The Winter War

The Winter War (30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940) was the Soviet Union's war of aggression against Finland: 105 days in which the state with the world's largest army tried to subdue a democracy of 3.7 million people. Finland lost land but kept its independence, its army and its constitutional order. For Estonia the Winter War is a painful mirror: Finland had refused precisely the demands Estonia had accepted six weeks earlier — and the bombs that fell on Finnish cities flew, among other places, from the Soviet bases in Estonia.

The pact gives permission

The road to the Winter War began with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact: the secret protocol of 23 August 1939 assigned Finland — together with Estonia and Latvia — to the Soviet Union's “sphere of influence” (see The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and A secret declaration of war). In early October Moscow summoned a Finnish delegation to negotiations, just as it had summoned Estonia's weeks before. The demands: move the border on the Karelian Isthmus away from Leningrad, cede the islands of the Gulf of Finland, and lease the Hanko peninsula to the Soviet navy for 30 years. Finland was ready to compromise on the border areas but refused the base: a foreign garrison on its own coast would have meant the same as in Estonia — surrendering the country's ability to defend itself. On 13 November the negotiations broke off.

Mainila, and an attack without a declaration of war

On 26 November 1939 Moscow officially announced that Finnish artillery had shelled the village of Mainila on the Soviet side and killed Red Army soldiers. Finland proposed a joint investigation — Moscow refused. Russian historians have since confirmed that the shots came from the Red Army's own side. On 28 November the USSR renounced the 1932 non-aggression treaty, and on 30 November the Red Army crossed the border without declaring war; the same morning Soviet aircraft bombed Helsinki.

On 1 December a “people's government” under Otto Ville Kuusinen was set up in the border town of Terijoki, and Moscow declared it Finland's only lawful government; by the official Soviet account the Red Army was not waging war but “liberating the Finnish working people”. No other state recognised that government, and no Finn rallied to it — Finland's workers and farmers stood in one line in defence of their country. On 14 December 1939 the League of Nations expelled the USSR for aggression — it remains the only state ever expelled from the League.

Bombs from the bases in Estonia too

Estonia had accepted the Bases Treaty on 28 September 1939; Finland refused the same. A month later it became clear what the “mutual assistance” brought into Estonia meant: Soviet bombers took off towards Finnish cities from Estonian airfields as well. Estonia, which had declared itself neutral, could not prevent the use of its own territory — the Bases Treaty, which had promised not to touch Estonia's sovereignty, turned Estonia against its will into a platform of aggression (see A secret declaration of war). A war against a neighbouring country, waged partly from Estonian soil, showed in advance how little the treaty bound Moscow.

David against Goliath

The imbalance was staggering: the Red Army threw nearly a million men, thousands of tanks and aircraft into the war; Finland had a fraction of everything. Yet the Mannerheim Line on the Karelian Isthmus held, and in the forests to the north Finnish units moving on skis cut the road-bound Soviet columns to pieces — the “motti” tactics. In the battle of Suomussalmi two Soviet divisions were destroyed. Molotov claimed on the radio that Soviet aircraft were not dropping bombs on Finland but “bread baskets” — in reply the Finns christened their incendiary bottle the “Molotov cocktail”: a drink to go with the bread.

The price was heavy on both sides, but not equal: Finland lost about 25,900 men; the Soviet dead numbered 48,745 by the official Soviet figures of the time, close to 127,000 by later Russian calculations, and some estimates run higher.

The Peace of Moscow

With the Moscow Peace Treaty, in force from 13 March 1940, Finland ceded about a tenth of its territory — the Karelian Isthmus with Viipuri, Ladoga Karelia and the Salla area — and leased the Hanko peninsula to the Soviets for 30 years. It is telling that Moscow signed the peace with the lawful government in Helsinki: Kuusinen's “people's government”, in whose name the war had been started, quietly vanished into history. And more telling still is what the inhabitants of the ceded areas did: over 400,000 people — essentially the entire population of Finnish Karelia — left their homes and moved to the Finnish side. Almost no one stayed under Soviet rule voluntarily; that number speaks for itself.

Finland kept its independence, its army and its democracy. Two neighbouring states had received the same ultimatum and made different choices: Finland refused and paid with land; Estonia agreed and paid with half a century of its state. The Winter War's sequel — the Continuation War of 1941–1944 — brought thousands of Estonians to fight on Finland's side (see The Continuation War).

The volunteers: Estonians and Tatars

Estonia was officially neutral, but Estonians went to defend Finland as volunteers — Prime Minister Jüri Uluots supported them unofficially; the police watched but did not punish. Most crossed the frozen Gulf of Finland in white camouflage with kicksleds; by early March 41 Estonians were serving in the “Sisu” brigade, 59 passed through it in all, and others served in other units. On the Kuhmo front, on 19 February 1940, Johannes Valtonen, an Ingrian who had come from Estonia, was killed. Finland itself limited the recruiting: on 28 December 1939 the foreign minister announced that recruiting Estonians was “not advisable” — it would have handed Moscow a pretext against Estonia.

Finland's Tatars fought on Finland's side too — a community whose roots, like those of the Estonian Tatars, lie in the Mišär villages of Nizhny Novgorod governorate. Of a community of about 850, a total of 177 served in the Winter and Continuation Wars, 25 women among them. Three fell in the Winter War: Cornet Feyzi Kayenuk was mortally wounded at the front on 20 December 1939, Corporal Hasan Abdrahim — a well-known speed skater — fell on 5 March 1940, and the 16-year-old volunteer air spotter Ämrulla Fethulla of Kotka's civil defence was killed in an air raid. In 1965 a memorial to the fallen was unveiled at the Islamic cemetery in Helsinki. In the Continuation War, Estonian Tatars too came to fight on Finland's side as soomepoisid (see The Continuation War).

Sources: Jukka I. Mattila, “Eesti vabatahtlikud Soome Talvesõjas” (ERR) · “Onward, Muslim Soldiers — Finland's Tatars during the Winter War” (Finland at War) · Ants Laaneots, “NSV Liidu kallaletung Soomele. Talvesõda 1939–1940” (KVÜÕA toimetised) · Winter War (Wikipedia) · Moscow Peace Treaty (Wikipedia) · Talvesõda (Vikipeedia).