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In Russian historiography, the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940, or, as it is called in the West, the Winter War, was virtually forgotten for many years. This was facilitated by its not very successful results and the peculiar “political correctness” practiced in our country. Official Soviet propaganda was more afraid than fire to offend any of its “friends,” and Finland after the Great Patriotic War was considered an ally of the USSR.
Over the past 15 years, the situation has changed radically. Contrary to famous words A. T. Tvardovsky about “ unknown war“Today this war is very famous.” One after another, books dedicated to her are published, not to mention many articles in various magazines and collections. But this “celebrity” is very peculiar. The authors who have made denouncing the Soviet “evil empire” their profession cite in their publications an absolutely fantastic ratio of our and Finnish losses. Any reasonable reasons for the actions of the USSR are completely denied...
By the end of the 1930s, near the northwestern borders of the Soviet Union there was a state that was clearly unfriendly to us. It is very significant that even before the start of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. identification mark Finnish Air Force and tank troops there was a blue swastika. Those who claim that it was Stalin who pushed Finland into Hitler’s camp through his actions prefer not to remember this. As well as why peace-loving Suomi needed a network of military airfields built by the beginning of 1939 with the help of German specialists, capable of receiving 10 times more aircraft than the Finnish Air Force had. However, in Helsinki they were ready to fight against us both in an alliance with Germany and Japan, and in an alliance with England and France.
Seeing the approach of a new world conflict, the leadership of the USSR sought to secure the border near the second largest and most important city in the country. Back in March 1939, Soviet diplomacy explored the question of transferring or leasing a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland, but Helsinki responded with a categorical refusal.
Those who denounce the “crimes of the Stalinist regime” like to rant about the fact that Finland is a sovereign country that manages its own territory, and therefore, they say, it was not at all obliged to agree to the exchange. In this regard, we can recall the events that took place two decades later. When Cuba began hosting in 1962 soviet missiles, the Americans had no legal basis to impose a naval blockade on Liberty Island, much less launch a military strike on it. Both Cuba and the USSR are sovereign countries, the location of the Soviet nuclear weapons concerned only them and was fully consistent with the norms international law. Nevertheless, the United States was ready to start World War 3 if the missiles were not removed. There is such a thing as a “sphere of vital interests”. For our country in 1939, a similar area included the Gulf of Finland and the Karelian Isthmus. Even the former leader of the Cadet Party, P. N. Milyukov, who was by no means sympathetic to the Soviet regime, in a letter to I. P. Demidov, expressed the following attitude towards the outbreak of war with Finland: “I feel sorry for the Finns, but I am for the Vyborg province.”
On November 26, a famous incident occurred near the village of Maynila. According to the official Soviet version, at 15:45 Finnish artillery shelled our territory, as a result of which 4 Soviet soldiers were killed and 9 were wounded. Today it is considered good form to interpret this event as the work of the NKVD. The Finnish claims that their artillery was deployed at such a distance that its fire could not reach the border are perceived as indisputable. Meanwhile, according to Soviet documentary sources, one of the Finnish batteries was located in the Jaappinen area (5 km from Mainila). However, whoever organized the provocation at Maynila, it was used by the Soviet side as a pretext for war. On November 28, the USSR government denounced the Soviet-Finnish non-aggression treaty and recalled its diplomatic representatives from Finland. On November 30, hostilities began.
I will not describe in detail the course of the war, since there are already enough publications on this topic. Its first stage, which lasted until the end of December 1939, was generally unsuccessful for the Red Army. On the Karelian Isthmus, Soviet troops, having overcome the forefield of the Mannerheim Line, reached its main defensive line on December 4-10. However, attempts to break through it were unsuccessful. After bloody battles, the sides switched to positional warfare.
What were the reasons for the failures of the initial period of the war? First of all, underestimating the enemy. Finland mobilized in advance, increasing the number of its Armed Forces from 37 to 337 thousand (459). Finnish troops were deployed in the border zone, the main forces occupied defensive lines on the Karelian Isthmus and even managed to conduct full-scale maneuvers at the end of October 1939.
Was not up to par Soviet intelligence, which was unable to reveal complete and reliable information about Finnish fortifications.
Finally, Soviet leadership harbored unfounded hopes for “class solidarity of Finnish workers.” There was a widespread belief that the population of countries that entered the war against the USSR would almost immediately “rise up and go over to the side of the Red Army,” that workers and peasants would come out to greet Soviet soldiers with flowers.
