The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

not expect strong resistance and hoped for a quick success. They attacked in
three directions: 1. in the North - aiming at Petsamo in order to cut supplies
from the allies 34 - this was the only operation of the three that was successful to
a certain extent; 2. In the South - aiming at Helsinki and other large cities; 3. in
North Karelia. 35
The Soviet Union had 26 divisions, one motorized army corps, five
armoured brigades, and they were equipped with heavy artillery, 1000
airplanes, 100 submarines and 2000 tanks. The Soviet army that attacked
Finland consisted of approximately half a million men. On the other hand, the
Finns had only 9 divisions and 75 airplanes 36 and approximately 120 000 men.
The Finnish army had no anti-tank artillery, and they had virtually no antiaircraft
defense, either. Their few tanks – made in the 1920s and at the
beginning of the 1930s – were out of date; likewise, both their fleet and air
force were unsatisfactory. 37
Despite all that, the Finish army held on for three months. The reason was
simple: the Soviet troops had no winter military training and winter attires. The
Finns used skis and white clothes, their morale was excellent, while the Soviets had
brown and thin clothes for the freezing snowy weather and they had only 1 to 3
weeks training. Jacobson refers to the winter of 1939/1940 as the coldest in the
century. 38 After losing too many soldiers, the Soviets tried to substitute the troops
with ski-champions, most of whom died an inglorious death in the fields of
Finland. 39 The Finnish tactic was simple, but effective, they let the Soviets get
closer, cut the supply-lines back and rushed the convoy. The Finnish-front turned
into a Soviet cemetery: approximately 300 000 Soviets died (officially 127 000). 40
While the war raged over the border of the USSR and Finland, the Soviet
leaders planned to install a puppet-government led by Finnish Communists,
such as Otto W. Kuusinen. During the attack in December they created the
People’s Democratic Government. 41 Kuusinen was a member of the Finnish
Red Guard during the Finnish civil war. To install a puppet- government was a
habitual (and temporal) measure by the Soviets: The Bolsheviks did it during
the Russian civil war with Ukraine and other fugitive states.
34 An English consession was in Petsamo, to trade with rare materials, like Nikkel.
35 JACOBSON, Max: Finland in the new Europe. The center for strategic and international
studies, Washington, 1998. 32.
36 Ibid.
37 MANNERHEIM, Carl Gustav von: Emlékiratok. A téli háború. (Memoir. The winter war).
Püski, Budapest, 1997. 19.
38 JACOBSON, Max: Finnország: mítosz és valóság. (Finland: myth and reality). Minerva,
Budapest, 1990. 30.
39 HELLER, Michail, NEKRICH, Alexandr: Orosz történelem (Russian history) vols II.
Osiris, Budapest, 2003. 318.
40 Ibid. 319-320.
41 JACOBSON, Max: Finnország: mítosz és valóság. (Finland: myth and reality). Minerva,
Budapest, 1990. 30.
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