The main Finnish advance continued southwards towards the town of Loimola "(ru)", through which ran the railroad between Sortavala and Petrozavodsk. Loimola was captured by the Finnish forces by July 15. General Talvela pressed his forces further and the 1st Jaegar Brigade finished its 110 km long contested advance when it reached the shore of Lake Ladoga at Koirinoja "(ru)" the next day. This also severed the connections between the Soviet forces in the area. While Talvela continued his advance both further east along the shore of the Lake Ladoga as well as further inland the Soviets had reorganized some of their forces and were rushing reinforcements to the east shore of Lake Ladoga. Soviet 452nd Motorized Infantry Regiment set up defensive positions around the town of Salmi; however advancing Finnish forces encircled the defenders and captured Salmi by 21 July. After the VI Corps reached the 1939 border on July 23 Mannerheim next day ordered a halt to advances further east to and set the forces to preparing defensive positions along the Tuulema River. Crossing of the 1939 border did not sit well with all of the Finns and over 2,000 men initially refused to cross the old border.