The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940 (Paperback)

~ Eloise Engle (Author), Lauri Paananen (Author) "Were you to travel from the Arctic Ocean to the city of Leningrad, along the Russo-Finnish border in the year 1939, you would have had..." (more)
Key Phrases: panzer brigade, winter war, field cannon, Karelian Isthmus, Red Army, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This is a paperback edition of Engle and Paananen's authoritative account of the Winter War.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books (January 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811724336
• ISBN-13: 978-0811724333
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #176,473 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Trotter's "A Frozen Hell" is much better, January 30, 2003

By	Ensio N Mikkola "book worm" (Gaithersburg, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do yourself a favor and buy this book!, June 26, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

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!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A summary of the War between the Soviet Union and Finland., October 9, 2003

By	Kevin M Quigg (Carol Stream, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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.