Finno-Russian war. Finnish war losses

75 years ago, on November 30, 1939, the Winter War (Soviet-Finnish War) began. The winter war was almost unknown to the inhabitants of Russia for quite a long time. In the 1980s and 1990s, when it was possible to blaspheme the history of Russia-USSR with impunity, the point of view dominated that "bloody Stalin" wanted to seize "innocent" Finland, but the small, but proud northern people rebuffed the northern "evil empire". Thus, Stalin was blamed not only for the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, but also for the fact that Finland was “forced” to enter into an alliance with Nazi Germany in order to resist “aggression” Soviet Union.

Many books and articles denounced the Soviet Mordor, which attacked little Finland. They called absolutely fantastic numbers of Soviet losses, reported on the heroic Finnish machine gunners and snipers, the stupidity of Soviet generals, and much more. Any reasonable reasons for the actions of the Kremlin were completely denied. They say that the irrational malice of the "bloody dictator" is to blame.

In order to understand why Moscow went to this war, it is necessary to remember the history of Finland. Finnish tribes for a long time were on the periphery of the Russian state and the Swedish kingdom. Some of them became part of Russia, became "Russians". The fragmentation and weakening of Russia led to the fact that the Finnish tribes were conquered and subjugated by Sweden. The Swedes pursued a colonization policy in the traditions of the West. Finland did not have administrative or even cultural autonomy. The official language was Swedish, it was spoken by the nobility and the entire educated population.

Russia , having taken Finland from Sweden in 1809, in fact, gave the Finns statehood, allowed the creation of basic state institutions, and the formation of a national economy. Finland received its own authorities, currency and even an army as part of Russia. At the same time, the Finns did not pay general taxes and did not fight for Russia. The Finnish language, while maintaining the status of the Swedish language, received the status of the state language. The authorities of the Russian Empire practically did not interfere in the affairs of the Grand Duchy of Finland. The policy of Russification in Finland was not carried out for a long time (some elements appeared only in the late period, but it was already too late). The resettlement of Russians in Finland was actually prohibited. Moreover, the Russians living in the Grand Duchy were in an unequal position in relation to the local residents. In addition, in 1811, the Vyborg province was transferred to the Grand Duchy, which included the lands that Russia recaptured from Sweden in the 18th century. Moreover, Vyborg was of great military and strategic importance in relation to the capital of the Russian Empire - Petersburg. Thus, the Finns in the Russian “prison of peoples” lived better than the Russians themselves, who bore all the hardships of building an empire and defending it from numerous enemies.

The collapse of the Russian Empire gave Finland its independence. Finland thanked Russia by first entering into an alliance with Kaiser Germany, and then with the powers of the Entente ( Read more in a series of articles - How Russia Created Finnish Statehood; Part 2; Finland allied with Imperial Germany against Russia; Part 2; Finland is in alliance with the Entente against Russia. First Soviet-Finnish war; Part 2 ). On the eve of World War II, Finland was in a hostile position towards Russia, leaning towards an alliance with the Third Reich.

For the majority of Russian citizens, Finland is associated with a "small cozy European country", with civilians and cultural residents. This was facilitated by a kind of "political correctness" in relation to Finland, which reigned in the late Soviet propaganda. Finland, after the defeat in the war of 1941-1944, learned a good lesson and made the most of the benefits of being close to the huge Soviet Union. Therefore, in the USSR they did not remember that the Finns attacked the USSR three times in 1918, 1921 and 1941. They chose to forget about this for the sake of good relations.

Finland was not a peaceful neighbor of Soviet Russia.The separation of Finland from Russia was not peaceful. The Civil War began between the white and red Finns. White was supported by Germany. The Soviet government refrained from large-scale support for the Reds. Therefore, with the help of the Germans, the White Finns prevailed. The victors created a network of concentration camps, unleashed the White Terror, during which tens of thousands of people died (during the hostilities themselves, only a few thousand people died on both sides).In addition to the Reds and their supporters, the Finns "cleaned up" the Russian community in Finland.Moreover, the majority of Russians in Finland, including refugees from Russia who fled from the Bolsheviks, did not support the Reds and Soviet power. Exterminated former officers of the tsarist army, their families, representatives of the bourgeoisie, intellectuals, numerous students, the entire Russian population indiscriminately, women, old people and children . Significant material assets belonging to the Russians were confiscated.

The Finns were going to put a German king on the throne of Finland. However, Germany's defeat in the war led to Finland becoming a republic. After that, Finland began to focus on the powers of the Entente. Finland was not satisfied with independence, the Finnish elite wanted more, claiming Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula, and the most radical figures made plans to build a "Great Finland" with the inclusion of Arkhangelsk, and Russian lands up to the Northern Urals, Ob and Yenisei (the Urals and Western Siberia are considered the ancestral home of the Finno-Ugric language family).

The leadership of Finland, like Poland, was not satisfied with the existing borders, preparing for war. Poland had territorial claims to almost all of its neighbors - Lithuania, the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Germany, the Polish lords dreamed of restoring a great power "from sea to sea." This is more or less known in Russia. But few people know that the Finnish elite raved about a similar idea, the creation of a "Greater Finland". The ruling elite also set the goal of creating a Greater Finland. The Finns did not want to get involved with the Swedes, but they claimed Soviet lands, which were larger than Finland itself. The appetites of the radicals were boundless, stretching all the way to the Urals and further to the Ob and Yenisei.

And for starters, they wanted to capture Karelia. Soviet Russia was torn apart by the Civil War, and the Finns wanted to take advantage of this. So, in February 1918, General K. Mannerheim declared that "he would not sheathe his sword until East Karelia was liberated from the Bolsheviks." Mannerheim planned to seize Russian lands along the line of the White Sea - Lake Onega - the Svir River - Lake Ladoga, which was supposed to facilitate the defense of new lands. It was also planned to include the region of Pechenga (Petsamo) and the Kola Peninsula into Greater Finland. They wanted to separate Petrograd from Soviet Russia and make it a "free city" like Danzig. May 15, 1918 Finland declared war on Russia. Even before the official declaration of war, Finnish volunteer detachments began to conquer Eastern Karelia.

