Taistelu Suomesta 1939-1940

Modern War Studies

by Gordon F. Sander

Talvisodan ihme ja suomalaiset

Stalin oli asettanut marraskuun lopussa 1939 alkaneelle talvisodalle päämäärän, johon uskoi myös länsimainen lehdistö. Neuvostoliitto aikoi valloittaa Suomen muutamassa päivässä. Pienet ja heikosti varustetut suomalaisjoukot aloittivat puolustustaistelun monin verroin vahvempaa puna-armeijaa vastaan.

Kun Suomesta taisteltiin vielä Stalinin 60-vuotispäivänä joulukuussa, maailmalla herännyt myötätunto ja ihailu pohjoisen kansan saavutuksia kohtaan kasvoi entisestään. Mikä oli menestyksekkään puolustustaistelun salaisuus – ja keitä olivat peräänantamattomat suomalaiset? Kuinka syntyi talvisodan ihme?

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military History, War, Russia

598 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2010

Reviews

['Aussie Rick' · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have just finished Gordon Sander’s book on the 1939 war between Finland and Russian know as the Hundred Day War or the Winter War (Talvisota). Although I have two to three books on this subject in my library this is the first title I have actually read on this conflict. Therefore I cannot compare it to the many books currently available however I can say that it does provide a nice and easy to read overview or general history of this war.

The author takes us from the sudden commencement of this unprovoked conflict to the signing of the peace treaty over 100 days later. The story ranges from the diplomatic, political and home fronts to the severe fighting along the Mannerheim line and other points of conflict. There are six maps provided in the book, which allow the reader to follow the fighting, and a number of black & white pictures.

The author has used a number of articles and reports taken from foreign reporters and war correspondents along with numerous first-hand accounts from participants, civilian and military. These accounts blend in well with the story and provide a good idea of what the Finnish people and the Western world thought of this conflict.

Many believed that the result was a forgone conclusion, small isolated Finland against the Russian steamroller with unlimited resources and manpower. How could Finland ever win this fight? As the author states; Mannerheim's strategy was: " ...not based on the absurd hope of outright victory, but, as veteran correspondent John Langdon-Davies put it, on 'the most honourable annihilation, with the faint hope that the conscience of mankind would find an alternative solution as a reward for bravery and singleness of purpose'."

Gustaf Mannerheim declared that the Finnish forces were fighting “a Thermopylae every day”, and reading of the Russian assaults against the smaller Finnish forces you would almost have to agree. The book is not a detailed military history of this war but it does provide enough information on the many battles, famous ones like the battles of Suomussalmi and Raate Road and the lesser-known ones like the “Sausage War”.

The many reports from the war correspondents provide a “real time” element to the story and cover a range of incidents during the war. The famous American female war reporter and later author, Virginia Cowles, filed this story for her readers covering aspects of the Russian bombing campaign:

"It is difficult to describe indiscriminate aerial warfare against a civilian population in a country with a temperature thirty degrees Fahrenheit below zero. But if you can visualize farm girls stumbling through snow for the uncertain safety of their cellars; bombs falling on frozen villages unprotected by a single anti-aircraft gun; men standing helplessly in front of blazing buildings with no apparatus to fight the fires, and others desperately trying to salvage their belongings from burning wreckage - if you can visualize these things and picture even the children in remote hamlets wearing white covers over their coats as camouflage against low-flying Russian machine gunners - you can get some idea of what this war was like."

Overall this is a great story and one that I think would be suitable for a first read on the Winter War.

[James Yee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the thickness of the book, I found this to be an enjoyable and easy read. There's a cast of people the author writes about, so each chapter is broken up into easy to digest vignettes usually just a page or two long as he describes the events and bounces around from person to person and event to event. It's not as disruptive as it sounds. Basically, what it meant to me was that I could read a few pages here and there without breaking up the train of thought or the flow of the book, because it's like it was written to be read that way.

As for the content, it provided a deeper understanding of the war that is often glossed over in other history books. The behind the scenes political maneuverings of Great Britain and France were also illuminating. It was quite a surprise to see how they actually considered intervening as a means to secure Sweden's iron ore while on their way to "rescue" Finland from the USSR. Recall that this war occurred during the "phony war" lull in WW2 where Germany and USSR were still at peace and France had not been invaded yet. So many what-ifs to contemplate. And the USSR truly feared such an intervention, so that led them to end the war on less harsh terms then expected. And it helps explain why Finland embarked on "The Continuation War" (as they called it) when they decided to side w/ Germany later in WW2 in an attempt to recover some of their lost territory from the Winter War.

As a sidenote, there's also a Finnish movie called The Winter War (Talvisota) that's worth viewing. Available on DVD for some time now w/ English subtitles, not sure if it's available for streaming.

