Today is 80 years when Winter War begun here

30.11.1939 Sovjet Union made provocation "Mainila shots".It was "staging".They shot those shots themselves with cannons and they blame that shots comes from Finnish side.
Then they attaged against Finland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

Best ally to Finnish Army was -40 to -45 degrees cold wheather.Hell of cold winter.

You can find parts of movie,made from Winter War and get small idea what it was...

https://areena.yle.fi/1-50228451

https://areena.yle.fi/1-84626

Thank to our veterans, we have now one of the best countries in the world.

BR, Timo

Timo said:

30.11.1939 Sovjet Union made provocation "Mainila shots".It was "staging".They shot those shots themselves with cannons and they blame that shots comes from Finnish side.
Then they attaged against Finland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

Best ally to Finnish Army was -40 to -45 degrees cold wheather.Hell of cold winter.

You can find parts of movie,made from Winter War and get small idea what it was...

https://areena.yle.fi/1-50228451

https://areena.yle.fi/1-84626

Thank to our veterans, we have now one of the best countries in the world.

BR, Timo

Click to expand...

Timo,

A salute to your father and men who were as tough as him who defended your homeland under incredibly difficult circumstances. The world needs more men like that.

Take care,

Greg

The Winter War

Timo,

I've studied the various activities in and around World War II for years. The Winter War did not exactly end in a Finnish victory with the Soviets gaining more than they had asked for before the war and Finland losing 30% of it's economy. But it's the cause and effect that interests me. The war degraded world opinion of the Soviet Union and improved world opinion of Finland at the same time. Hitler was watching all this and decided that the Soviet Unions military under performed which it did. Just numbers. He also chose to believe that the rest of world would not support the Soviet Union and therefore he could invade with impunity (not exactly what happened but politics makes strange bedfellows). So, essentially the Winter War validated operation Barbarossa which was a big factor in the ultimate German defeat. I've read many accounts of the Finnish army, undergunned and undermanned but still going blow for blow with the Soviets.

BR, Timo[/QUOTE]

Ungunned and unmanned made our veterans invent crazy systems to stop Russian tanks.Very few bazooka was on our side. They goes by creeping/running near tanks and use Molotov Coctails (petrol pombs) and also put different pieces between tanks continuous tracks. Sometimes even logs.

Winter War come and goes.Then there was "between peace" and then begun the big one.

There are intresting details during of this "big one". Leningrad was surrounded by Germans and ONLY way to get anything to Leningrad, food,ammo etc. was ice road on Lake Ladoga.

Our cannon batteries was so close that they should easily close this ice road.

My fathers friend was Captain in this cannon battery and he told this situation to my father and I heard this story.

Finnish Army chief Carl Gustav Mannerheim didnt give lisence to cut down this only logistic way to Leningrad.

Also he dont give lisence to cut Murmansk railway.

Maybe those things helped little when VERY HEAVY war reparations comes to Finland when war ends.

But hat off to our veterans.Not very many alive anymore and they are all now 95-100+ years old.

Our President keeps 6.12. (our Independence Day) party in "Presidents Castle" and our veterans have always been Quests of Honor there.

BR, Timo

December: Winston Churchill wrote in his diary ”Leningrad is encircled” then sent a letter to Mannerheim requesting that the Finnish army should stop harassing the railroads north of Leningrad used for American and British food and ammunition supplies to Leningrad by British and American Arctic convoys.