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Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia
| The Tank Museum in Parola displays some of the Russian tanks
captured by Finns during the Winter War. In many cases, the only
anti-tank weapons the Finns had were gasoline filled bottles,
called Molotov-cocktails. |
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The Finns lacked modern weapons and ammunition. Most of their
artillery was antiquated. Their tanks and aircraft were nearly
non-existent. The defense of the Mannerheim Line, therefore, often
came right down to the skill and courage of soldiers in the
trenches, armed with little more than machine guns, rifles, and
Molotov-cocktails. |
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| Along the Mannerheim Line, the fighting was much like World War I.
Soviet soldiers often launched human wave attacks against
well-entrenched Finnish defenders. |
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Stalin and most of his Generals thought the Red Army would
overrun Finland in no more than 12 days. They were wrong. The
Finns were unified in their determination to defend their
country no matter the odds against them. |
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| On Raate Road in the north near Suomussalmi, Finns managed to blow
up the bridge over the river Purasjoki. This stopped the Soviet
44th Division's advance. Unable to move, trapped by walls of snow
and ice, they became targets of "belaya smert," the "white death"
- their name for Finnish ski-guerillas in their white snowsuits.
Almost the entire 44th Division was destroyed. |
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