The Winter War (1939) Showdown of Finland vs Russia (Part 1 of 2) DOCUMENTARY
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- čas přidán 1. 05. 2024
- Documentary on Finnish Ski Troops of the Winter War! Get comfortable and stylish flannels from MuskOx: www.gomuskox.com/invicta and use the code Invicta for $15 off
In this history documentary we turn our attention to Winter War of 1939 which saw the Red Army invade Finland. While the conflict appeared one sided at the outset, the Finnish defenders stunned their world by holding the Soviet juggernaut at bay. In this Units of History series we will explore the soldiers who made this feat of arms possible in the face of the Russian Invasion of Finland.
In this first episode we explore the roots of the conflict between Finland and Russia and how this would inform the evolution of the Finnish Army in the lead up to the Winter War. We then cover the defensive doctrine which was to characterize the war and the nature of the soldiers who would conduct it. This includes a focus on the equipment of the Finnish Ski Troops responsible for manning the front lines and carrying out the defense in depth. In comparison Red Army troops had more numbers and equipment but lacked the specialized gear necessary to operate in winter conditions. In our next episode we will focus on the organization, tactics, and service history of these Finnish ski troops.
Sources:
Vesa Nenye, with Peter Munter and Toni Wirtanen: Finland at War: The Winter War 1939-40 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2015)
Pasi Tuunainen: Finnish MIlitary Effectiveness in the Winter War 1939-1940 (Helsinki: Palgrave MacMillan, 2016)
Philip Jowett, Brent Snodgrass, Raffaele Ruggeri: Finland at War 1939-45 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2006)
Credits:
Research = Mark Evans
Script = Mark Evans
Narration = Guy Michaels
Production = Penta Limited
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:13 Finnish-Soviet Geopolitics
04:27 The Jaeger Movement
06:09 Finnish Civil War
08:05 Interwar Period
09:51 Defensive Doctrine
11:46 Start of the Winter War
14:32 Equipment of Finnish Soldiers
16:23 Weaponry of Finnish Soldiers
20:23 Conclusion
#history
#military
#documentary
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What Units of History should we cover? To support the channel, consider grabbing a flannel from MuskOx: www.gomuskox.com/invicta and use the code Invicta for $15 off
The Caroleans!
The Gurkhas! 🇳🇵🇬🇧
Gurkhas.
British Grenadier Guard
Napoleons Imperial Guard
Gurkhas!!!
WW2 US Airborne Dday loudout
WW2 British Airborne Dday loudout
Bro has never hear mosin nagant pronounced?
The Finns were brilliant soldiers.
They did not rely on advantages in air power, manpower, tanks and artillery, but maximised the use of terrain and out of the box thinking to slow down the Red armies advance. The Winter War is fascinating to read about.
Were.. still are, we have not gone anywhere. We have even improved 80 years. Our snipers just won european sharpshooting competition, we won the friendly competition with the US earlier. See.. we are as good and even better than in the past. :)
@@TheNismo777 That's awesome, btw two of my good friends in school were from Finland, as a nation who knows what it's like to have an invader knocking on your doorstep I respect you. From an English man.
@@TheNismo777 i was in the Finnish Army and won a sniper award. Funny that
@@pizzamonster9758 good job
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-
Hasent Britain always been island, so it has easier time defending itself by just not letting the enemy land with their troops on your island. Finland on other hand shares one thousand kilometers of border with Russia and has only tiny population of 5,5 million nowdays, so its more difficult to defend themselves.
I served in Lapland Jägerbrigade on top a Bandwagen what we use in arctic circle to move around jägers. In winter time they dragged 9 men behind for many km to disperse quiqly into all directions and ready to action. I had stay behind the ITKO 12,7mm AA gun. Living in tents in all weathers. I still live in Lapland.🇫🇮
I seemed to recall that my late grandfather who was a US Ranger in WW2 on D-Day said how much he respected the Finns facing the Russians. Besides helping encouraging Hitler's plans in the East, elements of the US public were concerned about Russia as well and Finland really shocked the world with it's resistance against Stalin's ambitions.
The way modern westerners have tried to make Russia out to be an enemy during WW2 and not the Nazis is hilarious.
@@shin0bili that depends on whether or not anyone understands the broader constant ideological changes after WW1 through the Great Depression into the 30s. Most people today simply don't dive deeper into the motivations of either side pre-WW2, and this is where the Hearts of Iron 4 Kasierrich universe highlights this very complex world. There is only more grey in terms of history for each side, and like the Germans, the US & other European countries shared the same issues.
You see, back in America, a man named Jack Reed (the Bernie Sanders of the 20th century) wanted to replicate the idea of Lenin's Communist Revolution (in the Kaiserreich timeline, it was Syndicalism) inside the USA.
In contrast, others like Huey Long & FDR were inspired by how the fascist elements (like Mussolini & Hitler) restored stability after the events of the Great Depression and saw radical change. (many people tend to ignore that FDR praised both Hitler & Mussolini back in the 30s because later the events of WW2)
This is where the growing ideological & cultural tensions inside America were brewing amid the growing industrial union class. These groups(both Communist & Western Syndicalists, etc) were not happy with their respective government.
It's similar to how lower-class Russians/Serfs wanted to replace the Russian monarchy by joining Lenin, and even during WW1, the French were seeing the rise of Syndicalist movements inside their armed forces, which Kasierreich highlights in history before both timelines diverge from one another)
For us during the lead-up to WW2 against the Axis, US opinion had only known these domestic tensions at home (including now getting involved with any European wars) and Joseph Stalin's purges after Lenin's death to the point where they saw Hitler as a lesser evil & Germany who previously, through the former German Empire with ties to Finland were a good buffer against Stalin's tyrannical rule until revelations of the Holocaust came out.
On the night of March 13, 1940, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow, according to which Finland ceded about a tenth of its territory to the USSR and pledged not to participate in coalitions hostile to the USSR. On March 13, hostilities ceased.
Thats all you need to know.
Finish are like Germans can never forget that they lost. No one likes the Lo.se.r's...
@@shin0biliexcept, we haven't.
