Winter War

Winter War
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
A Finnish Maxim M/09-21 machine gun crew during the Winter War
Date 30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940 (3 months, 1 week and 6 days) Location Eastern Finland Result Moscow Peace Treaty Territorial changes Cession of the Gulf of Finland islands, Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia, Salla, Rybachy Peninsula and lease of Hanko to the Soviet Union
Belligerents
Finland Foreign volunteers	Soviet Union Finnish Democratic Republic
Commanders and leaders
Kyösti Kallio C.G.E. Mannerheim Hugo Österman Harald Öhquist Erik Heinrichs Woldemar Hägglund Wiljo Tuompo	Joseph Stalin Kliment Voroshilov Semyon Timoshenko Kirill Meretskov Vladimir Grendal Grigori Shtern Mikhail Dukhanov Valerian Frolov
Strength
300,000–340,000 soldiers[F 1] 32 tanks[F 2] 114 aircraft[F 3]	425,000–760,000 soldiers[F 4] 2,514–6,541 tanks[F 5] 3,880 aircraft[10]
Casualties and losses
25,904 dead or missing[11] 43,557 wounded[12] 800–1,100 captured[13] 20–30 tanks 62 aircraft[14] 1 armed icebreaker damaged Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment ceded to the Soviet Union 70,000 total casualties	126,875–167,976 dead or missing[15][16][17][18] 188,671–207,538 wounded or sick[15][16] (including at least 61,506 sick or frostbitten[19]) 5,572 captured[20] 1,200–3,543 tanks[21][22][23] 261–515 aircraft[23][24] 321,000–381,000 total casualties

The Winter War^{[F 6]} was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its organization.

The Soviets made several demands, including that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere, claiming security reasons – primarily the protection of Leningrad, 32 km (20 mi) from the Finnish border. When Finland refused, the Soviets invaded. Most sources conclude that the Soviet Union had intended to conquer all of Finland, and cite the establishment of the puppet Finnish Communist government and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocols as evidence of this,^{[F 7]} while other sources argue against the idea of a full Soviet conquest.^{[F 8]} Finland repelled Soviet attacks for more than two months and inflicted substantial losses on the invaders in temperatures as low as −43 °C (−45 °F). The battles focused mainly on Taipale along the Karelian Isthmus, on Kollaa in Ladoga Karelia and on Raate Road in Kainuu, but there were also battles in Salla and Petsamo in Lapland.

Following the initial setbacks, the Soviets reduced their strategic objectives and put an end to the puppet Finnish communist government in late January 1940, informing the Finnish government that they were willing to negotiate peace.^[38][39] After the Soviet military reorganized and adopted different tactics, they renewed their offensive in February 1940 and overcame the Finnish defences on the Karelian Isthmus. This left the Finnish army in the main theatre of war near the breaking point, with a retreat seeming inevitable. Consequently, Finnish commander-in-chief Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim urged a peace deal with the Soviets, while the Finns still retained bargaining power.^[40]

Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty in which Finland ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered.^[41] Their gains exceeded their pre-war demands, and the Soviets received substantial territories along Lake Ladoga and further north. Finland retained its sovereignty and enhanced its international reputation. The poor performance of the Red Army encouraged German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to believe that an attack on the Soviet Union would be successful and confirmed negative Western opinions of the Soviet military. After 15 months of Interim Peace, in June 1941, Germany commenced Operation Barbarossa, and the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviets began.

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