Above: A Finnish Maxim M/32-33 machine gun nest 100 metres from Soviet forces during the Winter War, located approximately 5 kilometres north of Lemetti (area of the modern Pitkyarantsky District, Russia). Source: Public Domain.
Above: 1 January 1940: Soviet T-26 Model 1937 advancing aggressively on the eastern side of Kollaa River during the battle of Kollaa. Source: Public Domain. Click to expand.
The Winter War. A conflict started by the Soviet Union with its invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939. The battle lasted a little more than 90 days but resulted in the deaths of more than 25,000 Finns and 150,000 Soviet Red Army fighters--ground, armor and air for both sides. So where does this early battle of World War II fit today as we look back at this key history? There are three points to consider.
The Winter War ended with the Moscow Peace Treaty signed on 13 March 1940. As a result of the Treaty, the Soviet Union was given approximately 9% of eastern areas of Finland. The League of Nations (replaced in 1943 by the United Nations, or UN.) declared the Soviet invasion illegal, and as a result, the Soviet Union was expelled from the organization. (Parallels between this and what we see today with Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not dissimilar. Putin has a keen sense of history and seems compelled to cement himself with Lenin and Stalin in Russian history.)
Adolf Hitler saw the poor performance of Stalin's Red Army as an opportunity to more forward with his goal of Lebensraum and Operation Barbarossa. Although the Soviet Union came out of the Winter War and the Moscow Treaty with Finnish territory, their losses of men, tanks and aircraft were far greater than the those suffered by Finland's Army of the Isthmus (6 divisions), IV Army Corps (2 divisions) and the smaller North Finland Group. June 1941 saw Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union--Operation Barbarossa--commence at the same time with the Continuation War, or the resumption of fighting between Finland and the Soviet Union.
Lastly, the Great Purge of 1936-1938 so crippled Soviet Red Army leadership as evidenced in the Winter War, it also weakened the Soviet Union's ability to initiaally defend against Nazi Germany's invasion on 22 June 1941 and early phases of the War on the Eastern Front.
Above: Finnish World War II defense line on the Karelian Isthmus. Source: War History Network license. Click to expand.
Sean McMeekin, in Stalin's War: A New History of World War II, published in 2021 by Basic Books, the author writes "After beginning so well with the carve up of already-defeated Poland and the helpless Baltic states, Stalin's war has taken a perilous turn in Finland. It was not only in the Karelian Isthmus sector that his armies failed. North of Lake Ladoga, two entire Soviet rifle divisions were nearly obliterated at the battle of Tolvajarvi in December 1939 by a few lightly armed Finnish battalions." McMeekin continues "In a series of battles near Suomussalmi in late December and early January 1940, which saw Finnish troops at their lethal best, the Soviet Forty-Fourth and Sixty-Third Divisions were basically annihilated." In his narrative, McMeekin cites the work of William Trotter's 2000 book Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnsh Winter War of 1939-40 "Finnish spotters counted 'the stone-stiff bodies of 27,000 Russian soldiers,' along with the remains of 43 tanks and 270 trucks." (McMeekin, 2021. p.133)
Recommended further reading
For context of the Winter War and the Soviet Union, consider Stalin's War: A New History of World War II by Sean McMeekin. His work was published by Basic Books in 2021. Buy on Amazon
As noted above, William Trotters' book Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnsh Winter War of 1939-40 is still in print. Trotters' work earns top reviews on Amazon. Buy on Amazon
For additional context for the Winter War and Hitler's plans for his Operation Barbaross invasion and subsequent Siege of Leningrad, check out Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder. Snyder, Professor of History at Yale, gives a valuable contribution to the literature. His book was published in 2010 by Basic Books, New York. Buy on Amazon
Multimedia: Video, Web, Photo, and Discussion
Video: BBC Documnentary: The Winter War of Finland and Russia [Soviet Union] | Mark Felton Productions: Russian Invasion of Finland: The Winter War
Websites: The History Channel: What was the Winter War?
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