The story of Finnish resistance against bolshevism is truly inspiring
They lost to bolshevism twice.
@@atsuamewolo Wrong. They're always Russians. We have endured their attacks on our lands counting minimum twice a century for the past thousands years. Yet, here we are. We don't rightly care what they call or refer to themselves as anymore. So much fluctuation in their self-identification. Somewhat like the certain alphabet people these days. Losing would entail being conquered, the Russians have failed to do so. Losing to bolshevism? Nah mate, we have a republic which has lasted well over 100 years now, and our welfare society is ranked the happiest in the world continuasly. Looks more like the contemporary Russians are losing their country to bolshevism once again.... ..last time they lost over 20 million people to bolshevism, and roughly 500k of those were taken by our Finnish hands....bullets, artillery.....you get the picture
It truly inspires me to happily pay my taxes, because that's what supports the troops.
@@atsuamewolo yet the victors... Could be bought with jeans and chewing gum in the 80's by the losers. 🤭
@@miikaharkonen663 haha that was good one ;D
Just a side note: lieutenant Mannerheim was one of the honour guards for the coronation of Tzar Nikolaus II in 1896. He stood there for hours regarding it to his end as one of the high points of his life.
Before Jaegers were trained in Germany, some Finns fought in the Boer War, in which hit-and-run tactics played a role against an overwhelming enemy. Some of those Finns found their way back to Finland and fought later also in the Finnish Civil War: "Finnish Kommandos - Finns in the Second Boer War". One of those Finns in the Boer War was Ernst Lindberg from Vyborg. A book about his events in the war and captivity was published in 1904 and reprinted in 2014. Some of the Finns in that war found their last resting place in Saint Helena, where also Napoleon Bonaparte was in exile and died some 80 years earlier as a British prisoner.
theres no way you said that without being ugly
🟥⬜⬛
Jäger sniper thaks. Sorry what SA us noe
FCK Sake..Scandinavia and UK is what.??
As the RUSSIANS, they also were fighting in Anglo-Boer War, so what?
Learn your history the right way.
The spirit of the winter war was raised by the fact that the companies and battalions were formed from villages and municipalities in the surrounding area (often your brothers and cousins were in the same trench). If you saw your neighbor/relative fall in melee, you wanted to avenge it. In the long run, the death rate of the number of men in some villages became so large that in the continuation war the teams/battalions and divisions were formed more based on random selections and thus the losses could be spread over wider areas.
What the Partisans did to the Finnish villagers was and is still barbaric. Never forgive never forget🇸🇪🇫🇮
The partisan attacks became infamous from the continuation war, not yet from the winter war. In a sense they were similar to the indiscriminate violence by the radicalized reds against civilians in the Russian civil war and associated conflicts that saw the red terror. In the continuation war the Soviet partisans were organized by the NKVD and consisted of the same kinds of thugs as the destruction battalions in the Soviet occupied Baltic states for example.
In the winter war the Soviets used mainly aerial bombing against Finnish civilian or economic targets.
And not just Partisans. Russia has always been about senseless slaughter. Here's a wiki page of "isoviha" Replacing Finns in great numbers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wrath
Although we didn't have any luxury under swedish rule, at least they didn't directly kill us. Taxed the food from our mouth yes, but not making us dig mass graves for ourselves...
@@LKLM138 you're a fucking liar. Finland was always semi-independent in the Russian empire. It had its own religion, language, separate army, its own politicians. When the imperial government tried to unite the finnish army with the imperial one, there was nobody in Finland to realize it, because the province was not even ruled by a russian administrator.
Never forgive is just an eye for an eye and that will leave the world blind.
Never forget but do forgive if the other is trying to make amends. The EU has had no war internally for a long time. A feat which was only possible by old enemies (both on a state and individual level) forgiving each other.
@@michimatsch5862 Those were proven to have been foolish who were advocating increasing economic interdependence with Russia in order to have peace following similar reasoning that led to the formation of the EU. The Russians boast about their civilizational difference from and rivalry against the west.
A Baltic nation is more of a geopolitical definition that includes three countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. A nation on the Baltic Sea would be more fitting and purely a geographical description. Finland is a Nordic nation, if you want to use a geopolitical definition. Nordic nations include Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
Fun fact. Finland was considered to be a baltic nation after she gained her independence from Russia. The whole concept of nordic countries is a rather new one.
@@rekku-xx2qjFun fact. Finland has always been a Nordic country. We already learned this fact at school. I studied in the 50's and 60's and always Finland was considered a Nordic country. Finland🇫🇮 Sweden 🇸🇪 Norway 🇸🇯 Denmark 🇩🇰 and Iceland 🇮🇸 Finland was directly a part of Sweden almost for 700 years.
Baltic countries Estonia 🇪🇪 Latvia 🇱🇻 and Lithuania 🇱🇹
As a Latvian, I am in awe of the Finnish victory and in this case I am willing to give a (very) secondary meaning to the linguistics.
This is not a massive issue in the video. I just saw so many flippant comments saying -Hey that's not true! I couldn't resist giving a more detailed explanation for why they're saying that.
@@emrk6517Thank you for the explanation and clarification. We learn something new every day.
Great video! Some notes;
1. Finland isn't traditionally considered a Baltic country (or Scandinavian for that matter), but a Nordic country instead. The Baltic countries refers specifically to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
2. The White movement was indeed backed by the wealthy, the clergy and other elites, but it also largely stood on the backs of the land owning peasantry. Feudalism never took off in most of Finland, so there was a large class of peasant-farmers who owned the land they worked on. These peasants were rural & conservative and were afraid of land reforms taking their rights to their property. Thus the White army is sometimes referred to as the "Talonpoikaisarmeija" or "Peasant army", as it largely ran on these volunteers and conscripts.
In the south where feudalism had slightly taken root in the form of farm estates where peasants worked without ownership of the land, the peasants flocked to the Red guard instead. A similar phenomena happened with the "Torpparit", a class of land renting peasantry.
