The Winter War: Valley of Death Mystery Cache
Lis_Its: Due to potentially dangerous situation for players in Russia.
The Winter War: Valley of Death
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Small cache about the history of the Winter War
In memory of nearly 393,000 Russian and Finnish soldiers, dead, injured and missing in action on the fields of Winter War 1939-1940.
Seeking for this cache, you will see the major sites of Soviet-Finnish war (also known as Winter War, Talvisota in Finnish) on the Karelian Isthmus: bunkers, artillery positions, barbed wire and anti-tank obstacles, and, of course, war graves. I do not intend to tell the whole history of Winter War as it is very extensive. But if you would find the cache, you will surely want to get learned more about this war.
NOTICE. The cache is not so easy to find. Length of the hike you have to make to find all the clues is about or even more than 10 kilometers, and the condition of the roads are rather poor for ordinary car or motorcycle. The military training ground, where the cache and clues are located, may be closed during exercises, but in Saturdays and Sundays it is mostly open. No pass is required. Formally the cache is reachable in winter, but some clues may be snow-clad, and the roads become terrible or just miss under the snow. Also, there are plenty of war debris in the area, including misfired but still dangerous shells. Still want to go there? Let`s begin.
At first, perform a little investigation on the history of the Winter War. The answers you need are easy to find in the Internet. The day of month, when the war begins, makes A. The number of month (e.g. January – 1, February – 2 and so forth), when the war ends, makes B. The trail begins at a small granite monument near the shelter, where 33 men of 2nd heavy artillery division (2. Rask. Psto) were killed during the Russian offensive. Most of the victims were Finnish Swedes. The monument was installed by Larsmo commune, Sweden, in 1993. Near the monument one can see artillery dugouts for 152-mm howitzers, remained almost intact after the war. Count sum of figures of the date, when the shelter was destroyed, and get C. Then proceed to Russian war cemetery on the place of former Merkki village, whish was completely destroyed during the war. The road to the village, depending of season and weather, may not be passable by ordinary car of motorcycle! Remains of Soviet soldiers, killed in Summa-Hotinen sector and found by military archeologists, were being buried here since 1980-s until now. Most of the soldiers are unknown. Count the number of letters in the first word of the inscription on a monument (the monument where the steel helmet with red star is installed) and get D. Then go to the ruins of the Finnish Sj-4 bunker, also known as the Poppius fort, which was one of the mainstays of the Finnish defense in the area. This bunker, built in 1937, flanked the valley between it and another big bunker, the Sj-5 ‘Millionaire’. In five days of December, 1939, during the first unsuccessful Soviet offensive, which was ill-prepared and ill-commanded, nearly 7500 Russian men were killed in that valley, which was baptized Valley Of Death. In the point with given coordinates there is some object. What is it? If grave, E=1. If road sign, E=2. If cross, E=3. If bunker, E=4. Now the way leads you through the Walley of Death to the Sormi (‘Finger’ in Finnish) Height. But one can go directly to the next point only by foot, since there are no direct road. If you go by wheels, you are to go at first to the point with coordinates N60 29.483 E29 05.835 and turn RIGHT on the gravel road. Condition of the road is rather bad. At the next intersection turn RIGHT once more. When you reach the next point, you can see the line of Finnish anti-tank obstacles, made of granite. Count the number of rows of this obstacles, and get F. And the last step. This is the entrance to command room of the biggest bunker of the Mannerheim Line – the Sj-5. The entrance have staple-ladder inside the casemate. Count number of staples and get G. If you want to enter the bunker, be very careful, since there are lots of sharp steel armature, torn by explosions. Torch is required.
The cache is located at N60 A.B(D/4)G E29 0F.EC This is black 35-mm film container.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx orgjrra ebbs naq jnyy. Lbh zvtug unir gb ragre gur pnfrzngr gb svaq gur pnpur. Gbepu vf erpbzzraqrq.