Whilst ruminating through the thread about Norway in 1945 and the Soviet Offensive, I thought about the Finnish Army and came across some links to information about them and also their organisation. here they are: JAEGER PLATOON: FINNISH ARMY 1918 - 1945 WEBSITE The Battles of the Winter War -History FMP - Finnish Defence Forces in WW II - Contents This area of conflict in the East is not that well known to me but it seems that the Finns put up one heck of a fight in the Winter War and the Continuation War.
I've just read the Osprey book on the Finnish Army (well, you have to start somewhere) and found it absolutely fascinating. We thought we had it bad with Nazi Germany on the Channel shores but the Finns had Uncle Joe hammering at the front door (rather unsuccesfully) and Corporal Schickelgruber sniffing around the back door. All credit to the Finns for coming out of the war with most of the nation intact and a degree of honour. Mind you, they painted thier tanks in awful colour schemes.... H
A topical update on the Winter War by an American historian: The podcast lasts 20mins (with one interruption): The Winter War: Lessons for Ukraine
Hi David, liked this documentary a lot. Especially some wordings: Arrogance by the Soviets in 1939 and today by the Russians Not done their homework in both wars - Casualties: Low with the Fins - high with the Soviets - High with the Russians, too high with the Ukrainians. Stefan.