3. The "Petturin palka on kuolema" poster is a modified version from the historical one made as fan art for the HOI4 "Kaiserreich" mod. It features the logo of the fascist IKL (founded in 1932) and a syndicalist logo (did not exist in Finland in our timeline). The real historical poster didn't have these logos and was produced around 1918. Small mistake, but drawing a false correlation between the White movement and the explicitly fascist IKL is a bit iffy.
4. Forest are almost the least of your worries in the Finnish wilds, it's the lakes and marshlands that trouble any large conventional army. From Tolvajärvi to Suomussalmi, many important battlefields were dotted with these features and played heavily into the Finnish victories won there.
5. Soviet bombers firebombed major Finnish cities (especially Helsinki) prior to a declaration of war. I think it's a fair detail to bring up to highlight the indefensible nature of the invasion. The Molotov Cocktail gets its name from these bombings, as the namesake Soviet foreign minister claimed their bombers were only dropping food rations to starving Finnish workers. Finn's wanted to return the favor by giving the Soviets something to drink with their "breadbaskets" (incendiary cluster bombs).
6. The poor state of Finnish equipment was snarkily referred to as "Model Cajander", after the then Prime Minister, by Finnish soldiers. Due to stingy defense spending, many soldiers could only be fitted with a a cockade, belt and a rifle (if lucky, otherwise they'd bring their own).
Overall a good video! It can be hard to get all the details right or cover everything, especially with a nation that has a limited amount of English sources available for the fine details.
Lovely notes there
By cockade, is that to mean the cap that adorned them or simply a ribbon for the bearer?
@@vill5325 Finnish military hats of the era had small cockades (small round objects painted blue & white for privates or red & yellow with the Finnish lion for officers) to quickly distinguish between friendlies and enemies as well as privates and officers.
At worst, that small cockade and the belt given by the military were the only distinguishing factors for Finnish soldiers, with their clothes and even weaponry being brought from home.
@@Finnofenno So they didn't even get the cap itself? Mad
@@vill5325 At worst case, no. Finland was a new and poor nation so there simply wasn't enough equipment for the sort of total war the Winter War brought, as almost all reserves had to be called up.
Mostly correct, but on #1, Finland was considered Baltic country at the time. We were one of the relatively poor countries that had split up from Russian Empire as it collapsed, after all. You can see this in Article I of the Secret Protocols of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, for example. The idea of Nordic countries as we see it today mostly gained traction after WW2.
So Russia decided to invade a former vassal state, which they hadn't exactly treated well mind you, expecting to easily crush the by all accounts numerically and financially inferior army, only to get a nasty surprise.
It's true what they say. History may not repeat, but it sure does rhyme a lot.
I hope people give more credits to the artillery units of Finland because the truth is they were the one who stop the advance of Soviet armored units. And the reason why the Finnish lines were collapsing was because they were running out of shells.
Not in winter war. We hardly had any shells nor artillery pieces. Continuation war was another thing, where artillery indeed was used in huge success.
@@kaamoshaamu Thanks to artillery general Nenonen, who designed the first artillery fire mission calculation disk, with that you didnt need a spotter, just a map.
@@mhh7544 Did not happen. Nenonen only made it possible to spotters to be mobile. Revolutionary in the time, but not that revolutionary.
Stop simping only for one brigades of the army already you little child. Even Jone knows the importance doesn't only lie withing "sissi's" aka surveilance and scouting division.@@kaamoshaamu
@@TheParez Why even comment when you don't have a clue about the subject?
It is interesting how quickly Finland tried to repair the trauma of the civil war (1918). The left party and the working class were included in the state administration as early as 1925. Thanks to this, the so-called "Spirit of the Winter War" was born. In 1939, the left wing and the workers also wanted to defend an independent Finland.
Yep. We're lucky that with the fall of the German Empire, the whites had to surrender control to parliamentary rule.
On the night of March 13, 1940, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow, according to which Finland ceded about a tenth of its territory to the USSR and pledged not to participate in coalitions hostile to the USSR. On March 13, hostilities ceased.
Thats all you need to know.
Finish are like Germans can never forget that they lost. No one likes the Lo.se.r's...
INVICTA is the absolute master of hard work paying off.
Thank you all.
Dude, this one is really good. Excellent narration, music, and sound effects. The quality is perfect.
Reading about Simo Hayha, Lauri Törni, and Aimo Koivunen's meth-fueled odyssey. Makes me realize that if Finald had 10x the population it might have ruled the world. It's amazing what it manages to accomplish.
The larger the population the greater the wealth the greater the corruption. The larger a dynamic system is, the greater internal friction it experiences. At one point the friction becomes so great, the system has no more energy to expand. That's why all great empires of the past did not conquer the world.
This is not even bringing up such silly images as a finnman fighting in the deserts of western lybia and eastern egypt or the middle east...
Tbh I think it just always took a special kind of crazy people to settle there. I mean back before modern ways of countering the freezing cold and with little places to get some huge agriculture regiona going people first settling there of their pwn free will were either crazy, badass, both, or just built different.
I doubt that more would have stayed there. It‘s like a setting for natural selection of people who wouldn‘t much care fighting the russians on top of their home.
I mean I imagine the attitude a bit like „the russians ? Attacking agian ? It‘s winter…. Ah damn might as well face them as well, let‘s show them some tricks boys“
@@PersimmonHurmoFinland like all the other Nordic countries are small countries, but they are wealthy countries with high standards of living.
@@diamondsarenotforever8542 Unless the population can sustain their population...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 Welcome to see.
Thank you to all who made this video. Absolutely superb. I can't wait for the next episode. The Finnish are truly inspiring people and nation 🙏🙌💪
Finns arent inspiring, mfers snitch on their neighbors if they recycle the wrong thing.😂
so sexy🦮🦮🐻
Thank you for this! It's always heartwarming to hear the well deserved praise of our heroes.
Mannerheim was a true reactionary and Tsarist to the end btw. He did care for Finland, but having it be independent was an anti-communist compromise for him. He had a painting of Nicholas II on his lounge wall till his death. Most Finns, nationalists or red socialists did not like him that much for this reason from the different perspectives, but he was very clearly the best military officer available.
