70TH ANNIVERSARY DISCUSSION (3) THE WINTER WAR 1939-40

[RJL518]

Question:  In your opinions…how did Finland hold out against the superior numbers of the Soviet Army?  Was it because of the Finnish Ski troops that were specially trained in that type of warfare? Why is the Winter War so overlooked in the history of World War II?

Looking forward to your answers…

[tloger]

All of the Soviet head generals had already been purged, so the Soviet command system was very inadequate and unprepared for war.  Believe it or not the Soviets were also unprepared for winter warfare compared to the Finns in terms of winter gear and survival necessities.

[tloger]

I shouldn’t say all soviet heads of command were purged, but most were.

[RJL518]

a lot of people dont realize how importaint the Winter War was in the scheme of WW2…heres a link to it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_war

[balungaloaf]

the soviets gameplan(as always) of winning through sheer superiority in numbers of soldiers and equipment didnt work well when they couldnt move through the snowy forests.  They got eaten alive until they thought “what we need is even more troops, tanks, planes, and supplies.  A ridiculous amount even”

then they had their victory.

[RJL518]

still amazing how the Finns held off such large numbers of soviet troops with those ski battalions of theirs