The 105-day war between Finland and the Soviet Union in the winter of 1939-1940 has been overshadowed by the larger conflicts of the Second World War, which followed closely after it. The courageous resistence of the only neighbor of Stalin's Russia, which fought the Red Army and survived as a free and independent nation merits this closer look. Although the diplomatic background of the Winter War has been covered before, this is the first substantial English-language study of its dramatic military encounters.
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About the Author
Allen F. Chew has specialized in Russian Affairs for more than 30 years. Chew was a research fellow at the Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth. He received his doctorate at Georgetown University in Russian history, and he has taught in that field for the University of Maryland, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where he also served as chairman of the history department. Among his publications are An Atlas of Russian History and The White Death. He is also a regular contributor to Military Review and other professional journals.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Easy Read,
This review is from: White Death: The Epic of the Soviet-Finnish Winter War (Paperback)
This is an easy read and is very imformative about a little talked about war. It deals with the peolple of Finland defending their homeland against an aggressive Soviet Union attempting a takeover during the winter of 1939-1940. This study is based on interviews with veterans who held significant posts, research in the official Finnish archives, and examination of the scant Soviet literature on the subject. While the true pictures of most wars are studies in shades of gray, this one is basically a contrast in stark black and white. I won't spoil it by telling you details of the war and how it ends. Let's just say it's worth picking up a copy.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best one out there...,
By
This review is from: White Death: The Epic of the Soviet-Finnish Winter War (Paperback)
Trotter's "A Frozen Hell" is fantastic in its own way as well but even Trotter himself in the sources section of "Frozen Hell" called Chew's work "the best narrative (of the Winter War) in English." In the end, the combination of "The White Death", "A Frozen Hell", and Engle & Paananen's "The Winter War" tell the amazing story of the defense of Finland in 1939-40 as completely as any general U.S. reader would require. Read all 3 and you'll get the picture.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dedicated to the memory of the more than 23,000 Finns who gave their lives in the Winter War defending their country's freedom,
By
This review is from: White Death: The Epic of the Soviet-Finnish Winter War (Paperback)
The dedication at the start of the book tells you where Chew's sympathies lie. And rightly so.
Alan Chew's "The White Death" was perhaps the first of the second generation of English-language books to be written and published on the Russo-Finnish Winter War (the first generation being those books written in the immediate aftermath of the war or in the 1950's). Written in 1971, this book strongly influenced William Trotter, the author of "A Frozen Hell," perhaps the most authoritative current book on the Winter War, and that fact speaks for itself. Chew's book was out of print for many years, fortunately it was republished by Michigan State Press in 2002 and is now rather more easily available than it had been for a number of years. Which means that if you're interested in the Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-40, you should buy this book while it's still available as, once stocks run out, it may again become very hard to find. Despite it's age, it's still one of the best books available on the Winter War. Chew did an amazing amount of research, basing much of the work on first hand accounts and from first hand material in the Finnish archives as well as published Soviet material (this before the collapse of the Soviet Union, largely focused on the final offensive in the Karelian Isthmus) and his attention to detail and accuracy is evident throughout the book. Like Trotter's "A Frozen Hell," you'll find a lot more information in this book than you will in the more easily available but much lighter book "The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940" by Eloise Engle and Lauri Paanaen (first published around 1973 incidentally), particularly around the various major battles of the war. There's a lot of info in this book that you won't pick up elsewhere, even in Trotter's book. The book itself is well-structured, informative and easy to read, with a wealth of detail and information but, unlike later books on the Winter War, contains no photographs. Perhaps a reflection of the age of the book, although Eloise Engle's book of the same era contains a good selection of photo's. A feature of this book is that the final chapter (of approx 30 pages) covers Finnish involvement in the Continuation War of 1941-1945 as well as comments on post-WW2 Soviet-Finnish relations - something that none of the other books I've read on the Winter War really cover. There's also another 45 pages of commentary and ancillary documentation fleshing out comments and references from within the book itself. All interesting stuff. Overall, I'd rate this book very highly indeed for anyone interested in learning more about the Winter War. This book will leave you with a great deal of respect for the Finn's who fought to successfully keep Finland free and for their outstanding military leader, Field Marshall Carl Gustav Mannerheim. Well worth the trouble of tracking down and buying.
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