Your hybrid campaign is going as well as your orcs in the trenches. Mannerheim is constantly voted the most important Finn in our history. So thank you but no thanks.
This is simply wrong. Mannerheim was for Finnish independence through and through and e.g. refused to cooperate with the White general Yudenich pushing towards Petrograd as the latter, an actual Russian czarist officer, refused to promise Finland independence. Mannerheim was loyal to the constitution, a republic with universal vote. He also fiercely opposed the German faction and when he met Churchill 1936, reprimanded the latter for calling him a friend of Germany, which Churchill corrected in the next edition of his books on famous anti-communists.
@@j.m.7715 kyllä mannerheim oli valitettavssti tsaarin mies loppuun asti
@@Birkarl_ Mannerheim oli nostalginen ajastaan tsaarin suosikkina mutta on historian vääristelyä väittää Mannerheimin poliittisesti halunneen palauttaa Suomea tsaarillisen Venäjän alusmaaksi.
great content as always !
These videos just keep getting better. 🍻
Y’all are quite literally the perfect channel for studying. I don’t know what it is, the voice, the topics, I don’t know. But with most things I get distracted watching it, but with y’all I can watch it when I want, but also listen and take in what y’all say while working
As a Finn, I approve the video. Great work, big up!
1
Reply
@FinnishDragon
@FinnishDragon
3 weeks ago
This is quite good but I have to point out a mistake at 5:40. Finland declared her independence in Dec. 6th 1917. The first Finnish constitution is from year 1919.
8
Reply
@Kolbys_Cooking
@Kolbys_Cooking
3 weeks ago
Y’all are quite literally the perfect channel for studying. I don’t know what it is, the voice, the topics, I don’t know. But with most things I get distracted watching it, but with y’all I can watch it when I want, but also listen and take in what y’all say while working
1
Reply
@Old_8_gauge
@Old_8_gauge
2 weeks ago
Very good video on the brave & plucky Finn's of WWII. Also I believe Finn's used foot wrappings, not socks.
2
Reply
@jola870
@jola870
2 weeks ago
As a finn I have nothing to complain about from this vid, it's pretty correct 👍
2
Reply
@javel114
@javel114
3 weeks agoAs a Finn, I approve the video. Great work, big up!
1
Reply
@FinnishDragon
@FinnishDragon
3 weeks ago
This is quite good but I have to point out a mistake at 5:40. Finland declared her independence in Dec. 6th 1917. The first Finnish constitution is from year 1919.
8
Reply
@Kolbys_Cooking
@Kolbys_Cooking
3 weeks ago
Y’all are quite literally the perfect channel for studying. I don’t know what it is, the voice, the topics, I don’t know. But with most things I get distracted watching it, but with y’all I can watch it when I want, but also listen and take in what y’all say while working
1
Reply
@Old_8_gauge
@Old_8_gauge
2 weeks ago
Very good video on the brave & plucky Finn's of WWII. Also I believe Finn's used foot wrappings, not socks.
2
Reply
@jola870
@jola870
2 weeks ago
As a finn I have nothing to complain about from this vid, it's pretty correct 👍
2
Reply
@javel114
@javel114
3 weeks agoAs a Finn, I approve the video. Great work, big up!
1
Reply
@FinnishDragon
@FinnishDragon
3 weeks ago
This is quite good but I have to point out a mistake at 5:40. Finland declared her independence in Dec. 6th 1917. The first Finnish constitution is from year 1919.
8
Reply
@Kolbys_Cooking
@Kolbys_Cooking
3 weeks ago
Y’all are quite literally the perfect channel for studying. I don’t know what it is, the voice, the topics, I don’t know. But with most things I get distracted watching it, but with y’all I can watch it when I want, but also listen and take in what y’all say while working
1
Reply
@Old_8_gauge
@Old_8_gauge
2 weeks ago
Very good video on the brave & plucky Finn's of WWII. Also I believe Finn's used foot wrappings, not socks.
2
Reply
@jola870
@jola870
2 weeks ago
As a finn I have nothing to complain about from this vid, it's pretty correct 👍
2
Reply
@javel114
@javel114
3 weeks agoAs a Finn, I approve the video. Great work, big up!
1
Reply
@FinnishDragon
@FinnishDragon
3 weeks ago
This is quite good but I have to point out a mistake at 5:40. Finland declared her independence in Dec. 6th 1917. The first Finnish constitution is from year 1919.
8
Reply
@Kolbys_Cooking
@Kolbys_Cooking
3 weeks ago
Y’all are quite literally the perfect channel for studying. I don’t know what it is, the voice, the topics, I don’t know. But with most things I get distracted watching it, but with y’all I can watch it when I want, but also listen and take in what y’all say while working
1
Reply
@Old_8_gauge
@Old_8_gauge
2 weeks ago
Very good video on the brave & plucky Finn's of WWII. Also I believe Finn's used foot wrappings, not socks.
2
Reply
@jola870
@jola870
2 weeks ago
As a finn I have nothing to complain about from this vid, it's pretty correct 👍
2
Reply
@javel114
@javel114
3 weeks ago
@@funy-xw2tj what?
Not enough people know about this feat of bravery overshadowed by events in mainland Europe. Everybody needs to listen to the metal anthem "Ram - Suomussalmi (The Few of Iron)" a fitting soundtrack to the epic battle of the same name. It is where I first heard about the winter war.
The Finnish war music of the time is great as well, very inspiring, especially the anti communist civil war music!
It was a very good presentation, so far. Being married to a Fin, I'm well versed in Finland's 3 wars of WW2. While teaching her of the ANZAC tradition. We were quite surprised by how much the Finnish military and the ANZACs shared in common. Both came from a frontier tradition, had a keen interest in the outdoors, and loved their sport. Both had a dislike of European military discipline, believing it was only really good on the parade grounds along with the shiny brass buttons. As such, both did very little saluting away from the parade ground. Mateship and family were at their core. This ensured a closeness between officers and the enlisted men with officers expected to muck in with the rest. It's a term I hate coined by Charles Bean. "They were natural born soldiers," but in this case, it applies to a certain extent. In that, what they called fun was done in harsh environments and were toughened by it. It made them fitter in these environments than their European counterparts. Through hunting and culling, many were already marksmen with the rifle, and the rest quickly gained the skill. Both Fins and the ANZACs had a very high amount of initiative and quick thinking. This had the effect of greatly enhancing their soldiers' skills once taught. Once they were trained, they quickly became veterans.
