Russia invaded Finland in November 1939 after the Finns refused to move its border 20 miles west. The war lasted just over three months and, while the Finnish troops were no match for the Red Army, guerrilla tactics curtailed the Soviet advance. The war ended with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 12 November 1940, which saw Finland ceding 9% of territory. Shocked by the ferocity of the defence, however, Stalin abandoned plans to annex the country.
The Russian invasion of Finland
13 March 1940
The Russo-Finnish war has lasted three and a half months. It was on 30 November that Russia’s land, sea, and air forces after the Finnish government had refused far-reaching territorial demands by the Soviet Union.
Weather, allied with a dour defence, saw a small nation upset all calculations of the military experts. Finland, in 14 weeks of war showed the weakness of the Red Army.
The main theatre of war has been the Karelian Isthmus, now ceded to the Russians – a 60-mile corridor between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. Here the Russian army threw several hundred thousand men against the Mannerheim Line but was repeatedly thrown back. Only in the past few weeks have these attacks been rewarded by a slow advance.
North of Lake Ladoga the Russians were consistently repelled by the remarkable mobile tactics of the Finns. Frequently Russian forces were cut off and annihilated when Finnish ski patrols severed their lines of communication in their rear. Sometimes these patrols operated in Russian territory. Similar disasters met the Soviet Army in Finland’s “waistline” farther north.
In the Arctic, the Russians met with more success, capturing the port of Petsamo early in the war and taking possession of the nickel mines at Salmijarvi near.
Rumours of moves to end hostilities cropped up early last week when intense diplomatic activity was reported from Stockholm. Later it became known that the Swedish government had passed on to Finland a series of fresh Soviet proposals, and on Friday it was announced that the Soviet and Finnish governments were in contact.
On Monday, Mr Chamberlain told the House of Commons that the British and French governments had informed the Finnish government that they were prepared in response to an appeal to give joint and immediate help to with all available resources
Editorial: Finland’s position
13 March 1940
Of the results of peace negotiations between Finland and the Soviet little was known until the latest hours of yesterday. The terms reported from Moscow early this morning would indicate that, so far as the integrity of their country is concerned, the heroic stand of the Finns had been of small avail. But they have maintained a most valiant struggle against overwhelming force, and their courage and their prowess will never be forgotten. They have taught the Russians the lesson that the Greeks taught the Persians – that freedom is the best nursery of brave and self-respecting states. At a moment when the spirit of man is threatened by an overwhelming catastrophe and freedom is fighting for its life, it is impossible to measure the value of that spectacle as an inspiration and an example. The future of civilisation is dark and uncertain, but the heroism of the Finns will never be forgotten. If that heroism has not saved this small people from terms of peace that cripple its independence it will be a disaster to mankind. But the gratitude Finland has earned from all freedom-loving peoples will not be extinguished by misfortune and the British people will insist that her rights shall not cease to be an object for passionate solicitude to British diplomacy.
A defeated but unbroken Finland
By GT Garratt, our special correspondent lately in Finland
14 March 1940
Exactly 30 years ago the Russians passed an act by which Stolypin hoped to put an end to Finnish independence. Within eight years they had obtained their complete freedom. The present peace is a very bitter blow, not only to Finland but to all the northern democracies. It would, however, be a mistake to compare it with the Munich settlement which placed Czech-Slovakia at the mercy of Germany. Finland not only retains her army intact and undefeated, but her whole population had been organised for war, and Russia knows well that there can be no question of an easy “einmarsch” into Finland six months hence. If the Finns can retain their quiet unquestioning reason why they should not survive, with their peculiar civilisation and culture, and ultimately recover their territory from a disrupted Russia.
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Editorial: Finland and after
15 March 1940
The broadcast message from the president of Finland on the treaty with the Soviets was admirable in its simple dignity. The communism of Lenin has turned into the imperialism of Peter the Great, and Finland is its natural victim. She has suffered heavy losses, losses that affect her strength and her industries and wound her memories and her pride. But, as M Kallio says, she keeps her form of government and her national rights. Her government has not been displaced by the puppet government that Stalin had set up in the autumn, to whose tender care he had meant to commit the people of Finland. Stalin has made peace with the ministers that he had designed to overthrow. His success is not to be followed by “liquidations” or forced migrations; the workmen and peasants who have to leave their homes in the Karelian Isthmus will find their new homes in Finland and not in Siberia. They will live as free men among free men.
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Finns ratify peace: Allies offered help too late
16 March 1940
The Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was last night ratified at a secret session of the Finnish Diet by 145 votes to three.
Mr Ryti, the prime minister, had told the Diet that Allied help had not been asked for because it would have involved Finland in the greater war, which would have moved from the western front to Scandinavia. Furthermore, he said, the arrival of help was uncertain because Norway and Sweden would not allow the passage of troops. Finally, the help had been offered too late to be of any use.
