Finland and Russia in World War

[Svante]

Finland did not wan t to be bataille during the war.Norway and Sweden did not want this t o happen so there did not let England and France access to Finland. when Finland militare fight against Russia,everybody know that Finland ally t o Germany.Finland stop Russia soldiers from crossing scandinavia to attack Norway and Sweden then t o attack Germany ffrom the north by Danmark and Netherlandern. there much lives safe when doing this. Finland did not like becusase Russia volé land from them in the war.

[Sentinel]

There were two separate conflicts between Finland and the USSR, the Winter War 1939-1940, and the Continuation War 1941-1944, which were followed by the war in Lapland between Finnish and German troops.

In the Winter War the USSR launched an attack on Finland, because they turned down a proposal to change land areas: The USSR wanted the southern part of the Karelian Isthmus, the islands in the Bay of Finland, and the Hanko peninsula (for lease). They offered a part of East Karelia in return.

The proposal was intentionally obnoxious, the USSR wanted an excuse to realise their part of the agreement with Fascist Germany to divide estern Europe -- Finland lay in the USSR 'sphere of interest' and was to be conquered accordingly. The western Allies did offer Finland military aid but weren't allowed to pass through Swedish territory as Sweden feared Germany -- at that point practically allied with the USSR. One can only speculate how different history might have developed had France and Britain confronted the Red Army in Finland at this point.

Finnish troops managed to hold off the Red Army though, and a peace agreement was made after 100 days of war -- Finland remained independent but ceded a part of Karelia, including the cities of Viipuri (Vyborg, second largest city in Finland at the time), Käkisalmi (Priozersk) and Sortavala (Serdobol) as well as the Salla region farther north. The USSR also leased Hanko on a 30 years agreement.

The Winter war was a true tragedy, as it effectively alienated the Finnish working class from communism. There had been lots of class hatred and progressive sentiments prior to this, as a reult of the Civil War of 1918.

In 1941 things changed, as Germany attacked the USSR. The finnish government then decided to take part in the operation Barbarossa side by side with the Nazis, in order to reconquer the lost areas, and to create a 'Greater Finland' which would include East Karelia as well.

The Finnish army advanced to Karelia, reconquering the Karelian Isthmus -- laying siege to Leningrad from the north -- Ladogan Karelia, and finally also East Karelia to lake Onega. The capital of the Finnish-Karelian autonomous soviet republic, Petrozavodsk, was also conquered.

The war effort was organised so that a German Waffen-SS division took care of the battles in Lapland, covering the left flank of the Finnish army. Despite requests from Hitler, Finnish commander-in-chief Mannerheim refused to cut off the Murmansk railway or actively take part in the siege of Leningrad, however.

The fronts were thus stabilised and remained the same until the war in the eastern front changed into the favor of the USSR. Then, in 1944, a huge offensive was launched on the Karelian Isthmus by the Red Army.

This soon led to Finland surrendering and making a separate peace with the USSR, leaving the alliance with the Axis and instead attacking the German troops in Lapland, driving them over the border into Norway.

In the peace terms Finland once again ceded the same areas as before, plus the Petsamo corridor into the sea in the north and the town of Porkkala near Helsinki, which the USSR leased instead of Hanko this time and made into a naval base. It was returned in the fifties already, however, as a result of improving Finland-USSR relations.