ABSTRACT
Joseph Stalin was frantic over the news from the Finnish front. The British were prepared to take over Norwegian ports as well as Sweden's mines and steel mills while at the same time sending at least a brigade into Finland. The Soviet premier rearranged the entire leadership of his armies attacking Finland; many of the commanders were either shot or replaced. Massed for the attack were some 600,000 Soviet troops, including Timoshenko's well-seasoned Ukrainian forces. Finnish reconnaissance planes reported that in front of Summa, in one sector alone which was about 1.3 miles wide, a total of 104 enemy batteries with their 440 cannon were pounding at the Finns, who had only 16 batteries. The seriously drained Finnish forces were unable to counterattack successfully. The Finns began their withdrawal from their main defense positions on the West Isthmus on February 16.
