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Posted on 03/23/2005 10:24:01 PM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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During the winter of 1939-40, the Finns fought the Soviet Union in an epic struggle for Karelia, the outcome of which can only be called miraculous.  The history of Karelia has been one of frequent warfare. A glance at a map will show why. The Karelian isthmus which lies north of St. Petersburg (Leningrad) and surrounds Lake Ladoga occupies a position not unlike the Holy Land in the Middle East. It is at the end of the Baltic Sea. Control of this land dominates the trade routes which head South and East to the Orient. The Karelian coat of arms reflects this. It shows the curved sword of the East opposed by the straight sword of the West over a large crown. From about 1200 AD on, Finland had been controlled by Sweden. In the 18th century the Tsars had made several forays into Finland and taken parts of Karelia. A secret agreement at Tilst between Napoleon and Alexander I of Russia gave the Tsar a free hand in the conquest of Finland, and in 1809 he exercised that option by taking the entire country. It was renamed the Grand Duchy of Finland.  Until the assassination of Alexander II in March 1881, Finland had been an autonomous part of the Russian Empire. She had her own language, parliament, armed forces, military conscription and coinage. Laws were passed which discriminated against Russian Orthodoxy in favor of Lutheranism and clearly favored non-Russian citizens. In 1891 a reaction to this practice became Russian policy with the declaration of Russian as the official language. In 1898 NI Bobrikov was appointed governor general of the Duchy. Bobrikov's style was uncompromising. Everything was to be subservient to Mother Russia. In 1901 Finland's legislature was stripped of its power, and in 1902 her independent armed forces suddenly found themselves an extension of the Tsar's army. Young men were conscripted to fight the Tsar's wars. The press was controlled and direct petitions to the Tsar were ignored. However, on June 16, 1904, Bobrikov was assassinated and a spirit of revolution swept the land. This was followed by a number of events throughout the Russian Empire which eventually brought down the monarchy.  On December 6, 1917, Finland declared its independence and fought its own version of the "revolution" in a civil war in which White forces under the leadership of Carl Gustav Mannerheim prevailed over Red Army. For 20 years, Finland, like others, had neglected its military despite warnings from Mannerheim. After World War I, Finland had been given control of the Åland Islands by the League of Nations and with the consent of Sweden with the understanding that no military forces were to be stationed on them.  Soviet Union´s and Finland´s troops in the beginning of Winter War With the rise of Hitler in 1933 and the ever increasing military build-up by Germany under Hitler and finally the acquisition of territories starting in 1938, Molotov and Stalin, himself, began secret negotiations with a few Finnish representatives in an attempt to force the Finns into giving up control of the Åland Islands, Hanko and other strategic islands in the Baltic plus a large strip of land to the north of Leningrad in return for indefensible parts of Soviet Karelia. However, the Finns could not do this without violating their trust with other Scandinavian countries and the League of Nations.  Hitler looked for any excuse to retake Poland which had been lost by Germany during World War I. In order to secure his Eastern frontier from attack from Russia which also had designs on parts of Polish territories, lost during World War I, Stalin and Hitler signed a "non-aggression pact." It included several secret agreements. It gave Germany the right to take all of Poland except the four Eastern-most counties. These, plus the Baltic States and Finland were to be given to Stalin, if he could take them.  On September 1, 1939, German troops crashed across the Polish frontier in a blitzkrieg and took Poland in a matter of weeks. Stalin's troops moved into the Baltic States and eastern Poland with ease. On November 26, 1939 a border "incident" at Mainila, which even the Russians did not believe, took place.  In Taipale, the bridges at Kiviniemi over River Vuoksi, Karelian Isthmus, were blown up. The enemy could cross the river but soon the Finns were succesfull in their attempts to stop the advancing enemy at the line Koukkuniemi-Terenttilä for the entire war.  Soviet infantry acrossing river Rajajoki in Karelian Isthmus 30th November 1939. Soviet photo. On November 30, 1939, it was Stalin's next move. 250,000 Russian troops under the cover of a coordinated air and artillery bombardment crossed into Finland to begin one of the least publicized and most costly campaigns in the annals of military history. It would be a "walk over;" General Meretskov estimated it would take only 10 to 12 days for his 26 well equipped 14,000 man divisions to reach Helsinki. Russian propaganda had been so convincing that it was felt that the Finns would be waving flags and welcoming the Red Army with open arms. Opposing him were nine poorly equipped 11,000-man Finnish divisions.  Damage after first bombings 30th November 1939 Meretskov never suspected that his army was about to plunge into a frozen hell, the second coldest winter since 1828, and oppose Mannerheim, probably one of the greatest defensive tacticians since Robert E. Lee. So confident were the Soviets of a quick victory march to Helsinki that they came with parade bands, but without winter uniforms, without supplies for a protracted campaign and without medical services. Even more sinister was the fact that Stalin had purged most of his regular army officers two years earlier and placed most of the responsibility for the army in the hands of political commissars.  