On this day in 1939, the Soviet Union invades Finland. Although the brave Finnish defenders inflict heavy casualties on the Red Army, within three months Helsinki will be forced to sue for peace.

34 comments

  1. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its ranks.

    Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty, in which Finland ceded 8% of its territory to the Soviet Union.

    Soviet losses were heavy, and the country’s international reputation suffered. Their gains exceeded their pre-war demands, and the USSR received substantial territories along Lake Ladoga and further north.

    Finland retained its sovereignty and enhanced its international reputation.

    The poor performance of the Red Army both encouraged German leader Adolf Hitler to believe that an attack on the Soviet Union would be successful and confirmed negative Western opinions of the Soviet military.

    After 15 months of peace, in June 1941, Nazi Germany commenced Operation Barbarossa, and the Continuation War between Finland and the USSR began.

  3. Soviets losing close to 300,000 men in 3 months…..100k lost each month of the war, to put that in perspective they lost more men in that little adventure than what Russian army currently has in active service all together

  12. I’m a bit infuriated to see some of my compatriots here denying actual reality. Finns protected their homes, as just we would do in 1 year. There’s no difference between Soviet heroes in WW2, who stopped Nazis, and Finnish heroes, who merely defended their families and lost their lives. The Winter War is our shame, and we have to live with it.

    Вечная слава павшим!

  16. And if I may add, Finland became an independent country 100 years ago, which is pretty recent if you ask me.

    Amazing how fast times flies from there to now..

  17. My grandfather was there, on a soviet’s side. Said that their commander was crying, telling them the order to invade Finland.

    Got out of there alive, but till his last day, he coudn’t sleep in a cold room, because they were sleeping there in a snow. He was also always crying, telling us how many his young friends died there. Fuck ussr and fuck communism.

  20. I love these annual Winter War thread and the pro-soviet historical revisionism and the mental gymnastics behind it. Free laughs

  23. Not trying to belittle the Finnish accomplishments, but people often underestimate just how god awful the Soviet ”””plan””” of attack was …

  32. They lost the disputed territory but they kept their independence.

    I can guarantee you that if the Soviets had managed to rush in and seize Helsinki and other major cities then Finland would’ve had the same fate as the other previously Imperial Russian holdings, like the Baltic states.

  33. Although no other country helped us in our time of need, there were foreign volunteers who came to help. About 11600 in total. While their governments tried to resist and restrict the people still heard our just cause and travelled to Finland.

    8 260 Swedes

    1 010 Danes

    695 Norwegians (including Norwegian national hero Max Manus)

    372 Finnish-Americas

    346 Hungarians

    350 Karelians

    100 Estonians

    51 Belgians

    18 Germans

    17 Dutch

    13 Brits (Including actor Christopher Lee and General Ormonde Winter)

    7 Italians

    6 Poles

    6 Swiss

    4 Latvians

    3 Luxembourgers

    2 Lithuanians

    2 Austrians

    2 French

    Volunteers, especially Swedes, Estonians and Finnish-Americas were valuable help in Finnish air forces, anti-air and on the front lines.

    25000 Hungarians volunteered, but they didn’t make it because of travel difficulties.

    8500 brits volunteered but couldn’t make in time.

    5000 Italians volunteered, but they had problems with Italian bureaucracy and passports and some had doubts about their usefulness in -40°C conditions.

    There were also volunteers in Australia, South-Africa, Egypt and Argentina, but none of them made it.

    When the cancer of communism is trying to crush free people under it’s boot heel, there will always be those brave men and women who help others to maintain what’s most valuable in life – freedom. Fighting against arsonist, murderers and rapists to maintain a young nation and to save homes and families.

  34. I personally think that Finland won that war. They weren’t even a sovereign country a few decades before the WW2. They could be very same with one of those Eastern European countries. But they accomplished something impossible.

    They have only one cinema film about it by the way. It’s not even praising one.

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