If a crime can't find its perpetrator, then everyone who acquiesced to its occurrence is guilty.
In the post-battle investigation report on a series of orders regarding the Taipale River campaign from the 7th Group Army Command Headquarters, people instinctively ask, "Why launch such a battle?" "Why did the Headquarters intervene in the frontline troops' operations?" "There were many ways to win, so why choose the most foolish and worst approach?"
Interestingly, throughout the top ranks of the 7th Army Group, except for Marshal Yakovlev who never emerged from the Lubyanka Square building again, everyone from the Group Army Headquarters to the division command all unanimously insisted they were opposed to the forced assault and pontoon crossing without artillery and aerial cover, asserting that they advocated for the infantry to remain on standby until further reinforcements arrived. Moreover, most of them could provide evidence for their claims.
