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War stories: Winter War Wiki page
bitlocker
Member Posts: 299 ✭✭
Russia invaded Finland Nov 1939 the paratroops landed into 7 feet of snow and were immobilized , helpless. Local farmers shot them with their shotguns and rifles.
Comments
The Soviet Union found out they weren't as tough as they thought they were in temperatures at -45 F below zero. The Fins feed them some of their own medicine. The Fins give'em hell and held them off for nearly 3 months before being finally being overwhelmed by numbers. It was a big embarrassment to the USSR and Finland was still able to kept their sovereignty in the peace treaty. They did have to cede 9% of their territory to the Soviet Union which was a lot better than having the Soviets take the whole country which was the original plan and set up a puppet government. Soviet losses were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. Finland came out of it while losing they were an inspiration to the rest of the world and the people had pride in their people and army for surviving the near impossible odds.
It seems like the Soviets over-estimate their "might" quite a bit.
Papa Joe wasn't worried about a few bodies . He willingly sent thousands of peasants to feed the cannons . What was a few hundred thousand dead peasants? He had millions more in reserve.
The Finns also had this guy- and bunch of his lesser known cousins.
That's Simo Hayha.
Finns had better camo for snow and skiing ability