The official reason for the start of the war is the so-called Mainil incident. On November 26, 1939, the government of the USSR sent a note of protest to the government of Finland about the artillery shelling, which was carried out from Finnish territory. Responsibility for the outbreak of hostilities was assigned entirely to Finland.

The beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war took place at 8 am on November 30, 1939. The goal of the Soviet Union was to ensure the security of Leningrad. The city was only 30 km from the border. Previously, the Soviet government had asked Finland to move its borders around Leningrad, offering territorial compensation in Karelia. But Finland categorically refused.

Soviet-Finnish war 1939-1940 caused real hysteria among the world community. On December 14, the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations with serious violations of procedure (by a minority of votes).

The troops of the Finnish army at the time of the outbreak of hostilities consisted of 130 aircraft, 30 tanks, 250 thousand soldiers. However, the Western powers pledged their support. In many ways, it was this promise that led to the refusal to change the line of the border. By the time the war began, the Red Army had 3,900 aircraft, 6,500 tanks and 1 million soldiers.

The Russian-Finnish war of 1939 is divided by historians into two stages. Initially, it was planned by the Soviet command as a short operation, which was supposed to last about three weeks. But the situation turned out differently.

First period of the war

It lasted from November 30, 1939 to February 10, 1940 (until the Mannerheim Line was broken). Fortifications of the Mannerheim Line on for a long time were able to stop the Russian army. The better equipment of the Finnish soldiers and the harsher winter conditions than in Russia also played an important role.

The Finnish command was able to perfectly use the features of the terrain. Pine forests, lakes, swamps slowed down the movement of Russian troops. The supply of ammunition was difficult. Finnish snipers also caused serious problems.

Second period of the war

It lasted from February 11 to March 12, 1940. By the end of 1939, the General Staff developed a new plan of action. Under the leadership of Marshal Timoshenko, the Mannerheim Line was broken through on 11 February. A serious superiority in manpower, aviation, tanks allowed the Soviet troops to move forward, but at the same time carrying big losses.

The Finnish army experienced a severe shortage of ammunition and people. The Finnish government, which did not receive Western assistance, was forced to conclude a peace treaty on March 12, 1940. Despite the disappointing results of the military campaign for the USSR, a new border was established.

After Finland enters the war on the side of the Nazis.

Soviet-Finnish war 1939-1940 or, as they say in Finland, the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union is one of the most significant episodes of World War II. Timo Vihavainen, professor of Russian studies at the University of Helsinki, shares his point of view on this issue.

The battles of the Soviet-Finnish war that lasted 105 days were very bloody and intense. The Soviet side lost more than 126,000 people killed and missing, 246,000 wounded and shell-shocked. If we add to these figures Finnish losses, 26,000 and 43,000 respectively, then we can safely say that in terms of its scale, the Winter War has become one of the largest battlefields of the Second World War.

For many countries, it is quite customary to evaluate the past through the prism of what happened, without even considering other options for the possible development of events - that is, history has developed the way it has developed. As for the Winter War, its course and the peace treaty that completed fighting, were the unexpected results of a process that initially, as all parties believed, would lead to completely different consequences.

History of events

In the autumn of 1939, Finland and Soviet Union were negotiating high level on territorial issues, within the framework of which Finland was to transfer to the Soviet Union some areas on the Karelian Isthmus and islands in the Gulf of Finland, as well as lease the city of Hanko. In return, Finland would receive twice as much but less valuable territory in Soviet Karelia.

The negotiations did not lead in the autumn of 1939 to the same acceptable results for the Soviet Union as in the case of the Baltic countries, despite the fact that Finland was ready to make some concessions. For example, the lease of Hanko was seen as a violation of Finnish sovereignty and neutrality.

Finland did not agree to territorial concessions, maintaining its neutrality along with Sweden

Earlier, in 1938 and later in the spring of 1939, the Soviet Union had already unofficially recognized the possibility of transferring the islands in the Gulf of Finland, or leasing them. In a democratic country, which was Finland, these concessions were hardly feasible in practice. The transfer of territories would mean the loss of homes for thousands of Finns. No party, for sure, would want to take on political responsibility. In relation to the Soviet Union, they also experienced fear and antipathy, caused, among other things, by the repressions of 1937-38, during which thousands of Finns were executed. In addition, by the end of 1937, the use of the Finnish language was completely discontinued in the Soviet Union. Finnish-language schools and newspapers were closed.

The Soviet Union also hinted that Finland would not be able, or perhaps would not want to, remain neutral if Germany, which had become an international troublemaker, violated the Soviet border. Such hints were not understood and accepted in Finland. To ensure neutrality, Finland and Sweden planned to jointly build fortifications on the Åland Islands, which would quite effectively protect the countries' neutrality from possible German or Soviet attack. Due to a protest filed by the Soviet Union, Sweden abandoned these plans.

Kuusinen's "People's Government"

After negotiations with the official Finnish government Risto Ryti stalled, the Soviet Union formed the so-called "People's Government" of Finland. The "People's Government" was headed by the communist Otto Ville Kuusinen, who had fled to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union announced its recognition of this government, which gave a reason not to negotiate with the official government.

The government asked the Soviet Union for "help" in establishing the Republic of Finland. During the war, the task of the government was to prove that Finland and the Soviet Union were not at war.

Apart from the Soviet Union, no other country recognized Kuusinen's people's government.

The Soviet Union concluded an agreement on territorial concessions with the self-formed "people's government"

Finnish communist Otto Ville Kuusinen fled to Soviet Russia after the civil war of 1918. His government was said to represent the broad masses of the Finnish people and the rebellious military units that had already formed the Finnish "People's Army". The Finnish Communist Party stated in its appeal that a revolution was underway in Finland, which, at the request of the "people's government", should be helped by the Red Army. Thus, this is not a war, and certainly not the aggression of the Soviet Union against Finland. According to the official position of the Soviet Union, this proves that the Red Army entered Finland not to take away Finnish territories, but to expand them.