Soviet Russia was busy fighting on other fronts, so she did not have the strength to defeat her arrogant neighbor. However, the Finnish attack on Petrozavodsk and Olonets, the campaign against Petrograd through the Karelian Isthmus failed. And after the defeat of the white army of Yudenich, the Finns had to make peace. From July 10 to July 14, 1920, peace negotiations were held in Tartu. The Finns demanded that Karelia be handed over to them, the Soviet side refused. In the summer, the Red Army drove the last Finnish detachments out of Karelian territory. The Finns held only two volosts - Rebola and Porosozero. This made them more accommodating. There was no hope for Western help either; the Entente powers had already realized that the intervention in Soviet Russia had failed. On October 14, 1920, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed between the RSFSR and Finland. The Finns were able to get the Pechenga volost, the western part of the Rybachy Peninsula, and most of the Sredny Peninsula and the islands, west of the boundary line in the Barents Sea. Rebola and Porosozero were returned to Russia.

This did not satisfy Helsinki. The plans for the construction of "Greater Finland" were not abandoned, they were only postponed. In 1921, Finland again tried to solve the Karelian issue by force. Finnish volunteer detachments, without declaring war, invaded Soviet territory, the Second Soviet-Finnish War began. Soviet forces in February 1922 fully liberated the territory of Karelia from invaders. In March, an agreement was signed on the adoption of measures to ensure the inviolability of the Soviet-Finnish border.

But even after this failure, the Finns did not cool down. The situation on the Finnish border was constantly tense. Many, remembering the USSR, imagine a huge mighty power that defeated the Third Reich, took Berlin, sent the first man into space and made the entire Western world tremble. Like, how little Finland could threaten the huge northern "evil empire." However, the USSR 1920-1930s. was a great power only in terms of territory and its potential. The real policy of Moscow then was extra-cautious. In fact, for quite a long time, Moscow, until it got stronger, pursued an extremely flexible policy, most often giving in, not climbing on the rampage.

For example, the Japanese plundered our waters near the Kamchatka Peninsula for quite a long time. Under the protection of their warships, Japanese fishermen not only fished out all the living creatures from our waters worth millions of gold rubles, but also freely landed on our shores for repair, processing of fish, obtaining fresh water, etc. Until Khasan and Khalkin-gol, when The USSR gained strength thanks to successful industrialization, received a powerful military-industrial complex and strong armed forces, the red commanders had strict orders to contain Japanese troops only on their territory, without crossing the border. A similar situation was in the Russian North, where Norwegian fishermen fished in the internal waters of the USSR. And when the Soviet border guards tried to protest, Norway took warships to the White Sea.

Of course, in Finland they no longer wanted to fight the USSR alone. Finland has become a friend of any power hostile to Russia. As the first Finnish Prime Minister Per Evind Svinhufvud noted: "Any enemy of Russia must always be a friend of Finland." Against this background, Finland made friends even with Japan. Japanese officers began to come to Finland for training. In Finland, as in Poland, they were afraid of any strengthening of the USSR, since their leadership based their calculations on the fact that a war of some great Western power with Russia was inevitable (or a war between Japan and the USSR), and they would be able to profit from Russian lands . Inside Finland, the press was constantly hostile to the USSR, conducted almost open propaganda for attacking Russia and seizing its territories. On the Soviet-Finnish border, all kinds of provocations constantly took place on land, at sea and in the air.

After the hopes for an early conflict between Japan and the USSR did not come true, the Finnish leadership headed for a close alliance with Germany. The two countries were linked by close military-technical cooperation. With the consent of Finland, a German intelligence and counterintelligence center (the Cellarius Bureau) was created in the country. His main task was to carry out intelligence work against the USSR. First of all, the Germans were interested in data on the Baltic Fleet, formations of the Leningrad Military District and industry in the northwestern part of the USSR. By the beginning of 1939, Finland, with the help of German specialists, built a network of military airfields, which was capable of receiving 10 times more aircraft than the Finnish Air Force had. Very indicative is the fact that even before the start of the war of 1939-1940. The identification mark of the Finnish Air Force and armored forces was the Finnish swastika.

Thus, by the beginning of the big war in Europe, we had a clearly hostile, aggressive-minded state on the northwestern borders, whose elite dreamed of building a “Great Finland at the expense of Russian (Soviet) lands and was ready to be friends with any potential enemy of the USSR. Helsinki was ready to fight with the USSR both in alliance with Germany and Japan, and with the help of England and France.

The Soviet leadership understood everything perfectly and, seeing the approach of a new world war, sought to secure the northwestern borders. Of particular importance was Leningrad - the second capital of the USSR, a powerful industrial, scientific and cultural center, as well as the main base of the Baltic Fleet. Finnish long-range artillery could fire on the city from its border, and ground forces could reach Leningrad in one jerk. The fleet of a potential enemy (Germany or England and France) could easily break through to Kronstadt, and then to Leningrad. To protect the city, it was necessary to move the land border on land, as well as to restore the distant line of defense at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, having received a place for fortifications on the northern and southern shores. The largest fleet of the Soviet Union, the Baltic, was actually blocked in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. The Baltic Fleet had a single base - Kronstadt. Kronstadt and Soviet ships could be hit by long-range coastal defense guns in Finland. This situation could not satisfy the Soviet leadership.

With Estonia, the issue was resolved peacefully. In September 1939, an agreement on mutual assistance was concluded between the USSR and Estonia. A Soviet military contingent was introduced into the territory of Estonia. The USSR received the rights to create military bases on the islands of Ezel and Dago, in Paldiski and Haapsalu.

It was not possible to agree with Finland in an amicable way. Although negotiations began in 1938. Moscow has tried literally everything. She offered to conclude an agreement on mutual assistance and jointly defend the Gulf of Finland zone, give the USSR the opportunity to create a base on the Finnish coast (Hanko Peninsula), sell or lease several islands in the Gulf of Finland. It was also proposed to move the border near Leningrad. As compensation, the Soviet Union offered much larger areas of Eastern Karelia, preferential loans, economic benefits, etc. However, all proposals were categorically refused by the Finnish side. It is impossible not to note the instigating role of London. The British told the Finns that it was necessary to take a firm stand and not succumb to pressure from Moscow. This encouraged Helsinki.

Finland started general mobilization and the evacuation of the civilian population from the border areas. At the same time, left-wing activists were arrested. Incidents have become more frequent at the border. So, on November 26, 1939, there was a border incident near the village of Mainila. According to Soviet data, Finnish artillery shelled Soviet territory. The Finnish side declared the USSR to be the culprit of the provocation. On November 28, the Soviet government announced the denunciation of the Non-Aggression Pact with Finland. On November 30, the war began. Its results are known. Moscow solved the problem of ensuring the security of Leningrad and the Baltic Fleet. We can say that only thanks to the Winter War, the enemy was not able during the Great Patriotic War capture the second capital of the Soviet Union.

