Cosmoline
Member
Sixty-eight years ago today, a little war started that would change the world. Finland fought off a vastly superior Soviet force, exposing the political and tactical weaknesses in the Red Army and prompting Hitler to consider attacking east instead of west. With the so-called "phoney war" in the rest of Europe, the Winter War was the first time modern military equipment came into play during WWII proper. And as the experience showed, the Spanish Civil War had just been a warmup.
The Winter War is worth remembering as a time of dramatic change in small arms, as well. Tactically, the Finnish were forced by necessity to rely on fast-moving small units with a knowledge of terrain and the ability to move through it. The world was amazed to see how effectively a small number of ski troops had been able to chop up and destroy the much superior Soviet mechanized units. These experiences encouraged the development of specialized units in larger nations including our own 10th Mountain. Minnie Dole is said to have come up with the idea for the 10th through reading of the Finn's exploits. These units did best with automatic and semiautomatic weapons combined with portable explosives. They needed to strike fast with overwhelming firepower, destroy key elements of the offensive force, then pull out just as fast. In a way they were the fore-runners of modern special forces.
The war also saw the shift from WWI style weaponry--bulky water-cooled machine guns, long infantry bolt action repeaters, and small tanks--with what became typical WWII weaponry--light machine guns and more portable medium machine guns, and of course the awesome Suomi SMG that gave rise to the PPsH-41 on the Soviet side. Semiautomatic battle rifles such as the SVT-38 were also field tested, leading to refinements in design. The weakness of existing anti-tank weapons was exposed and the Molotov Cocktail was created as a stopgap. As a cheap, widely-issued projectile weapon the cocktail was in a way a precursor to the disposable rocket launchers used later in the war. The success of focused, accurate artillery called in by forward observers as opposed to across-the-line bombardments ordered from the brass in the rear was highlighted. And the weakness of light T-24 tanks was underscored by the famous cocktails. The terrible toll taken by Finnish snipers prompted the Red Army to start training more of its own. These in turn helped to reverse the tide of German victories later in the war.
We Americans are the current owners of many of the actual rifles from that period and the Fino-Soviet wars that followed. Millions of Mosin-Nagants saw service on both sides and many of these are now in the US. As such I think we need to give a tip of the hat to the courage on both sides of that now-forgotten conflict. Plus, if it hadn't been for the courage of the Finns and sacrifice of the Red Army Men, WWII would have probably taken a very different direction. A fast victory with minimal Soviet losses may have convinced Hitler to leave the USSR alone and concentrate on destroying Britain. Conversely, the defeat of many Red Army units forced changes in the policial and tactical structure of that force and helped it weather the storm of 1941. In its own way the Winter War is as important to world history as the Battle of Britain, perhaps more so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War
Portions of a very good recent documentary called "Fire and Ice" can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrsH4K7HKtg
The Winter War is worth remembering as a time of dramatic change in small arms, as well. Tactically, the Finnish were forced by necessity to rely on fast-moving small units with a knowledge of terrain and the ability to move through it. The world was amazed to see how effectively a small number of ski troops had been able to chop up and destroy the much superior Soviet mechanized units. These experiences encouraged the development of specialized units in larger nations including our own 10th Mountain. Minnie Dole is said to have come up with the idea for the 10th through reading of the Finn's exploits. These units did best with automatic and semiautomatic weapons combined with portable explosives. They needed to strike fast with overwhelming firepower, destroy key elements of the offensive force, then pull out just as fast. In a way they were the fore-runners of modern special forces.
The war also saw the shift from WWI style weaponry--bulky water-cooled machine guns, long infantry bolt action repeaters, and small tanks--with what became typical WWII weaponry--light machine guns and more portable medium machine guns, and of course the awesome Suomi SMG that gave rise to the PPsH-41 on the Soviet side. Semiautomatic battle rifles such as the SVT-38 were also field tested, leading to refinements in design. The weakness of existing anti-tank weapons was exposed and the Molotov Cocktail was created as a stopgap. As a cheap, widely-issued projectile weapon the cocktail was in a way a precursor to the disposable rocket launchers used later in the war. The success of focused, accurate artillery called in by forward observers as opposed to across-the-line bombardments ordered from the brass in the rear was highlighted. And the weakness of light T-24 tanks was underscored by the famous cocktails. The terrible toll taken by Finnish snipers prompted the Red Army to start training more of its own. These in turn helped to reverse the tide of German victories later in the war.
We Americans are the current owners of many of the actual rifles from that period and the Fino-Soviet wars that followed. Millions of Mosin-Nagants saw service on both sides and many of these are now in the US. As such I think we need to give a tip of the hat to the courage on both sides of that now-forgotten conflict. Plus, if it hadn't been for the courage of the Finns and sacrifice of the Red Army Men, WWII would have probably taken a very different direction. A fast victory with minimal Soviet losses may have convinced Hitler to leave the USSR alone and concentrate on destroying Britain. Conversely, the defeat of many Red Army units forced changes in the policial and tactical structure of that force and helped it weather the storm of 1941. In its own way the Winter War is as important to world history as the Battle of Britain, perhaps more so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War
Portions of a very good recent documentary called "Fire and Ice" can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrsH4K7HKtg
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