Winter War

The Winter War (30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940) was a conflict fought between the Soviet Union and Finland.  

It began when the Soviet Union invaded Finland soon after the invasion of Poland.  The Soviet military forces expected a victory over Finland in a few weeks because the Soviet Army had many more troops, tanks and planes than the Finnish Army.

However, the Finnish forces resisted better and much longer than expected. They had good winter clothes and wore white coats, which camouflaged them in the snow.  As well, the Finnish soldiers moved around on skis, which made it easy for them to sneak up on the Soviet soldiers.  The Soviets did not have good winter clothes, and they wore dark green coats, which were easy to see in the snow.

The peace treaty that ended the war in March 1940 left the Finns as a free people. They had to give up 11% of their country and tried to get it back during the Continuation War.


Related pages
World War II

Notes

References

Other websites

Category:1939 in Europe
Category:1940 in Europe
Category:1940 events
Category:1940s in Finland
Category:Wars involving the Soviet Union
Category:World War II