Finland is currently drifting towards the West, NATO again, so it's worth keeping a close eye on it. The "cozy and cultured" country can again recall the plans of "Great Finland" up to the Northern Urals. Finland and Sweden are thinking about joining NATO, and the Baltic states and Poland are literally turning into advanced NATO springboards for aggression against Russia before our very eyes. And Ukraine is becoming a tool for war with Russia in the southwestern direction.

The Soviet-Finnish war and Finland's participation in World War II are extremely mythologized. A special place in this mythology is occupied by the losses of the parties. Very small in Finland and huge in the USSR. Mannerheim wrote that the Russians walked through the minefields, in tight ranks and holding hands. Any Russian person who has recognized the incommensurability of losses, it turns out, must simultaneously admit that our grandfathers were idiots.

Again I will quote the Finnish commander-in-chief Mannerheim:
« It happened that the Russians in the battles of early December marched with songs in dense rows - and even holding hands - into the minefields of the Finns, not paying attention to the explosions and the accurate fire of the defenders.

Do you represent these cretins?

After such statements, the loss figures named by Mannerheim are not surprising. He counted 24923 people killed and died from wounds of the Finns. Russian, in his opinion, killed 200 thousand people.

Why pity these Russes?

Engle, E. Paanenen L. in the book "Soviet-Finnish War. Breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line 1939 - 1940". with reference to Nikita Khrushchev, they give the following data:

"Out of a total of 1.5 million people sent to fight in Finland, the USSR's losses in killed (according to Khrushchev) amounted to 1 million people. The Russians lost about 1,000 aircraft, 2,300 tanks and armored vehicles, as well as a huge amount of various military equipment ... "

Thus, the Russians won, filling the Finns with "meat".
About the reasons for the defeat, Mannerheim writes as follows:
"At the final stage of the war, the weakest point was not the lack of materials, but the lack of manpower."

Stop!

Why?
According to Mannerheim, the Finns lost only 24 thousand killed and 43 thousand wounded. And after such meager losses, Finland began to lack manpower?

Something doesn't add up!

But let's see what other researchers write and write about the losses of the parties.

For example, Pykhalov in The Great Slandered War claims:
« Of course, during the hostilities, the Soviet Armed Forces suffered significantly greater losses than the enemy. According to the name lists, in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. 126,875 soldiers of the Red Army were killed, died or went missing. The losses of the Finnish troops amounted, according to official figures, to 21,396 killed and 1,434 missing. However, another figure of Finnish losses is often found in Russian literature - 48,243 killed, 43,000 wounded. The primary source of this figure is the translation of an article by Lieutenant Colonel of the General Staff of Finland Helge Seppäl, published in the newspaper “Za rubezhom” No. 48 for 1989, originally published in the Finnish edition of “Maailma ya me”. Regarding the Finnish losses, Seppälä writes the following:
“Finland lost in the “winter war” more than 23,000 people killed; over 43,000 people were wounded. During the bombing, including of merchant ships, 25,243 people were killed.

The last figure - 25,243 killed in the bombing - is in doubt. Perhaps there is a newspaper typo here. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to read the Finnish original of Seppälä's article.

Mannerheim, as you know, estimated the losses from the bombing:
"More than seven hundred civilians were killed and twice as many were injured."

The largest numbers of Finnish losses are given by the Military History Journal No. 4, 1993:
“So, according to far from complete data, the losses of the Red Army in it amounted to 285,510 people (72,408 killed, 17,520 missing, 13,213 frostbitten and 240 shell-shocked). The losses of the Finnish side, according to official figures, amounted to 95 thousand killed and 45 thousand wounded.

And finally, Finnish losses on Wikipedia:
Finnish data:
25,904 killed
43,557 wounded
1000 prisoners
According to Russian sources:
up to 95 thousand soldiers killed
45 thousand wounded
806 captured

As for the calculation of Soviet losses, the mechanism of these calculations is given in detail in the book Russia in the Wars of the 20th Century. The Book of Losses. In the number of irretrievable losses of the Red Army and the fleet, even those with whom relatives cut off contact in 1939-1940 are taken into account.
That is, there is no evidence that they died in the Soviet-Finnish war. And our researchers ranked these among the losses of more than 25 thousand people.
Who and how considered the Finnish losses is absolutely incomprehensible. It is known that by the end Soviet-Finnish war the total number of Finnish armed forces reached 300 thousand people. The loss of 25 thousand fighters is less than 10% of the strength of the Armed Forces.
But Mannerheim writes that by the end of the war, Finland experienced a shortage of manpower. However, there is another version. There are few Finns in general, and even insignificant losses for such a small country are a threat to the gene pool.
However, in the book “Results of the Second World War. Conclusions of the vanquished ”Professor Helmut Aritz estimates the population of Finland in 1938 at 3 million 697 thousand people.
The irretrievable loss of 25 thousand people does not pose any threat to the gene pool of the nation.
According to the calculation of Aritz, the Finns lost in 1941 - 1945. more than 84 thousand people. And after that, the population of Finland by 1947 increased by 238 thousand people!!!

At the same time, Mannerheim, describing the year 1944, again cries in his memoirs about the lack of people:
“Finland was gradually forced to mobilize its trained reserves up to the age of 45, which did not happen in any of the countries, even in Germany.”

What kind of cunning manipulations the Finns are doing with their losses - I don’t know. In Wikipedia, Finnish losses in the period 1941 - 1945 are indicated as 58 thousand 715 people. Losses in the war of 1939 - 1940 - 25 thousand 904 people.
In total, 84 thousand 619 people.
But the Finnish site http://kronos.narc.fi/menehtyneet/ contains data on 95 thousand Finns who died in the period 1939-1945. Even if we add here the victims of the “Lapland War” (according to Wikipedia, about 1000 people), the numbers still do not converge.

Vladimir Medinsky in his book “War. Myths of the USSR claims that hot Finnish historians pulled off a simple trick: they counted only army casualties. And the losses of numerous paramilitary formations, such as shutskor, were not included in the general statistics of losses. And they had a lot of paramilitaries.
How much - Medinsky does not explain.

Whatever the case, two explanations arise:
The first - if the Finnish data on their losses are correct, then the Finns are the most cowardly people in the world, because they "raised their paws" almost without suffering losses.
The second - if we consider that the Finns are a brave and courageous people, then Finnish historians simply underestimated their own losses on a large scale.

