Soviet-Finnish War, 1939-40

Categories / Army. Navy
SOVIET-FINNISH WAR OF 1939-40 (also known as the Winter War), part of World War II, launched by the Soviet government shortly after the Soviet-German Border and Friendship Treaty was signed in September 1939. The war was preceded by Soviet-Finnish negotiations in 1938-39, when the USSR unsuccessfully tried to alter boundaries along the Karelian Isthmus to improve Leningrad's strategic location. On 30 November 1939, the Leningrad Military District troops launched an attack headed by Commander–General K.A. Meretskov (at the beginning of the campaign, Soviet forces consisted of 450,000 soldiers, about 2,000 guns, no less than 1,100 tanks and about 1,000 airplanes). After mobilisation, Finnish troops, headed by Commander-in-Chief - Marshal C.G. Mannerheim, numbered 337,000 people, over 400 guns, 60 tanks and 114 airplanes. The so-called Finnish Democratic Republic was announced in Terijoki (Zelenogorsk), occupied by Soviet troops in the first days of the war, and the "People's Government" was formed by Finnish Communists living in the USSR (headed by O.V. Kuusinen). The USSR's aggression was condemned by many countries; on 14 December 1939, the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations. Major battles took place on the Karelian Isthmus, where in 1932-39 the Finns had constructed permanent defence fortifications (the so-called Mannerheim Line). A stubborn resistance on the part of the Finnish Army, as well as severe weather conditions and the low level of training for the Red Army, all brought about a breakdown in the intended blitzkrieg and capture of Finland. Only in February 1940 did Soviet troops finally succeeded in breaking through the Mannerheim Line, though with heavy casualties, storming Vyborg in March. On 12 March 1940, the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, according to which the USSR gained a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland, the Karelian Isthmus, the North Ladoga Region, and a part of Rybachy Peninsula and Sredny (Middle) Peninsula; Finland also leased the Hanko Peninsula to the Soviet Union as a military naval base for 30 years. Over the course of the war, the Finnish Army suffered casualties of over 23,000 dead and 45,000 wounded; the USSR suffered over 72,000 dead, 17,500 missing and about 200,000 wounded.

References: Зимняя война, 1939-1940: В 2 кн. М., 1999; Советско-финляндская война 1939-1940: В 2 т. СПб., 2003.

A. Y. Chistyakov. Kuusinen Otto Vilgelmovich
Mannerheim Carl Gustav
Meretskov Kirill Afanasievich
Зимняя война, 1939-1940: В 2 кн. М., 1999 1939