War: Winter War
Not due to popular request, but of my own accord, you heard right, of my own accord, I will do the Winter War. This war was part of WWII but I will still do a WWII post, but might split it in two parts. It’ll most likely be the European Front and the Pacific Front. Alright, let’s this rolling, trigger warning, let’s give you war junkies your fix. This “war” only lasted three months, so I’ll do my best. Two months after Nazi Germany took Poland, on November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union sent 5 armies to invade Finland. OF MY OWN ACCORD GODDAMMIT!
Yet, on November 26, 1939 near the Russian village of Mainila near the Soviet Finnish border, a border incident helped give the Soviets a reason to invade. Unknown forces “suspiciously” shelled the village, but of course it was actually the Soviets
On the invasion, the Soviet Union invaded with 21 divisions and at least 450,000 men. All you Fins, calm down, the Russians aren’t invading, I’m just saying the history. Oh God the Soviets bombed Helsinki! Oh, no wait that happened in 1939, sorry to scare you.
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So, Finns, contain the calamity that is your mammaries, by first of December of 1939, the Soviet Union installs a Finnish-Soviet puppet government in Terijoki to be led by Otto Kuusinen
On December 5, after some initial advances, the Soviet Army advances to the Finnish defense on the Mannerheim Line. The Soviets wanted to recreate the successful German tactic of Blitzkrieg, but the problem was that Blitzkrieg was tailored for Western Europe with it’s paved roads and mapped areas. Finland’s road were not paved and its troops were deep in the country. The Soviets advance to the Mannerheim Line, the Finnish had about less than 10 divisions protecting the line
If those of Finnish descent who are reading this have stop drinking vodka and woken up from the heart attack, I am pleased to bring you some good news.
The Line held off the Soviets, which should tell you a lot. First off, the Mannerheim Line, pardon my expression, was a piece of **** . Trenches and about 101 bunkers across Finland, and it showed how much of a piece of **** the Soviet military was, since the Line held off 450,000 attackers with a significantly outnumbered defender for two months. 8 Soviet divisions, tank divisions and battleship support were unable to break through the Finnish defense.
The Finnish winter worsens and the Soviet advance towards Helsinki stalls. But the 164rd and 44th Soviet take the Finnish town of Suomussalmi on December 9. The winter gets even worse and the Soviets are unable to attack Helsinki. Also important to note was that the Fins were better equipped and camouflaged in comparison to the Soviets. They used white winter clothes and skies, while the Soviets used their khakis and the tanks painted in the standard Olive Drab Green, although most soviets did have winter clothes a lot died from frostbite in the town of Suosmussalmi. Finnish forces also used hit and run attacks, and Molotov cocktails against Soviet advances
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On December 15, 1939, Finnish forces hold off another attack from the Soviets on the Line and repel the Army out of Soumussalmi, eventually retaking the town. However, the Soviet 14th army takes the town of Petsamo, but is unable to take the town of Nautsi.
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On December 17 through December 31, parts of the Finnish Army cross into the Soviet side to Karelia and are able to attack the 44th and 163rd Divisions, killing at least 27,000 Russians. On January 2 of 1940, the Soviet offensive of the Karelian Isthmus fails. On January 28, Finnish Forces recover land from Kuhmo against the Soviet 54th Division.
By the first of February 1940, the Soviets enact a new offensive against Finnish positions along the Mannerheim Line, beginning with artillery attack accounting for some 300,000 shells. On February 17, the Soviet Army breaks through the defenses at the Mannerheim Line at Summa, causing Finnish Army units retreat. I will admit, I can feel the angry Fins already.
Finland wanted to surrender already since it had no position to fight and it was taking heavy losses, but Stalin said no and kept pushing forward. Eventually on February 23, the Soviets delivered the terms of surrender to the Finns. The Soviets received part of Karelia, the entire Karelian Isthmus as well as a large swath of land north of Lake Ladoga. The area included Finland's second largest city of Viipuri, much of Finland's industrialized territory, and significant parts still held by Finland's army. They’re also required to help defend the Soviet Union, but eventually the Finns cede over 10% of their land. At the cost of 25,000 Fins and 200,000 Soviets, the Finns surrendered on March 12, 1940.
Simo Häyhä, I know the reason you all wanted me to make this comp was for him, the white death. He was a Finnish sniper, a really bad ass one. 542 confirmed kills, although some put him as low as 505 to as high as 700 kills. Now he was pretty bad ass as he would dress in white and take out Soviet troops who could not see him. Something interesting I read about him was that he did not use a scope as it would have made his head stand up a bit more and the glint would have given him away.
Of my own accord I wanted to do this comp. tl;dr soviet union invaded finland, finland fought back, soviet losses were ten times that of the finns.
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