Little-known details of the military campaign, which was overshadowed by the Great Patriotic War
This year, on November 30, it will be 76 years since the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, which in our country and beyond its borders is often called the Winter War. Unleashed right on the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the Winter War remained in its shadow for a very long time. And not only because the memories of it were quickly eclipsed by the tragedies of the Great Patriotic War, but also because of all the wars in which the Soviet Union participated in one way or another, this was the only war initiated by Moscow.

Push the border to the west

The Winter War became in the truest sense of the word "the continuation of politics by other means." After all, it began immediately after several rounds of peace negotiations stalled, during which the USSR tried to move the northern border as far as possible from Leningrad and Murmansk, in return offering Finland lands in Karelia. The immediate reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the Mainilsky incident: artillery shelling of Soviet troops on the border with Finland on November 26, 1939, which killed four servicemen. Moscow laid responsibility for the incident on Helsinki, although later the guilt of the Finnish side was subjected to reasonable doubts.
Four days later, the Red Army crossed the border of Finland, thus starting the Winter War. Its first stage - from November 30, 1939 to February 10, 1940 - was extremely unsuccessful for the Soviet Union. Despite all efforts, Soviet troops failed to break through the Finnish defense line, which by that time was already called the Mannerheim line with might and main. In addition, during this period, the shortcomings were most clearly manifested existing system organizations of the Red Army: poor controllability at the middle and junior level and lack of initiative among commanders of this level, poor communication between units, types and branches of troops.

The second stage of the war, which began on February 11, 1940 after a massive ten-day preparation, ended in victory. Until the end of February, the Red Army managed to reach all those lines that it planned to reach before the new year, and push the Finns back to the second line of defense, constantly creating a threat of encirclement of their troops. On March 7, 1940, the Finnish government sent a delegation to Moscow to participate in peace negotiations, which ended with the conclusion of a peace treaty on March 12. It stipulated that all the territorial claims of the USSR (the same ones that were discussed at the negotiations on the eve of the war) would be satisfied. As a result, the border on the Karelian Isthmus moved away from Leningrad by 120–130 kilometers, the Soviet Union received the entire Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg, the Vyborg Bay with islands, the western and northern coasts of Lake Ladoga, a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland, part of the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas, and the Hanko and the sea area around it were leased to the USSR for 30 years.

For the Red Army, victory in the Winter War came at a high price: according to various sources, irretrievable losses ranged from 95,000 to 167,000 people, and about 200,000 to 300,000 more were wounded and frostbitten. In addition, Soviet troops suffered heavy losses in equipment, primarily in tanks: out of almost 2,300 tanks that went into battle at the beginning of the war, about 650 were completely destroyed and 1,500 were knocked out. In addition, moral losses were also heavy: both the command of the army and the whole country, despite massive propaganda, understood that the military force of the USSR needed urgent modernization. It began during the Winter War, but, alas, was never completed until June 22, 1941.

Between truth and fiction

The history and details of the Winter War, quickly dimmed in the light of the events of the Great Patriotic War, have since been reviewed and rewritten more than once, refined and rechecked. As happens with any major historical event, the Russo-Finnish war of 1939-1940 also became the object of political speculation both in the Soviet Union and beyond - and remains so to this day. After the collapse of the USSR, it became fashionable to review the results of all key events in the history of the Soviet Union, and the Winter War was no exception. In post-Soviet historiography, both the numbers of losses of the Red Army and the number of destroyed tanks and aircraft increased significantly, while Finnish losses, on the contrary, were significantly underestimated (despite even the official data of the Finnish side, which remained practically unchanged against this background).

Unfortunately, the further the Winter War moves away from us in time, the less likely it is that someday we will know the whole truth about it. The last direct participants and eyewitnesses die, for the sake of political winds, documents and material evidence are shuffled and disappear, and even new ones, often fake ones, appear. But some facts about the Winter War are already so firmly fixed in world history that they cannot be changed for any reason. We will describe ten of the most notable of them below.

Mannerheim line

Under this name, a strip of fortifications erected by Finland on a 135-kilometer stretch along the border with the USSR went down in history. The flanks of this line rested on the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. At the same time, the Mannerheim Line had a 95-kilometer depth and consisted of three consecutive defense lines. Since the line, despite its name, began to be built long before Baron Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim became the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, the main ones in its composition were the old single-abrasion long-term firing points (bunkers), capable of conducting only frontal fire. There were about seven dozen of them in the line. Another fifty bunkers were more modern and could fire on the flanks of the attacking troops. In addition, obstacle lines and anti-tank structures were actively used. In particular, in the security zone there were 220 km of wire obstacles in several dozen rows, 80 km of anti-tank granite gouges, as well as anti-tank ditches, walls and minefields. Official historiography on both sides of the conflict emphasized that the Mannerheim Line was practically insurmountable. However, after the command system of the Red Army was rebuilt, and the tactics of storming the fortifications were revised and linked to preliminary artillery preparation and tank support, it took only three days to break through.

The day after the start of the Winter War, Moscow radio announced the creation of the Finnish Democratic Republic in the city of Terijoki on the Karelian Isthmus. It lasted as long as the war itself went on: until March 12, 1940. During this time, only three countries in the world agreed to recognize the newly formed state: Mongolia, Tuva (at that time not yet part of the Soviet Union) and the USSR itself. Actually, the government of the new state was formed from its citizens and Finnish emigrants living on Soviet territory. He headed it, becoming at the same time Minister of Foreign Affairs, one of the leaders of the Third Communist International, a member Communist Party Finland Otto Kuusinen. On the second day of its existence, the Finnish Democratic Republic concluded an agreement on mutual assistance and friendship with the USSR. Among its main points, all the territorial requirements of the Soviet Union, which caused the war with Finland, were taken into account.

Diversionary war

Insofar as Finnish army entered the war, although mobilized, but clearly losing the Red Army both in terms of numbers and technical equipment, the Finns relied on defense. And its essential element was the so-called mine warfare - more precisely, the technology of continuous mining. As Soviet soldiers and officers who participated in the Winter War recalled, they could not even imagine that almost everything that the human eye can see can be mined. “Stairs and thresholds of houses, wells, forest clearings and edges, roadsides were literally littered with mines. Here and there were scattered bicycles, suitcases, gramophones, watches, wallets, cigarette cases thrown as if in a hurry. As soon as they were moved, an explosion was heard, ”they describe their impressions in this way. The actions of the Finnish saboteurs were so successful and demonstrative that many of their techniques were promptly adopted by the Soviet military and special services. It can be said that the guerrilla and sabotage war that unfolded a year and a half later in the occupied territory of the USSR was to a large extent conducted according to the Finnish model.

