The Winter War of 1939-1940 in Finland: how a small yet determined nation stood firm against the Moscow horde.

In March 1939, Czechoslovakia was completely erased from the map of Europe, betrayed by Western countries. One of the most democratic states in the world was torn apart by Nazi Germany, which was assisted by Horthy's Hungary and the shortsighted nationalist "colonel" Second Polish Republic.

The situation on the European continent became explosive. On the morning of March 23, the Wehrmacht units annexed the Klaipeda (Memel) region of Lithuania. In Spain, the final chord of the civil war sounded – on April 1, what remained of the republican army capitulated, and the right-wing conservative Francisco Franco came to power, having been supported for nearly three years by Nazi Germany and Italian fascists. Earlier, at the end of March 1939, Hungary, with the help of Poland, seized Subcarpathian Rus (Zakarpattia), which had just proclaimed independence. Germany and Italy simply "washed their hands," just like the Western democracies. On April 2, the Italians invaded Albania, but soon received a good kick from the Greeks. Only four months remained until a large-scale war in the Old World.

Moscow's Ultimatum

The leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, who had supported the Spanish republicans, quickly "forgot" about this defeat. Starting in late summer 1939, he attempted to dictate his will to all participants in the impending conflict. The Kremlin seemed to hover above the fray, but step by step prepared to receive its territorial "gifts" on the western borders, to which enormous military contingents were being drawn.

A configuration of the conflict's sides began to emerge: on one side were the Western democracies (Great Britain and France), which had junior allies in Europe – the Second Polish Republic, Yugoslavia, Greece, and at that time Romania. The latter would be forced to side with the Axis powers (Berlin — Rome — Tokyo) after the USSR occupied Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. The totalitarian bloc states – Germany and Italy – along with their satellites (Hungary and the "trimmed" Slovakia) were ready for offensive actions on the continent. Meanwhile, war was already boiling in the Far East, sparked by imperial Japan in China. Japanese and Soviet troops had already tested their strength twice – in July-August 1938 at Lake Hassan and in May-September 1939 on the Khalkhin Gol River...

However, in reality, the initiative belonged to the Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, who was considered by many to be a peacemaker. On August 23, 1939, unexpectedly – especially for communist parties and left-leaning individuals in general – a Non-Aggression Pact (the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact) was signed between former antagonists – the Nazis and the Communists. Its highlight was the Secret Protocol. Hitler "chose a secret alliance with Stalin, dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence, giving Russia Finland and the Baltic states, negotiating the division of Poland and the joint pursuit of Polish resistance. This was a political, military, and economic alliance of two totalitarian states, accompanied by Stalin's renunciation of anti-fascist ideology. Russia's neutrality allowed Hitler to take the risk of a world war," wrote Ukrainian philosopher Myroslav Popovych in his book "The Red Century."

Thus, in September 1939, after Austria and Czechoslovakia, it was the turn of the Second Polish Republic, which by the end of that month was defeated (although it did not capitulate, unlike France in the summer of 1940) and torn in half by two vultures. Stalin and Hitler then made a "swap" of territories in their "spheres of influence": Berlin ceded Lithuania in exchange for central Poland with Warsaw. The turn of the three Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) and Finland had not yet come, although the pressure from Stalin's USSR on them was gradually increasing.

The Soviet Union persistently blackmailed these states, offering to station military units on their territories. The Baltic countries could not withstand the pressure and from September 28 to October 10, 1939, took the first step towards the occupation of their territory by signing onerous agreements. Lithuania was treated particularly deceitfully, "returning" the Vilnius (Vilna) region, which had been annexed by the Poles in 1920, only to fully occupy the entire country by the summer of the following year.

However, with Finland, "that trick" did not work: Helsinki rejected Moscow's ultimatum, which sought to place a garrison on the Åland Islands and the island of Suursaari (Hogland) in the central part of the Gulf of Finland. The Kremlin’s appetites grew. The Finns during negotiations in Moscow in October 1939 cited their neutral status. The Soviet attempt to impose the placement of a military contingent on the strategic Hanko Peninsula for 30 years, very close to the country's capital, was also rejected. As was the unequal strategic "territorial exchange" (Stalin demanded a large portion of the Karelian Isthmus with the powerful "Mannerheim Line," which opened an unobstructed route to the Finnish capital, while "giving away" forests in central Karelia). This small state, when compared to the Soviet Union, was 55 times inferior in population to the communist monster!

USSR War with "Finnish Militarism"

Stalin's patience, who himself participated in negotiations with the Finnish delegation – a rare occurrence indeed – snapped. On November 21, 1939, the troops of the Leningrad Military District and the Baltic Fleet were ordered to "swiftly destroy the land and naval forces of the enemy." But a pretext was needed to start the war with "Finnish militarism"...

And such a "pretext" was very quickly "found" — on November 26, the NKVD organized a provocation near the small Soviet settlement of Mainila close to the border. Allegedly, the Finns fired artillery at the positions of the 68th Rifle Regiment of the Red Army from their side. The Bolsheviks claimed that four Red Army soldiers were killed and nine wounded. Naturally, this was a staged provocation, which Russian historians began writing about only in the 1990s. One of them, Mikhail Semiryaga, noted: "The provocation was naturally organized by those who stood to gain from it. In this situation, it was beneficial only to the Soviet side to have a pretext for denouncing the non-aggression pact with Finland" ("Secrets of Stalin's Diplomacy," 1992).

On November 29, 1939, the USSR severed diplomatic relations with Finland. And already the next day, on November 30, at 8:00 AM Moscow time, Soviet troops crossed the border with Finland, commencing hostilities. Simultaneously, there was a bombing of Helsinki and most major cities – Kotka, Oulu, Tampere, Viipuri (modern-day Russian Vyborg). Soviet press reported that there were no casualties among the civilian population, although in reality, 91 people died just in the capital.

"The invasion shocked the population, which, despite the anxious atmosphere and military mobilization, naively hoped that the conflict could be prevented through negotiations. But already after the first panic reaction, a feeling of national unity crystallized and the realization that there was no other way but to stand firm until the end. Consequently, Stalin's decision to form a Finnish puppet government and the Russian propaganda claiming that the attack aimed to support the Finnish working class turned out to be a futile exercise in rhetoric," writes Finnish historian Henrik Meinander in his book "The History of Finland: Structures, Turning Points."

The Kremlin appointed Otto Kuusinen, an experienced Comintern apparatchik, as the head of the "democratic government of Finland" as early as December 1, 1939. However, there were virtually no collaborators in the country; even former Red Guards who had participated in the bloody civil war of 1918 enlisted as volunteers to defend their homeland. An unprecedented consolidation of society occurred, and all ideological disputes instantly ceased.

The "Mannerheim Line" (between Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland), stretching 130 kilometers, became the main defensive barrier for Finland on the way to Helsinki. By the start of the war, the Red Army had 24 divisions (over 425,000 soldiers) on the borders compared to 14 divisions on the enemy's side (265,000). The advantage in the number of artillery pieces and mortars (2,876 versus 534, or 5.4 times), tanks (2,289 versus 26, 88 times!), and aircraft (2,246 versus 270, more than nine times!) was impressive.

Throughout the winter, Finnish troops led by the hero of the 1918 civil war, Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim put up desperate resistance against the Bolshevik horde. Stalin demanded a swift victory, and by the end of February 1940, the number of personnel in the Red Army had already reached one million soldiers and officers. The Finns received help, albeit limited, from Great Britain, France, the USA, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, and