As a result, the required number of troops was not allocated for combat operations and, accordingly, the necessary superiority in forces was not ensured. Thus, on the Karelian Isthmus, which was the most important section of the front, in December 1939 the Finnish side had 6 infantry divisions, 4 infantry brigades, 1 cavalry brigade and 10 separate battalions - a total of 80 crew battalions. On the Soviet side they were opposed by 9 rifle divisions, 1 rifle-machine-gun brigade and 6 tank brigades - a total of 84 rifle battalions. If we compare the number of personnel, the Finnish troops on the Karelian Isthmus numbered 130 thousand, the Soviet troops - 169 thousand people. In general, along the entire front, 425 thousand Red Army soldiers acted against 265 thousand Finnish military personnel.
Defeat or victory?
So, let's sum up the results of the Soviet-Finnish conflict. As a rule, a war is considered won if it leaves the winner in a better position than he was before the war. What do we see from this point of view?
As we have already seen, by the end of the 1930s, Finland was a country that was clearly unfriendly towards the USSR and was ready to enter into an alliance with any of our enemies. So in this respect the situation has not worsened at all. On the other hand, it is known that an unruly bully understands only the language of brute force and begins to respect the one who managed to beat him. Finland was no exception. On May 22, 1940, the Society for Peace and Friendship with the USSR was created there. Despite persecution by the Finnish authorities, by the time of its ban in December of the same year it had 40 thousand members. Such massive numbers indicate that not only communist supporters joined the Society, but also simply sensible people who believed that it was better to maintain normal relations with their great neighbor.
According to the Moscow Treaty, the USSR received new territories, as well as a naval base on the Hanko Peninsula. This is a clear plus. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Finnish troops were able to reach the line of the old state border only by September 1941.
It should be noted that if at the negotiations in October-November 1939 Soviet Union asked for less than 3 thousand sq. km and in exchange for twice the territory, as a result of the war he acquired about 40 thousand square meters. km without giving anything in return.
It should also be taken into account that at the pre-war negotiations, the USSR, in addition to territorial compensation, offered to reimburse the cost of the property left by the Finns. According to the calculations of the Finnish side, even in the case of the transfer of a small piece of land, which they agreed to cede to us, we were talking about 800 million marks. If it came to the cession of the entire Karelian Isthmus, the bill would already run into many billions.
But now, when on March 10, 1940, on the eve of the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty, Paasikivi started talking about compensation for the transferred territory, remembering that Peter I paid Sweden 2 million thalers under the Treaty of Nystadt, Molotov could calmly answer: “Write a letter to Peter the Great. If he orders, we will pay compensation.".
Moreover, the USSR demanded an amount of 95 million rubles. as compensation for equipment removed from the occupied territory and damage to property. Finland was also supposed to transfer 350 sea and river Vehicle, 76 locomotives, 2 thousand carriages, a significant number of cars.
Of course, during the fighting, 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 Red Army soldiers were killed, died or went missing. The losses of the Finnish troops, according to official data, were 21,396 killed and 1,434 missing. However, another figure for Finnish losses is often found in Russian literature - 48,243 killed, 43 thousand wounded.
Be that as it may, Soviet losses are several times greater than Finnish ones. This ratio is not surprising. Let's take for example Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 If we consider the fighting in Manchuria, the losses of both sides are approximately the same. Moreover, the Russians often lost more than the Japanese. However, during the assault on the Port Arthur fortress, Japanese losses far exceeded Russian losses. It would seem that the same Russian and Japanese soldiers fought here and there, why is there such a difference? The answer is obvious: if in Manchuria the parties fought in an open field, then in Port Arthur our troops defended a fortress, even if it was unfinished. It is quite natural that the attackers suffered much higher losses. The same situation arose during the Soviet-Finnish War, when our troops had to storm the Mannerheim Line, and even in winter conditions.
As a result, Soviet troops acquired invaluable combat experience, and the command of the Red Army had reason to think about shortcomings in troop training and about urgent measures to increase the combat effectiveness of the army and navy.
Speaking in Parliament on March 19, 1940, Daladier declared that for France “The Moscow Peace Treaty is a tragic and shameful event. This is a great victory for Russia.". However, one should not go to extremes, as some authors do. Not very great. But still a victory.