On December 2, 1939, Moscow announced to the whole world that it had concluded an agreement on territorial concessions with the "people's government". Under the terms of the agreement, Finland received huge areas in Eastern Karelia, 70,000 square kilometers of old Russian land that had never belonged to Finland. For its part, Finland handed over to Russia a small area in the southern part of the Karelian Isthmus, which in the west reaches Koivisto. In addition to this, Finland will transfer to the Soviet Union some of the islands in the Gulf of Finland and lease the city of Hanko for a very decent amount.

It was not about propaganda, but about the state contract, which was announced and put into effect. It was planned to exchange documents on the ratification of the treaty in Helsinki.

The reason for the war was the struggle between Germany and the USSR for spheres of influence

After the official Finnish government did not agree to territorial concessions, the Soviet Union started the war by attacking Finland on 11/30/1939 without declaring war, and without any other ultimatum demands against Finland.

The reason for the attack was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact concluded in 1939, in which Finland was recognized as a territory included in the zone of influence of the Soviet Union. The purpose of the attack was the implementation of the pact on this part.

Finland and Germany in 1939

Finland's foreign policy was tepid towards Germany. Relations between the countries were rather unfriendly, which was confirmed by Hitler during the Winter War. In addition, the division of spheres of influence between the Soviet Union and Germany suggests that Germany was not interested in supporting Finland.

Finland strove to maintain neutrality right up to the very beginning of the Winter War and after it for as long as possible.

Official Finland did not follow a friendly German policy

Finland in 1939 by no means pursued a policy friendly to Germany. The Finnish parliament and government were dominated by a coalition of agrarians and social democrats, which relied on an overwhelming majority. The only radical and pro-German party, the IKL, suffered in the summer elections of 1939. crushing defeat. Its representation was reduced from 18 to 8 mandates in the 200-seat parliament.

German sympathies in Finland were old tradition, which, first of all, was supported by the academic circles. At the political level, these sympathies began to fade in the 1930s, when Hitler's policy towards small states was widely condemned.

Sure victory?

With a great deal of confidence, we can say that in December 1939 the Red Army was the largest and best equipped army in the world. Moscow, confident in the fighting ability of its army, had no reason to expect that Finnish resistance, if any, would last for many days.

In addition, it was assumed that the powerful leftist movement in Finland would not want to resist the Red Army, which would enter the country not as an invader, but as an assistant and give Finland additional territories.

In turn, for the Finnish bourgeoisie, the war, from all sides, was extremely undesirable. There was a clear understanding that help should not be expected, at least from Germany, and the desire and ability of the Western allies to conduct military operations far from their borders raised great doubts.

How did it happen that Finland decided to repulse the offensive of the Red Army?

How is it possible that Finland dared to repulse the Red Army and was able to resist for more than three months? Moreover, the Finnish army did not capitulate at any of the stages and remained in combat capability until the last day of the war. The fighting ended only because the peace treaty came into force.

Moscow, confident in the strength of its army, had no reason to expect Finnish resistance to last for many days. Not to mention the fact that the agreement with the "people's government" of Finland will have to be cancelled. Just in case, strike units were concentrated near the borders with Finland, which, after an acceptable waiting period, could quickly defeat the Finns, who were armed mainly with infantry weapons and light artillery. The Finns had very few tanks and aircraft, and anti-tank weapons were actually available only on paper. The Red Army had a numerical superiority and almost a tenfold advantage in technical equipment, including artillery, aviation and armored vehicles.

Therefore, there was no doubt about the final result of the war. Moscow no longer negotiated with the Helsinki government, which was said to have lost support and fled to an unknown destination.

For the leaders in Moscow, the planned outcome was finally decided: the larger Finnish Democratic Republic is an ally of the Soviet Union. They even managed to publish an article on this topic in the Brief Political Dictionary of 1940.

brave defense

Why did Finland resort to armed defense, which, soberly assessing the situation, had no chance of success? One explanation is that there were no other options than surrender. The Soviet Union recognized Kuusinen's puppet government and ignored the Helsinki government, which was not even presented with any ultimatum demands. In addition, the Finns placed their hopes on their military skills and on the advantages that the local nature provides for defensive operations.

The successful defense of the Finns is explained both by the high morale of the Finnish army and the great shortcomings of the Red Army, in whose ranks, in particular, major purges were carried out in 1937-38. The command of the Red Army troops was carried out unskilled. Other than that, it didn't work well. military equipment. The Finnish landscape and defensive fortifications proved difficult to pass, and the Finns learned how to effectively disable enemy tanks with Molotov cocktails and propelled explosives. This, of course, added courage and courage even more.

Spirit of the Winter War

In Finland, the concept of the “spirit of the Winter War” has been established, which is understood as unanimity and willingness to sacrifice oneself for the sake of defending the Motherland.

Research confirms the assertions that in Finland, already on the eve of the Winter War, the consensus prevailed that the country must be defended in the event of aggression. Despite heavy losses, this spirit survived until the end of the war. “The spirit of the Winter War” was imbued with almost everyone, even the communists. The question arises how this became possible when in 1918 - only two decades ago - there was a bloody Civil War in which the right fought against the left. People were executed en masse even after the end of the main battles. Then at the head of the victorious White Guard was Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, a native of Finland, a former lieutenant general Russian army who now led the Finnish soldiers against the Red Army.

The fact that Finland decided on armed resistance at all, purposefully and with the support of the broad masses of the people, quite likely came as a surprise to Moscow. And for Helsinki too. The "Spirit of the Winter War" is not a myth at all, and its origin requires explanation.

