Finland, located in the north of Europe, here is a typical Nordic country, 1/3 of the land area is located in the Arctic Circle, winter is cold and long, here is also the famous country of a thousand lakes, santa claus hometown, from the 12th century, Finland was gradually controlled by Sweden, in the Finnish War in 1808, Sweden was defeated by Russia, Finland was subsequently incorporated into Russia, becoming the autonomous Grand Duchy in Tsarist Russia.
In 1917, the Russian October Revolution broke out, the Soviet Union was established, Finland took the opportunity to declare independence on December 6, 1917, and was quickly recognized by the Soviet government, the two sides established a border in 1920, and in 1932 and 1935, the two sides signed the "Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact" and the "Soviet-Finnish Mutual Assistance Treaty" respectively.
October Revolution in Russia
With Hitler coming to power, Germany, Italy and Japan established a fascist dictatorship, the clouds of war began to hang over Europe, and the Soviet Union was isolated by all of Europe at that time, and the situation was particularly dangerous, so the Soviet Union intended to follow the example of World War I and Britain and France to form an alliance to curb Germany's expansion, but Britain and France only wanted to lead the spearhead of German aggression to the Soviet Union, and in desperation, the Soviet Union had to negotiate peace with Germany, which was also worried about the recurrence of the situation in World War I, and the two sides signed the "Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact" and the "Soviet-German Secret Agreement" on August 23, 1939. Germany recognized Latvia, Estonia and Finland as the sphere of Interests of the Soviet Union, which set the stage for the Soviet Union's next move.
Original text of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact
The Soviet Union knew that Germany was only to deal with Britain and France and temporarily stabilize itself, and when Germany finished cleaning up Britain and France, the next target was itself, and the Soviet Union's western neighbors did not have the ability to oppose Germany at all, and may even fall to Germany, in order to ensure their own security, the Soviet Union decided to build an eastern defense line, and the Soviet Union's western neighbors into this system, becoming the Soviet Union's outpost against German invasion, and among them, the Soviet-Finnish border was too close to Leningrad, and once Finland fell to Germany, the consequences were unimaginable. The Soviets therefore wanted the Karelian Isthmus and the northern part of the Gulf of Finland to guarantee the security of Leningrad.
In order to achieve its own goals, the Soviet government offered Finland to lease the Hanko Peninsula for 30 years, allowing the Soviet Union to establish a naval base, and at the same time moving Finland's border in the Karelian Isthmus 20 to 25 kilometers north, and ceding to the Soviet Union a total of 2,761 square kilometers of land on some islands in the Gulf of Finland, the Rybach Peninsula, and part of the Sliedeny Peninsula. Finland sent representatives to Moscow at the request of the Soviet Union to negotiate with Soviet leader Stalin and Foreign Minister Molotov, and Finland agreed to cede some islands in the Gulf of Finland to the Soviet Union, but firmly disagreed with the cession of the Karelian Isthmus and the lease of the Hanko Peninsula, and finally on November 13, 1939, negotiations broke down and the Soviet-Finnish War broke out.
The Soviet Union proposed a land exchange plan to Finland
On November 26, 1939, the Soviet troops in the Karelian Isthmus were shelled, resulting in 4 deaths and 9 wounds, Molotov claimed that this was the work of the Finnish army, and asked the Finnish army to retreat 20 to 25 kilometers, the Finnish government denied that it had created the shelling, and asked both sides to retreat at the same time, and at the same time set up a joint investigation team to investigate the matter, but Molotov rejected the Finnish government's proposal, and on November 28 announced the tearing of the Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact, on November 29, the Soviet Union announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Finland, War is on the verge of breaking out.
At 9:15 on November 30, 1939, the Soviet Air Force began to bomb Helsinki and Vyborg, at 9:30, the Soviet army launched an attack on the Soviet-Finnish border of more than 1,000 kilometers in four ways, the Soviet-Finnish War broke out, in order to quickly end the war, the Soviet army put in the Leningrad Military District 4 groups of 450,000 people, 1,500 tanks, 1,800 artillery, 800 aircraft, in addition to the Baltic Fleet and the Northern Fleet 50,000 people to participate in the battle. The Finnish standing army is only 32,000 people, even after the national mobilization, there are only 9 divisions and 127,000 people, and before the war Finland only had 60 tanks, 104 aircraft, and more than 100 artillery pieces.
The Soviets planned to launch a major offensive along the Karelian Isthmus and Lake Ladoga respectively, while the 9th and 14th Armies were tasked with containing Finnish forces and preventing Sweden and the West from providing assistance to Finland.
Map of the deployment of troops on both sides
On December 10, 1939, the Soviet 7th Army, under the cover of the Navy and Air Force, broke through the support zone and entered the forward position of the Mannerheim Line, penetrating 25 to 65 kilometers into Finland, and the 8th Army was also hindered by the stubborn resistance of the Finnish army after advancing 50 to 80 kilometers, and was forced to stop the attack and turn to the defense, and 2 divisions suffered heavy losses.
