it, and stared at the political commissar with an incredulous expression: "I remember that they are not the best team in our army?" How could it be possible to run away in the end?! ”

The face of the commissar was also ugly, but even at this moment, he did not forget to correct Meretskov and said: "Commander, in fact. Captain Fyodor was one of the two who died in action. In the end, it was a member of their team named Vasily who survived. ”

Meretskov, who was sitting in the chair, seemed to have been drained of all his strength, slumped on the back of the chair, and said to himself: "How can this be? Shouldn't this be? Those Finns were able to take out our best sniper squad! ”

The blow that Meretskov received today was a little too big, and it was really difficult for him to accept it for a while.

Because of the Finnish ambush, his 50,000 reinforcements are now leaderless. And the culprit who caused all this, after killing the high-level of the 3 divisions on his side, easily destroyed the strongest sniper team under his command, and finally left with a swagger!

The war for more than a month has already made him feel emaciated.

As for the navy, except for a period of coastal operations supported by naval guns in the early days, it was unable to play any role in supporting the army.

As for the Air Force, it has not been able to achieve the expected results.

Although the Finnish Air Force was much smaller than the Soviet Air Force, it was trained very well with the help of German instructors, and the tactical theory was learned from Germany at the forefront of the world.

At this stage, the Finnish Air Force had already begun to use the 4-plane formation as the basic formation of their air combat.

This formation is completely consistent with the basic concept of tactical formation, which was developed by Germany during the Spanish Civil War.

Of the four aircraft, two are used as squads for the main battle, and the other two are responsible for cover and vigilance, which is what later generations called the two-wingman formation.

As a rule, it is the more senior pilot who is responsible for the main battle and takes the initiative in the battle. The other two were operated by junior pilots who were responsible for covering and waiting for opportunities to attack enemy aircraft.

At that time, the Soviet Air Force still adopted the three-plane formation tactics that had been practiced since World War I, and it was far inferior to Finland in terms of individual pilot training, tacit understanding between formations, and combat intentions.

Coupled with the large number of small airfields that Germany helped Finland build, the Finnish Air Force could easily assemble anywhere on the battlefield and form a local advantage.

So the Air Force under Meretskov actually didn't stand much cheaper. And if it weren't for the huge numerical superiority, they might have been completely annihilated by the Finnish Air Force.

On the army side, Meretskov was even more embarrassed to mention it. The 350,000 troops with superior weapons and equipment were inseparably defeated in the face of the 120,000 troops temporarily expanded by Finland with less than 80,000 standing troops, and the Mannerheim Line was smashed and bloodied.

Meretskov was silent for a long time, and only when his commissar was about to think that the commander was asleep did he slowly speak: "For more than a month, the Finns have proved to us by their actions that the conquest of Finland is not as easy as we thought. ”

"To expect that as soon as we open fire, we will be able to scare the Finns into surrendering, it is a fool's dream!" Meretskov covered his forehead and said bitterly: "We were too arrogant and conceited before. Now, it's finally our turn to pay the price for our outrageous words. ”

"Commander! You can't be blamed for that. The political commissar, who knew the inside story, comforted: "Our officers at the grassroots level, and even many high-ranking officers, do not have a sufficient military base. Although they are loyal, they lack the true ability to command troops. ”

The fact that the political commissar can say this is already very pertinent. After all, with his status, he shouldn't have said such things in the first place.

Looking at this political commissar who is rarely a person who understands, Meretskov who is in extreme pain, squeezed out a smile of gratitude: "Thank you." ”

But before he could say a few more words, two well-dressed young men broke in outside the gate.

Among them, the lean young man, who did not pay any attention to honorifics, announced to Meretskov: "The general secretary has now issued an order to replace you, who have failed to capture Finland for nearly two months, with General Timoshenko, who has captured eastern Poland in less than two months." ”

Then, another relatively polite light man went on to add to Meretskov: "General Secretary Stalin has now ordered the creation of a new North-Western Front on the Karelian Isthmus and appointed the former commander of the Kiev Military District, Colonel-General Timoshenko, as commander of the Front, to replace you as commander-in-chief of the front. The front was under the 7th Army, which Commander Timoshenko brought from the Kiev Military District, and the newly formed 13th Army. At the same time, the General Secretary also transferred 24 infantry divisions, 20 artillery regiments and 15 newly created aviation regiments to the front from other regions......"

Meretskov, who was sitting in a chair, clasped his hands and sneered without saying a word.

Your purge has reduced the combat effectiveness of your troops and led to erosion on the front lines. Now it's good that I made it look like I was incompetent because of Meretskov.

Meretskov was sure that even if he had already fought so much, if he hadn't used it for another two months, Timoshenko would not have been able to take Finland!

Substitution? I just don't want to do it! This mess is where whoever likes to pick it up.