An important reason for the appearance of the "Spirit of the Winter War" was the false Soviet propaganda. In Finland, they treated with irony the Soviet newspapers, which wrote that the Finnish border was "menacingly" close to Leningrad. Just as absolutely unbelievable were the allegations that the Finns were organizing provocations on the border, shelling the territory of the Soviet Union and thereby starting a war. Well, when, after such a provocation, the Soviet Union tore up the non-aggression pact, which Moscow had no right to do under the pact, mistrust grew more than before.

According to some estimates of that time, the credibility of the Soviet Union was largely undermined by the fact of the formation of the Kuusinen government and the huge territories received by him as a gift. Although they were assured that Finland would remain independent, Finland itself had little illusions about the veracity of such assurances. Confidence in the Soviet Union sank further after the city bombings, which destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed hundreds of people. The Soviet Union categorically denied the bombings, although the inhabitants of Finland watched them with their own eyes.

The repressions of the 1930s in the Soviet Union were fresh in my memory. For the Finnish communists, the most offensive was to observe the development of close cooperation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which began after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

World

The outcome of the Winter War is well known. According to the peace treaty concluded in Moscow on March 12, the eastern border of Finland moved to where it is to this day. 430,000 Finns lost their homes. For the Soviet Union, the increase in territory turned out to be insignificant. For Finland, the territorial losses were huge.

The prolongation of the war became the primary prerequisite for the peace agreement concluded in Moscow on March 12, 1940 between the Soviet Union and the bourgeois government of Finland. The Finnish army offered desperate resistance, which made it possible to stop the enemy advance in all 14 directions. Further prolongation of the conflict threatened the Soviet Union with grave international consequences. The League of Nations 16.12 deprived the Soviet Union of membership, and England and France began to negotiate with Finland for military aid, which was supposed to arrive in Finland via Norway and Sweden. This could lead to a full-scale war between the Soviet Union and the Western allies, who, among other things, were preparing to bomb from Turkey oil fields in Baku.

The harsh terms of the truce were accepted out of desperation.

It was not easy for the Soviet government, which had made an agreement with the Kuusinen government, to re-recognize the Helsinki government and conclude a peace treaty with it. Peace, however, was concluded and the conditions for Finland were very difficult. Territorial concessions to Finland were many times greater than those discussed in 1939. The signing of the peace agreement was a bitter ordeal. When the terms of the peace were made public, people wept in the streets and flags were flown mournfully over the houses. The Finnish government, however, agreed to sign a difficult and unbearable "dictated peace" because the military situation was very dangerous. The assistance promised by the Western countries was insignificant in terms of its volume, and it was clear that from a military point of view it could not play a decisive role.

The Winter War and its aftermath hard world are among the most tragic periods in Finnish history. These events leave an imprint on the interpretation of the history of Finland in a broader aspect. The fact that this was an unprovoked aggression, which was vilely carried out by the eastern neighbor without declaring war, and which led to the rejection of the historical Finnish province, was deposited in the Finnish mind as a heavy burden.

Having put up military resistance, the Finns lost a large territory and tens of thousands of people, but retained their independence. This is the heavy image of the Winter War, which echoes with pain in the Finnish mind. Another option was to submit to the government of Kuusinen and expand the territories. For the Finns, however, it was tantamount to submitting to Stalin's dictatorship. It is obvious that, despite the formality of the territorial gift, it was not taken seriously in Finland at any level. In today's Finland, if they remember that state treaty, it is only that it was one of the insidious deceitful plans that the Stalinist leadership had a habit of proposing.

The Winter War spawned the Continuation War (1941-1945)

As a direct consequence of the Winter War, Finland joined Germany in 1941 in attacking the Soviet Union. Before the Winter War, Finland adhered to the Northern European policy of neutrality, which it tried to continue after the end of the war. However, after it was the Soviet Union that prevented this, there were two ways: an alliance with Germany, or with the Soviet Union. The latter option enjoyed very little support in Finland.

Text: Timo Vihavainen, Professor of Russian Studies, University of Helsinki

Little-known details of the military campaign, which was overshadowed by the Great Patriotic War
This year, on November 30, it will be 76 years since the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, which in our country and beyond its borders is often called the Winter War. Unleashed right on the eve of the Great Patriotic War The Winter War remained in its shadow for a very long time. And not only because the memories of it were quickly eclipsed by the tragedies of the Great Patriotic War, but also because of all the wars in which the Soviet Union participated in one way or another, this was the only war initiated by Moscow.

Push the border to the west

The Winter War became in the truest sense of the word "a continuation of politics by other means." After all, it began immediately after several rounds of peace negotiations stalled, during which the USSR tried to move the northern border as far as possible from Leningrad and Murmansk, in return offering Finland lands in Karelia. The immediate reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the Mainilsky incident: artillery shelling of Soviet troops on the border with Finland on November 26, 1939, which killed four servicemen. Moscow laid responsibility for the incident on Helsinki, although later the guilt of the Finnish side was subjected to reasonable doubts.
Four days later, the Red Army crossed the border of Finland, thus starting the Winter War. Its first stage - from November 30, 1939 to February 10, 1940 - was extremely unsuccessful for the Soviet Union. Despite all efforts, the Soviet troops failed to break through the Finnish defense line, which by that time was already called the Mannerheim line with might and main. In addition, during this period, the shortcomings of the existing system of organization of the Red Army were most clearly manifested: poor controllability at the level of middle and junior levels and the lack of initiative among commanders of this level, poor communication between units, types and types of troops.