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1. Units of the Red Army cross the bridge into Finnish territory. 1939
2. A Soviet soldier guarding a minefield in the area of the former Finnish border outpost. 1939
3. Artillery crew at their gun in a firing position. 1939
4. Major Volin V.S. and boatswain I.V. Kapustin, who landed with troops on the island of Seiskaari to inspect the coast of the island. Baltic Fleet. 1939
5. Soldiers of the rifle unit are attacking from the forest. Karelian Isthmus. 1939
6. Border guard outfit on patrol. Karelian Isthmus. 1939
7. Border guard Zolotukhin at the post at the Finnish outpost of Beloostrov. 1939
8. Sappers on the construction of a bridge near the Finnish border post of Japinen. 1939
9. Soldiers deliver ammunition to the front line. Karelian Isthmus. 1939
10. Soldiers of the 7th Army fire at the enemy with rifles. Karelian Isthmus. 1939
11. A reconnaissance group of skiers receives instructions from the commander before going on reconnaissance. 1939
12. Horse artillery on the march. Vyborg district. 1939
13. Fighter skiers on a hike. 1940
14. Red Army soldiers in combat positions in the area of combat operations with the Finns. Vyborg district. 1940
15. Fighters cooking food in the forest over a fire during a break between battles. 1939
16. Cooking lunch in the field at a temperature of 40 degrees below zero. 1940
17. Anti-aircraft guns in position. 1940
18. Signalmen restoring the telegraph line destroyed by the Finns during the retreat. Karelian Isthmus. 1939
19. Signal soldiers are restoring the telegraph line destroyed by the Finns in Terijoki. 1939
20. View of the railway bridge blown up by the Finns at Terijoki station. 1939
21. Soldiers and commanders talk with residents of Terijoki. 1939
22. Signalmen on the front line negotiations near the Kemyarya station. 1940
23. Rest of the Red Army soldiers after the battle in the Kemyar area. 1940
24. A group of commanders and soldiers of the Red Army listens to a radio broadcast at a radio horn on one of the streets of Terijoki. 1939
25. View of Suojarva station, taken by Red Army soldiers. 1939
26. Red Army soldiers guard a gasoline pump in the town of Raivola. Karelian Isthmus. 1939
27. General form the destroyed “Mannerheim Fortification Line”. 1939
28. General view of the destroyed “Mannerheim Fortification Line”. 1939
29. A rally in one of the military units after the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line during the Soviet-Finnish conflict. February 1940
30. General view of the destroyed “Mannerheim Fortification Line”. 1939
31. Sappers repairing a bridge in the Boboshino area. 1939
32. A Red Army soldier puts a letter in a field mail box. 1939
33. Group Soviet commanders and the fighters are inspected by the banner of Shutskor, recaptured from the Finns. 1939
34. Howitzer B-4 on the front line. 1939
35. General view of the Finnish fortifications at height 65.5. 1940
36. View of one of the streets of Koivisto, taken by Red Army units. 1939
37. View of a destroyed bridge near the city of Koivisto, taken by units of the Red Army. 1939
38. A group of captured Finnish soldiers. 1940
39. Red Army soldiers at a captured gun left behind after the battles with the Finns. Vyborg district. 1940
40. Trophy ammunition depot. 1940
41.Remote-controlled tank TT-26 (217th separate tank battalion of the 30th chemical tank brigade), February 1940.
42. Soviet soldiers at a captured pillbox on the Karelian Isthmus. 1940
43. Units of the Red Army enter the liberated city of Vyborg. 1940
44. Red Army soldiers at fortifications in Vyborg. 1940
45. Ruins of Vyborg after the fighting. 1940
46. Red Army soldiers clear the streets of the liberated city of Vyborg from snow. 1940
47. Icebreaking steamer "Dezhnev" during the transfer of troops from Arkhangelsk to Kandalaksha. 1940
48. Soviet skiers are moving to the forefront. Winter 1939-1940.
49. Soviet attack aircraft I-15bis taxis for takeoff before a combat mission during the Soviet-Finnish war.
50. Finnish Foreign Minister Vaine Tanner speaks on the radio with a message about the end of the Soviet-Finnish war. 03/13/1940
51. Crossing the Finnish border by Soviet units near the village of Hautavaara. November 30, 1939
52. Finnish prisoners talk with a Soviet political worker. The photo was taken in the Gryazovets NKVD camp. 1939-1940
53. Soviet soldiers talk with one of the first Finnish prisoners of war. November 30, 1939
54. Finnish Fokker C.X aircraft shot down by Soviet fighters on the Karelian Isthmus. December 1939
55. Hero of the Soviet Union, platoon commander of the 7th pontoon-bridge battalion of the 7th Army, junior lieutenant Pavel Vasilyevich Usov (right) discharges a mine.
