Episode 14 - The Winter War link to the murder of Poles in Katyn Forest and Russia’s paranoia
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The war is over but the ramifications are only just beginning. With the peace signing of March 13 1940, the Finns had ceded much of their territory including the entire Karelian Isthmus to the Russians, along with chunks of their Arctic land and eastern border.
They were also supposed to build a railway line linking Murmansk and Leningrad to the Finnish western port town of Tornio on the Swedish Border.
In all, the territorial loss to Finland was 10 percent of its total pre-war surface area. Close to 12 percent of its population had to be resettled from the ceded lands. And yet the vast majority of Fins preferred that option to losing their independence to the Soviets.
Viipuri was gone, its name would change to Vyborg, the Finns lost all the outlying islands. They lost the north western shoreline of lake Ladoga, including the towns of Kakisalmi and Sortavala. They were forced to hand over the village of Suojarvi where Paavo Talvela had managed to defeat the Russians numerous times.
Salla and Kuusamo areas were also handed over, along with the very important other isthmus of Kalastajasaarento near Petsamo. Finland handed over its southernmost point, Hankoniemi to the Soviets so they could turn it into a Naval base.
Stalin wanted to secure the Gulf of Finland, and all islands including the large island of Suursaari were handed over to Russia.
The Finns had paid for their independence with an ocean of blood. Twenty Five thousand civilians and soldiers had died, 44 000 were wounded, 9 500 were permanently disabled.
On the Soviet side, Stalin made sure the true number of dead was buried under a flood of propaganda, but it’s known that about 200 000 Russian soldiers died, with the wounded believed to be in the region of 400 000.
Later, Soviet president Nikita Khrushchev claimed in his memoirs that the number of Russian dead was over 1 million. But it’s thought that was creative accounting by a man who was forced to explain why he’d presided over the re-telling of Stalin’s abuses.
Khrushchev said more than 1 000 Russian planes had been shot down or destroyed on the ground, and 2 300 tanks were wiped out. Whatever the total, these numbers are not unbelievable.
Flags flew at half mast across Finland after the truce was announced. Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner summed up the mixture of relief and resentment by saying
“Peace has been restored, but what kind of peace? Henceforth our country will continue to live as a mutilated nation…”
The vast majority of Finns living in the ceded territory left. They did not want to live under the Bolsheviks. The Soviets gave these people ten days to pack and make their way from their ancestral land. 420 000 refugees streamed west, causing a big headache for the Helsinki government. These refugees were treated with great compassion and 30 percent of all privately owned forests and 63 percent of arable land was redistributed to them.
There was generally enough food to go around despite the horrors of the war, despite the damage to fruit trees and berry bushes caused by an extremely cold winter. Wartime rationining continued after the peace, so did censorship and a limit on travel.
The war in Europe was on the go, so by the Spring of 1940, the use of the southern sea around the Gulf of Finland was also limited. Petsamo in the north was the Finns only safe harbour as World War II gained momentum.
The global war was going to lap on Finland’s shores once more, particularly when the German’s invaded Russia in 1941. Helsinki tried in vain to remain neutral, and linked their fortunes to the Swedish government in the hope that this would quell any future threats.
But in 2024, the Finns won’t make the same mistake. They’ve calculated that neutrality in the face of a massive Eastern bully is not an option. Sometimes you must fight the bully, and as we all know, bullies tend to be cowards, you can crush them fairly swiftly if you show spine.
They were also supposed to build a railway line linking Murmansk and Leningrad to the Finnish western port town of Tornio on the Swedish Border.
In all, the territorial loss to Finland was 10 percent of its total pre-war surface area. Close to 12 percent of its population had to be resettled from the ceded lands. And yet the vast majority of Fins preferred that option to losing their independence to the Soviets.
Viipuri was gone, its name would change to Vyborg, the Finns lost all the outlying islands. They lost the north western shoreline of lake Ladoga, including the towns of Kakisalmi and Sortavala. They were forced to hand over the village of Suojarvi where Paavo Talvela had managed to defeat the Russians numerous times.
Salla and Kuusamo areas were also handed over, along with the very important other isthmus of Kalastajasaarento near Petsamo. Finland handed over its southernmost point, Hankoniemi to the Soviets so they could turn it into a Naval base.
Stalin wanted to secure the Gulf of Finland, and all islands including the large island of Suursaari were handed over to Russia.
The Finns had paid for their independence with an ocean of blood. Twenty Five thousand civilians and soldiers had died, 44 000 were wounded, 9 500 were permanently disabled.
On the Soviet side, Stalin made sure the true number of dead was buried under a flood of propaganda, but it’s known that about 200 000 Russian soldiers died, with the wounded believed to be in the region of 400 000.
Later, Soviet president Nikita Khrushchev claimed in his memoirs that the number of Russian dead was over 1 million. But it’s thought that was creative accounting by a man who was forced to explain why he’d presided over the re-telling of Stalin’s abuses.
Khrushchev said more than 1 000 Russian planes had been shot down or destroyed on the ground, and 2 300 tanks were wiped out. Whatever the total, these numbers are not unbelievable.
Flags flew at half mast across Finland after the truce was announced. Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner summed up the mixture of relief and resentment by saying
“Peace has been restored, but what kind of peace? Henceforth our country will continue to live as a mutilated nation…”
The vast majority of Finns living in the ceded territory left. They did not want to live under the Bolsheviks. The Soviets gave these people ten days to pack and make their way from their ancestral land. 420 000 refugees streamed west, causing a big headache for the Helsinki government. These refugees were treated with great compassion and 30 percent of all privately owned forests and 63 percent of arable land was redistributed to them.
There was generally enough food to go around despite the horrors of the war, despite the damage to fruit trees and berry bushes caused by an extremely cold winter. Wartime rationining continued after the peace, so did censorship and a limit on travel.
The war in Europe was on the go, so by the Spring of 1940, the use of the southern sea around the Gulf of Finland was also limited. Petsamo in the north was the Finns only safe harbour as World War II gained momentum.
The global war was going to lap on Finland’s shores once more, particularly when the German’s invaded Russia in 1941. Helsinki tried in vain to remain neutral, and linked their fortunes to the Swedish government in the hope that this would quell any future threats.
But in 2024, the Finns won’t make the same mistake. They’ve calculated that neutrality in the face of a massive Eastern bully is not an option. Sometimes you must fight the bully, and as we all know, bullies tend to be cowards, you can crush them fairly swiftly if you show spine.