The second stage of the war, which began on February 11, 1940 after a massive ten-day preparation, ended in victory. Until the end of February, the Red Army managed to reach all those lines that it planned to reach before the new year, and push the Finns back to the second line of defense, constantly creating a threat of encirclement of their troops. On March 7, 1940, the Finnish government sent a delegation to Moscow to participate in peace negotiations, which ended with the conclusion of a peace treaty on March 12. It stipulated that all the territorial claims of the USSR (the same ones that were discussed at the negotiations on the eve of the war) would be satisfied. As a result, the border on the Karelian Isthmus moved 120-130 kilometers away from Leningrad, the entire Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg, the Vyborg Bay with islands, the western and northern coasts of Lake Ladoga, a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland, part of the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas, and the Hanko and the sea area around it were leased to the USSR for 30 years.

For the Red Army, victory in the Winter War came at a high price: irretrievable losses amounted, according to various sources, from 95 to 167 thousand people, and about 200-300 thousand more were wounded and frostbitten. In addition, Soviet troops suffered heavy losses in equipment, primarily in tanks: out of almost 2,300 tanks that went into battle at the beginning of the war, about 650 were completely destroyed and 1,500 were knocked out. In addition, moral losses were also heavy: both the army command and the whole country, despite massive propaganda, understood that military force The USSR needs urgent modernization. It began during the Winter War, but, alas, was never completed until June 22, 1941.

Between truth and fiction

The history and details of the Winter War, quickly dimmed in the light of the events of the Great Patriotic War, have since been reviewed and rewritten more than once, refined and rechecked. As happens with any major historical event, the Russo-Finnish war of 1939-1940 also became the object of political speculation both in the Soviet Union and beyond - and remains so to this day. After the collapse of the USSR, it became fashionable to review the results of all key events in the history of the Soviet Union, and the Winter War was no exception. In post-Soviet historiography, both the losses of the Red Army and the number of destroyed tanks and aircraft increased significantly, while Finnish losses, on the contrary, were significantly underestimated (despite even the official data of the Finnish side, which remained practically unchanged against this background).

Unfortunately, the further the Winter War moves away from us in time, the less likely it is that someday we will know the whole truth about it. The last direct participants and eyewitnesses die, for the sake of political winds, documents and material evidence are shuffled and disappear, and even new ones, often fake ones, appear. But some facts about the Winter War are already so firmly fixed in world history that they cannot be changed for any reason. We will describe ten of the most notable of them below.

Mannerheim line

Under this name, a strip of fortifications erected by Finland on a 135-kilometer stretch along the border with the USSR went down in history. The flanks of this line rested on the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. At the same time, the Mannerheim Line had a 95-kilometer depth and consisted of three consecutive defense lines. Since the line, despite its name, began to be built long before Baron Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim became the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, the main ones in its composition were the old single-abrasion long-term firing points (bunkers), capable of conducting only frontal fire. There were about seven dozen of them in the line. Another fifty bunkers were more modern and could fire on the flanks of the attacking troops. In addition, obstacle lines and anti-tank structures were actively used. In particular, in the security zone, there were 220 km of wire obstacles in several dozen rows, 80 km of anti-tank granite gouges, as well as anti-tank ditches, walls and minefields. Official historiography on both sides of the conflict emphasized that the Mannerheim Line was practically insurmountable. However, after the command system of the Red Army was rebuilt, and the tactics of storming the fortifications were revised and linked to preliminary artillery preparation and tank support, it took only three days to break through.

The day after the start of the Winter War, Moscow radio announced the creation of the Finnish Democratic Republic in the city of Terijoki on the Karelian Isthmus. It lasted as long as the war itself went on: until March 12, 1940. During this time, only three countries in the world agreed to recognize the newly formed state: Mongolia, Tuva (at that time not yet part of the Soviet Union) and the USSR itself. Actually, the government of the new state was formed from its citizens and Finnish emigrants living on Soviet territory. It was headed by one of the leaders of the Third Communist International, a member of the Communist Party of Finland, Otto Kuusinen, who simultaneously became Minister of Foreign Affairs. On the second day of its existence, the Finnish Democratic Republic concluded an agreement on mutual assistance and friendship with the USSR. Among its main points, all the territorial requirements of the Soviet Union, which caused the war with Finland, were taken into account.

Diversionary war

Since the Finnish army entered the war, albeit mobilized, but clearly losing to the Red Army both in terms of numbers and technical equipment, the Finns relied on defense. And its essential element was the so-called mine warfare - more precisely, the technology of continuous mining. As Soviet soldiers and officers who participated in the Winter War recalled, they could not even imagine that almost everything that the human eye can see can be mined. “Stairs and thresholds of houses, wells, forest clearings and edges, roadsides were literally littered with mines. Here and there were scattered bicycles, suitcases, gramophones, watches, wallets, cigarette cases thrown as if in a hurry. As soon as they were moved, an explosion was heard, ”they describe their impressions in this way. The actions of the Finnish saboteurs were so successful and demonstrative that many of their techniques were promptly adopted by the Soviet military and special services. It can be said that the guerrilla and sabotage war that unfolded a year and a half later in the occupied territory of the USSR was to a large extent conducted according to the Finnish model.

Baptism of fire heavy tanks KV

A new generation of single-turret heavy tanks appeared shortly before the start of the Winter War. The first copy, which was actually a smaller version of the SMK heavy tank - "Sergey Mironovich Kirov" - and differed from it by the presence of only one turret, was made in August 1939. It was this tank that ended up in the Winter War in order to be tested in a real battle, which it went into on December 17 during the breakthrough of the Hottinensky fortified area of ​​the Mannerheim Line. It is noteworthy that out of the six crew members of the first KV, three were testers at the Kirov Plant, which was engaged in the production of new tanks. The tests were considered successful, the tank showed itself with the best side, but the 76-mm cannon with which he was armed turned out to be not enough to deal with pillboxes. As a result, the KV-2 tank, armed with a 152-mm howitzer, was hastily developed, which no longer had time to take part in the Winter War, but entered the history of world tank building forever.

