Winter War

This article is about the 1939–1940 war between the Soviet Union and Finland. For other uses, see Winter War (disambiguation).

Winter War
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
A group of Finnish soldiers in snowsuits manning a heavy machine gun in a foxhole.
A Finnish Maxim M/09-21 machine gun crew during the Winter War
Date30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940
(3 months, 1 week and 6 days)
Location
Eastern Finland
Result Moscow Peace Treaty
Territorial
changes		 Cession of the Gulf of Finland islands, Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia, Salla, Rybachy Peninsula and lease of Hanko to the Soviet Union
Belligerents

 Finland

 Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders
Strength
300,000–340,000 soldiers[F 1]
32 tanks[F 2]
114 aircraft[F 3]		 425,000–760,000 soldiers[F 4]
2,514–6,541 tanks[F 5]
3,880 aircraft[10]
Casualties and losses
25,904 dead or missing[11]
43,557 wounded[12]
800–1,100 captured[13]
20–30 tanks
62 aircraft[14]
1 armed icebreaker damaged
Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment ceded to the Soviet Union
70,000 total casualties		 126,875–167,976 dead or missing[15][16][17][18]
188,671–207,538 wounded or sick[15][16] (including at least 61,506 sick or frostbitten[19])
5,572 captured[20]
1,200–3,543 tanks[21][22][23]
261–515 aircraft[23][24]

321,000–381,000 total casualties
Winter War
Articles
Related topics

The Winter War[F 6] was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. 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 organization.

The Soviets made several demands, including that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere, claiming security reasons – primarily the protection of Leningrad, 32 km (20 mi) from the Finnish border. When Finland refused, the Soviets invaded. Most sources conclude that the Soviet Union had intended to conquer all of Finland, and cite the establishment of the puppet Finnish Communist government and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocols as evidence of this,[F 7] while other sources argue against the idea of a full Soviet conquest.[F 8] Finland repelled Soviet attacks for more than two months and inflicted substantial losses on the invaders in temperatures as low as −43 °C (−45 °F). The battles focused mainly on Taipale along the Karelian Isthmus, on Kollaa in Ladoga Karelia and on Raate Road in Kainuu, but there were also battles in Salla and Petsamo in Lapland.

Following the initial setbacks, the Soviets reduced their strategic objectives and put an end to the puppet Finnish communist government in late January 1940, informing the Finnish government that they were willing to negotiate peace.[38][39] After the Soviet military reorganized and adopted different tactics, they renewed their offensive in February 1940 and overcame the Finnish defences on the Karelian Isthmus. This left the Finnish army in the main theatre of war near the breaking point, with a retreat seeming inevitable. Consequently, Finnish commander-in-chief Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim urged a peace deal with the Soviets, while the Finns still retained bargaining power.[40]

Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty in which Finland ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered.[41] Their gains exceeded their pre-war demands, and the Soviets 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 encouraged German Chancellor 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 Interim Peace, in June 1941, Germany commenced Operation Barbarossa, and the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviets began.

  1. ^ Palokangas (1999), pp. 299–300
  2. ^ Juutilainen & Koskimaa (2005), p. 83
  3. ^ Palokangas (1999), p. 318
  4. ^ Peltonen (1999)
  5. ^ Meltiukhov (2000): ch. 4, Table 10
  6. ^ Krivosheyev (1997), p. 63
  7. ^ Kilin (1999), p. 383
  8. ^ Manninen (1994), p. 43
  9. ^ Kantakoski (1998), p. 260
  10. ^ Trotter (2002), p. 187
  11. ^ Kurenmaa and Lentilä (2005), p. 1152
  12. ^ Lentilä and Juutilainen (1999), p. 821
  13. ^ Malmi (1999), p. 792
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tillo1993_160 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b Krivosheyev (1997), pp. 77–78
  16. ^ a b Kilin (2007b), p. 91
  17. ^ Petrov (2013)
  18. ^ Sokolov (2000), p. 340
  19. ^ "РОССИЯ И СССР В ВОЙНАХ XX ВЕКА. Глава III. ЛЮДСКИЕ ПОТЕРИ КРАСНОЙ АРМИИ ЗА ВРЕМЯ ГРАЖДАНСКОЙ ВОЙНЫ И ИНОСТРАННОЙ ВОЕННОЙ ИНТЕРВЕНЦИИ". rus-sky.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  20. ^ Manninen (1999b), p. 815
  21. ^ Kilin (1999) p. 381
  22. ^ Kantakoski (1998), p. 286
  23. ^ a b Manninen (1999b), pp. 810–811
  24. ^ Kilin (1999), p. 381
  25. ^ Baryshnikov (2005)
  26. ^ Kovalyov (2006)
  27. ^ Shirokorad (2001)
  28. ^ Manninen (2008), pp. 37, 42, 43, 46, 49
  29. ^ Rentola (2003) pp. 188–217
  30. ^ Ravasz (2003) p. 3
  31. ^ Clemmesen and Faulkner (2013) p. 76
  32. ^ Zeiler and DuBois (2012) p. 210
  33. ^ Reiter (2009), p. 124
  34. ^ Chubaryan (2002), p. xvi
  35. ^ Trotter (2002), p. 17
  36. ^ Lightbody (2004), p. 55
  37. ^ Kotkin (2017), pp. 966, 974, 1008
  38. ^ Reiter (2009), pp. 126, 127
  39. ^ Trotter (2002), pp. 234–235
  40. ^ Mannerheim, Carl Gustaf Emil (1953). Memoirs. E.P. Dutton & Company. pp. 364–365.
  41. ^ Massari, Ivano (18 August 2015). "The Winter War – When the Finns Humiliated the Russians". War History Online. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.


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