Baptism of fire heavy tanks KV

A new generation of single-turret heavy tanks appeared shortly before the start of the Winter War. The first copy, which was actually a smaller version of the SMK heavy tank - "Sergey Mironovich Kirov" - and differed from it by the presence of only one turret, was made in August 1939. It was this tank that ended up in the Winter War in order to be tested in a real battle, which it went into on December 17 during the breakthrough of the Hottinensky fortified area of ​​the Mannerheim Line. It is noteworthy that out of the six crew members of the first KV, three were testers at the Kirov Plant, which was engaged in the production of new tanks. The tests were considered successful, the tank showed itself with the best side, but the 76-mm cannon with which he was armed turned out to be not enough to deal with pillboxes. As a result, the KV-2 tank, armed with a 152-mm howitzer, was hastily developed, which no longer had time to take part in the Winter War, but entered the history of world tank building forever.

How England and France prepared to fight the USSR

London and Paris supported Helsinki from the very beginning, although they did not go beyond military-technical assistance. In total, England and France, together with other countries, handed over to Finland 350 combat aircraft, approximately 500 field guns, over 150,000 firearms, ammunition and other ammunition. In addition, volunteers from Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, France and Sweden fought on the side of Finland. When, at the end of February, the Red Army finally broke the resistance of the Finnish army and began to develop an offensive inland, Paris began to openly prepare for direct participation in the war. On March 2, France announced its readiness to send an expeditionary force to Finland, consisting of 50,000 soldiers and 100 bombers. After that, Britain also announced its readiness to transfer its expeditionary force of 50 bombers to the Finns. A meeting on this issue was scheduled for March 12 - and did not take place, because on the same day Moscow and Helsinki signed a peace treaty.

There is no salvation from the "cuckoos"?

The Winter War was the first campaign in which snipers participated en masse. And, one can say, only on one side - Finnish. It was the Finns in the winter of 1939-1940 who demonstrated how effective snipers can be in modern warfare. The exact number of snipers remains unknown to this day: as a separate military specialty, they will begin to be allocated only after the start of World War II, and even then not in all armies. However, it is safe to say that the number of well-aimed shooters from the Finnish side was hundreds. True, not all of them used special rifles with a sniper scope. So, the most productive sniper of the Finnish army, Corporal Simo Häyhä, who in just three months of hostilities brought the number of his victims to five hundred, used an ordinary rifle with an open sight. As for the "cuckoos" - snipers shooting from treetops, about which an incredible number of myths circulate, their existence is not confirmed by the documents of either the Finnish or the Soviet side. Although stories about "cuckoos" tied or chained to trees and freezing there with rifles in their hands, there were many in the Red Army.

The first Soviet submachine guns of the Degtyarev system - PPD - were put into service in 1934. However, they did not have time to seriously expand their production. On the one hand, for a long time the command of the Red Army seriously considered this type of firearm useful only in police operations or as an auxiliary one, and on the other hand, the first Soviet submachine gun was notable for its design complexity and manufacturing difficulty. As a result, the plan for the release of PPD for 1939 was withdrawn, and all copies already issued were transferred to warehouses. And only after the Red Army encountered the Finnish Suomi submachine guns, of which there were almost three hundred in each Finnish division, during the Winter War, the Soviet military began to hastily return weapons so useful in close combat.

Marshal Mannerheim: who served Russia and fought with her

The successful opposition to the Soviet Union in the Winter War in Finland was considered and is considered primarily the merit of the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army - Field Marshal Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim. Meanwhile, until October 1917, this outstanding military leader held the rank of lieutenant general of the Russian Imperial Army and was one of the most prominent divisional commanders of the Russian army during the First World War. By this time, Baron Mannerheim, a graduate of the Nikolaev Cavalry School and the Officer Cavalry School, had participated in Russo-Japanese War and the organization of a unique expedition to Asia in 1906-1908, which made him a member of the Russian Geographical Society - and one of the most prominent Russian intelligence officers of the early twentieth century. After the October Revolution, Baron Mannerheim, keeping the oath to Emperor Nicholas II, whose portrait, by the way, hung on the wall of his office all his life, resigned and moved to Finland, in whose history he played such an outstanding role. It is noteworthy that Mannerheim retained his political influence after the Winter War, and after Finland's withdrawal from World War II, becoming the first president of the country - from 1944 to 1946.

Where was the Molotov cocktail invented?

Molotov cocktail became one of the symbols of the heroic resistance of the Soviet people fascist armies at the first stage of the Great Patriotic War. But it must be admitted that such a simple and effective anti-tank weapon invented not at all in Russia. Alas, the Soviet soldiers, who used this tool so successfully in 1941-1942, first had a chance to test it on themselves. The Finnish army, which did not have an adequate supply of anti-tank grenades, faced with tank companies and battalions of the Red Army, was simply forced to resort to Molotov cocktails. During the Winter War, the Finnish army received more than 500 thousand bottles with a mixture that the Finns themselves called the "Molotov cocktail", hinting that they had prepared this dish for one of the leaders of the USSR, who in a polemical fervor promised that the very next day after the start of the war, he will dine in Helsinki.

Who fought against their

During the Russian-Finnish war of 1939-1940, both sides - both the Soviet Union and Finland - used units in which collaborators served as part of their troops. On the Soviet side, the Finnish People's Army participated in the battles - the armed force of the Finnish Democratic Republic, recruited from Finns and Karelians living in the USSR and serving in the troops of the Leningrad Military District. By February 1940, its number reached 25 thousand people, who, according to the plan of the USSR leadership, were to replace the occupying troops on Finnish territory. And Russian volunteers fought on the side of Finland, recruited and trained by the white émigré organization "Russian All-Military Union" (ROVS), created by Baron Pyotr Wrangel. In total, from Russian emigrants and some of the captured Red Army soldiers who expressed a desire to fight against former comrades, six detachments were formed with a total number of about 200 people, but only one of them, in which 30 people served, for several days at the very end of the Winter participated in the fighting during the war.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were crisis relations between the USSR and Finland. For a number of years, the Soviet-Finnish war, alas, was not brilliant, and did not bring glory to Russian weapons. And now consider the actions of the two sides, which, alas, could not agree.