General Meretskov For 105 days the world held its breath and learned the word sisu, while Russians died at the incredible rate of nearly 10,000 per day and the Finns lost 250 per day. When the armistice finally came on March 13, 1940, the Finns counted 25,000 dead, 55,000 wounded, and 450,000 homeless, a terrible price for a country of only four million people. However, even the Finns did not know the devastation that they had caused the Russians until years later. All this was at the hands of an army of less than 250,000 (mostly light infantry, home guard units) with hardly any anti-tank weapons (except Molotov cocktails) and 41 operational fighter aircraft. In the words of my father-in-law, Antti Olavi Pönkänen, who fought in this war: "Our lakes are full of dead Russians."  The Russians attacked in company, battalion and regimental strength across frozen lakes, their dark uniforms easily visible against the white snow. Machine guns enfiladed the lakes and home guard troops, most of whom were expert shots, armed with one of the best military rifles ever made, the Sako Arms version of the Russian rifle, picked them off one by one. One Finnish soldier, Corporal Simo Häyhä was credited with more than 500 known kills.  Field Marshall Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim One of the most famous early battles of the Winter War occurred at Suomussalmi during December, 1939. The Russian 44th Division advanced along the Raate Road from the south and the 163rd Russian Division advanced from Juntusranta from the North. They were supposed to link up at Suomussalmi and then head West across Finland to Oulu and cut the country in half. Russian troop strength totaled 48,000 men, 335 cannon, 100 tanks and 50 armored cars. The Finnish defenders reinforced from a few thousand now numbered 17,000 with 11 cannons under the command of Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo; his only hope was to defeat the Russians in detail. And he did.  To slow down the 163rd in the north, Finnish ski troops made wide circling flanking movements of 20 to 30 miles under cover of the long night and caught the rear and middle parts of the column by surprise. They found Soviet soldiers huddled around fires in -40° weather easy prey to sub-machine gun fire and grenades. Almost any wound was fatal. As the 44th approached Suomussalmi down the Raate Road, they had to pass between Kuomasjärvi and Kuivasjärvi on a narrow isthmus. 350 Finns in hand-to-hand combat closed the isthmus. Trees were now felled across the road in front and behind with the 44th Division strung out along the road. The 163rd only six miles north engaged in desperate struggles to push the Finns west, but were stopped. Much of this fighting was hand to hand. After four days, both the 163rd and 44th were stopped dead in their tracks. Now Russians of the 163rd Division, after throwing their weapons away made an attempt to escape back to Russia. Two Finnish machine gun platoons and a guerrill a company helped them back to Russia.  Russian soldiers killed alongside their vehicles The 44th fared even worse. Trees blocked the roads which prevented movement. The frozen lakes around them were death traps. Any attack across the lakes were met with machine gun fire. The Russian dead were permitted lie frozen in the snow over the lakes until the thaw when their bodies sank to the bottom. Several attacks by the Finns further demoralized the Russians. Orders from the commanding general did not permit a fighting retreat. The 44th was out of food, freezing and had nowhere to go except to sit and be slaughtered at will. Of the 44,000 only 5000 made it back. The Finns captured intact 85 tanks, 437 trucks, 20 tractors, 10 motorcycles, 1620 horses, 92 artillery pieces, 78 anti-tank guns, and 13 anti-aircraft guns plus thousands of rifles, machine guns and a horde of ammunition. This was later used against the Russians in Karelia.  In the Karelian isthmus, Russian units were isolated from each other into motti, "log piles." There, surrounded, they froze and starved to death by the thousands or died by rifle fire and wounds. However, the Russians continued to reinforce in the South and keep the pressure on the Finnish line.
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Good morning EGC.
Good morning Gail. Still raining here.
Yeah. Will we be getting before and after pics?
I know what you mean. It's the little things we learn here, the details. Seems I used to think I knew a lot because I knew the 'big picture', boy was I wrong.
1912 Werner von Braun Wirsitz Germany, rocket expert
I learned of Werner von Braun from a song that Sam sings. I'm sure if I read down this thread a little bit he's posted it today. :-)
Good morning Mayor.
Any excuse will do!
Good morning Darksheare.
A story of your Finns today!
one of the quotes from an official report by a General of the Red Army (i can't remember his name- Russian names are really HARD for me for some reason or other, which is why WAR & PEACE is NOT one of my favorite novels) was:
"i found to my complete horror & surprise, that i was fighting the SAME five thousand Finns at every terrain feature & was accomplishing NOTHING, except killing a LEGION of my own comrades." (emphasis: mine)
free dixie,sw
Ugh. No but Yes. I better hustle though and get ready. See you in a bit.
LOL. I knew you'd post this!
Morning!
Nothing much going on.
Morning stand watie.
Free Dixie.
:-)
free dixie,sw
Thank You, snippy for the great research on this war. I know some folks who fought in that war.
Sunny & 56 here
I'm not gonna touch that line. Uh uh, no way, no how. :^)
That was a great bit of military history, SAMWolf. Thanks!
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