How England and France prepared to fight the USSR

London and Paris supported Helsinki from the very beginning, although they did not go beyond military-technical assistance. In total, England and France, together with other countries, handed over to Finland 350 combat aircraft, approximately 500 field guns, over 150 thousand units. firearms, ammunition and other ammunition. In addition, volunteers from Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, France and Sweden fought on the side of Finland. When, at the end of February, the Red Army finally broke the resistance of the Finnish army and began to develop an offensive inland, Paris began to openly prepare for direct participation in the war. On March 2, France announced its readiness to send an expeditionary force to Finland, consisting of 50,000 soldiers and 100 bombers. After that, Britain also announced its readiness to transfer its expeditionary force of 50 bombers to the Finns. A meeting on this issue was scheduled for March 12 - and did not take place, since on the same day Moscow and Helsinki signed a peace treaty.

There is no salvation from the "cuckoos"?

The Winter War was the first campaign in which snipers participated en masse. And, one can say, only on one side - Finnish. It was the Finns who in the winter of 1939-1940 demonstrated how effective snipers can be in conditions modern war. The exact number of snipers remains unknown to this day: as a separate military specialty, they will begin to be allocated only after the start of World War II, and even then not in all armies. However, it is safe to say that the number of well-aimed shooters from the Finnish side was hundreds. True, not all of them used special rifles with sniper scope. So, the most productive sniper of the Finnish army, Corporal Simo Häyhä, who in just three months of hostilities brought the number of his victims to five hundred, used a conventional rifle with open sight. As for the "cuckoos" - snipers shooting from treetops, about which an incredible number of myths circulate, their existence is not confirmed by the documents of either the Finnish or the Soviet side. Although stories about "cuckoos" tied or chained to trees and freezing there with rifles in their hands, there were many in the Red Army.

The first Soviet submachine guns of the Degtyarev system - PPD - were put into service in 1934. However, they did not have time to seriously expand their production. On the one hand, for a long time the command of the Red Army seriously considered this type of firearm useful only in police operations or as an auxiliary, and on the other hand, the first soviet submachine gun differed in the complexity of the design and the difficulty of manufacturing. As a result, the plan for the release of PPD for 1939 was withdrawn, and all copies already issued were transferred to warehouses. And only after the Red Army encountered the Finnish Suomi submachine guns, of which there were almost three hundred in each Finnish division, during the Winter War, the Soviet servicemen hastily began to return weapons so useful in close combat.

Marshal Mannerheim: who served Russia and fought with her

The successful opposition to the Soviet Union in the Winter War in Finland was considered and is considered primarily the merit of the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army - Field Marshal Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim. Meanwhile, until October 1917, this outstanding military leader held the rank of lieutenant general of the Russian Imperial Army and was one of the most prominent divisional commanders of the Russian army during the First World War. By this time, Baron Mannerheim, a graduate of the Nikolaev Cavalry School and the Officer Cavalry School, had participated in Russo-Japanese War and the organization of a unique expedition through Asia in 1906-1908, which made him a member of the Russian geographical society- and one of the most prominent Russian intelligence officers of the early twentieth century. After October revolution Baron Mannerheim, keeping the oath to Emperor Nicholas II, whose portrait, by the way, hung on the wall of his office all his life, resigned and moved to Finland, in whose history he played such an outstanding role. It is noteworthy that Mannerheim retained his political influence after the Winter War, and after Finland's withdrawal from World War II, becoming the first president of the country - from 1944 to 1946.

Where was the Molotov cocktail invented?

The Molotov cocktail became one of the symbols of the heroic resistance of the Soviet people to the fascist armies at the first stage of the Great Patriotic War. But it must be admitted that such a simple and effective anti-tank weapon was not invented in Russia at all. Alas, Soviet soldiers, who so successfully used this tool in 1941-1942, had a chance to first test it on himself. The Finnish army, which did not have an adequate supply of anti-tank grenades, faced with tank companies and battalions of the Red Army, was simply forced to resort to Molotov cocktails. During the Winter War, the Finnish army received more than 500 thousand bottles with a mixture that the Finns themselves called the “Molotov cocktail”, hinting that they had prepared this dish for one of the leaders of the USSR, who in a polemical fervor promised that the very next day after the start of the war, he will dine in Helsinki.

Who fought against their

During the Russian-Finnish war of 1939-1940, both sides - both the Soviet Union and Finland - used units in which collaborators served as part of their troops. On the Soviet side, the Finnish People's Army participated in the battles - the armed force of the Finnish Democratic Republic, recruited from Finns and Karelians living in the USSR and serving in the troops of the Leningrad Military District. By February 1940, its number reached 25 thousand people, who, according to the plan of the USSR leadership, were to replace occupation troops on Finnish territory. And Russian volunteers fought on the side of Finland, recruited and trained by the white émigré organization "Russian All-Military Union" (ROVS), created by Baron Pyotr Wrangel. In total, from Russian emigrants and some of the captured Red Army soldiers who expressed a desire to fight against former comrades, six detachments were formed with a total number of about 200 people, but only one of them, in which 30 people served, for several days at the very end of the Winter participated in the fighting during the war.

The Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940 (Soviet-Finnish War, known in Finland as the Winter War) is an armed conflict between the USSR and Finland from November 30, 1939 to March 12, 1940.

Its reason was the desire of the Soviet leadership to move the Finnish border away from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in order to strengthen the security of the northwestern borders of the USSR, and the refusal of the Finnish side to do this. The Soviet government asked to lease parts of the Hanko peninsula and some islands in the Gulf of Finland in exchange for a large Soviet territory in Karelia, followed by the conclusion of a mutual assistance agreement.

