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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.
Finnish troops at a machine gun post during the Winter War. The Finnish Army consisted of 9 field divisions, 4 brigades and a number of small independent battalions and companies at the beginning of the Winter War in 1939. The Army was organised into three corps. [6]
The Lapland Group (Lapin Ryhmä) was a formation of the Finnish Army during the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union. The group was formed on 13 December 1939 from troops of the North Finland Group. The group was placed under the command of Major General Kurt Martti Wallenius and had its headquarters at Rovaniemi.
List of military divisions – List of Finnish divisions in the Winter War. This is a list of Finnish divisions that existed during the Winter War, 1939–1940.. 1st Division; 2nd Division – renamed from 11th Division in 1940
The battle also gave a decisive boost to the morale of the Finnish army. In addition, Finnish forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road captured a large amount of military supplies, including tanks (43), field guns (70), trucks (278), horses (1,170), anti-tank guns (29), machine guns (300), rifles (6000) and other weapons, which were greatly needed ...
No agreement was reached. On 26 November the Soviet Union accused the Finnish army of shelling the village of Mainila. It was subsequently found that the Soviets had in fact shelled their own village, in order to create a pretext for withdrawal from their non-aggression pact with Finland. On 30 November 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland.
The Soviet Union invaded Finland on 30 November 1939, starting the Winter War, with the goal of annexing Finland. [1] An expected easy Soviet victory instead saw the Red Army suffer severe losses in men and materiel, and the attempt to conquer Finland failed.
From 11 December 1939 onward the Finnish troops were part of the Lapland Group (Lapin Ryhmä) which was commanded by Major General Kurt Martti Wallenius. After 5 December infantry, artillery, mortar and anti-tank units were to reinforce the defenders. The total number of Finnish forces in the area was c. 3,500. [11] [12]