Why did the powerful Soviet Union attack Finland so much?

"Take history as a mirror to know the rise and fall." In Sufin's " winter war", the Soviet Union launched a powerful war machine. It was originally thought that it was an easy battle to meet it, but in the end what they achieved was not worth the gain. Victory is a "defeat" of victory. The Soviet army lost their excellent vitality, but in exchange for almost negligible results. Although it achieved the goals of the Soviet Union before the war, it suffered heavy losses in this war. For nearly a hundred years after this war, people of future generations need to continue to take warning. The reason for this is really intriguing, and I will first explain the battle and then make some expositions from multiple angles in order to show its effectiveness.

Introduction to Finland

The Republic of Finland, referred to as Finland, is located in northern Europe. It borders Sweden, Russia and other countries and is now a highly developed capitalist country.

The grievances between the Soviet Union and Finland can be traced back to 1808, when Sweden was defeated in the Finnish War, and Tsarist Russia captured Finland. From then on, Finland became the autonomous Grand Duchy in the territory of Tsarist Russia. The October Revolution broke out in Russia on December 6, 1917. Finland took advantage of the chaos in Russia and declared independence and broke away from Russian control.

From the beginning of the war

Since Finland declared independence, the Soviet Union, which inherited Tsarist Russia, has always been concerned about it. It is determined to reincorporate Finland into the country's territory. Under multiple considerations of the threat of Leningrad, the important town, the Soviet Union tried to seize part of Finland through deterrence and negotiation. However, after many negotiations, instead of achieving results, it met with firm opposition from Finland. Finland is determined to deal with Finland's concerns about its alliance with Germany and its closeness to the West and threats to itself. But at this time World War II broke out. After the Soviet Union signed the " Soviet-German non-aggression pact " to ease relations with Germany,In accordance with the decision on the ownership of Finland in the treaty, we negotiated again with Finland. After the negotiation failed, the Soviet Union was determined to resolve it by force, creating the "Manila Incident" and demanding the Finnish government to be held accountable. Finland rejected this unreasonable request. Heavily suppressed.

Military and political parallelism

In order to better achieve the purpose of war and at the same time achieve "famous division", the Soviet Union implemented a dual oppression of politics and military strategy. First, on December 1, 1939, the Soviet Union supported the establishment of the "People’s Republic of Finland" government headed by Otto Wilhelmovic Kusinen, hoping to instigate the socialists in the Finnish army to rebel, but ultimately failed. end.

▲Soviet offensive diagram

Strategically, the Soviet Union expanded its armaments and launched three-way military multi-line operations. On the southern front of the main attack direction, the Soviet army deployed about 10 infantry divisions, under the jurisdiction of 6 A chariot brigade with a total of 240,000 troops, 1,500 chariots, 900 artillery pieces, and 300 aircraft of the Seventh Army attacked northward along the west bank of Lake Ladoga from the north of Leningrad. At the same time, the Eighth Army, commanding approximately 150,000 troops, fought in this direction in conjunction with the Seventh Army, encircled and marched in, with the intention of breaking through the Finnish Mannerheim line , thus capturing Viipuri, and then advancing to the capital Helsinki . The central line intends to attack the Oulu area by the Gulf of Bothnia, cutting the entire battlefield in half and cutting off and blocking the reinforcements of neighboring Sweden. In this direction, the 9th Army of 95,000 troops was planned. In the northern direction, from Murmansk to the west to attack the Besamo area and then to the south to attack the Finnish army, deploying the 14th Army of about 55,000 people.

The powerful armed forces of the Soviet Union's three routes totaling 540,000 people and a large number of high-quality equipment, coupled with a thorough combat plan, can be said to be within easy reach to destroy Finland, and the Soviet generals also have great confidence in this. I believe This war will surely be like a broken bamboo, and the entire territory of Finland is just around the corner.In stark contrast are the Finnish forces, despite all-round war mobilization. Finland also only has a regular army of 127,000, a reserve force of 300,000, a "Civilian Guard" of about 100,000, and a women's service team of 100,000. Compared with the huge Soviet Union, this is no different than the huge force of the Soviet Union. . In addition, the Finnish army’s weapons and ammunition are basically stretched, and the number of aircraft, tanks, and armored vehicles is much smaller than that of the Soviet Union. We have reason to believe that the Finns’ nightmare is coming, and Finland cannot organize anything. Effective resistance, but it is far from the case.

