Winter War in popular culture

Last updated

The Winter War in popular culture has had a deep and wide influence in Finland and elsewhere. The Winter War began three months after World War II had started and had full media attention, as the other European fronts had a calm period.

Contents

Films and television

The Soviet documentary film The Mannerheim Line (1940) presents the official view of the Winter War between Nazi-helping Soviets and the Finns, including its causes, denouement and outcome.

The play There Shall Be No Night (1940) by the American playwright Robert E. Sherwood was inspired by a moving Christmas 1939 broadcast to America by the war correspondent Bill White of CBS. The play was produced on Broadway in 1940 and won the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The American film Ski Patrol (1940), made by the Hollywood master Milton Krasner, [1] features a Finnish reserve unit defending the border from the Soviets. [2] The film took great historical liberties in its storyline. [3]

The Finnish movie Talvisota (1989) tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from Kauhava that belonged to the 23rd Infantry Regiment, which was almost only of men from Southern Ostrobothnia.

The documentary Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia (2006) shows how the Winter War influenced World War II and how Finland mobilised against the world's largest military power.

In 2011, Philip Kaufman began filming HBO's Hemingway & Gellhorn (first airdate May 28, 2012), which features Martha Gellhorn (played by Nicole Kidman) reporting from Finland during The Winter War. Steven Wiig portrays Simo Häyhä, who led a group of Finnish soldiers to shelter.

Games

In a 1992 column in Pelit , "Wexteen" (Jyrki J. J. Kasvi) lamented the difficulty of modelling the war in interactive entertainment. According to Wexteen, if the game mechanics are based on troop strengths, troops would march through Helsinki, and if it was based on historical events, they would March through Moscow.

In 1987, a turn-based strategy game, Talvisota , was released for MSX. [4]

Hearts of Iron 4, Arms Against Tyranny DLC back (10 October 2023)

Literature

Geroi Finskogo Pohoda (in English: Heroes of the Finnish Campaign). A Soviet book of Red Army war heroes of the Winter War. Geroi finskogo pohoda winter war.png
Geroi Finskogo Pohoda (in English: Heroes of the Finnish Campaign). A Soviet book of Red Army war heroes of the Winter War.

At the end of, and for a year after, the Winter War, in 1940–1941, much literature was published in the Soviet Union. Books were very narrow by their military history and operations, but they had a strong political message. The overall campaign was disastrous and so literature found its pride in the details of battles and military heroes. For example, the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line was represented as a "legendary" performance by the Red Army. [5]

The boys' adventure story Biggles Sees It Through (1940) by W.E. Johns is set during the final stages of the war. Squadron Leader James Bigglesworth is allowed by the British government to go in a party of volunteers to "help the Finns in their struggle against Soviet aggression". They fly reconnaissance raids from a base at Oskar, in a Bristol Blenheim bomber, and encounter a Polish scientist with secret papers on new aircraft alloys, as well as von Stalhein, their old World War I enemy.

Phantom Patrol (1940) by Arthur Catherall, writing as AR Channel, is another boys' adventure story about a group of Boy Scouts in Finland during the Winter War that becomes involved in guerilla activity for the Finnish forces. [6]

Music

Already during the war, in February 1940, Trinidadian calypso musician Atilla the Hun recorded a song, Finland and urged Finland, "Defeat the aims of Soviet Russia". [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Continuation War</span> Finnish war against the Soviet Union (1941–44)

The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II. In Soviet historiography, the war was called the Finnish Front of the Great Patriotic War. Germany regarded its operations in the region as part of its overall war efforts on the Eastern Front and provided Finland with critical materiel support and military assistance, including economic aid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter War</span> 1939–1940 war between the Soviet Union and Finland

The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim</span> Finnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951)

Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defence Forces during the period of World War II (1939–1945), and as the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946). He became Finland's only field marshal in 1933 and was appointed honorary Marshal of Finland, likewise the only person to hold that title, in 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauri Törni</span> Finnish military officer in the Finnish Army, Waffen-SS, and U.S. Army

Lauri Allan Törni, later known as Larry Alan Thorne, was a Finnish-born soldier who fought under three flags: as a Finnish Army officer in the Winter War and the Continuation War ultimately gaining a rank of captain; as a Waffen-SS captain of the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS when he fought the Red Army on the Eastern Front in World War II; and as a United States Army Major when he served in the U.S. Army Special Forces in the Vietnam War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moscow Peace Treaty</span> Peace treaty signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940

The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940, and the ratifications were exchanged on 21 March. It marked the end of the 105-day Winter War, upon which Finland ceded border areas to the Soviet Union. The treaty was signed by Vyacheslav Molotov, Andrei Zhdanov and Aleksandr Vasilevsky for the Soviet Union, and Risto Ryti, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, Rudolf Walden and Väinö Voionmaa for Finland. The terms of the treaty were not reversed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Karelian question refers to the debate within Finland over the possible reacquisition of this ceded territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mannerheim Line</span> Defensive line used by Finland

The Mannerheim Line was a defensive fortification line on the Karelian Isthmus built by Finland against the Soviet Union. While this was never an officially designated name, during the Winter War it became known as the Mannerheim Line, after Finnish Army's then commander-in-chief Field Marshal Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. The line was constructed in two phases: 1920–1924 and 1932–1939. By November 1939, when the Winter War began, the line was by no means complete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simo Häyhä</span> Finnish military sniper (1905–2002)

Simo Häyhä, often referred to by his nickname, The White Death, was a Finnish military sniper in World War II during the 1939–1940 Winter War against the Soviet Union. He used a Finnish-produced M/28-30 and a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun. He is believed to have killed over 500 enemy soldiers during the Winter War, the highest number of sniper kills in any major war. Because of this, he is often regarded as the deadliest sniper of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finland in World War II</span> 1939–1945 period of Finnish history