It was alarming in these last days of November 1939 in Finland: the war continued in Western Europe, it was restless on the border with the Soviet Union, the population was being evacuated from large cities, newspapers stubbornly repeated about the evil intentions of the eastern neighbor. Part of the population believed these rumors, the other hoped that the war would bypass Finland.

But the morning of November 30, 1939, cleared everything up. The coastal defense guns of Kronstadt, which opened fire on the territory of Finland at 8 o'clock, marked the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish War.

The conflict was brewing. For two decades between

There was mutual distrust between the USSR and Finland. If Finland was afraid of possible great-power aspirations on the part of Stalin, whose actions as a dictator were often unpredictable, then the Soviet leadership was not without reason concerned about Helsinki's largest connections with London, Paris and Berlin. That is why, in order to ensure the security of Leningrad, during the negotiations that took place from February 1937 to November 1939, the Soviet Union offered Finland various options. Due to the fact that the Finnish government did not consider it possible to accept these proposals, the Soviet leadership took the initiative to resolve the controversial issue by force, with the help of weapons.

The fighting in the first period of the war proceeded unfavorably for the Soviet side. The calculation on the transience of achieving the goal with small forces was not crowned with success. Finnish troops, relying on the fortified Mannerheim Line, using a variety of tactics and skillfully using terrain conditions, forced the Soviet command to concentrate larger forces and launch a general offensive in February 1940, which led to victory and the conclusion of peace on March 12, 1940.

The 105-day war was hard on both sides. Soviet wars, following the orders of the command, in the difficult conditions of the snowy winter off-road, they showed mass heroism. In the course of the war, both Finland and the Soviet Union achieved their goals not only by military actions of the troops, but also by political means, which, as it turned out, not only did not weaken mutual intolerance, but, on the contrary, aggravated it.

The political nature of the Soviet-Finnish war did not fit into the usual classification, limited by the ethical framework of the concepts of "just" and "unjust" war. It was unnecessary for both sides and mostly unrighteous on our part. In this regard, one cannot but agree with the statements of such prominent statesmen of Finland as Presidents J. Paasikivi and U. Kekkonen that Finland's fault was its intransigence during pre-war negotiations with the Soviet Union, and the latter's fault was that he did not use to the end political methods. He gave priority to a military solution to the dispute.

The illegal actions of the Soviet leadership are that the Soviet troops, without declaring war on a broad front, crossed the border, violated the Soviet-Finnish peace treaty of 1920 and the non-aggression pact of 1932, extended in 1934. The Soviet government also violated its own convention, concluded with neighboring states in July 1933. Finland also joined this document at that time. It defined the concept of aggression and clearly stated that no considerations of a political, military, economic or any other nature could justify or justify a threat, blockade or attack against another participating State.

By signing the name of the document, the Soviet government did not allow that Finland itself could commit aggression against its great neighbor. She feared only that her territory could be used by third countries for anti-Soviet purposes. But since such a condition was not stipulated in these documents, then, therefore, the contracting countries did not recognize its possibility and they had to respect the letter and spirit of these agreements.

Of course, Finland's unilateral rapprochement with Western countries, and especially with Germany, burdened Soviet-Finnish relations. Post-war President of Finland U. Kekkonen considered this cooperation to be a logical consequence of foreign policy aspirations for the first decade of Finland's independence. The common starting point of these aspirations, as considered in Helsinki, was the threat from the east. Therefore, Finland sought to ensure the support of other countries in crisis situations. She carefully guarded the image of the "outpost of the West" and avoided bilateral settlement of contentious issues with her eastern neighbor.

Due to these circumstances, the Soviet government allowed the possibility of a military conflict with Finland since the spring of 1936. It was then that the decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on the resettlement of the civilian population was adopted

(we were talking about 3400 farms) from the Karelian Isthmus for the construction of training grounds and other military facilities here. During 1938, the General Staff, at least three times, raised the issue of transferring the forest area on the Karelian Isthmus to the military department for defense construction. On September 13, 1939, the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Voroshilov specifically addressed the Chairman of the Economic Council under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR Molotov with a proposal to intensify these works. However, at the same time, diplomatic measures were taken to prevent military clashes. Thus, in February 1937, the first visit to Moscow by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland since its independence, R. Hopsty, took place. In reports about his conversations with the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR M. M. Litvinov, it was said that

“within the framework of the existing Soviet-Finnish agreements, it is possible

uninterruptedly develop and strengthen friendly good-neighborly relations between the two states, and that both governments strive and will strive for this.

But a year passed, and in April 1938 the Soviet government considered

promptly invite the Government of Finland to negotiate

regarding the joint development of measures to strengthen security

sea ​​and land approaches to Leningrad and the borders of Finland and

to conclude an agreement on mutual assistance for this purpose. Negotiation,

lasting several months, were inconclusive. Finland

this proposal was rejected.

Soon for informal talks on behalf of the Soviet

government in Helsinki arrived B.E. Matte. He brought fundamentally

new Soviet proposal, which was as follows: Finland concedes

to the Soviet Union a certain territory on the Karelian Isthmus,

receiving in return a large Soviet territory and compensation for financial

expenses for the resettlement of Finnish citizens of the ceded territory. Answer

the Finnish side was negative with the same rationale - sovereignty and

Finnish neutrality.

In this situation, Finland took defensive measures. It was

military construction was strengthened, exercises were held, at which

The Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, General F.

Halder, the troops received new models of weapons and military equipment.

Obviously, it was these measures that gave rise to the commander of the second rank K.A.

Meretskov, who in March 1939 was appointed commander of the troops

Leningrad Military District, to assert that the Finnish troops from the very

the beginnings allegedly had an offensive mission on the Karelian Isthmus with

the goal is to wear down the Soviet troops, and then strike at Leningrad.

France or Germany, occupied with the war, could not provide support

Finland, another round of Soviet-Finnish negotiations began. They

took place in Moscow. As before, the Finnish delegation was headed by

Paasikivi, but at the second stage the minister was included in the delegation

Finance Gunner. Rumors circulated in Helsinki at the time that the Social Democrat

Ganner had known Stalin since pre-revolutionary times in

Helsinki, and even once did him a favor.

During the negotiations, Stalin and Molotov withdrew their previous proposal

on the lease of islands in the Gulf of Finland, but offered the Finns to push back

border for several tens of kilometers from Leningrad and rent for

creation of a naval base on the Heiko Peninsula, yielding twice to Finland

a large territory in Soviet Karelia.

non-aggression and recall of their diplomatic representatives from Finland.

