My First Bleg

Could someone recommend a good book about the Soviet-Finnish War that just preceded WWII? Preferably one that is still in print?

Thanks!

Comments

[Kyle]

I searched for 'soviet finland war' on Amazon and looked at the 'customers also bought' links, there are a couple that look interesting.

The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940

A Frozen Hell : The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940

[Randy Paul]

Thanks a lot, Kyle!

[boz]

Just because I know nothing about it, who won? Wait, maybe not. I don't want to spoil the ending for Randy.

[George Thomas Clark]

This isn't a book about the Russo-Finnish War - it's about Hitler and others from that era - but here's a short piece about one of the intriguing preludes to the Russo-German War. From HITLER HERE, page 396 -

RUSSO-FINNISH WAR
By A Finnish Officer

Late last year that troubled giant to the south had started making demands, the principle of which was that we surrender some islands in, and a port on, the Gulf of Finland. We said we might agree to cede a few islands, but giving away the port would damage national pride as well as undercut our desire for neutrality. The Russians then became increasingly bellicose and attacked us last November. Lurching into this icy land of dark forests and sharp winds, they often linked arms and sang while minefields and bombardments chewed them up. Our network of railways and communications also gave us superior mobility and intelligence, and our troops, clad in camouflage white, merged with nature, gliding fast on skis to out-flank and destroy the cold and starving enemies. We stacked their corpses high and were not at all bothered looking into so many frozen-open eyes.

Staggered and humiliated, the Russians summoned vast reserves and attacked us with improved coordination and sufficient blunt force to knock us back. The English and French urged us to hold out and said direct military aid was a good possibility. We were far from certain they’d come, and the Russians were already here, so we had to accept harsher terms, on March thirteenth, 1940, that displaced a half million Finns.

As a matter of soldierly discourse, we officers argued whether our soldiers were that great, or Russian soldiers that bad. Or, did winter and unfamiliar terrain account for such an abysmal showing by a giant?

George Thomas Clark