Finland participated in the Second World War initially in a defensive war against the Soviet Union, followed by another, this time offensive, war against the Soviet Union acting in concert with Nazi Germany and then finally fighting alongside the Allies against Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Raate Road</span> Battle of the Winter War

The Battle of Raate Road was a battle fought during the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in January 1940, as a part of the Battle of Suomussalmi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Kollaa</span> Battle of the Winter War

The Battle of Kollaa was fought from December 7, 1939, to March 13, 1940, in Ladoga's Karelia, Finland, as a part of the Soviet-Finnish Winter War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hungarian volunteers in the Winter War</span>

The Hungarian Volunteers in the Winter War travelled to fight for the Finns after the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939. For a variety of reasons, volunteers from the Kingdom of Hungary fought on the side of Finland during the Winter War (1939–1940) against the Soviet Union.

<i>Talvisota: Icy Hell</i> 2007 video game

Talvisota: Icy Hell is a real-time tactics and educational computer game, developed by the international developer group Blitzfront Game Studio and is based on the events of the Winter War conflict of 1939–1940 between Finland and the Soviet Union. The game is built-up upon Nival Interactive's Enigma Engine that was used in the Blitzkrieg game and is a fully stand-alone product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Taipale</span> Battle in Winter War 1939

The Battle of Taipale was a series of battles fought during the Winter War between Finland and Soviet Union from 6 to 27 December 1939. The battles were part of a Soviet campaign to penetrate the Finnish Mannerheim Line in the Karelian Isthmus region to open a route into southern Finland. Despite their numerical superiority, the Soviet forces were unable to break through the Finnish defences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Hanko (1941)</span>

The Battle of Hanko was a lengthy series of small battles fought on Hanko Peninsula during the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union in the second half of 1941. As both sides were eager to avoid a major, costly ground battle, fighting took the form of trench warfare, with artillery exchanges, sniping, patrol clashes, and small amphibious operations performed in the surrounding archipelago. A volunteer Swedish battalion served with Finnish forces in the siege. The last Soviet troops left the peninsula in December 1941.

Foreign support in the Winter War consisted of materiel, men and moral support to the Finnish struggle against the Soviet Union in the Winter War. World opinion at large supported the Finnish cause. The Second World War had not yet begun in earnest and was known to the public as the Phoney War; at that time, the Winter War saw the only real fighting in Europe besides the German and Soviet invasion of Poland, and thus held major world interest. The Soviet aggression was generally deemed unjustified. Various foreign organizations sent material aid, such as medical supplies. Finnish immigrants in the United States and Canada returned home, and many volunteers traveled to Finland to join Finland's forces: 8,700 Swedes, 1,010 Danes, about 1,000 Estonians, 850 Ukrainians, 725 Norwegians, 372 Ingrians, 366 Hungarians, 346 Finnish expatriates, more than 20 Latvians and 190 volunteers of other nationalities made it to Finland before the war was over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco-British plans for intervention in the Winter War</span>

During the early stages of World War II, the United Kingdom and France made a series of proposals to send troops to assist Finland against the Soviet Union during the Winter War, which started on 30 November 1939. The plans involved the transit of British and French troops and equipment through neutral Norway and Sweden. The initial plans were abandoned because Norway and Sweden declined transit through their land for fear that their countries would be drawn into the war. The Moscow Peace Treaty ended the Winter War in March 1940, which precluded the possibility of intervention.

The aftermath of the Winter War covers the historical events and views following the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union from 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">44th Rifle Division</span> Soviet Red Army formation

The 44th Kievskaya of the Red Banner Rifle Division of Nikolay Shchors, or 44th Kievskaya for short, was an elite military formation of the Soviet Union. Created during the beginnings of the Russian Civil War. It was destroyed during the Winter War, after being ordered to help the 163rd Infantry Division break a Finnish siege on the Raate road as part of the Special Rifle Corps 9th Army, together with the 54th Rifle Division. Afterwards it was levied and dissolved multiple times through out the 40's and 50's until its final dissolution in 1959.

Ryhmy ja Romppainen was a Finnish series of adventure stories published as 14 separate volumes during 1940 - 1967, and later ten first books in one volume. The author was Armas Josef Pulla, who has also written many other books. The books were highly popular during the war in winter 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Kuhmo</span> Battle fought during the Winter War

The Battle of Kuhmo was a series of skirmishes, mainly between January 28 and March 13, 1940, near the town of Kuhmo during the Soviet-Finnish Winter War. The 54th Soviet Rifle Division was encircled, but was able to hold out until the end of the war.

References

  1. "Ennennäkemätön talvisotaelokuva Ski Patrol" [Never-before-seen Winter War film Ski Patrol] (in Finnish). Finnish Film Archive . Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  2. "Ski Patrol (1940)". IMDb . Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  3. "Ennennäkemätön talvisotaelokuva Ski Patrol" [Never-before-seen Winter War film Ski Patrol] (in Finnish). Finnish Film Archive . Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  4. Kuorikoski, Juho (2014). Sinivalkoinen pelikirja. Suomen pelialan kronikka 1984-2014. Fobos. p. 32.
  5. Uitto, Antero Uitto (1999). Talvisota puna-armeijan silmin (in Finnish). p. 83.
  6. Channel, AR. Phantom Patrol. ASIN   B000MUT2QG.
  7. Pekka Gronow (9 May 2007). "Talvisota Trinidadilla". Yle Blogit (in Finnish). Retrieved 26 February 2015.