When the war began, Finland turned to the League of Nations with a request for

support. The League of Nations, in turn, called on the USSR to stop military

actions, but received an answer that the Soviet country was not conducting any

war with Finland.

organizations. Many countries have raised funds for Finland or

provided loans, in particular the United States and Sweden. Most weapons

delivered by the UK and France, but the equipment was mostly

obsolete. Sweden's contribution was the most valuable: 80,000 rifles, 85

anti-tank guns, 104 anti-aircraft guns and 112 field guns.

The Germans also expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of the USSR. The war has dealt

a tangible blow to Germany's vital supplies of timber and nickel

from Finland. The strong sympathy of Western countries made real

intervention in the war of northern Norway and Sweden, which would entail

abolishing the import of iron ore into Germany from Norway. But even

faced with such difficulties, the Germans respected the terms of the pact.

The topic of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 has now become a fairly popular topic for discussion in Russia. Many call it the shame of the Soviet army - in 105 days, from November 30, 1939 to March 13, 1940, the sides lost more than 150 thousand people only killed. The Russians won the war, and 430 thousand Finns were forced to leave their homes and return to their historical homeland.

In Soviet textbooks, we were assured that the armed conflict was started by the "Finnish military". On November 26, near the town of Mainila, an artillery shelling of Soviet troops stationed near the Finnish border took place, as a result of which 4 soldiers were killed and 10 wounded.

The Finns offered to create a joint commission to investigate the incident, which the Soviet side refused and stated that they no longer consider themselves bound by the Soviet-Finnish non-aggression pact. Was the shooting staged?

“I got acquainted with documents that were recently classified,” says military historian Miroslav Morozov. - In the divisional combat log, the pages with records of shelling are of a much later origin.

There are no reports to the division headquarters, the names of the victims are not indicated, it is not known which hospital the wounded were sent to ... Apparently, at that time the Soviet leadership did not really care about the plausibility of the reason for starting the war.

Since the declaration of independence by Finland in December 1917, territorial claims have constantly arisen between it and the USSR. But they often became the subject of negotiations. The situation changed in the late 30s, when it became clear that the second World War. The USSR demanded from Finland non-participation in the war against the USSR, permission to build Soviet military bases on Finnish territory. Finland hesitated and played for time.

The situation escalated with the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, according to which Finland belonged to the sphere of interests of the USSR. The Soviet Union began to insist on its terms, although it offered certain territorial concessions in Karelia. But the Finnish government rejected all proposals. Then, on November 30, 1939, the invasion of Soviet troops into the territory of Finland began.

In January, frosts hit -30 degrees. The soldiers surrounded by the Finns were forbidden to leave heavy weapons and equipment to the enemy. However, seeing the inevitability of the death of the division, Vinogradov gave the order to leave the encirclement.

Out of almost 7,500 people, 1,500 came out to their own. The divisional commander, regimental commissar and chief of staff were shot. And the 18th Infantry Division, which found itself in the same conditions, remained in place and completely died north of Lake Ladoga.

But the Soviet troops suffered the heaviest losses in the battles in the main direction - the Karelian Isthmus. The 140-kilometer Mannerheim defensive line covering it on the main defensive strip consisted of 210 long-term and 546 wood-and-earth firing points. It was possible to break through it and capture the city of Vyborg only during the third assault, which began on February 11, 1940.

The Finnish government, seeing that there were no hopes left, went to negotiations and on March 12 a peace treaty was concluded. The fighting is over. Having won a dubious victory over Finland, the Red Army began to prepare for war with a much larger predator - Nazi Germany. The story took 1 year, 3 months and 10 days to prepare.

According to the results of the war, 26,000 servicemen died on the Finnish side, and 126,000 on the Soviet side. The USSR received new territories and moved the border away from Leningrad. Finland later sided with Germany. And the USSR was excluded from the League of Nations.

Some facts from the history of the Soviet-Finnish war

1. The Soviet-Finnish war of 1939/1940 was not the first armed conflict between the two states. In 1918-1920, and then in 1921-1922, the so-called first and second Soviet-Finnish wars were fought, during which the Finnish authorities, who dreamed of a "Greater Finland", tried to seize the territory of Eastern Karelia.

The wars themselves became a continuation of the bloody battle that blazed in Finland in 1918-1919. civil war, which ended with the victory of the Finnish "whites" over the Finnish "reds". As a result of the wars, the RSFSR retained control over Eastern Karelia, but transferred the polar Pechenga region to Finland, as well as the western part of the Rybachy Peninsula and most of the Sredny Peninsula.

2. At the end of the wars of the 1920s, relations between the USSR and Finland were not friendly, but did not reach an open confrontation. In 1932, the Soviet Union and Finland signed a non-aggression pact, which was later extended until 1945, but in the fall of 1939 the USSR was unilaterally broken.

3. In 1938-1939, the Soviet government held secret negotiations with the Finnish side on the exchange of territories. In the context of the impending world war, the Soviet Union intended to move the state border away from Leningrad, since it was only 18 kilometers from the city. In exchange, Finland was offered territories in Eastern Karelia, much larger in area. The negotiations, however, were not successful.

4. The so-called "Mainil incident" became the immediate cause of the war: on November 26, 1939, a group of Soviet servicemen was fired upon by artillery on a section of the border near the village of Mainila. Seven cannon shots were fired, as a result of which three privates and one junior commander were killed, seven privates and two from the command staff were wounded.

Modern historians are still arguing about whether the shelling in Mainil was a provocation by the Soviet Union or not. One way or another, two days later, the USSR denounced the non-aggression pact, and on November 30 began fighting against Finland.

5. On December 1, 1939, the Soviet Union announced the creation of an alternative "People's Government" of Finland in the village of Terijoki, headed by the communist Otto Kuusinen. The next day, the USSR concluded a Treaty of Mutual Assistance and Friendship with the Kuusinen government, which was recognized as the only legitimate government in Finland.

At the same time, the formation of the Finnish People's Army from Finns and Karelians was going on. However, by the end of January 1940, the position of the USSR was revised - the Kuusinen government was no longer mentioned, and all negotiations were conducted with the official authorities in Helsinki.

6. The main obstacle to the offensive of the Soviet troops turned out to be the Mannerheim Line, a defensive line between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, named after the Finnish military leader and politician, consisting of multi-level concrete fortifications equipped with heavy weapons.

