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The Winter War (also known as the Soviet-Finnish War or the Russo-Finnish War) broke out when the Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30, 1939, three months after the start of World War II. As a consequence, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14th. Stalin had expected to conquer the whole country by the end of 1939, but Finnish resistance frustrated the Soviet forces, who outnumbered the Finns three to one. Finland held out until March 1940, when a peace treaty was signed ceding about 10% of Finland's territory, and 20% of its industrial capacity, to the Soviet Union.
The result of the war was mixed. Although the Soviet forces finally managed to break through the Finnish defence, neither the Soviet Union nor Finland emerged from the conflict unscathed. Soviet losses on the front were tremendous, and the country's international standing suffered. Even worse, the fighting ability of the Red Army was put into question, a fact that contributed heavily to Hitler's decision to launch Operation Barbarossa. Finally, the Soviet forces did not accomplish their primary objective of conquest of Finland, but gained only a secession of territory along Lake Ladoga. The Finns retained their sovereignty and gained considerable international goodwill.
The March 15 peace treaty thwarted Franco-British preparations to send support to Finland through northern Scandinavia (the Allied campaign in Norway) which would also hinder German access to northern Swedish iron ore mines. Nazi Germany's invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940 (Operation Weserübung) then diverted the attention of the world to the struggle for possession of Norway.
The Winter War (talvisota in Finnish, vinterkriget in Swedish) was a military disaster for the Soviet Union. However, Stalin did learn from this fiasco and realized that political control over the Red Army was no longer feasible. After the Winter War, the Kremlin initiated the process of reinstating qualified officers and modernizing its forces, a fateful decision that would enable the Soviets to resist the German invasion. It could be argued that neither would the armies of France, Britain, or USA have been prepared for winter warfare, though this is largely untested. The Battle of the Bulge at the end of 1944, however, saw thousands of American troops stranded by weather arguably mild compared to Scandinavian winter.
great film,in the top 5 in my collection,and my collection is quite large
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N
The Winter War (also known as the Soviet-Finnish War or the Russo-Finnish War) broke out when the Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30, 1939, three months after the start of World War II. As a consequence, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14th. Stalin had expected to conquer the whole country by the end of 1939, but Finnish resistance frustrated the Soviet forces, who outnumbered the Finns three to one. Finland held out until March 1940, when a peace treaty was signed ceding about 10% of Finland's territory, and 20% of its industrial capacity, to the Soviet Union.
The result of the war was mixed. Although the Soviet forces finally managed to break through the Finnish defence, neither the Soviet Union nor Finland emerged from the conflict unscathed. Soviet losses on the front were tremendous, and the country's international standing suffered. Even worse, the fighting ability of the Red Army was put into question, a fact that contributed heavily to Hitler's decision to launch Operation Barbarossa. Finally, the Soviet forces did not accomplish their primary objective of conquest of Finland, but gained only a secession of territory along Lake Ladoga. The Finns retained their sovereignty and gained considerable international goodwill.
The March 15 peace treaty thwarted Franco-British preparations to send support to Finland through northern Scandinavia (the Allied campaign in Norway) which would also hinder German access to northern Swedish iron ore mines. Nazi Germany's invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940 (Operation Weserübung) then diverted the attention of the world to the struggle for possession of Norway.
The Winter War (talvisota in Finnish, vinterkriget in Swedish) was a military disaster for the Soviet Union. However, Stalin did learn from this fiasco and realized that political control over the Red Army was no longer feasible. After the Winter War, the Kremlin initiated the process of reinstating qualified officers and modernizing its forces, a fateful decision that would enable the Soviets to resist the German invasion. It could be argued that neither would the armies of France, Britain, or USA have been prepared for winter warfare, though this is largely untested. The Battle of the Bulge at the end of 1944, however, saw thousands of American troops stranded by weather arguably mild compared to Scandinavian winter.
great film,in the top 5 in my collection,and my collection is quite large
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N