56. The crew of the Soviet 203-mm howitzer B-4 fires at Finnish fortifications. 12/02/1939
57. Red Army commanders examine the captured Finnish Vickers Mk.E tank. March 1940
58. Hero of the Soviet Union, senior lieutenant Vladimir Mikhailovich Kurochkin (1913-1941) with the I-16 fighter. 1940
59. View of a destroyed street in Vyborg. 1940
Parade of Finnish troops in Vyborg on August 31, 1941
Vyborg became part of the USSR in 1940 as a result of the Soviet-Finnish War. According to the terms of the Moscow Peace Treaty, most of the Vyborg province of Finland, including Vyborg and the entire Karelian Isthmus, as well as a number of other territories, ceded to the USSR. Finnish units left the city on March 14, 1940. The Finnish population of the city was evacuated to Finland. On March 31, 1940, the USSR Law was adopted on the transfer of most of the territories received from Finland to the Karelo-Finnish SSR. As part of this republic, on July 9, 1940, Vyborg was designated the center of the Vyborg (Viipur) region.
On August 29, 1941, under the pressure of the advancing 4th Army Corps of Finland, units of the Red Army left the city of Vyborg, retreating to Leningrad, mined big number buildings with radio bombs "BEMI". Fortunately for the city's architecture, only a few of them managed to explode, while most were cleared of mines.
Three years later, the Finnish army retreated from the Karelian Isthmus, Finnish citizens were again evacuated to the interior of Finland, and on June 20, 1944, units of the Soviet 21st Army of the Leningrad Front entered Vyborg.
3.
Parade in Vyborg in front of the monument to Thorgils Knutsson, he is considered the founder of the city. In the middle is Lieutenant General Lennart Karl Esch. In the helmet on the left is Colonel Aladar Paasonen.
At the end of August 1941, the IV Corps of the Finnish Defense Forces, under the command of Lieutenant General Lennart Esch, surrounded parts of three Soviet rifle divisions (43rd, 115th and 123rd) south of Vyborg. Some of the troops managed to get out of the ring, abandoning heavy equipment, and the rest began to surrender on September 1, 1941. The Finns took 9,325 prisoners. About 7,500 Soviet soldiers died on the battlefields, and the Finns lost about 3,000 people during this operation.
In 1927, construction began on the first hydroelectric power station of the Svir cascade - Nizhnesvirskaya. In 1936, the Nizhnesvirskaya HPP was put into commercial operation with a capacity of 96 MW. During the Great Patriotic War, the dam of the Nizhnesvir hydroelectric station was blown up by retreating Soviet troops. On September 13, 1941, Finnish troops reached the hydroelectric station. There was no time to evacuate the hydroelectric power station equipment, but it was later restored. For more than 2 years, the Nizhnesvirskaya hydroelectric power station was on the front line between Soviet and Finnish troops and was severely destroyed. In 1944, restoration of the station began, ending in 1948.
After the completion of the construction of the Nizhnesvirskaya hydroelectric power station, in 1938, the construction of the Verkhnesvirskaya hydroelectric power station began - the last hydroelectric power station provided for by the GOELRO plan. Construction was carried out by prisoners under the control of the NKVD. By 1941, a foundation pit for the hydroelectric power station building had been dug, and concrete work began. During the war, the territory of the hydroelectric power station was occupied and the pit was flooded. In 1948, construction of the Verkhnesvirskaya hydroelectric power station resumed. In 1952 the station was put into commercial operation.
In the “Photo Fund” section, Bird In Flight talks about interesting photo archives on the Internet. Today's issue contains war photographs of Finland from 1939-1945.
Last year, on the eve of Veterans Day, military department Finland has published more than 160,000 photographs from the Winter War of 1939–1940, the Soviet-Finnish War of 1941–1944, and the Lapland War (between Finland and Germany, September 1944 - April 1945).
The photographs depict soldiers' life, destruction after bombing, military industry, as well as life on the home front - in particular, harvesting, family portraits, boxing matches and football matches, and wedding celebrations.
In 1941, the Finnish General Staff founded nine news agencies, which controlled about 150 photographers working at the front. Many of their photographs appeared in the press, but most were never published. It took the photographic department of the Finnish military department three and a half years to digitize the films. In 2014, the archive was updated - about 800 additional photographs and videos appeared, including news stories from 1940–1944.
