On September 1, 1939, with Germany's victory in the "blitzkrieg against Poland", World War II arrived as scheduled. Later, Germany launched an all-out offensive against various countries and carried out the "Barbarossa Plan", which began the offensive against the Soviet Union. Before the Soviet Union and Germany went to war, the Soviet Union launched a Soviet-Finnish War, and in this war of great disparity in power, the seemingly incomparably powerful Soviet Union should have won the war in a crushing way. However, the Soviet Union paid a terrible price for this war without suspense. Therefore, there are many theories about the impact of this war, the most extensive of which is that Germany did not intend to invade the Soviet Union. But seeing that such a "powerful" Soviet Union, in dealing with a "small" Finland, has paid such a heavy price, there is also the heart of "seizing the weapon". So what was the real purpose of the Soviet Union in launching this campaign? What price did the Soviet Union pay for this "crushing victory"? Why did the Soviet Union "fold" in Finland's hands?
Finland is an agrarian country in Europe, with nearly three million people engaged in agriculture out of a population of 3.5 million. Among them, the national economy is supported by the forestry industry, which is dominated and very dependent on foreign markets. After the October Revolution launched by Russia, it also had an important impact on Finland, especially some Of the Red Army of the Soviet Union, which also participated in the armed uprising of the Finnish Red Army. In 1918, civil war also broke out in Finland, but the uprising failed and the Finnish Red Army was completely destroyed. The rise to power of conservative forces in Finland and hostility to the Soviet Union made relations between the Soviet Union and Finland even more tense.
In addition to the political and ideological antagonisms, Finland did something that annoyed the Soviet Union very much. Finland was well aware that it would be difficult to defend itself against the Soviet Union. In order to be able to block the powerful Soviet naval warships, Finland set up a large number of gun emplacements on the northern islands of Machilotto and Nys in the northern Gulf of Finland. The artillery on both islands had a maximum caliber of 12 inches and a maximum range of 25 kilometers. By 1938, Finland had also upgraded artillery on two islands, with ranges as high as 40 km at one point.
For the blockade of the Gulf of Finland, the attack of its weapons or even escalation, it is impossible for Finland, an agricultural country, to operate independently. The Soviet Union was well aware of Finland's actions. So behind the Soviet Union in Finland, we saw the shadow of Sweden, Germany, Britain and other countries. These countries tried to subvert at the beginning of the Soviet Union. As a result, Soviet fears became more and more serious, making war between the Soviet Union and Finland inevitable.
In the autumn of 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact, which was seen by others as a "friendly" treaty between the two countries, but included a secret clause, that is, the division of spheres of influence among the Eastern European countries between the two countries, of which Finland was assigned to the Soviet Union. So on October 14, the Soviet Union formally made a territorial claim against Finland. Faced with Soviet aggression, Finland had to cede to the Soviets several of its islands, as well as a small part of the Karelian Isthmus.
Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact
However, for this point of territory, it is obvious that it will not satisfy the appetite of the Soviet Union. So on November 13, negotiations broke down. Soviet troops crossed the border on November 30 and launched an invasion of Finland. The battle between the Soviet Union and Finland is usually considered by many to be the Soviet Union's covetousness of Finnish land. However, the real purpose of the Soviet Union was to overthrow the ruling government of Finland, to re-prop up a new government that was only the leader of the Soviet Union, and to become a puppet of the Soviet Union once and for all.
This is confirmed by the fact that on December 1 the Soviets established a democratic Finnish government in the newly occupied Finnish town of Trijoki. The Soviet Union absolutely did not recognize Finland's previous Government of Helsinki. In this sense, even if Finland satisfies the territorial claims made by the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union will continue to find excuses to send troops to Finland and subvert its regime. The ultimate goal was to create a buffer zone between the Soviet Union and Germany and Europe.
What caused the Soviet Union to pay such a terrible price and not win for so long?
There has always been a lot of talk about how much the Soviet Union lost in this battle. For example, the official Soviet version of the battle was that the Soviet army lost 53,522 dead, 16,208 missing, wounded 163772, wounded 12,000, and captured more than 5,000. The Air Force lost more than 540 aircraft and 1244 tanks. The Finnish army, on the other hand, killed more than 20,000 people, more than 3,000 were missing, more than 40,000 wounded, and more than 1,000 captured. However, in another source, it is recorded that the Soviet Union used 960,000 troops in the war against Finland. More than ten thousand artillery pieces, three thousand tanks, more than three thousand aircraft were used, and more than two hundred thousand men were lost. At the same time, the war, which could have ended in just a few dozen days, was fought for more than three months. The Soviet Union, the world's most powerful country, would have been incompetent to such an extent before a small country.
