Episode 13 - “…May the hand wither that is forced to sign such a document as this…”
--:--
This is episode 13 and it’s an unlucky number for the Finns. Wednesday the 13th March 1940 to be specific.
The had held off the might of the Soviet army for more than three months, but on that day, they signed the Cease Fire Treaty, and were forced to surrender a swathe of their territory.
So before we get there, let’s wrap up the Winter War.
Red Army commander Timoshenko had decided to deploy 40% of the Russian Army in the next major assault that began on the 11th February as you heard previously.
When they failed to achieve all their goals, the Russians re-organised, reinforced and re-turned on 28th February. The meat grinding had pushed the Finns back from the Mannerheim line with the Russians bursting through at both Poppius and Million Dollar bunker, forcing the Finns to retreat to the Intermediate Line.
On the 26th February as the intermediate line bent and buckled, the Finnish Army launched its one and only armoured attack on the Russians at Honkaniemi Station.
15 Vickers tanks from the 4th Tank Company rolled out armed with the rather small 37mm guns - their mission was to support the infantry to try regain lost sections of the interim line near Viipuri. Only eight tanks actually made it to the staging area, seven had stopped because there was water in their fuel lines. Then two others broke down with engine trouble. That left six tanks but another promptly got stuck in a ditch.
The Russians were so shocked the infantry scattered — never having been attacked by Finnish tanks. The five remaining tanks engaged 20 Soviet T-28s, and despite the fact that these were armed with much more powerful 76mm guns, the Vickers took out eight, but lost four of their five.
The remaining tank withdrew. The Finnish tank battalion never managed to recover from this incident before the end of the Winter War.
Stalin’s quick and dirty sideshow in Finland had turned into a global embarrassment for the Kremlin - a military debacle that had shown the fault lines inside the Red Army. Hitler, who was obsessed with destroying the Slav nation, took notice of the Russian weaknesses. The Finns were desperate for peace talks. By late February the Soviet demands were spelled out in detail. The cession of Hanko Island as a Russian base for 30 years, the cession of the entire Karelian Isthmus back approximately to the frontier of Peter the Great, and the signing of a mutual assistance pact between Helsinki and Moscow.
The Finns hesitated.
The had held off the might of the Soviet army for more than three months, but on that day, they signed the Cease Fire Treaty, and were forced to surrender a swathe of their territory.
So before we get there, let’s wrap up the Winter War.
Red Army commander Timoshenko had decided to deploy 40% of the Russian Army in the next major assault that began on the 11th February as you heard previously.
When they failed to achieve all their goals, the Russians re-organised, reinforced and re-turned on 28th February. The meat grinding had pushed the Finns back from the Mannerheim line with the Russians bursting through at both Poppius and Million Dollar bunker, forcing the Finns to retreat to the Intermediate Line.
On the 26th February as the intermediate line bent and buckled, the Finnish Army launched its one and only armoured attack on the Russians at Honkaniemi Station.
15 Vickers tanks from the 4th Tank Company rolled out armed with the rather small 37mm guns - their mission was to support the infantry to try regain lost sections of the interim line near Viipuri. Only eight tanks actually made it to the staging area, seven had stopped because there was water in their fuel lines. Then two others broke down with engine trouble. That left six tanks but another promptly got stuck in a ditch.
The Russians were so shocked the infantry scattered — never having been attacked by Finnish tanks. The five remaining tanks engaged 20 Soviet T-28s, and despite the fact that these were armed with much more powerful 76mm guns, the Vickers took out eight, but lost four of their five.
The remaining tank withdrew. The Finnish tank battalion never managed to recover from this incident before the end of the Winter War.
Stalin’s quick and dirty sideshow in Finland had turned into a global embarrassment for the Kremlin - a military debacle that had shown the fault lines inside the Red Army. Hitler, who was obsessed with destroying the Slav nation, took notice of the Russian weaknesses. The Finns were desperate for peace talks. By late February the Soviet demands were spelled out in detail. The cession of Hanko Island as a Russian base for 30 years, the cession of the entire Karelian Isthmus back approximately to the frontier of Peter the Great, and the signing of a mutual assistance pact between Helsinki and Moscow.
The Finns hesitated.