The Finnish government believed that the acceptance of Soviet demands would weaken the strategic positions of the state, lead to the loss of neutrality by Finland and its subordination to the USSR. The Soviet leadership, in turn, did not want to give up its demands, which, in its opinion, were necessary to ensure the security of Leningrad.

The Soviet-Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus (Western Karelia) was only 32 kilometers from Leningrad, the largest center of Soviet industry and the second largest city in the country.

The reason for the start of the Soviet-Finnish war was the so-called Mainil incident. According to the Soviet version, on November 26, 1939, at 15.45, Finnish artillery in the Mainila area fired seven shells at the positions of the 68th Infantry Regiment on Soviet territory. Allegedly, three Red Army soldiers and one junior commander were killed. On the same day, the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the USSR addressed a note of protest to the government of Finland and demanded the withdrawal of Finnish troops from the border by 20-25 kilometers.

The Finnish government denied the shelling of Soviet territory and proposed that not only Finnish, but also Soviet troops be withdrawn 25 kilometers from the border. This formally equal demand was not feasible, because then the Soviet troops would have to be withdrawn from Leningrad.

On November 29, 1939, the Finnish envoy in Moscow was presented with a note about the severance of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Finland. On November 30, at 8 o'clock in the morning, the troops of the Leningrad Front received an order to cross the border with Finland. On the same day, Finnish President Kyösti Kallio declared war on the USSR.

During the "perestroika" several versions of the Mainilsky incident became known. According to one of them, the shelling of the positions of the 68th regiment was carried out by a secret NKVD unit. According to another, there was no shooting at all, and in the 68th regiment on November 26 there were neither killed nor wounded. There were other versions that did not receive documentary evidence.

From the very beginning of the war, the advantage in forces was on the side of the USSR. The Soviet command concentrated 21 rifle divisions, one tank corps, three separate tank brigades (a total of 425 thousand people, about 1.6 thousand guns, 1476 tanks and about 1200 aircraft) near the border with Finland. To support the ground forces, it was planned to attract about 500 aircraft and more than 200 ships from the Northern and Baltic fleets. 40% of Soviet forces were deployed on the Karelian Isthmus.

The grouping of Finnish troops had about 300 thousand people, 768 guns, 26 tanks, 114 aircraft and 14 warships. The Finnish command concentrated 42% of its forces on the Karelian Isthmus, deploying the Isthmus Army there. The rest of the troops covered separate directions from Barents Sea to Lake Ladoga.

The main frontier of Finland's defense was the "Mannerheim Line" - unique, impregnable fortifications. The main architect of the Mannerheim line was nature itself. Its flanks rested on the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. The coast of the Gulf of Finland was covered coastal batteries large-caliber, and in the Taipale region on the shores of Lake Ladoga, reinforced concrete forts with eight 120- and 152-mm coastal guns were created.

The "Mannerheim Line" had a frontal width of 135 kilometers, a depth of up to 95 kilometers and consisted of a support strip (depth 15-60 kilometers), a main strip (depth 7-10 kilometers), a second strip 2-15 kilometers away from the main one, and the rear (Vyborg) line of defense. More than two thousand long-term firing structures (DOS) and wood-earth firing structures (DZOS) were erected, which were combined into strong points of 2-3 DOS and 3-5 DZOS each, and the latter - into resistance nodes (3-4 strongholds). item). The main line of defense consisted of 25 nodes of resistance, numbering 280 DOS and 800 DZOS. The strongholds were defended by permanent garrisons (from a company to a battalion in each). Between the strongholds and nodes of resistance were positions for field troops. The strongholds and positions of the field troops were covered by anti-tank and anti-personnel barriers. Only in the security zone, 220 kilometers of wire barriers in 15-45 rows, 200 kilometers of forest debris, 80 kilometers of granite gouges up to 12 rows, anti-tank ditches, scarps (anti-tank walls) and numerous minefields were created.

All fortifications were connected by a system of trenches, underground passages and were supplied with food and ammunition necessary for a long-term autonomous battle.

On November 30, 1939, after a long artillery preparation, Soviet troops crossed the border with Finland and launched an offensive on the front from the Barents Sea to the Gulf of Finland. In 10-13 days, they overcame the zone of operational barriers in certain directions and reached the main strip of the Mannerheim Line. For more than two weeks, unsuccessful attempts to break through it continued.

At the end of December, the Soviet command decided to stop further offensive on the Karelian Isthmus and begin systematic preparations for breaking through the Mannerheim Line.

The front went on the defensive. The troops were regrouped. The North-Western Front was created on the Karelian Isthmus. Troops have been replenished. As a result, the Soviet troops deployed against Finland numbered more than 1.3 million people, 1.5 thousand tanks, 3.5 thousand guns, and three thousand aircraft. The Finnish side by the beginning of February 1940 had 600 thousand people, 600 guns and 350 aircraft.

On February 11, 1940, the assault on the fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus resumed - the troops of the North-Western Front, after 2-3 hours of artillery preparation, went on the offensive.

Having broken through two lines of defense, on February 28, Soviet troops reached the third. They broke the enemy's resistance, forced him to start a retreat along the entire front and, developing the offensive, captured the Vyborg grouping of Finnish troops from the northeast, captured most of Vyborg, crossed the Vyborg Bay, bypassed the Vyborg fortified area from the northwest, cut the highway to Helsinki.

The fall of the "Mannerheim Line" and the defeat of the main grouping of Finnish troops put the enemy in a difficult position. Under these conditions, Finland turned to the Soviet government with a request for peace.

On the night of March 13, 1940, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow, according to which Finland ceded about a tenth of its territory to the USSR and pledged not to participate in coalitions hostile to the USSR. On March 13, hostilities ceased.

In accordance with the agreement, the border on the Karelian Isthmus was moved away from Leningrad by 120-130 kilometers. The entire Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg, the Vyborg Bay with islands, the western and northern shores of Lake Ladoga, a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland, part of the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas went to the Soviet Union. The Hanko Peninsula and the sea area around it were leased by the USSR for 30 years. This improved the position of the Baltic Fleet.

