Finnish Democratic Republic

One day after the war started an unknown radio broadcast was heard announcing that the Finnish Communist Party (which was set up in Moscow by the 'exiled' leaders of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, it was illegal in Finland until 1944) had set up a Democratic Republic and appointed Otto Kuusinen as its Chairman. Kuusinen was an exiled Finn, who had fled to Moscow when the Red Guard was defeated during the Finnish Civil War. He had been Commissar of Education in the short lived Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic which was set up at the outbreak of the January 1918 revolution. The government was made up entirely of exiled Red Guard Finns.

The place where this Republic had been set up was the beach resort town of Terijoki (today known as Zelenogorsk), it was the first 'major' population centre to be 'liberated' by the Soviet Union. The Red Army was greeted at Terijoki by hundreds of booby traps and snipers' bullets (the local population had been evacuated). 2 battalions of Group U were assigned to the area on the orders to delay and harass the enemy, they placed snipers in the church tower and the higher buildings of the town, prepared ambushes at street level. Soon tanks were scattered and left without infantry support, unable to attack what it couldn't see, communications broke down between units as fighting descended to a level of barbarity akin to Stalingrad several years in the future; knives, grenades, submachine guns and even fists. The Soviet Baltic fleet made things worse for the Red Army by offering inaccurate fire support that landed amongst their own units, doing less damage to the defending Finns than themselves. This group held up the 70th Rifle Division for over 24 hours and only withdrew after setting up pipebombs, mines and improvised explosives that would hinder the Soviets for many days after, they even blew up the tactically important Leningrad-Viipuri railway bridge. Thanks to the efforts of these units, they dented Kuusinen's plans and the radio broacast asking for urgent Soviet help was made a day after the Soviet invasion, it was a policical embarrassment for the Soviet Government. It is a wonder how any Government was formed so quickly under such chaos. Many modern historians believe that Kuusinen never held Government in Terijoki and that it was impossible to set it up on the 1st December due to the heavy fighting except on paper.

The Officers Club of the 1 Bicycle Battalion in Terijoki, it would become the  'Government' Building which the Finnish Democratic Government was ran from.

The first action by this new Republic was to enter into talks with the Soviet Union. Molotov and Kuusinen must have had a pleasant meetings because the Soviet Union got all the things they wanted from the pre-war negotiations with the Finnish Government. Soon Broadcasts and Leaflets dropped by Soviet Bombers informed the Finnish people that all great Landowner Estates would be broken up and that an eight hour day would be instituted. The main problem with this promise was that an eight hour work day had been brought into Finnish law in over 20 years earlier and the land reform program was such that only a few hundred estates were left with over 300 acres of land. Many of the leaflets dropped on Finnish lines had the message "Let us not shoot each other; let us turn our guns on the common enemy: the White Guard government of Tanner and Mannerheim" or similar. 

The general opinion of the Finnish People of this 'People's' Government was the opposite of what the Soviets thought would happen. Finns thought it laughable and it united them even more no matter their political alignment (There were still some old wounds from the Civil War). They had seen what had happened to the Baltic states and knew that if the Soviets won, then they would no longer be an independent country but a puppet of the Soviet Union. The Democratic Republic was used as the excuse by the Soviet Union to invade Finland, Pravda's front page read "Only the Soviet Union, which rejects the principle of violent seizure of territory and enslavement of nations, would agree to place its armed might at disposal, not for the purpose of attacking Finland or enslaving her people, but securing Finland's independence." When a League of Nations council was called to discuss the conflict, the Soviet representative rejected all attacks on his countries character by stating Russia was not at war with Finland, that's absurd! On the contrary, its relations with the legitimate Kuusinen government were, verifiably, the last word in cordiality and mutual trust! The League did the only thing it could do, it expelled the Soviet Union, not that Stalin would lose any sleep over it. The Winter War would be the final blow to the League of Nations and soon after it would dissolve. 

The crowning achievement for this charade was the formation of the Finnish National Army or as it appeared on the Red Army order of battle, The First Finnish Corps. Not much it known about this short lived unit or how seriously it was taken by the Red Army high command. The propaganda never claimed more that 6,000 men in strength and witnesses only counted 1,000 on display. The majority of its number were of East Karelia and exiled Red Guardsmen (who would be a bit grey by now), however there were probably some turncoats in their ranks but it is not possible to say on exact numbers and as only 1,000 Finns were POWs during the whole war, it can be assumed the number was small. The biggest POW camp held 600 Finns and during a recruitment drive in December only 16 men signed up, so this small percentage shows what the Finnish soldiers thought of it. It was reported, very mockingly, by Finnish sources that the armies first assignment was guarding the headquarters of Kuusinens government dressed in Swedish Royal Army uniforms of the Great Northern War (1700-21) that had been looted from a nearby museum. 

