Customer Reviews

Winter War, The: The Soviet Attack on Finland, 1939-1940

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found the topic of the Russo-Finnish war so intriguing that I bought this book as well as the one by William Trotter (the only ones I could find). This book ("The Winter War") was a true pleasure to read, and exceeded my expectations. I was a little nervous when I bought it, given some of the poor reviews given by a few of the previous readers. My only guess is that they were thinking of a different book, or found the reality of the Soviet Union as an aggressor inconsistent with their worldviews. I should have been tipped off when the one reviewer questioned why the Finns didn't give Stalin what he was asking for! I read the entire book in a single day, and can tell you that it is an extremely exciting story. The book mixes actual accounts from those involved throughout the history, which makes it read like a novel. As far as the one reviewer's comments about the editor not having a good command of the English language, I honestly did not find any such problem. I was an English minor in college, and tend to be fairly sensitive to such problems. Rereading the review in question, I suspect that his real issue was with the portrayal of the Soviet Union as the aggressor.

As far as the other book ("A Frozen Hell"), I sent it back for a refund. That book actually portrays Stalin as the victim!

This is a nice summary book of the war between the Soviet Union and Finland. This book was written back in 1973, and the one on sale here is a reprint. Trotter's book, A Frozen Hell is probably a better book because it gives an analysis of the war, where this book are reflections of the war from the Finish viewpoint. However this book has merit, simply because it has recorded some of the sufferings on the Finish side, in the war with a super powver.
For those people wanting a balanced point of view, go with Trotter's book. For those who only need a brief history of this event, this is an adequate and very readable book, complete with pictures. As one of the previous reviewers has pointed out, one of the authors is a Finn, and this is his first book, so the wording might be a little stilted. However, I don't think it detracts from the story of a war where the Soviets may have suffered over a million casualities, while inflicting only 50,000 casualities on the Finnish population. The Soviets bit off more than they could chew when they decided to invade Finland.

This is by far the most commonly seen book on the Winter War and the book seems to have had great commercial success. It is often the first book on the Winter War the English reader encounters and as such is seen in many reference libraries. It has been widely distributed and can be located at a number of outlets, being one of the few books dealing with the Winter War that can be located at many local bookstores.

Overall this book is quite respectable and does lay a general overview of the events of the Winter War. The writing of the book is easy to follow, the maps are adequate, and the photos are excellent. The book does not go into great detail and will leave some gaps for the reader but I do not feel the intent of this book to be anything more than a general outline and history of the war. As such it does accomplish what the authors intended to do.

Most of the information that is found in the work seems to be correct and accurate but it does gloss over and leave the reader wanting a bit more. It is an excellent book for one with a slight interest in the Winter War and it also serves as a good introduction for later research. This is indeed the first book that I read that detailed the Winter War and I found it fascinating. The authors do a very good job at communicating what was taking place during the war, the major causes of the war, and many details of the major encounters of the war.

For the first time reader or researcher this is a good source to get your feet wet.

Being of Finnish descent, I was very proud to read of the Finns and what they were able to accomplish against the Soviet aggressors. My father had talked often of the Winter War and this is the book that truly explains what sacrifices and hardships the Finns had to face during that fateful time in their history. Their "sisu" or pluck as some would call it, was quite evident in taking on a much larger enemy. Many young Finnish men were lost in the conflict, but it was their determination and "sisu" that have helped to keep Finland strong. The book was very nicely written and easy to read in an afternoon. There aren't that many books I could share with my father, but this was one of those rare gems that we both enjoyed reading. I highly recommend it to anyone to add to their history collection of WWII.

There are a number of books available on the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union, which was fought for a few months from Dec '39 to March '40. Even so, the war is little known in the west, coming as it did just after the Nazi/Soviet partition of Poland, during the Sitzkrieg, and just before the Nazi invasions of Norway and Denmark. Little Finland held off a Soviet onslaught for several months before superior numbers and equipment finally wore the Finnish defenders out. Meanwhile, the world debated whether to aid the Finns, occupied as they were with Nazi aggressions.

The book is written anecdotally, giving a flavour of the nature of the fighting in the war, rather than a strategic overview of causes and a tactical description of the campaign. This is a wise move as the Winter War was tactically simple - there were no fancy maneuvers, it was basically soldier-to-soldier fighting in the dark and cold, where the elements were at least as dangerous as the enemy. That's not to say that statistics and battles are not described, but they are not the important or interesting part of the book.