I am very much looking forward to the second part of this topic. Great job.😊
@jamesevans886 On the other hand discipline can also mean the difference between a soldier who can hold the line and not crack under pressure and a soldier who will break and run at the first shot fired ( such as the case with the Afghan army collapsing against the Taliban 2 years ago who showed no discipline )
@wk2k11 Thanks for your reply. Mateship is a hard thing to define, but discipline is a small part of it. A Fin or an ANZAC would not drop a mate in it and running, nor do we break an oath as you are judged that your yes is a yes and your no is a no with no maybes. If you were wrong, you should openly admit it. This is how your manhood or womanhood is judged. So, as such, the Fins and ANZACs don't need European military discipline as it's already there in our form. We do need battle drills, firing control, and low-level tactics. Secondly, we will be judged against the generations that fought before us, and none of us want to be found lacking. That does not mean lives will be thrown away. A mantra of the Australian Army is "We are not here to die for King and country. We are here to ensure the other b@rst@rd dies for his." Shortly after a recruit, hears this they are shown what automatic 7.62 rounds does to 44 gallon drums filled red paint. This was followed by the instructor saying, "So keep your F#cking head down. " . The Fins and New Zealanders have similar initiations.
@@jamesevans886 Yeah i'd say the British army is like that too. Mateship, comradery, fighting for the man next to you etc. They are similar.
@wk2k11 The British Army and Australian Defence Forces for years now have been swapping units from each other. So a lot probably has rubbed off on each other.
ANZAC and Finnish? Your kids are gonna give somebody some trouble. Lol
great video cant wait for the part 2
Thanks for the video
As a finn I have nothing to complain about from this vid, it's pretty correct 👍
The White Death☠️❄💯
In the snipers sight
If you have ever wondered why Finland has all those bunkers and supply stores and whatnots today, this is the reason. The winter war was not a fun experience.
👋🏾🤚🏾🖐🏾✋🏾🖖🏾🤏🏾👌🏾✌🏾🤙🏾👈🏾👉🏾🖕🏾👆🏾👇🏾👏🏾🙌🏾👐🏾🙏🏾✍🏾
Respect for Finland from India. Norda Norda.
Please go a little more in-depth on the Finnish guerilla forces, called the "sissi" troops. These guys did crazy operations behind enemy lines and were feared and respected by both sides of the war
Lauri Törni
@@esapuhakka5494 Larry Thorne
Thanks! Great documentary!
dont talk to me ever again
Dont forget to mention the over 8200 swedes that fought for Finland during the Winter War n part 2.
Sweden also sent 131,000 rifles, 42 million cartridges, 450 machine guns, 132 field artillery guns, 100 anti-aircraft guns, 85 anti-tank guns (including 256,000 grenades), and 8 military aircraft to Support Finland
It is still widely remembered in Finland.
@@kasperssononeandonlywe are very thankfull about swede and baltic, and other fighters with ours. That must not be borgotten.
Well - to be precise some 8.260 Swedes wanted to fight for Finland. Out of them two strengthened battalions (1.500 men each) actually got to the front for the last two weeks of the war. One more similar battalion managed to reach the front for the last two days.
More action saw the squadron sized Swedish F19 Air Regiment, with 12 Gloster Gladiators, 5 Hawker Harts and 270 soldiers. Its successful aerial operations lasted from 12.1.1940 to 13.3.1940.
And you Still Sweden for that..THANK you..That Day Sweden get sended Zink coufins, then we hear...WAR KILLS..Freedom COSTS..What wrong with Sweden..??
I'm assuming Part 2 will cover the fact that the Finns would isolate and wipe out entire columns of Russians bogged down in the awful conditions which the Finns were adept at moving in rapidly on skis, etc. . From those columns they scavenged and greatly enhanced their available heavy weaponry and equipment.
Hope there is mention about captured tanks and turning them into turrets. It always brings a smile to my face
For the Russians, advancing was a cold, wet nigthmare. For the Finns, it was a first person looter shooter.
Because the Russians were not familiar with different seasonal fluctuations?
Hm, Napolean's forces in the early 19th century may have begged to differ (if only they had survived long enough...)
@@danalasmane6191
No you're right, Russian soldiers would obviously be used to bitter cold and snow, that by itself wasn't the problem. The problem was they used Germany's prior blitzkreig tactics as their model. But they tried to implement it in the middle of winter on the karelian isthmus. The karelian isthmus looks like it was shotgun blasted with lakes; this naturally funneled their mechanized push into chokepoints. Finns fought as light infantry and were able to move much faster and encirle. The terrain in the northeast is very similar although not on an isthmus which itself is a chokepoint.
But your general point stands- all else being equal, Russian soldiers are some of the best winter fighters in the world.
Not all winters are the same. Soviet forces were mostly trained in Ukraine. They would have been really well equipped to fight in the southern steppes of Europe.
Winter warfare is rare, and this one was the northernmost winter offensive in the recent history. Then again, even the viking Heimskringla saga mentions Finns in war being led by general Frost.
love these videos
Literally just searched for a video on this subject because I’ve watched most of the other ones in the past, and caught this one an hour after posting 😁
Would love a video on the Gurkhas! 🇳🇵🇬🇧
A lot of those Nepalese who fail the military selection for the Gurkhas to serve the British Army are now joining the Russian Army to fight in Ukraine.
@@johnroche7541 I’m curious how many Nepalese have actually joined the Russian foreign legion, headlines are usually sensationalist.
Regardless if they’re not western trained Gurkhas, it doesn’t really matter since they’re not taking all that knowledge and training to the other side. They’re just civilians with no military background at the end of the day
An excellently scripted presentation, thank you.
Great video.The Arditi in WW1 could be a great topic
Thanks for a brilliant history lesson. I recall "the three from Haparanda."
