Kris

“All told, Finnish fighter pilots shot down 240 confirmed Red aircraft, against the loss of 26 of their own planes. It was standard practice to send at least one interceptor up to meet every Russian bomber sortie within range. Not infrequently the appearance of a single Fokker caused an entire squadron of SB-2s to jettison its bombs into the snow and turn tail.”
― William R. Trotter, A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940

“As President Kallio signed the document that gave the Moscow delegation authority to conclude the war on Moscow’s terms, he growled, “May the hand wither that is forced to sign such a document as this.” A few months later, the old man suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed in his right arm.”
― William R. Trotter, A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940

“To be sure, the Finnish soldier was aware of the numerical odds against him, but he rendered those odds less terrible by cracking jokes about them: “They are so many, and our country is so small, where will we find room to bury them all?”
― William R. Trotter, A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940

“Incidents of Red aircraft strafing hospitals and hospital trains were so common that the Finns finally painted over any Red Cross insignia that were visible from the air.”
― William R. Trotter, A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940