Site visitors can edit descriptions of photos and leave comments (there are now more than 10,000 of them). Some, for example, try to identify places, equipment and people in photographs. In August, the site became part of the national service Finna.fi - a project of the National Electronic Library, created on the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland.
The archive is searched only in Finnish, so for convenience it is better to sort by date or category (Winter War, Continuation War, Lapland War). The oldest photographs in the archive are dated January 1939, the latest - November 1945.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_03.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 03", "text": "Anti-aircraft artillery fire, 1943.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_02.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 02", "text": "Crossing the Simo River, 1944. Photo: Kim Borg ")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_04.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 04", "text": "Aerial observation of the Lotta River, 1942. Photo: Karl Rosenquist. ")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_05.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 05", "text": "Nurmoil Airport, 1943. Photo: Niilo Helander." )
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_06.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 06", "text": "Parade in Vyborg, 1941. Photo: Erki Beaver. ")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_07.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 07", "text": "Skiing, 1942.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_08.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 08", "text": "Raisala, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_09.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 09", "text": "Summa, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_10.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 10", "text": "Isthmus, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_11.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 11", "text": "Watchman. Sum, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_12.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 12", "text": "Semiostrovye, 1940.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_13.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 13", "text": "Vyborg, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_14.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 14", "text": "Helsinki, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_15.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 15", "text": "Kuolemayarvi (now the village of Pionerskoye, Leningrad region), 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_16.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 16", "text": "February 1940.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_17.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 17", "text": "Hein-joki (now the village of Veshchevo, Leningrad region ), 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_18.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 18", "text": "Kannus, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_19.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 19", "text": "Excursion along the isthmus. Kannus, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_20.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 20", "text": "October 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_21.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 21", "text": "Evacuees in Kotka and Heinola, 1939.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/fin_22.jpg", "alt": "The SA Photo Archive 22", "text": "Vyborg, 1939.")
The topic of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 has now become a fairly popular topic of discussion in Russia. Many call her a disgrace Soviet army- in 105 days, from November 30, 1939 to March 13, 1940, the sides lost more than 150 thousand people in killed alone. 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: armed conflict the “Finnish military” began. On November 26, near the town of Mainila, there was an artillery attack on Soviet troops stationed near the Finnish border, as a result of which 4 soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded.
The Finns proposed creating a joint commission to investigate the incident, which the Soviet side refused and stated that it no longer considered itself bound by the Soviet-Finnish non-aggression pact. Was the shooting staged?
“I got acquainted with documents that had recently been classified,” says military historian Miroslav Morozov. — In the divisional combat log, the pages with entries about artillery shelling have a noticeably later origin.
There are no reports to the division headquarters, the names of the victims are not indicated, it is unknown to which hospital the wounded were sent... Apparently, at that time the Soviet leadership did not really care about the credibility of the reason for starting the war.”
Since Finland declared independence in December 1917, territorial claims have constantly arisen between it and the USSR. But they more often became the subject of negotiations. The situation changed at the end of the 30s, when it became clear that the second one would soon begin. World War. The USSR demanded that Finland not participate in the war against the USSR and allow the construction of Soviet military bases on Finnish territory. Finland hesitated and played for time.
The situation worsened 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 Finnish territory began.
In January frosts hit -30 degrees. Soldiers surrounded by 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.
Of almost 7,500 people, 1,500 returned to their own. The division commander, regimental commissar and chief of staff were shot. And the 18th Rifle Division, which found itself in the same conditions, remained in place and was completely destroyed north of Lake Ladoga.
But the Soviet troops suffered the heaviest losses in battles on the main direction - the Karelian Isthmus. The 140-kilometer Mannerheim defensive line covering it on the main defensive line consisted of 210 long-term and 546 wood-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 was no hope left, entered into 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 allowed 1 year, 3 months and 10 days to prepare.
According to the results of the war: 26 thousand military personnel died on the Finnish side, 126 thousand on the Soviet side. The USSR received new territories and moved the border away from Leningrad. Finland subsequently sided with Germany. And the USSR was excluded from the League of Nations.
A few 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, dreaming of a “Great Finland,” tried to seize the territory of Eastern Karelia.
The wars themselves became a continuation of the bloody Civil War that raged in Finland in 1918-1919, 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 western part 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 the point of outright confrontation. In 1932, the Soviet Union and Finland entered into a non-aggression pact, which was later extended until 1945, but was unilaterally broken by the USSR in the fall of 1939.