Invicta, can you guys do more units of history talking about soldiers from the medieval era? I know you guys covered some of them like the varangian guard, but i think it'll be cool if there's a video about winged hussars, gendarmes, templars, etc etc
Brilliant
Remember the artillery barrages unleashed on the Mannerheim Line were the heaviest the world had witnessed since those on the Western Front in WW1.
no id ont
Finland, P4P, was probably the best fighting force in WW2.
In the specific conditions of Finland, definitely. Finns also managed to adapt for the large-scale offensives and pitched battles of the Continuation war, although with heavy arms support from Germany. When it comes down to adapting to terrain all across the globe (Britain and the USA) or large offensive operations (Germany and the USSR), there were more capable forces. All comes down to the situation at hand.
You can definitely make that argument given how under resourced Finland was at the time with what they achieved. Germany can be overrated at times, what really defines excellence is to fight and succeed in an impossible situation.
The last picture: It's impossible to see three Suomi-SMGs in one picture. One, yes. Two, unlikely, three, impossible! There just were not that many available.
This is quite good but I have to point out a mistake at 5:40. Finland declared her independence in Dec. 6th 1917. The first Finnish constitution is from year 1919.
Honestly I agree with you at 5:40 Brian Griffin should have appeared holding a wine glass
SU never declared war on Finland, that's why they were ousted from the League of Nations for this dirty move.
They painted the snow with the blood of the invaders. They are an inspiration of courage and boldness.
The same way Russia is doing to you 🤣
@@Jareers-ef8hp I am Brazilian. And is the other way around.
@@vitorpereira9515low i bot
Here comes the Z-tards. He's saying that because of your flag picture.
@@vitorpereira9515 You only wish it was the other way around, your boys are getting smoked right now 🤣😮💨
Just to add to my previous post the "Discovery Channel" in its "Battlefield" series dedicated an episode to the Winter War. I highly recommended it.
Very well done Video. Thank you very much
During 1939-44 red army tried twice to crack Finnish defence lines. Well lines bended but not broke. Half million Red army soldiers 6ft under during border lines as a result. Hopefully lesson learned.
Полмиллиона 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
This war is an evergreen but if anyone's interested in the same story from a good military history channel I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's videos series
Cheers and Respect to all the Karelian folks out there!
They're russian.
@@hulking_presence п'яний москоль клоун 🤡
One of the biggest ironies is that Mussolini wanted to support the Finns( while the British and French procrastinated) with weapons but Hitler would not allow it as he had recently signed a non aggression pact with Stalin and did not want to jeopardise it! Unbelievable. Check out the movie "Talvisota" from the late 1980's which is set during this conflict. Absolutely great war movie. There was a great documentary shown on the "History Channel" ( when it was a real history channel!) a number of years ago called "Frozen Hell". This was fantastic. There is another war movie based on true events about Swedish volunteers in the Winter War but I forget the name. Does anyone know it? There was an ambulance unit comprised of American volunteers and they had the head of an Iraquoi Indian as an emblem. The.great horror actor and Lord of the Rings and Hobbit star Sir Christopher Lee wanted to volunteer for the Winter War.
Finland bought 50 Fiat planes from Italy, but Germany said they would be shot down if they were flown to Finland. So they never made it to Winter War.
@@RoyalMela Not quite that many, 35 planes, but the type was called Fiat G-50, maybe you confused it with that? They were ordered before the War, and two of them arrived already in December 1939, but Germany was delaying the rest. Some arrived still and in late February 1940, 14 Fiat G-50 planes were in active duty and 12 more came in early March. So part of them actually made it to the War.
Just that French and British delivered and also donated remarkable amount of material, despite being at war with Germany: France donated 30 Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighter planes, which were in active duty (not any Spitfire, but rather useful type), artillery like 48 pieces of old 155mm field guns (model 1877!), but delivery was slow through Norway and Sweden, because of war with Germany, and they and other type of field guns arrived in Finland only after the armistice. British donated 24 obsolete Gloster Gauntlet fighters and 10 Gladiators, Finns bought 20 Gladiators (without armour plates and self-sealing tanks, which made them much less useful), 12 Blenheim I and 11 Blenheim IV bombers, which were all used in the war. I'm not sure, but likely Brits delivered some other material, like ammunition too.
Sir Christopher made it even to Finland. Aged 17(!) as a military academy student, Lee was with British volunteers two weeks there, was posted on guard duty, safe distance from fighting. His father was British officer BTW.
@@ericv.1420 Sir Christopher's Lee's father served in the Boer War and they are very alike in appearance. In fact the image of each other. There is a picture of his father in uniform in the Boer War in Sir Christopher's memoir "Tall,Dark and Gruesome".
Even though i'm biased as a finn, i think finnish light infantry in woods was pound for pound most efficient fighters in whole of WW2.
My grandfather was maxim machinegunner, other one was rifle soldier in island Mantsi in lake Ladoga.
Its all about "fire and movement". Skiing is the way of gods to movement in snow.
Great doco. Where is part 2? Cant find it.
As a Finn, I approve the video. Great work, big up!
✍🏿✍🏿✍🏿✍🏿✍🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿✌🏿👈🏿 THROWIN UP THE UPSIDE DOWN M BECAUSE YLL N'S BE SILENCING REAL AFRICAN HISTORY (brian griffin truth)
At least with my service, we still train skiing and combat on skis, they are actually very effortless compared to moving on foot in hip-deep snow behind some moose-legged sergeant.
Silence is a great bonus. You won't hear a combatant on skis if you stand close to a running engine. From 20 meters flat and no branches etc, complete darkness you won't even know there was someone there.
Much the same in Norway. I have had my turns pulling sleds, sleeping in tents and snow caves, and almost freezing my balls off. Good to have you on our side....
@@javel114 Occasional "perrrrkele!" Can be heard when a branch hits the skiers face tho.
@@LKLM138 this is wholely accurahe. Coming down a ridgeline with a KVKK 62 and some AT- mines is fun. Tree hugging and plenty perkeleful.
