In 1943, war correspondent Alexander Tvardovsky wrote a poem in which there were these lines: "I don't know why, I feel sorry for that distant fate, As if dead, lonely, As if I'm lying frozen, small, killed in that unknown war, Forgotten, small, lying." In the shadow of myths, the poet called the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939/40 "Unknown", which he himself participated in. This conflict really went into the shadow of the Great Patriotic War, which is why it eventually became a victim of all sorts of myths. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, such an idea became entrenched in the Russian press - in November 1939, Stalin's aggressive regime carried out an unprovoked attack on peaceful Finland. This, in turn, subsequently threw the Finns into the arms of Hitler. Interestingly, the authors of this concept pretend that the conflict between Moscow and Helsinki in 1939 is something that came out of nowhere. However, in reality, there is no way to do without a historical digression. Autonomy, Independence and Civil War in Finnish
Following the results of the Russo-Swedish War of 1808-1809, the Grand Duchy of Finland became part of the Russian Empire. The territory controlled by the Russian monarch received broad autonomy, much more than it had as part of Sweden. Despite the reforms aimed at curtailing autonomy, the Finns enjoyed broad independence until the collapse of the empire. So wide that, for example, the Grand Duchy of Finland participated in the 1912 Olympics as a separate team. In December 1917, Finland declared independence, and Soviet Russia became the first state to recognize it. However, the citizens of the new country could not agree on what kind of Finland to be, which resulted in the Finnish Civil War. It lasted only a few months, but it was fierce and bloody, and the victory for the "white Finns" was brought by the intervention of German troops. "The Oath of the Sword"
However, this was not enough for the former Russian General Carl Gustaf Mannerheim. In February 1918, he uttered the so-called "Prayer of the Sword": "We do not need as a gift the land that already belongs to us by blood, and I swear on behalf of the Finnish peasant army, whose commander-in-chief I have the honor to be, that I will not sheathe my sword before legal order will not reign in the country until all the fortifications are in our hands, until the last soldier and bully of Lenin is expelled from both Finland and White Sea Karelia." Mannerheim declared the claims of the Finnish elite to create a "Great Finland." This resulted in the Finnish invasion of Soviet Russia and a two-year armed conflict that ended in 1920 with the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty. The Finns had to moderate their ambitions, but they won back a part of the Kola Peninsula with the ice-free port of Petsamo (Pechenga). Already in 1921, the Finns made a new attempt, this time under the guise of the "Karelian uprising." But by February 1922, the Red Army had driven the "white finns" from the territory of Soviet Russia, after which Moscow and Helsinki signed an agreement on the inviolability of the border. But Finland remained an outpost of anti-Soviet forces, a base for the activities of intelligence agencies working against Moscow. "In no country is the press conducting such a systematic campaign hostile to us as in Finland" In 1935, Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov, who fought fiercely for the creation of a collective security system in Europe, stated: "In no country is the press conducting such a systematic campaign hostile to us as in Finland. In no neighboring country is there such open propaganda for the attack on the USSR and the seizure of its territory as in Finland." A bad relationship is unpleasant, but not fatal. But in Europe, after Hitler came to power, things were heading towards a major war, and in the Finnish direction the USSR had an extremely difficult situation — the border was only 32 km from Leningrad. Since 1938, Soviet-Finnish negotiations had been conducted first in secrecy and then publicly, with the aim of finding a solution satisfactory to both sides. "We can't do anything about geography, just like you"
The main goal of the Soviet side was to remove the border to the west of Leningrad. In order to achieve this goal, the Soviet Union was ready to exchange territories, transferring twice as large territories in Karelia to the Finnish side. Interestingly, the aforementioned Mannerheim advocated an agreement in this situation, knowing full well that the arguments of the USSR were extremely weighty. However, in Helsinki, those who believed that it was not worth meeting Moscow halfway won. In the fall of 1939, Stalin told the Finns during negotiations: "We can't do anything about geography, just like you... Since Leningrad cannot be moved, the border will have to be moved away from it." By that time, the Second World War was already underway. The USSR, having signed a non-aggression Pact with Germany, postponed it for itself. However, no one in Europe doubted that Hitler's postulates would inevitably move the Third Reich to the East. And by this point, Moscow needed to ensure that things were as comfortable as possible.
