After the successful Soviet spankings of client states East Germany in 1953 and Hungary in 1956, the Soviets warplanned a possible repeat invasion and occupation of Finland, this time not making the blunders they did during the 1939-40 Winter War. The Finnish intelligence services picked up on the Soviet preparations, and dutifully considered what the country could do to discourage such a move without completely wrecking the national economy or making the country dependent of foreign military supply sources.
Enter the American firm of Interarms, then known as Interarmco, which was then selling obsolete military surplus weaponry to American target shooters, humters and collectors,l as well as covertly equipping Cuban exiles preparing to visit their homeland and take it back. The Finns assembled and traded off their obsolete rifles, some dating back to the previous century and others for which ammunition was unavailable or limited. In return, Finland received 500,000 WWII British Sten 9mm submachineguns and magazines, and their national ammunition factories began churning out 9mm ammo by the hundreds of thousands.
The Soviets recalled the Finnish troopers and reservists who had taken a million-and-a-half man invading force in 1939 and in four months bled it white at a cost of nearly a million casualties. The Soviets call that period the belya smiert, the White Death; at least as many froze top death as were shot by the Finns, including most of the Soviet wounded.
And the Russian leadership decided not to come calling again. The Finns were just a little too dangerous, and they were now well enough armed to cause invaders a real headache, and for an occupation force, a real nightmare. And the 100,000 rounds of antitank ammunition the Finns got from Spain and Israel for their aging German Sturmgeschutze III tank destroyers didn't help matters a bit either.