3. In 1938-1939, the Soviet government conducted 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, significantly larger in area. The negotiations, however, were unsuccessful.
4. The immediate cause of the war was the so-called “Maynila Incident”: on November 26, 1939, on a section of the border near the village of Maynila, a group of Soviet military personnel was fired upon by artillery. Seven gun shots were fired, as a result of which three privates and one junior commander were killed, seven privates and two command personnel were wounded.
Modern historians still debate whether the Maynila shelling 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 military operations 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, led by 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 process of forming the Finnish People's Army from Finns and Karelians was underway. 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 was the “Mannerheim Line” - named after the Finnish military leader and politician, the defense line between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, consisting of multi-level concrete fortifications equipped with heavy weapons.
Initially, the Soviet troops, who did not have the means to destroy such a line of defense, suffered heavy losses during numerous frontal attacks on the fortifications.
7. Finland was simultaneously provided with military assistance by both Nazi Germany and its opponents - England and France. But while Germany was limited to unofficial military supplies, the Anglo-French forces were considering plans for military intervention against the Soviet Union. However, these plans were never implemented due to fears that the USSR in such a case might 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 the 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. A 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, it was this fact that 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 sq. km. 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 vivid artistic reminder of the Soviet-Finnish war:
From a shabby notebook
Two lines about a boy fighter,
What happened in the forties
Killed on ice in Finland.
It lay somehow awkwardly
Childishly small body.
The frost pressed the overcoat to the ice,
The hat flew far away.
It seemed that the boy was not lying down,
And he was still running
Yes, he held the ice behind the floor...
Among great war cruel,
I can’t imagine why,
I feel sorry for that distant fate
Like dead, alone,
It's like I'm lying there
Frozen, small, killed
In that unknown war,
Forgotten, small, lying.
Photos of the “unfamous” war
Hero of the Soviet Union Lieutenant M.I. Sipovich and captain Korovin at a 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.
A house burning after a bombing 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 up a Finnish border post near the Mainila border post.
Soviet military dog breeders of a separate communications battalion with communication dogs.
Soviet border guards inspect captured Finnish weapons.
Finnish soldier next to the downed man Soviet fighter I-15 bis.
Formation of soldiers and commanders of the 123rd rifle division on the march after the fighting on the Karelian Isthmus.
Finnish soldiers in the trenches near Suomussalmi during the Winter War.
Prisoners of the Red Army captured by the Finns in the winter of 1940.
Finnish soldiers in the forest try to disperse after noticing the approach of Soviet aircraft.
A frozen Red Army soldier of the 44th Infantry Division.
Red Army soldiers of the 44th Infantry Division frozen in a trench.
A Soviet wounded man lies on a plastering table made from improvised materials.
Three Corners Park in Helsinki with open gaps dug to provide shelter for the population in the event of an air raid.
Blood transfusion before surgery in a Soviet military hospital.
Finnish women sew winter camouflage coats at a factory/
A Finnish soldier walks past a broken Soviet tank column/
Finnish soldier fires from light machine gun Lahti-Saloranta M-26/
Residents of Leningrad welcome tankers of the 20th Tank Brigade on T-28 tanks returning from the Karelian Isthmus/
Finnish soldier with a Lahti-Saloranta M-26 machine gun/
Finnish soldiers with a Maxim M/32-33 machine gun in the forest.
Finnish crew of the Maxim anti-aircraft machine gun.
Finnish Vickers tanks knocked out near Pero station.
Finnish soldiers at the 152-mm Kane gun.
Finnish civilians who fled their homes during the Winter War.
A 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 after a Soviet air raid.
View of a Helsinki street after a 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 captured Red Army soldiers changing clothes.
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 carry a wounded comrade on a dog sled.
Finnish orderlies carry a stretcher with a wounded man near a field hospital tent.
Finnish doctors load a stretcher with a wounded person into an ambulance bus manufactured by AUTOKORI OY.
Finnish skiers with reindeer and drags at a rest during the retreat.
Finnish soldiers dismantle captured Soviet military equipment.
Sandbags cover the windows of a house on Sofiankatu Street in Helsinki.
T-28 tanks of the 20th heavy tank brigade before entering a combat operation.
Soviet T-28 tank, destroyed on the Karelian Isthmus near height 65.5.
Finnish tankman next to a captured Soviet T-28 tank.
Residents of Leningrad greet the tankers of the 20th heavy tank brigade.
Soviet officers against the backdrop of Vyborg Castle.
