The Winter War, or Soviet-Finnish war, was a pre-WWII war, but not by far, only a couple years.
Initially, the Russians had 3 times the force of the Finnish, all in place to attack. The Soviets also had much, much more land and population.
However, a lot went wrong for the Russians; the "advancing" Soviet armies got repelled by extremely well-placed Finnish bunkers and horrible Finnish terrain, the Soviet bombers called off their bomb strikes when cloud cover provided next to no visibility, and the Finnish, not surprisingly, had NO uprising.
The Finnish held off the Soviets very well. On the Southern front, they held their positions, using the fact that the Soviets had 0 experience fighting a modern war, and still fought using wave tactics, and were easily stopped. On the Eastern front, the Finnish really got to show off. The Soviets had trouble using the roads, but still attempted to move massive forces around. The Finnish just used their ski troops to ambush Soviet lightly-armored vehicles and infantry, and had those ski troops direct artillery strikes on Soviet tanks, or anything they couldn't take out with a rifle. The first targets were field kitchens, whose importance the Russians realized too late: in the high arctic winter, a hot meal can mean life or death.
After a while, the Finnish got a brave, they tried to, and almost succeeded in, encircling an entire Russian Army. Then, the Soviets got mad. They sent in masses of tank and men (not mice and men, though their tanks were fairly light...) in waves, sometimes reaching 5 waves per day in some places, with artillery barrages filling the space between, sometimes exceeding 300,000 shells per day (STALIN SMASH!!).
The Russians eventually broke the Mannerheim line, and then renewed their initial offer for peace, on the same terms. The Finns agreed. Still, the Finnish lost a couple thousand men injured, captured, or missing, the Soviets lost ten times as many men killed, not to mention missing and captured.
Throughout the whole war, some things never changed, such as the Finnish having good maps, and thus could use artillery accurately, the Russians were all but firing blindly. As you can probably imagine, the Finns also had better morale, until the Soviets broke the Mannerheim.
The Soviets planned to have a coordinated assault involving Soviet armies advancing, Soviet bombers striking all Finnish airfields and shipyards, and the Finnish having an internal Communist uprising (yes, they planned on the Finnish citizens wanting to be communist).
The Finnish realised they had a very low chance of surviving. Still, they planned and on putting up a big enough fight and slowing the Russians down enough to let some other countries join. They also built the Mannerheim line: a large series of excellently placed bunkers providing mutual support, with masses of artillery behind them. That, however, only covered the Southern front; but even the Russians realized that the Eastern front would be hard on its own, with mountains covering most of the terrain and few roads. The land pretty much defended itself, though Finnish ski troops and artillery probably helped, too.Initially, the Russians had 3 times the force of the Finnish, all in place to attack. The Soviets also had much, much more land and population.
However, a lot went wrong for the Russians; the "advancing" Soviet armies got repelled by extremely well-placed Finnish bunkers and horrible Finnish terrain, the Soviet bombers called off their bomb strikes when cloud cover provided next to no visibility, and the Finnish, not surprisingly, had NO uprising.
The Finnish held off the Soviets very well. On the Southern front, they held their positions, using the fact that the Soviets had 0 experience fighting a modern war, and still fought using wave tactics, and were easily stopped. On the Eastern front, the Finnish really got to show off. The Soviets had trouble using the roads, but still attempted to move massive forces around. The Finnish just used their ski troops to ambush Soviet lightly-armored vehicles and infantry, and had those ski troops direct artillery strikes on Soviet tanks, or anything they couldn't take out with a rifle. The first targets were field kitchens, whose importance the Russians realized too late: in the high arctic winter, a hot meal can mean life or death.
After a while, the Finnish got a brave, they tried to, and almost succeeded in, encircling an entire Russian Army. Then, the Soviets got mad. They sent in masses of tank and men (not mice and men, though their tanks were fairly light...) in waves, sometimes reaching 5 waves per day in some places, with artillery barrages filling the space between, sometimes exceeding 300,000 shells per day (STALIN SMASH!!).
The Russians eventually broke the Mannerheim line, and then renewed their initial offer for peace, on the same terms. The Finns agreed. Still, the Finnish lost a couple thousand men injured, captured, or missing, the Soviets lost ten times as many men killed, not to mention missing and captured.
Throughout the whole war, some things never changed, such as the Finnish having good maps, and thus could use artillery accurately, the Russians were all but firing blindly. As you can probably imagine, the Finns also had better morale, until the Soviets broke the Mannerheim.
Great synopsis, Brian. Until you described this to me a couple days ago, I did not even know this war happened! Another example that clearly shown Stalin's intentions in the 1930s.
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