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Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile.

General Headquarters, March 14, 1940

You did not want war; you loved peace, work and progress; but you were forced into a struggle in which you have achieved great deeds, deeds that will shine for centuries in the annals of history.
Photo: SA-KUVA

Mannerheim issues Order of the Day Nr. 34

Soldiers of the glorious Finnish army!

Peace has been concluded between Finland and Soviet Russia, a harsh peace in which Soviet Russia has been ceded nearly every battlefield on which you have shed your blood on behalf of everything we hold sacred and dear.

You did not want war; you loved peace, work and progress; but you were forced into a struggle in which you have achieved great deeds, deeds that will shine for centuries in the annals of history.

Soldiers! I have fought on many a battlefield, but never have I seen such warriors as you. I am as proud of you as if you were my own children; I am as proud of the man from the northern fells as of the son of Ostrobothnia's plains, of the Karelian forests, the hills of Savo, the fertile fields of Häme and Satakunta, the leafy glades of Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi. I am equally proud of the sacrifice of the factory worker and the poor crofter as of that of the wealthy.

With joy and pride my thoughts dwell on the women of the Lotta Svärd - on their spirit of self-sacrifice and untiring work in myriad fields, work which has freed thousands of men to fight at the front. Their noble spirit has given inspiration and support to the army, and they have thoroughly earned our gratitude and respect.

A place of honour has also been earned by the thousands of workers who, often as volunteers and during air raids, have worked on their machines to provide the army with vital supplies, and those, too, who have laboured unflinchingly under fire to strengthen our defensive positions. On behalf of our native land, I thank you all.

I feel somewhat somber with the end of the Winter War. Finland had fought hard and showed that they were a far superior force to the Soviets, but still, the Soviets, with numbers and material on their side, carried the day.

It is somewhat disappointing when I think on how the Allies behaved during the crisis. As was stated by David Lloyd George, it was always too little, too late. Daladier just now announce that an expeditionary force is ready to go. The Roosevelt troops, which were not the doing of the British government, never got out of London. And the harsh words of Hore-Belisha are just Chamberlain’s actions coming back to bite him.

It’s pretty common knowledge that the fall of Norway or more specifically, the failure of Britain to do anything timely to defend it was the final nail in Chamberlain’s coffin. By the following May he was out. But it seems that this debate on the Allies conduct with Finland is what really started the rumblings. The following Scandinavian failure will just take this rumble and amplify it to a roar.