Officers of the Soviet 27th Infantry Regiment had given their casualties at 70 percent and the Finns assumed that the strength of the 44th Division was over 20,000 men. The estimation was based on the interrogation of the prisoners of war captured in early January. January 1940.ДЇor many years, Finnish historians estimated the Soviet losses to be around 17,000 men. ДЇinnish soldiers on Raate Road Captured material Finnish statisticsДЇinnish soldiers inspecting an abandoned Soviet T-26 mod. The Finnish army captured a huge amount of materiel in this battle. Other remnants of the 44th Division were forced to withdraw from the area, evading through the northern forests while under pursuit by the Finns, finally reaching the border in several small groups. The mopping-up went on for two days, during which the Finns rounded up hundreds of starving, frozen Ukrainians. On January 7, squadron 'FagernГ¤s' recaptured the bridge and before noon all Soviet resistance was suppressed. Further in the east, squadron 'FagernГ¤s' could not keep a strategic bridge under Finnish control. Remnants of Soviet units had already tried to escape to the east, but were blocked by squadron 'Kari'. Many soldiers froze to death without proper clothing or supply one Finnish soldier said he saw Soviet soldiers in a frozen campsite and had to poke one in the eye with a stick to see if he was really dead. The despairing Soviet troops began to escape north over Lake KiantajГ¤rvi. Finally, at 21:30, Alexei Vinogradov belatedly ordered his division to retreat back to the Soviet border. The Soviets attempted to overrun Finnish roadblocks with armor, losing numerous tanks in frontal attacks, but were unsuccessful. During January 6, heavy fighting occurred all along the Raate road as the Finns continued to break up the enemy forces into smaller pieces. By the following morning, the Finnish troops held strong blocking positions reinforced with mines at several points in the midst of the Soviet column.

At the same time, the fresh 3rd NKVD Border Guard Regiment was just arriving to assist the Soviet 44th Division. Squadron 'MГ¤kiniemi' had started moving towards Haukila a few days before the official attack. The battles focused on Haukila, where most of the Soviet troops were located and where squadrons 'Mandelin' and 'MГ¤kiniemi' attacked. The decisive battle was ordered to begin on January 5, 1940, 08:30. The Finnish 9th Division was split in four squadrons, each named after their commanders. After that, it received orders to destroy the Soviet 44th Division, which was stopped on the road near Haukila, 12 kilometers from Suomussalmi. Battle ДЄt the start of the battle of Raate road, Siilasvuo's 9th Division had already destroyed the Soviet 163rd Division. Furthermore, some battles were fought on the east side, near the border, on the road during the rest of the Winter War. Before the main battle against the 44th Division, the Finns fought retreat battles against a part of 163rd Division on the Raate road. The Raate road was though a battlefield during the entire Winter War. Most military historians date the battle of the Raate road from 1 January to 7 January 1940. Zelentsov's concerns were not understood at Red Army headquarters, as the entire 44th Division was about to move along the Raate road. In response, part of the 44th Division, the 1st Battalion of the 305th Infantry Regiment, and the 3rd Battalion of the 662nd Infantry Regiment, were sent to reinforce the 163rd Division troops near Suomussalmi. The situation was getting worse, and on 20 December the commander of the 163rd Division, Andrei Zelentsov, asked permission to retreat from Suomussalmi.

The 163rd Division was nearly surrounded and suffered major casualties in Suomussalmi.

The Finns also cut the first, northern supply route on 13 December, and the Soviets were forced to open a new supply route through Lake KiantajГ¤rvi.

The action blocked the second, southern supply route to the Soviet 163rd Rifle Division in the town of Suomussalmi. During the battle of Suomussalmi, the Finns cut the Raate road on December 11, 1939.

Battle of raate road