Why is the First Soviet-Finnish War the trigger for the Soviet-German War?

After the blizzard, the snow in the Sudetenland region became thicker. When night came, Soviet soldiers camped in the wilderness lit wood in iron barrels and sat together for warmth.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and a Soviet soldier who was putting up a sentry fell to the ground. The fire-roasting Soviet soldiers immediately scattered, lying on the ground, and in horror, they shot back aimlessly at the surrounding jungle. They don't know where their opponents are, but their bullets can hit their heads with precision...

This is a real scene that happened on the Sufinnish battlefield.

In less than twenty minutes, this small Soviet column was completely wiped out. The Finnish soldier Simon Hayer's sniper record thus added several figures. Since the outbreak of war, more than five hundred Soviet officers and men have died under his guns. What's even more frightening is that the Finnish army doesn't have only one Simon Haye...

1.

At 9:15 a.m. on November 30, 1939, a group of Soviet bombers suddenly appeared over the Finnish city. The doors of the plane opened and bombs rained down from the sky. Despite their preparations, the Finns still did not expect the Soviet Union to go to war without a declaration.

Fifteen minutes later, Soviet ground forces crossed more than 1,500 kilometers of the Soviet-Finnish border and began to advance inland Finland. At the same time, Soviet naval vessels also began to search the Baltic Sea for Finnish ships.

The First Soviet-Finnish War officially broke out.

Stalin has always pursued the idea of the first army. After more than two decades of operation, the Soviet aircraft and tanks have a wide range of advanced weapons, seven million modern troops, and nearly twenty million potential military personnel. The number of troops on the Soviet-Finnish border alone reached half a million. Because of this, even the arrogant Hitridge was jealous of the Soviet army. The superficial military strength of the Soviet Union is not the same as that of Britain, France and other countries.

Finland's total population is less than four million, and the army is only 30,000 people. The difference in strength between the two sides is so vast. In Stalin's view, the Finns were vulnerable and would succumb to the steel torrent of the Soviet army in a dozen days at most. The battle against Finland was nothing short of a suspenseful war.

But Stalin was soon slapped in the face by reality, so much so that later Soviet military leaders were so secretive about it.

2. The Soviet Union and Finland were actually very closely related, one of them was the predecessor of the Tsarist Empire, and the other was once part of the Tsarist Empire.

In 1809, the land-addicted Russians seized Finland from Sweden by war. Finland remained under the rule of the Tsar for more than a hundred years until the October Revolution in Russia ceased to exist in 1917.

Some small Baltic states, including Finland, declared their independence. Russia, now in the midst of an all-out civil war, had no time to take care of it. But out of an infinite desire for land, Russians have never really let go of Finland's fat.

At the same time, Finland also broke out into a terrible civil war, which was more or less reflected in the Russians. But to the surprise of the Russians, the Finnish civil war did not go in the direction they wanted, but ended with a bourgeois victory.

It took several years of bloody civil war in Russia to finally establish the leadership of the proletariat. The Finns took the opportunity to demand that the Soviet Union sign a peace treaty and determine the border between the two countries. Lenin, in order to gain international support, was "forced" to accede to all of Finland's requests.

The two countries parted ways.

After independence, Finland pursued a foreign policy of peace and friendship with the Soviet Union in exchange for the integrity of its sovereignty. After Lenin's death, the Soviet Union was caught up in a series of "movements" and therefore had no energy to deal with affairs with Finland.

In the 1930s, the situation in Europe changed, and the rise of Nazi Germany left no doubt about the return of world war. At the same time, Stalin consolidated his position in the Soviet Union.

In this case, both Finland and the Soviet Union had to think about how to deal with the trend. As a small country, Finland considered strict neutrality and did not involve itself in the war. As a result, Finland formed a neutral bloc with several other European countries while secretly expanding its military power.

The countries in the neutral bloc have indicated that they will not join either Germany or Britain or France. The Soviet Union, as a great power, knew that once war broke out, it was only a matter of time before it was drawn into it. Therefore, Stalin hoped to find allies who could stand together.

Stalin was also suspicious of the neutrality of European countries, especially finland, which was militarily weak. Stalin did not want Finland to be used by potential enemies in the future. Finland is only thirty-two kilometers from Leningrad, the northern capital of the Soviet Union. Once the two countries were at war, long-range artillery in Finland could threaten the city. Stalin intended to try to slowly control Finland, but the plan was soon recognized by the Finns.

Stalin first proposed to Finland the first mutual assistance treaty, leasing the islands in Finland's sea. It was then hoped that 5,500 square kilometers of land would be exchanged for 2,700 square kilometers of Sudetenland. Later, he wanted to establish a military alliance with him, build a military base in Finland and garrison troops.

Finland rejected all these unreasonable demands. Because if the sea entrance was controlled, Finland would inevitably become a vassal state of the Soviet Union.

On November 13, 1939, Finnish delegates who had concluded negotiations and were preparing to return home were threatened by Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov. Molotov bluntly threatened: "We civilian officials can no longer do anything about this, and now it is only the turn of the military to speak."

Subsequently, friction occurred on the border between the two countries. Citing shelling, the Soviet Union abrogated the non-aggression pact with Finland and severed diplomatic relations.