The authors are Finnish and the story is told almost exclusively from the Finnish point of view. Originally written in 1973, they would not have had access to Soviet records. They do give a feel for the Soviet soldier's lot, however, based on interviews with POW's. I am satisfied that, with the information available at the time, the facts are accurate - the Finns DID wipe out entire divisions (with the help of the cold and snow), the Soviets DID curl up into defensive positions and lose the initiative, and the guerrilla tactics used by the Finns (much like those used in current-day Iraq and in Vietnam) rubbed the invaders' nerves raw and sapped morale. Most interesting, however, is the analysis of the political situation from the Finnish point-of-view: would acceptance of foreign aid, for example, actually extend the war and/or hamper negotiations during the peace talks?

Unfortunately, the story is incomplete. At 200 pages, there's ample room to include the Continuation War (after Finland formally allied itself with Nazi Germany and tried to reclaim their lost territory). Also, the writing style is almost juvenile, compared to the smooth and precise prose of Keegan, Churchill, etc. English is probably not the first language of at least one of the authors. Therefore, the book is interesting and useful, as far as it goes, but it is too short and not written well enough to be called a classic.

This small book is an easy, engaging read about an often overlooked chapter of WWII. It offers a broad outline of the conlict, and does an adequate job of outlining its causes and the major players involved. Where it really shines, however, is in its use of first hand anecdotes to move the narrative along. Some of the most powerful commentary on war and combat I have ever encountered can be found in these pages.

I would reccommend following up this book with Trotter's "A Frozen Hell", as it offers a signigicantly more thorough investigation of the causes and politcal aspects of the war. Still, "The Winter War" is is an enjoyable, informative work.

Clearly, this is history written mostly based on the Finnish experience defending their small country from the onslaught of a giant neighbor, a David and Goliath story. Although in this one, Goliath eventually won, it was at such cost that the Germans took careful notes, and is a contributing factor to their eventual decision to invade the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941.

Here is a good primer about the Winter War, the cause and effect, including a general introduction about Field Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim, the Finnish CIC, who strange as it may seem, was never a real nationalist and who barely spoke Finnish (he learned the language when he was well past fifty) but instead spoke the great cultural languages of Europe. The book goes on to relate his able leadership, correctly assessing the other side's weaknesses despite the great disparity of strength between the two nations. The centerpiece of the war was the great Finnish victories at Tolvajarvi and Suomussalmi, where in the latter battle, an understrength Finnish division went on to stop and almost completely annihilate one Soviet division in a pincer counter-offensive and dispatching another division sent out to help. Eventually, Soviet losses were staggering (Khrushchev later admitting one million of them lost their lives in this frozen hell) that in Russia, a general was said to have said that they "have won enough territory to bury their dead."

Although Finland eventually ceded 22,000 sq. miles of territory, it is a history of a plucky nation unwilling to submit to the realities of world politics at that time. However, this is still not a definitive work. For example, the actual amount of reparations to the Soviet Union for both the Winter War and the Continuation War was never mentioned, ("it was enormous") and mentioned only that the Finns paid it off eventually (by 1955, an amazing feat in itself which was never mentioned). The sector battles on other fronts was never as detailed as the principal battlefields. The appendices were very helpful nevertheless, and as mentioned before it is a good primer to the Winter War.

I'm not sure but this book feels like it was translated directly from Finnish to English. Some of the grammar and sentences are a bit odd, and not all the terminology is explained that well. Also, the author seems to see the glass as having been half-filled, so to speak, as it regards to Finland's heroic last stand against the Soviet juggernaut. Although she does acknowledge that the miraculous triumphs of 1939 ultimately led to Finland's defeat in 1940, and mentions the painful concessions that followed, the author, like most Finns, lets her patrotism diminish her vision of what really happened and the consequences. Trotter is much more objective. He portrays the war as it really was, a brutal and mostly forgotten part of the second World War. If you really want to know more about the Winter War, get this book and "A Frozen Hell: The Finno-Russo War of 1939-40" by William R. Trotter.

This book was not meant to be a political study, but rather a research effort to record the heroic deeds and events that happened in the War with the Sovit Union before they were lost to history. The authors do give some background into the war and some insight into the Soviet reasoning. This, however, is not the main thrust of the book. The individual stories make this an exciting book to read. The tremendous hardships endured are scarcely even imagined today much less experienced. I recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in Finland and World War Two.

A few reviews have unfavorably compared this book with Trotter's Frozen Hell, but they have missed the point. Trotter's book is an exhaustive look at the military aspects of the Winter War. If you are only looking for such a treatise, then buy Frozen Hell. But if you are looking for the humanitarian aspects of that conflict, then Winter War may be better for your needs. For instance, Winter War contains a photo of one of the many Finnish children who were tagged and shipped to Sweden for safekeeping, as well as a description of that tragic episode. Trotter not only omitted a photo on that subject, he does not mention it at all in the narrative.