Posted on 05/06/2015 4:52:07 PM PDT by WhiskeyX
T he Finnish military has begun sending letters to some 900,000 reservists amid increased tensions between the Nordic states and Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
Russia and Finland share a 1,340-kilometer land border.
The military said the letter campaign, which started on May 4, was prompted mainly by cuts in the defense budget.
Finland's defense budget this year has shrunk to 2.7 billion euros ($2.99 billion), or 1.29 percent of GDP, down from 1.4 percent in 2012.
The letters reportedly informed reservists what their role would be in a "crisis situation."
Finland, with a population of 5.2 million, is one of few countries in Europe still to have compulsory military service for men. It has a professional army of 16,000, but in the event of mobilization, it could muster a 230,000-strong force.
Last month, neutral Finland and Sweden joined with NATO members Norway, Denmark, and Iceland in a joint statement that directly cited the Russian "challenge" as grounds to boost defense cooperation.
Russia better watch out.
Last time the Russian invaded Finland, the Russians suffered over 1.1 million casualties, which includes around 300,000 dead.
Finland was the only German ally the Russians declined to occupy after WW II. There was a reason for that, and it had nothing to do with Russian generosity.
Wow. I didn’t know they were such fierce fighters. Interesting. I remember seeing a documentary where they got around on ski-like devices in the battle against Russia. I need to do some research on the settling Finland, Sweden, Denmark, etc. Should be an interesting read.
The Soviets may have been able to occupy the whole country (as it had been Russian up until the end of WWI); unlike other allies of Germany, Finland didn’t invade the USSR itself after it recaptured the territory lost in the Winter War. Hitler wanted the Finns to help at Leningrad, and they wouldn’t; like Franco in Spain, they accepted German help for their own interests but drew a line.
FWIW, the Western Allies did nothing to help Finland or Spain in their pre-WWII struggles against communism; both Hitler and Mussolini came to power saving their own countries from communist revolutions.
I don’t know much about the blonde part, but a surprising number of Italians have red hair due to the Norman conquest of Sicily a thousand years ago.
Free Republic thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3182106/posts
So what stopped him? The probable casualty count? A grudging respect for the Finns?
You will find it interesting. The Finns used skis. They had been using them for centuries. They knew their country well and used it to their advantage. They hid in it’s forests. They had well constructed, underground bunkers, some with saunas and they knew how to deal with the cold and dress against it. The Russkies didn’t and they paid the price. Many of them froze to death. There were few roads through the forests and therefore the Russians, with their tanks and vehicles were confined to narrow trails and what roads they could use. The Finns would hit their convoys at the back and front, tear into them and then be gone back into the forests again. Enjoy your research.
A combination of both and the fact that Stalin was more focused on making Germany pay for what it had done as well as consolidating his hold on Eastern Europe.
The red hair is also because Northern Italy borders Austria, the Tyrol Region.
Stalin was frying bigger fish. Even the USSR had limits to its resources. It had to occupy and consolidate Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania,Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Eastern Austria, and work on completing the takeover of China. Plus rebuild itself from a very destructive war on its own soil.
Why expand northward all of the sudden, sending away troops and resources?? Finland was not as strategically valuable as the list above. The serious potential enemies were all to the West.
Very informative post (#16). Thanks.
He killed the Russian sniper AFTER having been shot in the face with an explosive round. Don’t know if that was in the article you read, but I think it is pretty exceptional.
Maybe the possibility of wanting a smaller, weaker Finland between himself and the UK/US; he certainly didn’t want the casualties. In one account I read of US soldiers meeting Soviet troops in central Europe, a US soldier describes them as oriental troops led by a female officer with a whip; demographically WWII was a disaster for the Soviet Union. Once Stalin forced the Finns to concede the resource-rich areas of their country, there probably was little left to gain by taking the rest; Helsinki was left within easy striking distance, so the Finns would probably be good neighbors. If Stalin took what remained, he would be responsible for maintaining/guarding it with depleted manpower.
I don’t see respect for the Finns playing any role in his decision; he was not an honorable person.
Dear God!! I thought he had a terrible stroke when I saw the picture. And he still shot the Russian. My goodness.
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