The Soviet colonel looked solemn to Captain Fyodor Oklopkov, who ran up from the back of the convoy: "The Finnish snipers are obviously a master, they can snipe 11 senior officers on our side in such a short period of time, even in the sniper rank, they can definitely be regarded as the best!" Ordinary soldiers simply can't hold them back, and the howitzer just now is unlikely to kill them all. ”

The colonel looked at him seriously, gritted his teeth and said, "On our side, only your sniper team can deal with them." You're our strongest sniper, I can only ask you! ”

Captain Fyodor nodded and said indifferently: "No problem, but you have to let at least one platoon rush forward immediately." Our squad will follow closely behind and make sure to take out this arrogant Finnish sniper squad. ”

Looking at the cold and conceited Fyodo, the colonel followed his advice without hesitation: "Second battalion commander! Let your men rush to the front and cooperate with our snipers! ”

Although the colonel did not understand, the reason for Fyodor's request was to attract Simon's possible firepower, and try to reveal the opponent's position through the angle from which the assault troops were hit. Second, it is to use this group of cannon fodder on the surface to cover their sniper team and ensure the relative concealment of the sniper team. Third, if the Finnish snipers are too strong, Feodor can also choose to engage them, covering the charging regular forces and killing the opposing snipers at close range.

However, the Colonel knew one thing, and that was that Captain Fyodor, a native of Yakuts, was a master of long-range hunting of prey, just like his ancestors who bent their bows and shot eagles. Since the beginning of the war, Fyodor has sniped more than 20 Finnish fighters, making it a source of pride for the Soviet camp.

In the big picture, the Soviet army went to war with a thunderbolt, but in the end it was caught in a dilemma. There is nothing to praise in the battle situation, so the Soviet army can only take out the case of Feodor and show it off repeatedly, which has reached the effect of boosting morale.

The Finnish campaign has been fought for more than a month so far, and the Soviet army, under the command of General Kirill Afanasyevich Meretskov, commander of the Leningrad Military District, dispatched 350,000 troops, a total of 4 army groups, 18 infantry divisions, 1 tank corps, 4 tank brigades, about 1,200 tanks, and more than 800 aircraft.

General Meretskov is a veteran of the Soviet Union, and with the overwhelming superiority in troops, this battle should have ended quickly.

But now, the battle has been going on for nearly a month. Partial mobilization has also taken place in the country, and even the formation of "shadow troops" has already begun. The number of troops on the front line has swelled to nearly 550,000, but even half of the predetermined strategic goals have not been reached.

In the south, five infantry divisions of the Ninth Army, nearly 100,000 men, two hundred and seventy-five combat vehicles, three hundred and sixty artillery pieces plus one hundred aircraft. The original plan was to attack Oulu on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia via Somussalmi, cutting Finland in half and cutting off land communications with Sweden. But in fact, they are still stuck in the area of Somus Salmi, and they are advancing inch by inch.

In the middle, General Meretskov deployed two corps, intending to crush the resistance of the Finnish army with a pincer offensive.

Among them, the Seventh Army had ten infantry divisions, six tank brigades, a total of 240,000 troops, 1,500 tanks, 900 artillery, and 300 aircraft. It was planned to attack north from north of Leningrad along the western shore of Lake Ladoga, break through the Finnish Maniheim Line, capture Viipuri, Finland's second largest city, and then advance towards Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

The Eighth Army had seven infantry divisions, one tank brigade, a total of 150,000 troops, 545 tanks, 520 artillery pieces, plus 200 aircraft. It was planned to attack west along the northern shore of Lake Ladoga, and to join forces with the Seventh Army to advance to the Finnish hinterland.

As a result, two divisions of the Eighth Army were attacked in the northeastern area of Lake Ladoga, most of them were annihilated, and they had to switch to a defensive posture under the continuous resistance of the Finnish army and the night attacks of the guerrillas.

The Seventh Army smashed its head on the Mannerheim Line, although it invested one echelon and one echelon, attacking in turns, but because the main defensive zone and support zone of the Finnish army were not clarified, the fortifications and obstacles of the Finnish army were not ascertained, and the coordination was ineffective, and the command was not good, until now, the 7th Army only captured the support zone of the Finnish army 20~60 kilometers deep after paying a heavy price.

By this time, the 7th Army had suffered heavy losses and was unable to break through the main defensive zone of the Finnish army, and was forced to stop the offensive on the spot. The two sides formed a confrontation and turned into a war of attack and harassment. This has created the current situation where Simon and others have repeatedly attacked and harassed the Soviet army.

The Soviet 14th Army in the north fought well. With the cooperation of the Northern Fleet with the battleship "Peter the Great", the 14th Army attacked all the way along the Barents coast, and soon occupied the port of Bessamo and the Rybacchi Peninsula, blocking Finland's access to the Barents Sea and Norway. However, after leaving naval artillery support, the 14th Army is now also making slow progress.

This is a critical period of confrontation between the two sides. At such a time, the high-ranking commanders of 3 divisions were killed by Finnish snipers at once, and the blow to morale would be devastating.

Only by killing this Finnish sniper squad can we regain some dignity and not lose face!

Watching Feodor trot away with two young snipers, the colonel prayed with a pale face that they could outmaneuver the Finnish snipers.

The two snipers brought by Fyodo were both of them, and the colonel knew a little about them.

One of them, Vasily Zaitsev, was a naval shore crew member who was temporarily transferred from the Northern Fleet by the Army to deal with Finnish snipers because of his good marksmanship.

The colonel forgot the name of the other sniper, but remembered that the man was the son of a hunter, and because of his good marksmanship, he was transferred from the rear to deal with Finnish snipers, and everyone liked to call him by the nickname "Beagle".

"Second Battalion Commander!" The colonel was worried and confirmed to the second battalion commander: "How many people did you send just now?" Will it be a little less? ”

The second battalion commander looked at the colonel with an ugly face, patted his chest comfortingly and assured: "Regiment commander, you can rest assured." Although the captain only had one platoon, I just asked Knocf to bring two platoons. The rest of the people will have to stay and guard the Italian cannons. But if I need to, I can draw one or two more platoons of fighters to make up for it. ”

Although he had narrowly escaped death, the colonel couldn't help but be afraid when he thought that he had almost become one of the 11 corpses of the 11 senior officers around: "Forget it, since Fyodor himself said that as long as there is only one platoon, those two platoons of people must be enough." The rest of the people spread out for me to keep me on guard. ”

"After all, if I die, the top of our three new divisions will be wiped out." The colonel excused himself for his timidity.