▲Soviet tank

cold winter

For the impassioned and confident Soviet army, there may not be a winter that is colder and more frightening than the winter of 1939-early 1940. The Soviet army, who thought it could be ready to celebrate victory, did not expect that he suffered an unprecedented defeat on the two fronts in the third-line battle. The stubborn resistance of the Finnish army exceeded the expectations of the Soviet army. The Finnish army took advantage of the terrain and adopted a combination of frontal resistance and guerrilla warfare. The method effectively killed the vital forces of the Soviet army. The Finnish army creatively invented the "Molotov" (a kind of incendiary weapon modified from a wine bottle, with the Soviet Union’s extreme lack of anti-tank weapons). The diplomatic ambassador Molotov named it and ridiculed it), which caused great losses to the armored forces that the Soviet army was proud of.

The Soviet army only advanced several tens of kilometers and fell into a bitter battle. Most of the Soviet army was harassed by the Finnish guerrillas. The Soviet army couldn’t figure out the truth and did not dare to act rashly, plus the Finnish guerrillas. The strategy of catching the thieves and the king first, countless Soviet officers were sneaked and killed by Finnish ski guerrillas. The command and strategic planning of the Soviet army became more chaotic. The headless Soviet army was constantly eroded and cut by the Finnish army. In the village of Somus Salmi in Finland, the army under the command of Finnish general Yalma Silasvo divided the Soviet army and wiped out 23,000 enemies in World War I. It is a classic case of winning with less. Although the superior Soviet troops such as Beilu achieved certain results, they immediately turned into a defensive posture on the spot and did not dare to move forward. The Soviet troops, who were in a dilemma, paid a heavy price for what they did.

▲Finland's sled guerrillas

The end of the war

▲ Although the front and late stage of the Soviet offensive situation was not optimistic at that time span_p5

Compared with Finland, the Soviet Union is a behemoth after all. Its roots and heritage have been deepened for a long time. Based on the chaotic situation of the current front, the Soviet military began to organize new offensives. On January 7, 1940, Timoshenko was appointed to replace Meletskov as the front-line commander. At the same time, the Northwest Army was established under the jurisdiction of the 7th Army and the newly formed 13th Army. Added 24 infantry divisions, 20 artillery regiments and 15 new aviation regiments to the Soviet-Finnish border. Beginning in January 1940, the Soviet Red Army in the area regrouped and strengthened the training of soldiers' personal qualities. At the same time, based on the actual situation in Finland, they practiced a set of effective attack tactics. After that, after more than a month of arduous battles, the Finnish army, which had run out of ammunition and food, was on the verge of desperation, had no internal reserves, and had little external support, had to take the initiative to retreat, abandon its positions, and signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union, which amounted to more than 40,000. The square kilometer of the land is handed over.

It should be said that the Soviet Union obtained more benefits than negotiations through the war, but it also paid an extremely heavy price. According to the statistics of 48,745 dead and 158,863 injured by the diplomatic ambassador Molotov, it is far from enough. This is just a false lie. According to analysis of later generations, the actual number is likely to be about 170,000 or more. More soldiers killed, more than 500,000 wounded, and more weapons and equipment losses, but in any case, the losses of the Soviet army far exceeded the gains, and at the same time brought even more catastrophic effects to the Soviet Union in the next few years. And far-reaching impact.

Reason analysis

The reason is analyzed from three angles, namely, the so-called heaven, earth, and people.

First we know,The Soviet-Finnish "Winter War" is obviously untimely for the Soviet Union. Finland is a northern country with part of its territory in the polar circle. Its winter is extremely long and cold. The Soviet Union will undoubtedly launch an offensive against Finland in the winter. It was a failed decision. Most of the troops participating in the war were the army of the southern Soviet Union. Compared with the indigenous people of Finland, they were less adaptable to the cold; the use and maintenance of tanks and armored vehicles was indeed a great challenge to the Soviet army, which lacked protection against the cold. Many armored vehicles were stalled in the marching route due to the severe cold, which affected the overall tactical command; in addition, the snow reflections and wind and snow caused adverse effects on both sides of the combat team. Therefore, the Soviet Union has been defeated miserably in terms of time.