As a result of the Soviet-Finnish war, the main strategic goal pursued by the Soviet leadership - to secure the northwestern border. However, worsened international position Soviet Union: he was expelled from the League of Nations, relations with England and France worsened, an anti-Soviet campaign unfolded in the West.

The losses of the Soviet troops in the war amounted to: irretrievable - about 130 thousand people, sanitary - about 265 thousand people. Irretrievable losses of the Finnish troops - about 23 thousand people, sanitary - over 43 thousand people.

WINTER WAR. HOW IT WAS

1. Evacuation in October 1939 of the inhabitants of the border areas deep into Finland.

2. Delegation of Finland at the talks in Moscow. October 1939 “We will not make any concessions to the USSR and will fight at all costs, as England, America and Sweden promised to support us” - Errko, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

3. The engineering unit of the White Finns is sent to the installation of gouges. Karelian isthmus. Autumn 1939.

4. Junior sergeant of the Finnish army. October - November 1939. Karelian isthmus. The countdown to the last days of the world has begun.

5.Tank BT-5 on one of the streets of Leningrad. Finland Station area

6. Official announcement of the start of hostilities.

6. The first day of the war: the 20th heavy tank brigade receives a combat mission.

8. American volunteers sail from New York on December 12, 1939 to fight in Finland with the Russians.

9. The Suomi submachine gun is the Finnish miracle weapon of Aimo Lahti, a self-taught engineer. one of the best gunsmiths of his time. Trophy "Suomi" was very much appreciated.

10. Rally of conscripts in Naryan-Mar.

11. Getmanenko Mikhail Nikitich. Captain. Died of wounds 12/13/1939 Karelian Isthmus

12. The Mannerheim line began to be built in 1918, with Finland gaining independence.

13. The Mannerheim Line crossed the entire Karelian Isthmus.

14. View of the bunker of the Mannerheim Line from the side of the advancing Soviet troops.

15. The losses of the dashing Finnish tank destroyers reached 70%, but they also burned the tanks in order.

16. A subversive anti-tank charge and a Molotov cocktail.

Assembly at the front.

19. Soviet armored cars on the march. Karelian isthmus.

13. White Finns at the captured flamethrower tank. January 1940

14. Karelian Isthmus. January 1940 Red Army units move to the front.

Intelligence service. Three left, two returned. Artist Aukusti Tukhka.

15. Spruce spread wide In the snow, as in dressing gowns, stand.
Sat down on the edge of the deep In the snow White Finns detachment.

Finnish pilots and aircraft technicians near the French Moran-Saulnier MS.406 fighter. During December 1939 - April 1940, the Finnish Air Force received: from England - 22 of the most modern twin-engine Bristol-Blenheim bombers, 42 Gloucester Gladiators and 10 Hurricanes; from the USA - 38 "Brewster-B-239"; from France - 30 Moran-Saulnier; from Italy - 32 Fiats. Newest soviet fighter of that period - the I-16 lost to them at a speed of about 100 km, and they easily overtook and burned the main SB bomber.

Dinner of the Red Army soldiers in a front-line situation.

View from the bunker to the barbed wire and minefields, 1940

Acoustic locator air defense White Finns.

Snowmobiles of the White Finns. The swastika has been used by them to designate military equipment since 1918.

From a letter found on a dead Red Army soldier. “... You write to me if I need some kind of package or money order. To be frank, money is useless here, you can’t buy anything here with it, and parcels go too slowly. We live here in snow and cold, around only swamps and lakes. You also wrote that you started selling my stuff - for obvious reasons. But it still hurt me, as if I no longer exist. You probably have the feeling that we are not destined to see each other again, or you will only see me as a cripple ... "

In total, during the 105 days of the war, "poor" white-Finland issued more than two hundred (!) Different leaflets. There were leaflets addressed specifically to Ukrainians and the peoples of the Caucasus.

Leaflet addressed to Soviet pilots.

English volunteers came to fight the Russians.

The feat of the head of the outpost Shmagrin, 12/27/1939 Artist V.A. Tokarev.

Heroic defense of the garrison. Artist V.E. Pamfilov.

The battle of thirteen border guards with a sabotage detachment of the White Finns on the night of January 24-25 at the border in the Murmansk region. Last message signalman Alexander Spekov, who blew himself up with a grenade along with the enemies: “I am fighting alone, ammo is running out.”

The tank fires at a long-term firing point.

Road to Raate. January 1940

Frozen Red Army soldiers. Road to Raate. December 1939

White Finns pose with a frozen Red Army soldier.

Downed bomber DB-2. The war in the air, having dispelled blissful illusions, was extremely difficult for the Red Army Air Force. Short daylight hours, difficult weather conditions, poor training of the bulk of the flight crew leveled the number of Soviet aircraft.

Finnish wolves from Russian bears. Stalin's sledgehammer "B-4" against the Mannerheim Line.

View of the height 38.2 taken from the Finns, on which the pillbox was located. Photo by Petrov RGAKFD

The White Finns fought hard, stubbornly and skillfully. In conditions of complete hopelessness to the last bullet. Breaking such an army is EXPENSIVE.

Red Army soldiers inspect the armored dome on the pillbox taken.

The Red Army soldiers inspect the taken bunker.

Commander of the 20th heavy tank brigade Borzilov (left) congratulates the soldiers and commanders who were awarded orders and medals. January 1940.

The attack of the sabotage detachment of the White Finns on the rear warehouse of the Red Army.

"The bombardment of the White Finnish station". Artist Alexander Mizin, 1940

The only one tank battle On February 26, when the White Finns tried to recapture the Honkaniemi stop. Despite the presence of brand new British Vickers tanks and numerical superiority, they eventually lost 14 vehicles and retreated. There were no losses on the Soviet side.

