Kallioniemi and Koitajoki River

The Red Army invaded Ilomantsi along two axes of advance in the morning of the first day of the Winter War on November 30, 1939. The invading force consisted of three regiments of the 155th Division. Two of the regiments headed toward Möhkö. The third, the 786th Rifle Regiment of 6,000 men, continued in the direction of Kallioniemi.

During the first days of December, a force made up of young boys began to prepare defenses on the banks of the Koitajoki River at Kallioniemi in great haste. These positions were occupied by one company of Captain Viljo Kivikko’s infantry battalion.

Kallioniemi memorial area alonf Koitajoki river.

Winter War battle site where Red Army was halted in 1939. Supply hub during Continuation War battles in 1944.

The leading Russian elements arrived at the Kallioniemi ferry jetty on December 9. The ferry crossing was 400 meters to northeast of the present bridge at the site of the boat docks. The enemy built a makeshift footbridge no wider than two heavy logs side by side next to the ferry crossing and proceeded immediately to cross the 200-meter-wide river but was met by murderous machine-gun fire from the opposite bank. Every single Russian soldier was swept off the bridge, and the commanders called off the hopeless attempt. A veteran recalled that at least one hundred Red Army soldiers met his fate in the icy depths of the river.

After the failed attempt at Kallioniemi, the Russians tried again at a point two kilometers south of the bridge and managed to move troops to the opposite bank over the frozen river. Estimates of the strength of this force vary, but it is known that about 200 Russians were killed in subsequent action in the vicinity of Linnalampi Lake, which was the closest point to Ilomantsi parish village that the invader could get.

Tanks that had spearheaded the advance to the ferry jetty were knocked out by a single gun that the defenders moved continuously between Möhkö and Kallioniemi on an ad hoc basis. The Russians dug at least one of the immobilized tanks into the ground behind the riverbank and used it to harass the defenders with gunfire until the end of the war.

By the end of 1939, the front stabilized on the Koitajoki line, and the area saw no significant action during the remainder of the war. When fighting ended on March 13, 1940, the initial contacts between the Finns and Red Army delegations occurred on the ice of the Koitajoki.

The three first years of the Continuation War of 1941-1944 were a period of calm at Kallioniemi. A dramatic change occurred in July 1944 when the Finns launched hasty preparations for an enemy attack. The main body of Group Raappana marched via Kallioniemi in the direction of Lehtovaara, Ilaja and Hattuvaara.

The capacity of the lumbering man-powered ferry was simply insufficient for the expeditious movement of large numbers of men, vehicles and equipment across the wide river. Therefore, sappers were called to help. They mounted engines taken from fast attack craft on the ferry, which multiplied crossing speeds.

Practically all troop deployments and reinforcements, transport of supplies and casualty evacuation crossed the Koitajoki at Kallioniemi.

Between July 30 and August 11, the ferry made 2,341 crossings on an average of 195 trips per day.

Below are extracts of a war diary complete with explanations. The term “vehicles” refers to load-hauling horses, while “horses” means horses moved across for replenishment or rotation purposes.

Kallioniemi, 8th Bridge Company:

July 29, 1944. 11 trucks, 1 car, 171 vehicles, 11 guns, 250 men.
July 30, 1944. 123 trucks, 40 cars, 80 vehicles, 7 motorcycles, 1 tractor, 67 horses, 148 men.
August 1,1944. 123 trucks, 38 cars, 7 motorcycles, 1 tractor, 67 horses, 148 men, 80 ambulances.
August 2 to 3, 1944 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 80 trucks, 20 cars, 11 motorcycles, 10 ambulances, 37 vehicles.

During the following week, 1,881 motor vehicles were ferried across the river. Most were trucks, while cars amounted to the next highest number.