@@javel114 I swear, the KVKK is not designed with skiing in mind, there is no way to carry it comfortably while trying to ski... kulmikas painava vittusaatana
Finish soldiers fought bravely they had patriotic rights for defending their's country borders...Finland government utilized Germans but not allowed 🚫 Germans utilized Finish soldiers...what a smartness tactic practiced by 🇫🇮 Finland..thank you respectful (Invicta) channel 👍🏻 for sharing
Finish soldiers fought bravely they had patriotic rights for defending their's country borders...Finland government utilized Germans but not allowed 🚫 Germans utilized Finish soldiers...what a smartness tactic practiced by 🇫🇮 Finland..thank you respectful (Invicta) channel 👍🏻 for sharing
Finish soldiers fought bravely they had patriotic rights for defending their's country borders...Finland government utilized Germans but not allowed 🚫 Germans utilized Finish soldiers...what a smartness tactic practiced by 🇫🇮 Finland..thank you respectful (Invicta) channel 👍🏻 for sharing
Finish soldiers fought bravely they had patriotic rights for defending their's country borders...Finland government utilized Germans but not allowed 🚫 Germans utilized Finish soldiers...what a smartness tactic practiced by 🇫🇮 Finland..thank you respectful (Invicta) channel 👍🏻 for sharing
Finish soldiers fought bravely they had patriotic rights for defending their's country borders...Finland government utilized Germans but not allowed 🚫 Germans utilized Finish soldiers...what a smartness tactic practiced by 🇫🇮 Finland..thank you respectful (Invicta) channel 👍🏻 for sharing
Try Steel Division 2 RTS if you want to play as fins. Or any other nation of europe.
You know I think if the Russian Empire didn't fall there would be a lot of separatist movements to try to break free from Russia like the Polish but that would have been near impossible because of just the economic power of the Russian Empire and just the sheer amount of Manpower they can use to put down a rebellion
"What if", the curse of history....
Russian Empire was that rotten and corrupt that it did not have too much chances. Thus it collapsed in the pretty much worst possible way. Get over it.
Always Paradox and their DLCs incentivising creators to make videos on it.
Battles of the Winter War (not in order):
Battle of the Raate Road: Finnish victory
Battle of Kelja: Finnish victory
Battle of Kollaa: Finnish victory
Battle of Salla: Finnish victory
Battle of Suomussalmi: Finnish victory
Battle of Summa: both won once
Battle of Kuhmo: Stalemate (no winners)
Battle of Honkaniemi: Soviet victory
Battle of Taipale: Finnish victory
Battle of Tolvajärvi: Finnish victory
Battle of Varolampi Pond: Finnish victory
Winter War: USSR victory😂😂😅😅😂
@@user-ip1ue5dt7v Stalin wanted to be the winner on paper even though he didn't succeed to get the whole land and the government of Terijoki never happened (he failed even though he backstabbed and surprised the Finns by breaking the non-aggression pact).
It's interesting to think how different the 20th century would have been if Russia didn't become communist which would mean the Russian Empire survives we actually will get a much better and more peaceful 21st century
@@benjamingarrett1175you might be right but the Cold War would have been completely different there's
no Red Scare across America both of the regimes don't like communism communist China wouldn't exist Russia would keep Manchuria never get back to China
America could have won Vietnam there would be no invasion of Afghanistan
so that would mean no Taliban and no 911 and if there's an Iranian Revolution then the Russians could invade but that would put the US in a very sticky situation😅
So as much as the US would try to demonize Russia it would be really hard without a communist thing
It would still be an autocratic and imperialistic country populated by Russians so there's no reason to assume that it would be better
@@dominicadrean2160 russia demonized itself
There is a reason why no country west from russia like them
@@KristianKumpulawill the Russian birth rate wouldn't be shot so there would be no aging population problem most communist regimes wouldn't exist that means all the deaths that occurred under those regimes would be alive
No communist China no North Korea no Vietnam War because the Chinese Republicans would have won the civil war against the Communists no Taliban means no 911
Why do people think absolute monarchies are bad you know democracies fall more into dictatorships I mean even the Socrates prove that in his own time
@@dominicadrean2160Where did you get the idea that there wouldn't been Taliban (well maybe not with that name but mujahedins anyway)? USSR went to Afganistan just because there was that group of religious fanatics and they were afraid that it will spread to the islamic parts of USSR.
As a fin I'm pleased that they turned to communism in Russia. First: It made them weaker. Second: USSR behind the border forced our ruling class to create social security state. If they wouldn't there had been civil disorders, no unity and USSR supporting rebellion. Same logic that USA used with Japan after war: high standard of living to the people and they won't turn to communism.
So the the irony of communism is that it didn't create a working class paradise in USSR but in the west it did. Btw, have you noticed what has happened to the western middle class after 1991? You don't have to earn very much when you notice that the owners of the company you work have lower income tax rate than you. And if you put up your own firm you notice that big boys in your line of business still have much lower tax rate than you because all the reliefs are made for big boys.
White Finns came from the lowlands, farmers and land owners, while reds were factory workers. Northern Finland was totally avoid of any effects of the civil war. With our civil war, europe also got its first concetration camps, camps for the reds, where the majority of the red casualties happened. The camps were at my home city, at Kalevankangas Tampere.
3:48 that picture in the upper left corner is from a memorial picture of Eugen Schauman, a Finnish patriot, shooting governor general Bobrikov in 1904. After which mr. Schauman shot himself.
When you hear the snow and the woods speaking and or whispering Finnish, it's all over.
I love the pronounciation of suojeluskunta. Sewjealouscunt-a
Only it's not how you pronounce it
@@hulking_presence I know, I made fun about their pronunciation.
Next you should do the Rhodesian Light Infantry and Selous Scouts next.
Also fireforce
no
@@funy-xw2tj why the hell not?
Hevily romanticised story about winter war.
...said a Russian troll.
@@RoyalMela No finnish soldier.
@@kir7468 get a job
I only clicked cause I read the title and thought “hmm this video should include Simo HayHa”😅. Simo Hayha aka ‘The White Death’ was one of the most badass sniper to ever use a rifle, maybe the very best.. I think it was like 400+ kills in under a year while using Iron Sights & No Scopes! Thats a whole new level of deadly, thats even beyond Call of Duty possibilities 😂 a 400+ K/D (kill-death ratio).