At the same time, half a million Soviet troops were assembled in the border areas, and the puppet regime led by Bussini was ready to emerge. The Finns on the other side were not fools, and long after independence they learned the lessons of history and planned a defense against a possible Soviet offensive. To this end, they spent ten years building the Mannerheim Line, which was 135 kilometers long and 95 kilometers deep, near the Sudetenland border. The armed forces and reserves throughout the country have also been strengthened.

By November 30, 1939, the war was first fought by the Soviets. Four Soviet armies, some half a million troops, under the cover of more than two thousand tanks and a hundred aircraft, attacked Finland in four directions.

By this time, although Finland had expanded its troops from 30,000 to 100,000 in peacetime, the number of tanks was less than 100, and there were only 104 aircraft. In the face of such a huge number of enemy troops, there are still some powerless forces. It is no exaggeration to say that against Finland's strength, the Soviet Union has been called "a cattle knife for killing chickens".

In the eyes of many people, this is a war without suspense and meaninglessness.

However, weak Finland, although inferior to its rivals, had the advantage of terrain and climate. Relying on fortifications and forests, rivers, and swamps, the Finnish army greatly stopped the Advance of the Soviet Army.

Under the cover of blizzards, thick fog and darkness, the fragmented Finnish army had the advantage of maneuverability and flexibility to attack the Soviets in squads. Their targets were the logistics of the Soviet army, and many Soviet soldiers were frozen to death in the ice and snow because of lack of food and clothing, and the living people basically lost the ability to fight.

The Finnish army combined the situation of the enemy's strength and weakness and formed many sniper teams. The soldiers in the sniper squad are often hunter-turned-hunters, they are bold and meticulous, their marksmanship is superb, and they can inflict heavy casualties on the enemy. Even after being discovered by an opponent, they can quickly withdraw or hide without being detected. The Soviets were afraid and hated these people, but they could do nothing about them.

In this way, under the flexible blows of the Finnish army, from the end of November to the end of December, the soviet casualties were close to 150,000.

In one of these battles, the Finnish army wiped out up to 30,000 Soviet troops at the cost of "900 dead and 1,700 wounded". Two Soviet divisions were annihilated as a formation.

Since then, Stalin's intention to end the war in a dozen days has been completely frustrated.

3.

News of the defeat at the front soon reached Moscow. The Soviet hierarchy was so shocked that Stalin even confronted Silov, who was the People's Commissar of Defense. Stalin accused Silov of incompetence. Silov grabbed a plate and slammed it to the ground, shouting, "It's not because you killed all the generals..."

After Stalin calmed down, he decided to replace the front-line commanders. Brother Temudian, who had fought in World War I, soon became the commander of the front.

After Brother Temudian arrived, he first replaced a large number of incompetent senior officers. Ideological discipline education in the armed forces has been strengthened. This was followed by reinforcements to the front, improvement of logistical supply conditions, and finally, learning from the lessons of failure and strengthening military training.

Ski troops in response to the Finnish army. Timoshenko also followed the example of his opponents and formed the Soviet Army's ski unit.

After more than a month of rest, the Soviets resumed their offensive against Finland and achieved a victory. In order to expand the results, Stalin sent forty-five more divisions to the Soviet-Finnish border, totaling 600,000 troops.

With a large number of troops, the Soviet army ignored casualties and used the tactic of man-sea to attack the Finnish positions. Soviet aircraft artillery also spared no effort in ammunition and indiscriminately bombarded the Finnish military defense area.

Under the fierce blows of the Soviet army, the Finnish army's living forces and weapons and equipment were completely lost, and the defensive line was broken one after another. Finland's top brass had to accept the good offices of countries such as Sweden.

After symbolic negotiations, Finland accepted all the territorial claims made by the Soviet Union.

The months-long war took great toll on Finland. The Finnish army was only about 100,000 troops, and eventually more than 25,000 were wounded, 55,000 died, and almost the entire army was destroyed. But the victorious Soviet Union, apart from taking advantage of the country, suffered far more losses than Finland.

For this war, the Soviet Union mobilized 1.1 million troops, resulting in more than 200,000 casualties, tens of thousands missing, and about 300,000 wounded. In addition, more than a thousand aircraft and more than two thousand tanks were lost. The victory was true, but at the same time it was a very tragic victory.

If Stalin had not completely crushed Finland's national strength, the war would not have been won or lost. On the surface, the Soviet army won, but in fact, the Soviet army lost in front of the whole world, and Also Letry see the essence of the Soviet Union's foreign power.

It is safe to say that Hitrecht's daring to attack the Soviet Union is inseparable from the performance of the Soviet army in the Soviet-Finnish War.

According to historical records, after taking France, Citre has been struggling with the question of whether to attack the Soviet Union, and even caused serious insomnia problems. Hitley was well aware that the size of the Soviet Union and its war potential were beyond Germany's reach.

But in the Soviet-Finnish War, the performance of the Soviet army allowed Hitrid to see the dawn of victory. German generals generally believed that with the performance of the Soviet army on the Finnish battlefield, a German division could easily defeat two Soviet armies.

Because of this, soon after the end of the Soviet-Finnish War, the German top brass began to formulate a battle plan against the Soviet Union.