 The Soviet advance was stopped at the Mannerheim Line . Red Army troops suffered from poor morale and a shortage of supplies , eventually refusing to participate in more suicidal frontal attacks . The Finns , led by General Harald Öhquist , decided to launch a counterattack and encircle three Soviet divisions into a motti near Viipuri on 23 December . Öhquist 's plan was bold , and it failed . The Finns lost 1 @,@ 300 men , and the Soviets were later estimated to have lost a similar number . 