The Finnish National Army first paraded in Terijoki in uniforms similar to this, taken from a local museum.

The Army was effectively a Red Army unit under the jurisdiction of the Leningrad Military District, who provided the line officers. It also had numerous NKVD troops to fill out its ranks. It would fall under the command of Akseli Antilla who was a Red Army officer of Finnish origin and was made Kuusinen's 'minister of defence'. The corps would not be used in any battles but was used more as a militia force behind the lines acting as a recruiting tool, enforcing Popular Front activities that would soon infest the captured territories and helping in the interrogations of prisoners (Kuusinen was at many interrogations).

One of the few photos of the First Finnish Corps, Finnish National Army.

Even though the Government never received any official recognition (except from the Soviet Union), many leftist writers and activists voiced their support, these included John Steinbeck, George Bernard Shaw and Jawaharlal Nehru. State ran newspapers in Nazi Germany also showed support for the Government, this was down to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

The ploy never worked but became an obstacle as it stood in the way of any negotiations, it definitely prolonged the war and caused the deaths of thousands of men on both sides, even if indirectly. The Finnish Democratic Republic saw itself disestablished on the 12th March (one day before the end of the War) and merged with Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to form the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic which was made up of territory ceded to the Soviet Union at the end of the Winter War.

The Start of the Winter War

Today (November 30th) marks the 73rd Anniversary of the start of the Winter War.

As I wrote in a previous post, one of the background causes of this conflict was the Soviet false flag which is now called the Shelling of Mainila, as well as demands for Finnish territory. The Soviet Union very confidently thought they could bowl over the small Republic within a matter of days. N.N. Voronov, who was in charge of logisitcs for the artillery arm of the invasion was asked what was the state of the ammunition stocks that could be drawn for the invasion. "That depends, Are you planning to attack or defend... and by the way, how much time is allotted for the operation?" he record saying to two officers at Meretskov's HQ.           "Between ten and twelve days," was the reply from the men.
Voronov, who had been studying the plans and maps of Finland replied "I'll be happy if everything can be resolved in two or three months". This answer did not sit well with the officers and Voronov was mocked. Commissar Kulik then ordered Voronov that all his estimates were to be based on the assumption that the entire Finnish operation would last no longer than twelve days.

The Red Army possessed three times the amount of soldiers, thirty times more aircraft and hundred more times of tanks (Finland only had 2 companies of FT-17 Renault light Tanks and 2 companies of Vickers 6-ton Medium Tanks). Soviet Propaganda portrayed the Red Army as invincible, the righteous liberators of the oppressed peoples of Finland from the hand of the bourgeois Mannerheim-Cajander Gang.

The first day of the conflict saw a singular plane fly over Helsinki and drop leaflets urging the citizens to overthrow the Government, then in a twist dropped five light bombs in the area of Malmi Airport. Then about an hour later 9 SB-2 Medium Bombers from Estonia bombed Helsinki, first aiming for the harbour (which all bombs fell into the water) and than banked to head towards the heart of the city. Bombs dropped around the architecturally brilliant Helsinki Railway Station but missed, however they did hit the public building in front of the station, killing forty civilians and injuring many more. The entire raid damaged one hanger at the airport, hit the Helsinki Technical Institute (killed several staff and students), several houses of the working class population and ironically, the Soviet Legation Building.

This was not the only raid that day, another raid hit Helsinki at 1430 (Helsinki saw 200 civilians dead at the end of the day), as well as similar raids on Turku, Viipuri (now known as Vyborg), a hydroelectric plant at Imatra and a gas mask factory in Lahti.

The Soviet Baltic Fleet landed marine parties on the islands of Sieksari, Lavanssari, Tytarsaari and Suursaari with little resistance  These islands had been part of the demands made by the Soviet Government in the run up to the war.

Luckily the Finnish army was well trained  despite its lack of munitions. They knew the area, were fighting for their homes and family. The entire conflict would touch everyone in Finland, over 340,000 men were serve on the various fronts along the border. They would account for nearly 127,000 dead Russians and injury another 188,000. They would suffer over 25,000 dead and 43,000 wounded, as well 1,000 becoming POWs.

The war would last 3 months, 1 week and 5 days. It would see the Red Army being given a massive bloody nose, with the Finnish forces winning on almost every front (Only on the Karelian Isthmus would the Finns retreat to their last line of defence).

This is just a small overview of the beginning of the Winter War. I am planning to write more articles over the next 3 months to coincide with various battles, important dates and interesting facts of this very obscure conflict of what became known as The Second World War.

