The two attacks before sunset had thoroughly rattled the Soviet unit. But this was not the end. When night fell, the real nightmare began.
Visibility dropped sharply at night, making the guerrillas hidden in the forest even harder to detect while further weakening the Soviet army's advantage in firepower.
After marching for an entire day, most of the Soviet soldiers were already starving. Under normal circumstances, the unit should have started making fires and cooking by now. But with a elusive grim reaper nearby and the bodies of comrades not yet fully cold beside them, no one dared light a fire.
At this point, the commander's lack of experience became apparent. He had no idea whether they should hold their ground and wait for reinforcements or find a way to break out. Just then, more Finnish Guerrillas arrived one after another, and soon another group launched an attack on the unfortunate unit.
Finnish Guerrillas carrying submachine guns came racing out of the forest on skis, spraying the demoralized Soviet soldiers with gunfire. There were not many of them, only around twenty, but they were bold. They appeared without warning and unleashed their full firepower from the outset, catching the enemy completely off guard. On top of that, Simon had already taken out the two Soviet machine-gun squads. The few Soviet soldiers hastily forced into position reacted noticeably slowly. By the time they turned their guns around, the guerrillas had emptied their drum magazines, changed direction, and skimmed past the Soviet positions into the depths of the forest once more.
Only then did the Soviet unit's counterattack finally arrive. But only the last two guerrillas were unfortunate enough to be hit. One was struck in the head by a stray bullet and tumbled straight off his skis. The other was hit