Ski detachment of the Red Army.

Ski horse. Horse skiers.

“We used Finnish pillboxes to go to hell!” Soldiers of the special purpose engineering detachment on the roof of the Ink6 bunker.

"The Capture of Vyborg by the Red Army", A.A. Blinkov

"Storm of Vyborg", P.P. Sokolov-Skalya

Kuhmo. March 13. The first clock of the world. Meeting recent enemies. In Kuhmo, the White Finns in last days and even hours of fighting tried to destroy the encircled Soviet units.

Kuhmo.Saunajärvi. Venal.motti. (3)

12. Residents of Helsinki at the map of the territories that went to the Soviet Union.

In Finnish captivity in 4 camps there were from 5546 to 6116 people. The conditions of their detention were extremely cruel. 39,369 missing points to the scale of executions by the White Finns of seriously wounded, sick and frostbitten Red Army soldiers.

H. Akhmetov: “... I personally saw five cases when in the hospital the seriously wounded were taken out into the corridor behind the screen and they were given a fatal injection. One of the wounded shouted: "Don't carry me, I don't want to die." In the hospital, the killing of wounded Red Army soldiers by infusion of morphine was repeatedly used, so the prisoners of war Terentyev and Blinov were killed. Finns especially hated Soviet pilots and they were mocked, the seriously wounded were kept without any medical care which caused many to die.- “Soviet-Finnish captivity”, Frolov, p.48.

March 1940 Gryazovets camp of the NKVD (Vologda region). Politruk talks with a group of Finnish prisoners of war. The vast majority of Finnish prisoners of war were kept in the camp (according to various sources, from 883 to 1100). “We would have work and bread, and who will rule the country, it doesn’t matter. Since the government orders to fight, that's why we fight.", - such was the mood of the bulk. And yet twenty people wished to voluntarily remain in the USSR.

April 20, 1940 Leningraders greet the Soviet soldiers who defeated the Finnish White Guard.

A group of soldiers and commanders of the 210th separate chemical tank battalion awarded orders and medals, March 1940

Such people were in that war. Technicians and pilots of the 13th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet. Kingisepp, Kotly airfield, 1939-1940

They died so that we may live...

The Russian-Finnish war began in November 1939 and lasted 105 days - until March 1940. The war did not end with the final defeat of any of the armies and was concluded on terms favorable to Russia (then the Soviet Union). Since the war was in the cold season, many Russian soldiers suffered from severe frosts, but did not retreat.

All this is known to any schoolchild, all this is studied in history lessons. Only now, how the war began, and what the Finns had to do with it, is less often said. It is not surprising - who needs to know the enemy's point of view? And our guys are great, they beat the opponents.

It is precisely because of this worldview that the percentage of Russians who know the truth about this war and accept it is so insignificant.

The Russian-Finnish war of 1939 did not break out suddenly, like thunder among clear sky. The conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland has been brewing for almost two decades. Finland did not trust the great leader of that time - Stalin, who, in turn, was dissatisfied with the union of Finland with England, Germany and France.

Russia, to ensure own security, tried to conclude an agreement with Finland on terms favorable to the Soviet Union. And after another refusal, Finland decided to try to force it, and on November 30, Russian troops opened fire on Finland.

Initially, the Russo-Finnish war was not successful for Russia - the winter was cold, the soldiers got frostbite, some froze to death, and the Finns firmly held the defense on the Mannerheim Line. But the troops of the Soviet Union won, gathering together all the remaining forces and going on a general offensive. As a result, peace was concluded between the countries on favorable terms for Russia: a significant part of the Finnish territories (including the Karelian Isthmus, part of both northern and West Coast Lake Ladoga) passed into Russian possession, and the Khanko Peninsula was leased to Russia for 30 years.

In history, the Russian-Finnish war was called "Unnecessary", since it gave almost nothing to either Russia or Finland. Both sides were to blame for its beginning, and both sides suffered huge losses. So, during the war, 48,745 people lost, 158,863 soldiers were wounded or frostbitten. Finns also lost great amount of people.

If not everyone, then at least many are familiar with the course of the war described above. But there is also information about Russian-Finnish war about which it is not customary to speak out loud or they are simply unknown. Moreover, there is such unpleasant, in some ways even indecent information about both participants in the battle: both about Russia and Finland.

So, it is not customary to say that the war with Finland was launched vilely and illegally: the Soviet Union attacked it without warning, violating the peace treaty concluded in 1920 and the non-aggression pact of 1934. Moreover, by starting this war, the Soviet Union also violated its own convention, which stipulated that an attack on a participating state (which was Finland), as well as its blockade or threats against it, could not be justified by any considerations. By the way, according to the same convention, Finland had the right to attack, but did not use it.

If we talk about the Finnish army, then there were some unsightly moments. The government, taken by surprise by the unexpected attack of the Russians, drove to military schools, and then to the troops, not only all able-bodied men, but also boys, still schoolchildren, students in grades 8-9.

Somehow, children trained in shooting went to the real, adult war. Moreover, in many detachments there were no tents, not all soldiers had weapons at all - one rifle was issued for four. There were no drawers for machine guns, and the guys almost did not know how to handle machine guns themselves. What can we say about weapons - the Finnish authorities could not even provide their soldiers with warm clothes and shoes, and young boys, lying in a forty-degree frost in the snow, in light clothes and low shoes, froze their hands and feet, froze to death.

According to official data, during severe frosts, the Finnish army lost more than 70% of the soldiers, while the sergeant major of the company warmed their feet in good boots. Thus, by sending hundreds of young guys to certain death, Finland itself ensured its own defeat in the Russian-Finnish war.