Initially, having no means to destroy such a line of defense, the Soviet troops suffered heavy losses during numerous frontal attacks on the fortifications.

7. Finland was simultaneously provided with military assistance by both fascist Germany and its opponents - England and France. But if Germany limited itself to unofficial military supplies, then the Anglo-French forces considered plans for military intervention against the Soviet Union. However, these plans were never implemented for fear that the USSR in such a case could take part in the Second World War on the side of Nazi Germany.

8. By the beginning of March 1940, Soviet troops managed to break through the "Mannerheim Line", which created a threat of the complete defeat of Finland. Under these conditions, without waiting for the Anglo-French intervention against the USSR, the Finnish government entered into peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. The peace treaty was concluded in Moscow on March 12, 1940, and the fighting ended on March 13 with the capture of Vyborg by the Red Army.

9. In accordance with the Moscow Treaty, the Soviet-Finnish border was moved away from Leningrad from 18 to 150 km. According to many historians, this fact largely helped to avoid the capture of the city by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War.

In total, the territorial acquisitions of the USSR following the results of the Soviet-Finnish war amounted to 40 thousand square kilometers. Data on the human losses of the parties to the conflict to this day remain contradictory: the Red Army lost from 125 to 170 thousand people killed and missing, the Finnish army - from 26 to 95 thousand people.

10. The famous Soviet poet Alexander Tvardovsky wrote the poem “Two Lines” in 1943, which became perhaps the most striking artistic reminder of the Soviet-Finnish war:

From a shabby notebook

Two lines about a boy fighter

What was in the fortieth year

Killed in Finland on the ice.

Lying somehow clumsily

Childishly small body.

Frost pressed the overcoat to the ice,

The hat flew off.

It seemed that the boy was not lying,

And still running

Yes, the ice held the floor ...

In the midst of a great war cruel,

From what - I will not apply my mind,

I feel sorry for that distant fate,

As if dead, alone

Like I'm lying

Frozen, small, dead

In that war, not famous,

Forgotten, small, lying.

Photos of the "unknown" war

Hero of the Soviet Union Lieutenant M.I. Sipovich and Captain Korovin on the captured Finnish bunker.

Soviet soldiers inspect the observation cap of a captured Finnish bunker.

Soviet soldiers are preparing a Maxim machine gun for anti-aircraft fire.

Burning after the bombing of the house in the Finnish city of Turku.

A Soviet sentry next to a Soviet quad anti-aircraft machine gun mount based on the Maxim machine gun.

Soviet soldiers dig a Finnish border post near the Mainil frontier post.

Soviet military dog ​​breeders of a separate communications battalion with liaison dogs.

Soviet border guards inspect captured Finnish weapons.

A Finnish soldier next to a downed Soviet I-15 bis fighter.

The formation of soldiers and commanders of the 123rd Infantry Division on the march after the fighting on the Karelian Isthmus.

Finnish soldiers in the trenches near Suomussalmi during the Winter War.

Captured Red Army soldiers captured by the Finns in the winter of 1940.

Finnish soldiers in the forest are trying to disperse, noticing the approach of Soviet aircraft.

A frozen Red Army soldier of the 44th Infantry Division.

Frozen in the trenches, the Red Army soldiers of the 44th Infantry Division.

A Soviet wounded man lies on a plaster cast table made from improvised means.

Three Corners Park in Helsinki with open slits dug out to shelter the population in the event of an air raid.

Blood transfusion before surgery in a Soviet military hospital.

Finnish women sew winter camouflage at the factory

A Finnish soldier walks past a broken Soviet tank column/

A Finnish soldier fires from a Lahti-Saloranta M-26 light machine gun /

Residents of Leningrad greet tankers of the 20th tank brigade on T-28 tanks returning from the Karelian Isthmus /

Finnish soldier with machine gun Lahti-Saloranta M-26/

Finnish soldiers with a machine gun "Maxim" M / 32-33 in the forest.

Finnish calculation of anti-aircraft machine gun "Maxim".

Finnish Vickers tanks, shot down near Pero station.

Finnish soldiers at the 152 mm Kane gun.

Finnish civilians who fled their homes during the Winter War.

Broken column of the Soviet 44th division.

Soviet SB-2 bombers over Helsinki.

Three Finnish skiers on the march.

Two Soviet soldiers with a Maxim machine gun in the forest on the Mannerheim Line.

A burning house in the Finnish city of Vaasa (Vaasa) after a Soviet air raid.

View of the streets of Helsinki after the Soviet air raid.

A house in the center of Helsinki, damaged after a Soviet air raid.

Finnish soldiers raise the frozen body of a Soviet officer.

A Finnish soldier looks at the changing clothes of captured Red Army soldiers.

A Soviet prisoner captured by the Finns sits on a box.

Captured Red Army soldiers enter the house under the escort of Finnish soldiers.

Finnish soldiers are carrying a wounded comrade in a dog sled.

Finnish orderlies carry a stretcher with a wounded man near the tent of a field hospital.

Finnish doctors load a stretcher with a wounded man into an ambulance bus manufactured by AUTOKORI OY.

Finnish skiers with reindeer and drags at a halt during the retreat.

Finnish soldiers disassemble the captured Soviet military equipment.

Sandbags covering the windows of a house on Sofiankatu Street in Helsinki.

T-28 tanks of the 20th heavy tank brigade before going on a combat operation.

Soviet tank T-28, shot down on the Karelian Isthmus at a height of 65.5.

A Finnish tanker next to a captured Soviet T-28 tank.

Residents of Leningrad welcome the tankers of the 20th Heavy Tank Brigade.

Soviet officers in front of the Vyborg Castle.

A Finnish air defense soldier looks at the sky through a rangefinder.

Finnish ski battalion with deer and drags.

Swedish volunteer in position during the Soviet-Finnish war.

Calculation of the Soviet 122-mm howitzer in position during the Winter War.

The orderly on a motorcycle transmits a message to the crew of the Soviet BA-10 armored car.

Pilots Heroes of the Soviet Union - Ivan Pyatykhin, Alexander Flying and Alexander Kostylev.

Finnish propaganda during the Soviet-Finnish war

Finnish propaganda promised a carefree life to surrendered Red Army soldiers: bread and butter, cigars, vodka and dancing to the accordion. They generously paid for the weapons they brought with them, made a reservation, promised to pay: for a revolver - 100 rubles, for a machine gun - 1500 rubles, and for a cannon as much as 10,000 rubles.