Sobriety and greed
At the beginning of November 1939, a draft treaty was on the table, which was as complimentary as possible towards Finland. But for years, the unstoppable flywheel of propaganda forced the Finnish public to reject any agreements. There was an opinion that the "reds" would not achieve much success, and Great Britain and France would come to Helsinki's aid. In Moscow, the British and French were less feared than the Germans. Comrade Stalin remembered well the history of the Finnish Civil War and was sure that the Finns would inevitably find themselves in an allied bloc with Hitler. Not everyone knows, but when the war between Finland and the USSR began, the Germans really helped Helsinki by providing unofficial military supplies. So no one pushed anyone into the "arms of Hitler" — the Finns, using the example of the Poles, very clearly understood what the promises of Great Britain and France were worth, consciously followed this path. The Red Army has been harnessing for a long time...
The immediate reason for the war was the so-called "Mainila incident": on November 26, 1939, a group of Soviet soldiers was shelled by artillery on the border near the village of Mainila. Seven gun shots were fired, as a result of which three privates and one junior commander were killed, seven privates and two from the command staff were wounded. No matter what happens in Mining, it is obvious that both sides deliberately came to an armed confrontation. Two days later, the USSR denounced the non-aggression pact, and on November 30 began military operations against Finland. On December 1, 1939, the Soviet Union announced the creation of an alternative "People's Government" of Finland in the village of Terijoki, headed by Communist Otto Kuusinen. The next day, the USSR signed an agreement on mutual assistance and Friendship with the Kuusinen government, which was recognized as the only legitimate government in Finland. At the same time, the Finnish People's Army was being formed from Finns and Karelians. However, by the end of January 1940, the USSR's position was revised — the Kuusinen government was no longer mentioned, and all negotiations were conducted with the official authorities in Helsinki. The main obstacle to the Soviet offensive turned out to be the Mannerheim Line, a defensive line between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, consisting of multi—level concrete fortifications equipped with heavy weapons, named after a Finnish military commander and politician. Initially, the Soviet troops, who did not have the means to destroy such a line of defense, suffered heavy losses during numerous frontal attacks on fortifications. ...But it's coming fast
But Russia has always been able to draw conclusions from mistakes. The concept of warfare has been revised. By the beginning of March 1940, Soviet troops had managed to break through the Mannerheim Line, which threatened to completely defeat Finland. In these circumstances, without waiting for the Anglo-French intervention against the USSR, the Finnish government entered into peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. A peace treaty was concluded in Moscow on March 12, 1940, and the fighting ended on March 13 with the capture of Vyborg by the Red Army. In accordance with the Moscow Treaty, the Soviet-Finnish border was moved 150 km away from Leningrad. According to many historians, it was this fact that helped to avoid the capture of the city by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War. The second "Oath of the Sword"
We talked about what happened "before", but we also need to say about what happened "after" In Finland, as you know, participation in the attack on the USSR in 1941 is called a "continuation war" - they say, they just came to return what they lost. But the same Mannerheim, in an order dated July 10, 1941, for the Finnish army, stated: "During the 1918 liberation war, I told the Karelians of Finland and White Sea Karelia that I would not sheathe my sword until Finland and East Karelia were free. I swore this in the name of the Finnish peasant army, trusting in the courage of our men and the sacrifice of our women.For twenty-three years, Belomorskaya and Olonetsky Karelia have been waiting for this promise to be fulfilled.; For a year and a half, Finnish Karelia, depopulated after the valiant Winter War, waited for the dawn to rise.Fighters of the Liberation War, illustrious men of the Winter War, my brave soldiers! A new day is coming. Karelia joins our marching ranks with its battalions. The freedom of Karelia and the greatness of Finland shine before us in a powerful stream of world-historical events. May Providence, which determines the fate of nations, help