И на сколько это может евлятся правдой если не один снайпер который воевал во ВМВ или любом другом конфликте больше не смог побить эти цыфры. Может у них совесть была?
@@user-ip1ue5dt7v there's no conscience in war. Häyhä may not have been the most skilled sniper ever, but the circumstances happened to be heavily in his favour. He was operating in a familiar environment and weather, with familiar equipment, performing a familiar task (he was an accomplished squirrel-hunter), with no leaf-cover, and nearly unlimited choice of positions to stalk from.
Sweden donated 30% of its arms to Finland despite shortage in everything.
10.000 swedes also volunteered in the fight for Finland.
prove it, ugly
Also Sweden gave a safe place for many finnish children.
8 000 swedes*
Very good video on the brave & plucky Finn's of WWII. Also I believe Finn's used foot wrappings, not socks.
👋🏾🤚🏾🖐🏾✋🏾🖖🏾🤏🏾👌🏾✌🏾🤙🏾👈🏾👉🏾🖕🏾👆🏾👇🏾👏🏾🙌🏾👐🏾🙏🏾✍🏾
czcams.com/users/shortsBmc9NFfhx74?si=WW4h1gHGDsWYDcSQ
Where is part 2? Been so long
have to love it when people try to pronounce some finish words. :D
8:29 Just FYI, "suojeluskunta" is not pronounced as "sewer jealous skunta"
lmao
Perkele
Goodbye Invicta
my grandpas dad Hans Kalm was in russian imperial army, then finnish white army, then volunteer in estonian war of independency. he has wikipedia page. He lead the first finnish soldiers to touch with germans.
wow he must have an incredible story to tell
Have you visited Kuhmoinen
he died long time ago before i was born@@InvictaHistory
yes like 5 years ago, also in my home town, there is a church wall, they shot red against it, you can see the bullet holes still. its next to my old high school.@@454FatJack
Hans Kalm had lots of dead around. Just saying
Perkele!
part 2 doesnt exist yet?
i like heard invicta story in sweden and russia war in finlan ALAVUS
The Nordic countries are Finland🇫🇮 Sweden 🇸🇪 Norway 🇸🇯 Denmark 🇩🇰 and Iceland 🇮🇸
The Baltic countries are: Estonia 🇪🇪 Latvia 🇱🇻 and Lithuania 🇱🇹.
youre right in brackets im lying
How did the Soviets get their soldiers to charge? They told them there was bread at the Finnish line.
They once found hot sausage soup.
I hope you will also cover the Continuation War (1941 - 1944) and the Lappland War (1944 - 1945)....
so far i know not realy much KV2 got into finnland mostly all diffrent lite russian tanks bt, and co was ther.
Could there possibly be Snowboard Troops in the future? 🤔
Hard to go cross country on snowboards....
@@Lassisvulgaris Shows what I know.
Yet another use for the traditional white bedsheet!
Looks like the winter war was for both parties a race... For the Finnish line.
Yeeeeaaah! 😎
While the finnish resistance in the winter war was absolutely brilliant, it's also good to remember that it was the enemy who did a ton of horrendous mistakes to capitalize on. Due to Stalin's purges, there were few competent commanders around left in the Red Army, and their troops were ill-equipped for winter, which was particularly harsh. Launching a winter assault with bad preparation is bad enough, just look at Napoleon's attack on Russia - and he could hardly be called incompetent. Combine that with a extremely motivated and trained resistance, it's no wonder the Winter War went so tits up for the Russians.
And it's important to note that, for all that, we still *lost* the war, and (casualties aside) the Soviets got all they asked for, and more.
Additionally, they learned lessons from the war that helped them a lot in the later war, while the percieved Soviet ineptitude encouraged the NAZIs to their diastrous invasion of the USSR.
If Hitler had learned from the Winter War instead how effective Soviet units remained when cut off from their command structure, he might have been more cautious than to launch a Blitzkrieg attempt.
Your wording is pretty vague and confusing. The purge impacted the officer corps as a whole but the lack of combat experience showed mostly in the lower officer ranks on the field. Commanders as in pencil pushing Generals were still around but the problem was that Stalin did not listen to one of the better ones called Timoshenko who would have concentrated all force on the Karelian isthmus. Stalin wanted to show that Soviets can do what Germans do and ordered two dumber yes men to come up with a plan which basically included attacking the whole 1300 km long border. The two incompetet Generals made a plan with this request in mind and created three points of concentration all hundreds of kilometers away from each other along the long border. That was a supply nightmare. After three months of Soviets being absolute annihilated, Stalin finally agreed to go with the original plan and the rest is history.
@@ilmari1452 You repeat what Finlandization-influenced idea that the Soviets or Russians are rational people but they did not fight a small neighboring country just for a piece of land. They wanted to crush the whole country under their power and influence. If they only took what they needed, why would have they taken the Baltic countries instead of just having the garrisons they requested?
Regressive Russification is the name of my Yakov Smirnoff cover band
my grandfather fought winter war as a counter artillery
As a Finn a approve this message. My granpas and oldest ungle fought in that war.
Interesting fact: Antitank game was weak but inventive. Large firewood was also used as weapons against tanks by inserting them into the moving tank's tracks. Of course, it was no easy task.
That is not true. However In the 1930s, the issue was investigated, but it was found to be ineffective.
@@kiljucook7625 It is true. Logs jammed into tracks was not meant as a permanent way to eliminate the tanks, but just to stop them for a while, as long as molotov cocktail or a kasapanos was thrown into tank.
This video is very ironic consider Finland's recent diplomatic action.
Finland my homeland💪🏻🇫🇮
The Finnish Army have the German rifle 98k and later using captured Soviet weapons like the DP-28 lmg, 45mm atg, T-26 and BT-5 tanks, 122mm artilery and mortars. It was the Soviet Army provide the Finnish Army with a lot weapons and ammo that the Finnish Army don't have during the war.