Below, we will look at the declassified Soviet documents to see why the Soviet Union lost so much.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > light enemy</h1>
Before the war, the Soviet Union had a contempt for Finland's strength. After all, from the strength of the troops to the weapons to the size of the army, the Soviet Union was crushing to Finland. In particular, the scale of the karelian isthmus fortifications and the deployment of the geo-structural fortifications of The Yanisia and Ladoga Lakes.
The Initial Soviet Advance was also relatively smooth, but because it did not know anything about the Finnish Defense Zone, it was hit hard by the Finnish army after reaching the Defense Zone. This made the Soviet Union realize that it was necessary to concentrate superior forces in order to make a breakthrough. However, because the Soviet Union despised it in the first place, there was no timely mobilization for railway transportation. As a result, soldiers and military supplies reinforced from the Soviet mainland were never transported. The assault plan for a Mannalin Line was delayed for three months. At the same time, the Soviet Union lacked an understanding of Finland's topography and the environment in which it was operating. So the Soviet Union initially used heavy tanks, many of which were mired in mud or snowdrifts. Heavy weapons are hard to come in handy, and many light weapons are not brought with them. In addition, everyone in Finland can ski, and the Soviet army does not have the equipment and training in this area, which leads to the situation of the Soviet army being passively beaten.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the quality of the commander</h1>
In the soviet-finnish war investigation report that has been unsealed, there is a report of Soviet Marshal Voroshilov on the quality of commanders in this war. In his report, Voroshilov pointed out that in the early days of the war, basically from the company headquarters to the division headquarters, many commanders were basically not very good at commanding the army. The consequence of the commander's lack of command of the army is the chaos of the army. This confusion gave the Finnish army the perfect opportunity to divide the chaotic Soviet army and annihilate them separately. For example, the 44th and 18th divisions of the Soviet Union were completely annihilated by Finland using such tactics. Voroshilov seriously criticized such stupid behavior of the Soviet army: "Commanders at all levels have a negative attitude when commanding the army, and let the enemy achieve great combat results with a small force." The commanders of our army, after the defeat in battle, deliberately exaggerated the enemy's combat effectiveness in order to find excuses for their incompetent command. However, such exaggeration also created a subjective impression of the enemy's strength in the Soviet army, which was not conducive to the unfolding of the battle. ”
Voroshilov
So why are the commanders of the Soviet army generally unable to command? You know, the most famous Frunze Military Academy is in the Soviet Union, and many Soviet commanders have graduated from this school. So what is the reason for the low quality?
First, during the Soviet-Finnish War, 70 percent of the regimental commanders and political commissars in the Soviet army were new cadres who had served for less than a year. Many of them were not in real combat, or had no command at all. It is not surprising that commanders of such a quality behave in war.
Second, compared with the light enemy of the Soviet Union, Finland had a clear understanding of the battle and made early preparations. Finland, for example, built strong fortifications in areas that were vulnerable to Soviet attack. For example, the Mannalin Line in Finland was the most advanced fortification formed under the guidance of German experts and using the latest mechanical technology. The entire fortification was covered with trenches and barbed wire. And all are counted under the cover of artillery fire. In the face of such advanced fortifications, many commanders have never seen it at all, let alone how to deal with it.
Third, in this war, the Soviet Union was, after all, the party of aggression. Finland is therefore indeed the persecuted party in international opinion. That is why Finland has received some state assistance. The United States, for example, first imposed an economic blockade on the Soviet Union and lent low-interest loans to Finland to buy American weapons. Not only has the United States given great help, but the major countries in Europe, seeing Finland and the Soviet Union, have also donated money and materials. The British provided Finland with 144 aircraft, 114 cannons, and tens of thousands of anti-tank mines. France also donated 179 aircraft, 472 artillery pieces, and more than 5,000 light machine guns. Millions of grenades and shells, as well as tents and portable stoves that can be folded into handbags. So Finnish soldiers, wearing white ski coats and using skis as a tool for sports, were divided into several combat squads, near the Soviet army, with machine guns, to see the time to attack.
This war made the Soviet Union's combat strength shown for the first time in front of the whole world, and its poor performance made the whole world see the embarrassment of the Soviet Union. Because of this battle, Germany despised the Soviet Union even more, and felt that the Soviet Union was like a mud-footed giant. The German chief of staff said openly: "The Soviet Union is a fragile piece of glass, and with a gentle punch, you will see the quality of this mirror." So the Germans dared to send troops to invade the Soviet Union while fighting with the British. Because the German top brass believed that "the battle on the border would not exceed four weeks", which showed Germany's contempt for the Soviet army. Of course, the Soviet Union's attack on Finland did convince Germany that the Soviet army was nothing more than that, and even had little combat effectiveness, which explained why the Germans dared to attack the Soviet Union without ending the war in Western Europe.
Therefore, General Vasilevsky, who was then deputy director of the Operations Department of the General Staff of the Red Army, also admitted: "The Finnish war is a great shame for us, it has ruined the image of our army at home and abroad, and many things need to be explained." ”