The second is geographical factors. Finland’s geographical environment is completely different from the Soviet Union. Finland is biased towards Northern Europe. The border area is rich in forests and swamps, which is convenient for defense and guerrilla operations. Finland’s rear transportation is convenient and transportation is convenient. It is conducive to durable resistance to the transportation of materials on the front line. Moreover, the terrain of the Soviet-Finnish border is completely different from Central European Plain. It is not suitable for the original armored operations of the Soviet army, but more suitable for the Finnish army’s small corps attack operations. All these are the disadvantages of the Soviet Union, plus the terrain The Soviet army, which was unfamiliar with the Soviet Union, was obviously at a disadvantage.

The most important thing is that the main combatants of the two parties involved in the war-troops and commanders, that is, human beings. Human power is the decisive factor in war, and this is also the most profound reason for this war. First analyze the Finnish side, Finn is facing a war of aggression against their own country, a battle that may be subjugated. All Finns know that they are far from the Soviet Union’s opponents, weapons, equipment and personnel. The unequal number of wars is doomed to failure, but what they can do is to do their best to delay the victory of the Soviet army as much as possible. Therefore, almost all the Finns are soldiers, and the whole country fights the Soviet Union. This kind of same enemy and hatred Spirit is something the Soviets did not expect. As Marshal Mannerheim said: "Cannons, defense lines, and international aid are not important. A soldier must realize that he is defending his country."The Finnish people put aside their former class hatred and jointly resisted the Soviet Union.

▲The Winter War Museum in the position

. On the Soviet side, the opposite was the case. The Finnish army's resistance was wrongly underestimated before the war. Sex, I think that fighting can be ended in more than ten days. As everyone knows, the weakness of the Soviet army is not only reflected in blindly underestimating the enemy. The most serious problem is the relationship between the party and the army, which has been very fatal in the Soviet Union since the October Revolution. The mistrust and wrong command between the party and the army caused most of the commanders to be rigid in their tactics and one-sided pursuit of onslaught, resulting in heavy casualties for soldiers. This problem was not solved until the period.

In addition, some wrong measures and policies in the first few years of the Winter War caused the Soviet army to lose most of the outstanding officers since the revolutionary period. Without their systematic command, the Soviet army's combat effectiveness has dropped significantly. Young officers have not experienced the tempering of war, obviously lacked experience in commanding large corps, and restricted the multi-line combat command position. These have caused incalculable and disastrous consequences. And the actual performance in the war was indeed unsatisfactory. The incident was handled improperly; the long-term bloated and slow march was repeatedly attacked by the flexible Finnish guerrillas; the ability to coordinate combat in actual battles was extremely lacking, and the actual situation on the battlefield was not well grasped... All of these are fatal to the Soviet army. Threats.

The weather, the right place, the people and the Soviet army are not occupied. And internationally, it has been condemned by many countries. Countries such as Britain, France and Sweden have given some support to Finland. This is even more difficult for the Soviet army. All these reasons add up. Although the Soviet army is the victor in the end, what they get is nothing more than the “lost” of victory.

far-reaching influence

The consequences for Finland are disastrous. Finland has lost its land and important cities, but in comparison, what the "victor" Soviet Union has lost,Far from being a casualty soldier. After this war, the Germans on the sidelines saw the weakness of the Soviet army, so they took advantage of the weakness of the Soviet army and embarked on the implementation of the " Barbarossa plan", which launched the Soviet-German war and caused heavy losses to the Soviet Union. , And Finland also cooperated with Nazi Germany to avenge the Soviet Union, causing immeasurable losses to the Soviet Union in the northern battlefield. However, we have to look at things from multiple perspectives. After this war, the Soviet army also learned from the pain, promoted the intensive training of the armed forces, and cultivated a group of outstanding generals (such as Zhukov). The Soviet Red Army continued to grow in the tempering of blood and fire. Finally laid the foundation for the victory of the Great Patriotic War.

Concluding remarks

In any case, wars are cruel, we pray that wars will not happen, because wars will mean death and displacement; but on the other hand, we must also learn from history and learn from the classic wars of the past The lesson of this is to transform it into practical experience. This is also the important significance of our re-examination of the past battles.

References: "Global History", "The History of World War II"

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