Soviet Union attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Osttrobottnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.
The Soviet forces had four times as many soldiers as the Finns, 30 times as many aircraft and 218 times as many tanks. However, the Red Army had recently been subjected to a drastic purge in 1937 that crippled it, reducing its morale and efficiency shortly before the outbreak of hostilities. With up to 50% of army officers executed, including the vast majority of those of the highest rank, the Red Army in 1939 had many inexperienced senior officers. Due to a combination of these factors, and an extremely high commitment and morale in the Finnish forces, the Finns were able to resist the invasion of their country with great success and for far longer than the Soviets had expected.
11 Comments
mkoneGreatest war movie ever made, and im not saying this coz im a Finn. It just is the best movie!
mintbbbHmm.. I get a message that 'this video is no longer available when I click it here'. But if I just click on it to watch it on YouTube, it plays just fine.
EDDDon't forget the Finns had the world's greatest sniper of all time Simo Häyhä, the White Death to help crush Soviet troops' morale to new lows.
I'm not Finnish and although the soldiers of my nation achieved some of the most amazing feats in WWI, I have no doubt whatsoever that the story of this war and how Finland drove the Soviet army back is one of the most awe-inspiring in modern history. The Finns literally won due to their ability to use their own land, relief and terrain to their advantage. You just can't top that.
mkone*promote
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westywell herd the ruskys gave up because the finish were were to fin to shoot
StukaFoxsays...WOLVERINES!!!
ElJardineroActually the purge in the soviet army was probably closer to 80% than 50%.
From Wikipedia:
"The purge of the army removed three of five marshals (then equivalent to six-star generals), 13 of 15 army commanders (then equivalent to four- and five-star generals), eight of nine admirals (the purge fell heavily on the Navy, who were suspected of exploiting their opportunities for foreign contacts[16]), 50 of 57 army corps commanders, 154 out of 186 division commanders, 16 of 16 army commissars, and 25 of 28 army corps commissars.[17]."
What the russians did learn from this was the basis to their victory over the germans, so in some strange way this evil mini war served a greater good in the end.
If you are interested in WWII from the soviet side exlusevily I highly recommend Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. It does mostly focus on 1941-1945 but does go into how they messed this up.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Absolute-War/Chris-Bellamy/e/9780375724718
The book could be better edited but I found it worth it due to the immense amount of facts I learned.
If you're mostly interested in the human factor, what it was like in -40° day after day , how people dealt with the war on an emotional level, you should probably stay away from this one.
campionidelmondo*dead
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