A Finnish air defense soldier looks at the sky through a rangefinder.
Finnish ski battalion with reindeer and drags.
A Swedish volunteer in position during the Soviet-Finnish War.
Crew of a Soviet 122 mm howitzer in position during the Winter War.
A messenger on a motorcycle conveys a message to the crew of a Soviet armored car BA-10.
Pilots Heroes of the Soviet Union - Ivan Pyatykhin, Alexander Letuchy and Alexander Kostylev.
Finnish propaganda from the Soviet-Finnish War
Finnish propaganda promised a carefree life to the surrendered Red Army soldiers: bread and butter, cigars, vodka and dancing to the accordion. They paid generously for the weapons they brought with them, they made a reservation, they promised to pay: for a revolver - 100 rubles, for a machine gun - 1,500 rubles, and for a cannon - as much as 10,000 rubles.
On November 30, 1939, exactly 78 years ago, the Soviet-Finnish War, later called the “Winter War,” began. Throughout the autumn of the same year, he negotiated with the Finnish government on the transfer of part of Finnish territory to the USSR, and after receiving a refusal, he sent in troops and also created a puppet “Finnish People's Republic", which was supposed to replace the legitimate government of Finland.
To some extent, the “Winter War” also affected my family - after school, my grandmother had a young man with whom she was going to get married. In the fall of 1939, he was taken into the Red Army and sent to war, where he died, freezing to death in a Finnish forest. Later, my grandmother got married, but as I found out later, all her life she remembered that first (and perhaps only true) love.
Today’s post is a story about how the USSR attacked Finland.
First, as usual, a little history. In 1917, as a result of the collapse of the Russian Empire, Finland became independent state. Relations with the USSR remained tense - in the USSR, the Finnish authorities were called “White Finns” and continued to perceive Finland as part of the lost territory. By the way, the very term “White Finns” (just like “White Poles”) is a simple propaganda cliche - it is obvious that it meant “opponents of the Reds,” i.e. the same as the “White Guards” during the Civil War. But the white movement and the White Guards advocated a single and indivisible Russian Empire and did not recognize any independent Poland and Finland - so calling Finnish supporters of independence “White Finns” is nonsense.
Throughout almost the entire thirties, the USSR approached Finland with initiatives, offering to “move the border” and transfer part of the territory to the USSR, as well as allow Soviet military bases to be placed on its territory. The Finns did not agree to Soviet conditions - partly because the USSR demanded to give up the strategically important "Mannerheim Line", which later played a decisive role in the defense of Finland, under the pretext of the danger of attack - "your fences look at us somehow unfriendly!" The last negotiations, held in Moscow on November 3, 1939, ended in nothing - the Finnish government stood firmly on the principle of the territorial indivisibility of the country.
On November 26, after a short lull, an article appears in the Pravda newspaper "The buffoon at the post of prime minister", with which the anti-Finnish propaganda campaign started - the Finns immediately became “White Finns”, “the unfinished White Guard”, in general, yet another blood enemy.
On November 26, 1939, the so-called “Maynila Incident” occurred - the Red Army shelled the Soviet village of Mainila, blaming the Finns for it, and four days later the USSR began the war. On the picture - soviet tanks in the Mannerheim Line area:
02. Interestingly, Soviet propaganda did not particularly advertise the Maynila incident as a reason for starting a war, just as the word “war” was almost never used - Soviet citizens were told that the Soviet Union was committing great liberation campaign in Finland to help Finnish workers and peasants overthrow the oppression of the capitalists. A striking example of Soviet propaganda of those years was the song “Take Us, Suomi Beauty” with the following words:
"We come to help you deal
Pay with interest for the shame
Receive us, Suomi beauty,
In a necklace of clear lakes!
Tanks are breaking through wide clearings,
Planes are circling in the clouds
Low autumn sun
Lights fires on bayonets.
We are used to fraternizing with victories
And again we carry through in battle
Along the roads trodden by grandfathers,
Your red star glory.
A lot of lies have been told these years,
To confuse the Finnish people.
Now reveal to us trustingly
Halves of a wide gate!"
