Posted on 02/27/2024 6:59:07 PM PST by Chad C. Mulligan
There are currently around 600 ranges in Finland, compared with 2,000 at the turn of the 21st century. Consider the trend. It means 1,400 shooting ranges were closed and or destroyed in the last 25 years. It coincides well with the fall of the Soviet Union, and the belief Finland no longer had to worry about invasion.
The hard lessons of the Winter War of 1939 - 1940 were minimized. Although completely outmatched by Soviet manpower and material, Finns fought the Soviet behemoth and kept their independence. They are said to have caused 300 thousand Soviet casualties while suffering only 68 thousand casualties. Over 125,000 Soviets were killed, and about 25,000 Finns. They ended up ceding 11% of their territory, but they survived as a country.
Every Finnish school child knows the history of Simo Häyhä "the White Death". He was one of the most successful snipers in history, killing 500 Soviet soldiers in three months of winter. The Finnish military expects a great many of its 900,000 reservists to be able to accomplish many of the same feats as Simo Häyh.
The Finnish government's hostile attitude toward maintaining the country's shooting ranges died with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finns, Swedes, Czechs, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, no longer believed they could rely on economic ties with the Russian Federation to prevent the same Russian bellicosity and aggressive, expansionist policies they saw in WWII.
(Excerpt) Read more at gunwatch.blogspot.com ...
No, but they do have 900,000 reservists to draw on. That should generate at least 250,000 troops.
Fighting defensively and in that terrain, they should be able to tie up a minimum of half a million Russian troops in knots.
No, I saw that. They have lost an entire generation without sufficient ranges. They are playing catch-up bit-time. And they think most of their 900,000 reservists can be as effective as their record setting sniper? Come on.
Outstanding. Finland, the birthplace of the .338 Lapua Magnum rifle cartridge. Reach out and touch someone.
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