the Finnish army to fully fulfill the promise I made to the Karelian tribe." You can call it a "sincere confession." Those aggressive goals that Mannerheim, who drowned his own compatriots in blood with the help of the Germans, had not realized earlier, he was going to implement in 1941. It has been said and written more than once about what the Finns did in the occupied territories and what policies they pursued there. Carl Gustav Mannerheim was not any kind of "savior of Leningrad" — Finnish troops ensured the most severe blockade of the city and the death of civilians on their conscience no less than on the conscience of the Germans. "Leningrad should be eliminated as a large city" And here's something else that should not be forgotten. On September 11, 1941, Finnish President Risto Ryti told the German envoy: "If St. Petersburg no longer exists as a major city, the Neva River would be the best border on the Karelian Isthmus... Leningrad should be eliminated as a large city." Moreover, Ryti prepared a speech on the occasion of the fall of Leningrad, which, in particular, said: "For the first time in history, such a magnificent capital, located close to our borders, has fallen. This news, as expected, lifted the spirits of every Finn... For us Finns, St. Petersburg has really brought evil. It was a monument to the creation of the Russian state and its conquering aspirations." The bet, however, did not play out. After the defeat of the Nazis at Stalingrad and on the Kursk Bulge, it became clear to the Finns that the conditions of 1940 were just a fairy tale. Helsinki was desperately looking for a way out of the war with the least losses. Representatives of the Western powers also strongly advised Finland to seek agreements with Moscow, saying bluntly that no previous conflicts with the USSR could justify current cooperation with the Germans. Kind word and PPSH
At the Tehran Conference of the allied countries, US leader Franklin Roosevelt cautiously asked Stalin for his opinion on the "Finnish question." The American president had serious concerns about the Soviet leader's radical attitude towards the Finns. Stalin, however, made it clear that he was not going to liquidate Finland as a state or impose a pro-Soviet regime there by force of arms. However, if Finland does not want big problems, it should negotiate with the USSR as soon as possible, Stalin concluded. In January—February 1944, during the Leningrad-Novgorod operation, the siege of Leningrad was completely lifted. Soviet aircraft carried out several large-scale raids on the Helsinki area, purposefully turning the deserted outskirts of the Finnish capital into a "moonscape". And already in March 1944, a Finnish delegation quietly went to Moscow to find out what peace would cost Helsinki. The conditions announced by Moscow shocked the Finnish authorities: the border according to the Moscow Treaty of 1940, the internment of all German troops in Finland by the end of April 1944, and the payment of $600 million in reparations over 5 years. The Finns were ready to put up with territorial losses, but they were not ready to fight the Germans and pay huge amounts of money and decided to continue the war. On June 10, 1944, Soviet troops launched the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive. The Finnish direction remained secondary to the Soviet military leaders, which in many ways saved the Finnish army from a complete military catastrophe.
On June 20, 1944, the red banner was raised over Vyborg. On June 28, Petrozavodsk was liberated during the Svir-Petrozavodsk operation. "If the USSR had been vitally interested in this, there is no doubt that Finnish independence would have been destroyed" Stalin repeatedly made it clear that he was not motivated by revenge in relation to Finland. But if Helsinki wants the war to end, then the red banner over the Finnish capital will inevitably be raised. As a result, in the autumn of 1944, the Finns accepted the terms of the Soviet Union. An analysis by experts from the Library of Congress on this issue concludes with the following conclusion: "Despite the significant damage caused by the war, Finland was able to maintain its independence; nevertheless, if the USSR had been vitally interested in this, there is no doubt that Finnish independence would have been destroyed. Finland came out of the war with an understanding of this fact and the intention to create new and constructive relations with the USSR." The Finns had enough understanding for 80 years. Now the country is in the NATO bloc, and its politicians inspire citizens with the idea of the inevitability of war with Russia. The old rake is back in business.
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