Grandfathers, tanks, everything, everything is as it should be) By the way, judging by the “low autumn sun” in the text, the USSR planned to start the war a little earlier, in the midst of autumn, and not on the last day. And this is how the “confused Finnish people” met the great liberators, this is the Finnish border patrol on skis - there were about half as many Finnish soldiers as there were Soviet soldiers, but they were better prepared:
03. It will be interesting further, watch your hands, as they say) On December 1, 1939, a message was published in the Pravda newspaper, which stated that Finland had formed "Finnish People's Republic", headed by the “government of the Finnish people”. Already on December 2, the government of this “republic” was invited to Moscow, where they immediately signed all the agreements on the USSR’s terms, concluded a “treaty of mutual assistance and friendship” and immediately agreed to transfer all the requested territories to the USSR.
That is, in fact, a virtual republic was created on the territory of Finland, on behalf of which all agreements were concluded on the terms necessary for the USSR. In parallel with this, the formation of the “Finnish People's Army” began; this “people's” army was supposed to replace the occupying units of the Red Army and “plant the red flag in Helsinki.” Rumors were spreading everywhere that the real army of independent Finland was about to capitulate, and the real government was about to flee, if it had not already fled.
The Finns, meanwhile, quite successfully continued to hold back the advance of the Soviet troops; in the photo there is a machine gun nest on the Mannerheim Line.
04. Mountain rifle units of the Finnish troops are the actual “special forces” of those years, intended for reconnaissance and targeted strike operations.
05. Many volunteers enlisted in the Finnish army to defend Finland - many of them knew how to shoot well, plus they knew all the circuitous paths very well. In the photo - an ordinary civilian bus brings volunteers to the front line, people change into winter camouflage and put on skis:
06. A civilian vehicle adapted by volunteers for military needs. For more covert movement in conditions winter forest the car was camouflaged with white paint. These vehicles were used to transport people, food and warm clothes to the front.
07. The topic of the “People’s Republic” faded quite quickly, since the Finns quite successfully held back the onslaught of Soviet troops, and in general the people did not support the government of the “People’s Republic”. On January 25, the government of the USSR decided not to mention the “People’s Republic” anymore and recognized the government in Helsinki as the legitimate government of Finland - in general, they screwed it up and abandoned it.
In the photo - Finnish soldiers in positions in forest dugouts:
08. Supply of field units - local Finns bring provisions and warm clothes to combat positions.
09. Supply cart in the forest:
10. Finnish “ghost troops” that appeared as if out of nowhere:
11. On November 30, 1939, Soviet planes appeared over Helsinki, and leaflets with the following text first fell from them - “You know that we have bread - you will starve. Soviet Russia will not harm the Finnish people. The government is leading you to disaster.”. On the same day, following the leaflets, high-explosive and incendiary bombs rained down on the city.
12. The center of Helsinki was on fire, set on fire by lighters. About 50 bombs fell on Frederiksgatan Street, where a huge building of the Technological Institute and several five-six-story buildings were completely destroyed, cars were burning.
13. Burnt houses on Federiksgatan street, firefighters clearing smoke-filled rubble:
14. People hid from the bombing in nearby forests:
15. Finnish mother with her son in the forest in the suburbs of Helsinki. In total, about 1,000 people died from Soviet bombing in the city.
16. Ruins of Helsinki. Speaking to the international press, then Foreign Minister Molotov said that Soviet planes were not dropping bombs, but only leaflets and humanitarian aid.
17. By the end of December, it became clear that the “blitzkrieg” of the Red Army did not work out, the troops got bogged down and switched to positional combat. The Finns used tactics partisan detachments- attacked in small groups of skiers, after which they disappeared into the forest. Plus, the Soviet troops had very bad supplies.
18. Finnish volunteer on a bicycle:
19. Finnish fortifications on the Mannerheim Line, the remains of the “first generation” bunkers (built in the early 1920s).
20. The political instructor is turning the Soviet soldiers against the “White Finns”. By the way, pay attention to the helmets - in the photo they are all SSh-36 helmets, or in common parlance “halking helmets”. Such helmets were also widely used during the war of 1941-45, but were almost never shown in military feature films, apparently due to their similarity with German helmets.
21. Finnish soldiers in positions:
22. Dead Soviet soldiers. Many of those who died in that war, by the way, did not die in battle, but died from hypothermia.
23. Captured Soviet soldiers from the Finns. I wonder if there are statistics on how many of the prisoners wished to stay in Finland?
24. Gustav Mannerheim (left), responsible for the defense of Finland.
As a result of the peace treaty, which put an end to this unnecessary war, the USSR acquired tiny territories, losing 65,384 people killed, 248,000 sick, wounded and frostbitten, 15,921 people died in hospitals, 14,043 people went missing.
Write in the comments what you think about this.