The First Shots of War

On November the 26^th 1939, tensions were high with all the negotiations between the Soviet Union and Finland and the mobilisation of the military on both sides. Near the Village of Mainila, on the boarder between the two countries, three Finnish Observation posts and several other Boarder Guards on patrol heard and witnessed 7 shells, and there subsequent denotations, within Soviet territory. Within hours of this incident, the Finnish delegation was informed by Soviet Authorities that due to Finnish Aggression that the Non-aggression pact that was signed in 1932 and also in 1934 were null and void and all diplomatic avenues between the countries were to cease. The incident was possible inspired by the Gleiwitz incident that had taken place earlier that year, this was used by the Third Reich as an excuse for it to withdraw from its non-aggression pact with Poland.

Why did this False Flag incident happen?

The Soviet Union had been negotiating with Finland for several bits of territory in an attempt to expand its influence. It had succeeded in incorporating several other Baltic states using a similar tactic and thought Finland would be its next victim. However Finland refused the Soviet Union in its demands for the Finnish Border to be pulled back 25 miles from its current position which would mean it would lose its defences on the Karelian Isthmus, the lensing of the peninsula of Hanko which would be the site of a Naval Base for the Baltic Fleet and in conjunction with Coastal Artillery in Estonian would effectively seal of the Gulf of Finland, as well as other demands. In return Finland would receive 3,450 square miles of Soviet Karelia but the exchange was not advantageous to Finland. Finland gave two counter offers, respectively on 23 October and 3 November and would mean the cedeing of only Terijoki to the USSR. These were flatly refused and the Finnish delegation in Moscow returned to Finland on the 13^th November, hoping the negotiations would continue.

The Set-up

It was a Sunday afternoon and Finnish Border Guards did what they normally did, patrolled the border, played cards, listened to the radio, chatted about things back home mainly of the female variety and maintained their weapons. All knew about the recent negotiations and how high the tension was (from the 9^th of October the Finnish Army had been slowly mobilised under the guise of refresher training), they also knew they were be the first line of defence against the tidal wave of the Red Army. At about 1440 the Border Guards heard 7 successive artillery shots being fired, soon it was worked out that the shots hand landed 800 meters behind the border and that the weapon used was a high trajectory Trench Mortar. The Guards thought it was training exercise and recorded a smoke screen going up soon after the shots, which thus blocked all observation. Three Guards saw a officer on Horseback approach their Russian counterparts who were standing about the nearest building in Mainila, soon all 12 men marched off in an easterly direction and within ten minutes 7 shells landed on that very same spot. The guards also reported six men coming back to inspect the damage and saw no sign of dead or injured people.

At 2100 Moscow Time (2200 in Helsinki) Baron Yrjö-Koskinen received a call asking him to report to the Kremlin. He was informed by Molotov that Soviet Border Guards stationed at Mainila had been fired upon resulting in the deaths of three privates and one NCO, two officers and seven privates were also wounded. The Finnish Government attempted to deal with this incident in the diplomatic way and drafted a letter which stated that the shots had come from the Russian side of the border and that to put in place protocols relating to border incidents that were part of the 1932 non-aggression Pact (which was extended in 1934) and that both sides should withdraw their forces to the same distances. It was impossible for Finnish Artillery to have fired the shots because on the orders of Field Marshal Mannerheim, all Finnish guns were withdrawn from range of the border for several weeks before the shots were fired.

The Soviet government was unwilling to accept such an answer stating that “the deep hostility of the Finnish government towards the Soviet Union” was forcing the tensions to boiling point and “The fact that the Finnish government denies that Finnish forces fired upon Soviet forces with artillery and inflicted casualties, can only be explained as a device to mislead public opinion”, and so Molotov informed the small Republic of Finland that the Soviet government was no longer bound by the non-aggression pact. Within four days of this announcement Helsinki was on fire from Soviet Bombs and troops had crossed the border in several locations.

Repercussion

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 hundreds of documents were declassified and Russian Historian Pavel Aptekar analysed the dairies and reports of the units who were posted in the area and found no record of any losses on the day of the 26^th or in the immediate dates surrounding it. Nikita Khrushchev (who at the time was a Commissar and served as an intermediary between Stalin and the Generals of the Red Army) claimed in his memoirs that the incident was set up by Marshal of Artillery Grigory Kulik, an infamous NKVD General who would contribute to the failure of the Soviet defence during the first weeks of the German invasion. However he very coy about who fired the first shots and is quoted as saying “It's always like that when people start a war. They say, 'You fired the first shot,' or 'You slapped me first and I'm only hitting back.' There was once a ritual which you sometimes see in opera: someone throws down a glove to challenge someone else to a duel; if the glove is picked up, that means the challenge is accepted. Perhaps that's how it was done in the old days, but in our time it's not always so clear who starts a war.” Boris Yeltsin, the First President of the Russian Federation (which followed the Soviet Union) made a statement in 1994 denouncing the Winter War as a War of Aggression.