[Nugzar Kotua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасная книга. Еще один взгляд на Зимнюю Войну, еще один взгляд на мужество Финляндии.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering that this version of the book originated from the University of Kansas Press, I was expecting more a revisiting of the tactical and operational aspects of the conflict. Instead, this is basically a general history of the "Winter War," with the author trying to give you the flavor of how the war was experienced, why Finland became the cause of the moment, and how this fight fit into the war that London & Paris really wanted to fight; one against Moscow. However, Field Marshall Mannerheim of Finland was canny enough to realize that his mission was to save the country, not win the war, and becoming a pawn of the Allies was a road to ruin. This is very good book for the general reader.

Originally written: December 19, 2019.

[Pilvi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teksti eteni jouhevasti ja sitä oli helppo lukea. Ei juututtu liikaa sotataktiikan selittämiseen, josta keskiverto sotakirjallisuuden lukija ei välttämättä saa kauheasti irti. Toisaalta kirjassa kyllä hypittiin ajoittain päivistä toiseen ja sitten vain todettiin, että kiirehdittiin asioiden edelle. Olettaisin, että kirjan rakenteen olisi saanut tehtyä myös kronologisesti päivä kerrallaan eteneväksi. Muutamia virheitäkin kirjassa oli, mm. puolustusministerin ja opetusministerin nimet menivät pariin kertaan sekaisin. Yllätyin miten hyvin ulkomaalainen oli saanut selvää suomalaisia sodassa ajaneesta sisäisestä palosta, sisusta ja isänmaallisuudesta.

[Kiki023 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the work of a journalist, and so uses the methods of journalism, and poses (perhaps half-consciously) the question of the possibility of journalism's objectivity. This question is not the primary concern of the book, which is merely to provide a synoptic account of the Winter War, but when approaching history with a literary conceit we are inevitably drawn into the quandaries that led Paul Fussell to the charge that everything processed by memory is fiction.

And if we are to take anything useful from Sander's overview of the war, then it might be that escaping those Fussellian concerns is an impossibility. Indeed, there's an interesting thesis somewhere in here about the means by which the innate subjectivity of media ends up shaping outcomes in the real world (journalists believe their own lies, the military & civilian subjects of their reporting believe in the narrative journalists have spun for them, ergo the war goes on). The use of first-person accounts drawn from interviews with surviving participants and memoirs serves to further drive home the fragmentary nature of recollection and the necessity of narrative, both as a feature of the conflict and a feature of its historical retelling. What the war was "really like" is drowned in a sea of impressions. Anyway, 2.5 rounded to 3, because this is all subliminal and the only thing most will get from this is a breezy but serviceable politico-military rendering of the war. Read if you know nothing about it.

[Bill Christman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book about all the aspects of this forgotten part of the Second World War. Sander uses a lot of the views of the media coverage and shows how Finland was all the rage in the west for their stand against the Soviet Union The author goes from western capitals to Helsinki and then to the front and then again showing the overall show that was the war. It was the only war with actual fighting which is forgotten about today as we focus on the battles after forgetting that for a while the war looked very different.

A great book to get to know the war and the main Finnish players in the fight. I do wish he briefly discussed the Continuation War to show how vengeance lead to more fighting and how World War II ended for Finland.

[Juha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perusjuoni ja lopputulos toki tiedossa, mutta kyllä tämä Gordon Sanderin teos toi paljon lisää - sekä strategioiden ja skenaarioiden mutta ehkä ennen kaikkea tunnelmien ja ihmisten tasolla. Kirjassa oli aika paljon tarinoita kansainvälisiltä sotareporttereilta Kämpistä. Kannatti lukea.

[Clayton Brannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of the Winter War. A must read for those who want a better understanding of what happened in those eventful days when Russia was our enemy and not an ally.

[Eksded · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Aleksi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gordon F. Sander yhdistää kauniisti politiikan, diplomaattiset keskustelut sekä mottitaistelut rintamalla, ilman että mikään jää toisen varjoon.

[Juissi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erittäin hyvä ja kattava historiateos.

[Da1tonthegreat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brave Little Finland stood alone against the Red Army for 105 days. This book by Gordon Sander tells the story of the Winter War. Finns from all walks of life, and across the ideological spectrum including liberals, socialists, and fascists, stood united to defend their nation from the communist menace. Though they inevitably did not prevail, their stand was nothing short of heroic. Finland did not then or later become a Soviet republic.

This text certainly gives a good overview of the Winter War. Sander follows a varied cast of characters–Marshal Gustaf Mannerheim, soldiers on both sides, foreign war correspondents, female relief volunteers, and others. Unfortunately, he doesn't cover the Continuation War, in which Finland took the war back to the Soviets alongside Hitler's Germany.

[Eerik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Äärmiselt huvitav ja hästi loetav pilguheit Talvesõjale. Fennofiilist ameeriklane Gordon F. Sander kombineerib Eestis tuntud (nt Max Jakobson "Talvesõja dplomaatia"; C.G.Mannerheimi mälestused) ja tundmata vaadet Talvesõjale (hulga inglise ja ameerika ajakirjanike memuaarid Talvesõjaaegsest Soomest ja kirjeldused lääneriikide meediast, rahva ja poliitikute seas levinud meelsustest) teksti rikastavad katked intervjuudest veteranidega mõlemalt poolt.