Compared with the two armies in the south, the 9th Army in the middle was even more miserable, the task of the 9th Army was to occupy the port of Oulu and cut off the Finnish blockade, and it was the 163rd Division that rushed to the front, the Finnish army deliberately lured the enemy deeper, the 163rd Division was eager to advance, and gradually distanced itself from other troops, the Finnish army took advantage of the counterattack on December 17, dividing and encircling the 163rd Division, the 44th Division that came to the rescue did not have any winter combat preparations, the soldiers were cold and hungry, and Finland constantly sent small units to harass them. And destroyed the fragile logistics of the Soviet army, on January 6, 1940, the Finnish army launched a general offensive, the 44th Division was quickly completely annihilated, the Finnish army captured 6,000 rifles alone, and the 122nd Division and the reinforced 88th Division were almost completely annihilated by the Finnish army, the 9th Army was severely damaged, and the commander of the army group, Trikov, was dismissed.
Soviet soldiers killed in the Soviet-Finnish War
The 14th Army in the north occupied part of the Sliedeny Peninsula and the Rekchi Peninsula under the cover of the navy, penetrated 150 to 200 kilometers into Finland, cut off finland's only sea passage with the Allies, which was the greatest achievement of the Soviet army in the early stages of the Soviet-Finnish War, from the Soviet offensive to the beginning of January 1940, the weak Finland broke out a strong fighting force, stopped the Soviet offensive on a front of 800 kilometers, and inflicted heavy damage on the Soviet army. Especially in the battle to annihilate the 163rd and 44th Divisions, the Soviets wiped out 27,500 Soviet troops, captured 1,500 prisoners, and captured 120 artillery pieces and 50 tanks at the cost of only 900 dead and 1,770 wounded.
Soviet tanks captured by the Finnish army
After the previous fiasco, the Soviet Union decided to spend a month to adjust the deployment in preparation for launching a larger offensive, Stalin listened to the advice of the Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army Shaposhnikov, abandoned the plan to cut Finland into two sections, concentrated absolute superiority to break through the Mannerheim Line, for which Stalin ordered the dispatch of 3 additional armies to the front line, and formed the Northwest Front, with Timoshenko as the commander of the Front, Timoshenko relieved a large number of incompetent senior officers after his arrival, adjusting the strategy and tactics, Train infantry and tanks to work together, increase heavy artillery against pillboxes on the Mannerheim Line, and imitate the Finnish army to form ski units adapted to the local combat environment.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Timoshenko
After careful preparation, the Soviet army resumed the offensive on February 11, 1940, the Soviet air force carpet bombed the Finnish positions, while the Karelian Isthmus 2800 Soviet artillery was also constantly bombarding the Finnish positions, under the cover of aircraft and artillery, the Soviet heavy tank formation burst into the Finnish defensive positions, a large number of infantry followed the tank advance, after paying heavy casualties, on February 13 the Soviet army broke through the main area of the Mannerheim Line, and rapidly expanded the results, On the 14th, the Soviets defeated the Finnish army that tried to counterattack, and on the 16th, the Soviet army successfully broke through the first line of defense of the Finnish army.
The Finnish army held its ground
The Soviet army rearranged on February 28 after the adjustment of deployment, the Finnish army collapsed, the 7th Army and the 13th Army both entered the second line of defense, the Mannerheim Line completely lost its role, by March 12, most of Vyborg was occupied by the Soviet army, the Finnish government saw that it was invincible, it asked the Swedish government to mediate between them and re-negotiate with the Soviet Union, on March 8 the two sides returned to the negotiating table, the Soviet Union demanded that the entire Karelian Isthmus, the shores of Lake Ladoga, the Sliedeny Peninsula, The Rekoč Peninsula was ceded to the Soviet Union and the Hanko Peninsula and the surrounding islands were leased to the Soviet Union for a long time, and forced by the deterioration of the war situation, the Finnish government had to agree to these conditions, and on March 12 the two sides signed a treaty in Moscow, from 12 o'clock on March 13, the two sides stopped all military operations.
Red is the land ceded by Finland after the end of the Soviet-Finnish War
In the entire Soviet-Finnish War, the Soviet Union used a total of more than 1 million troops for the war against Finland, while the Finnish side only had 9 divisions, plus the militia was only 150,000 people, in such a disparity in strength comparison, the Soviet Union paid a heavy price of 200,000 deaths and 250,000 wounds, while the Finnish side only died 25,000 people, wounded 55,000 people, the number of Soviet casualties reached 8 times that of the opponent, it can be said that the Soviet Union lost face in front of the world in this battle.
This war had a major impact on the course of the subsequent World War II, the poor performance of the Soviet army in this war fueled the ambitions of the German fascists to invade the Soviet Union, laying the groundwork for the outbreak of the Later Soviet-German War, and Finland lost the equivalent of 10% of Finland's land in this war, how could the Finns just give up, the seeds of revenge began to sprout in the hearts of the Finns, and finally prompted Finland to join the Axis camp in order to regain the lost land with the help of Germany.