The Finnish in WWII

[Omag 2.0]

Hi all,

Since Ville posted a Finnish Fokker in the screenshot contest-forum, I've been wondering what the Finnish were about in the war.

Theis explaned that the Finnish blue swastika isn't linked to the German regime. But they did fight with the Russians.

So what's the story, where they allies? Axis? Neutral?

Seems to me I've missed that part in history-class.

[Ivan]

The finnish did have some fights with the russians...

whatever the germans had to do with it... i have heard that they had sent some bf109s to them but that's all

[Woodlouse2002]

Finland would have been under German control if you look at the map of 1942 europe. So I assume they wern't doing much. In 1939 though they were at war with Russia. But after they lost I'm not sure whether they joined forces with the Germans or not.

Having thought about it, the Finns did have some Brewster Buffaloes. So god knows who's side they were on.

[Felix/FFDS]

For a review of the overall "Winter War", check http://www.feldgrau.com/wwar.html

Basically, Russia's war against Finland (1939-1940) added a buffer between the Finnish border and Leningrad.

[denishc]

 To begin with, the Finns and Russia were involved in a border dispute in the winter of 1939 that led to what would be called "The Winter War".
 Russia, not trusting the Germans to honor the pact they signed prior to the invasion of Poland, wanted Finalnd to give her "the use of land and bases to safeguard the approaches to Leningrad through the Gulf of Finland in the event of an attack by Germany".  Unable to bully Finland into giving in to their demands, Russia invaded Finland on November 30.  The conflict lasted 14 weeks and saw much of the world condemn Russia as an aggressor.  Many countries, like the U.S. and Britian, came to the aid of Finland and supplied the Finns with arms and material (thats when the U.S. sent the Finns Brewster Buffaloes, but the aircraft didn't arrive until the Winter War was over).
 The Finns fought well, but were overmatched and realized the situation was hopeless. They agreed to an armistice on March 13 that ended the Winter War.

 In the summer of 1940, when Germany attacked Russia, the Finns joined the Germans as "Co-belligerents" against Russia (as did Hungry) and struck out to recapture territory it had lost in the Winter War.  This was known as "The Continuation War".  As Co-belligerents, Germany either gave or sold Me-109s to Finland.

 As the tides of war changed for Germany and swung in the favor of Russia, Finland switch allegiances and turned against Germany.  I'm not sure why the Finns changed sides, but I'm sure that invasion by Russian forces had something to do with it.    

[Flt.Lt.Andrew]

Ah the Fins, one can only think of Quisling....
I remember a Finnish proverb, where two men are in a large ditch, with Russians coming at them from all sides (this is in the Winter War) one says "there are so many of them!" the other replies "how will we bury them all?"
The Fins led a very confusing war, which involved some bizarre side switching.....


A.

[Hagar]

Ah the Fins, one can only think of Quisling....

Vidkun Quisling was Norwegian & leader of Norway's fascist party.

[Hagar]

[quote]As the tides of war changed for Germany and swung in the favor of Russia, Finland switch allegiances and turned against Germany.

[Theis]

really interesting stuff here
and its so cool to help youre all
(thinking on my post about the finnish swastika).
Cheers Theis

[beaky]

Interesting stuff. I recall seeing a map of the situation at that time, and it led me to believe that Finland was basically "taken over" by the Nazis (it was probably in a 60s-era US school textbook). But it sounds like they were pragmatic about their situation (geographically vulnerable, outgunned and outmanned by both sides), and tried to play both sides a bit in order to protect their own.