Winter War facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Winter War
Part of World War II
A Finnish machine gun crew during the Winter War
Date 30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940 Location Eastern Finland Territorial changes Cession of the Gulf of Finland islands, Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia, Salla, and Rybachy Peninsula, and rental of Hanko to the Soviet Union
Belligerents
Finland Foreign volunteers	Soviet Union Finnish Democratic Republic (A puppet state. Recognized only by USSR.)
Commanders and leaders
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim	Joseph Stalin Kirill Meretskov Kliment Voroshilov Semyon Timoshenko Otto Wille Kuusinen
Strength
337,000–346,500 men 32 tanks 114 aircraft	425,640–760,578 men 998,100 men (overall) 2,514–6,541 tanks 3,880 aircraft
Casualties and losses
25,904 dead or missing 43,557 wounded 1,000 captured 957 civilians in air raids 20–30 tanks 62 aircraft 70,000 total casualties	126,875 dead or missing 188,671 wounded, injured or burned 5,572 captured 3,543 tanks 261–515 aircraft 323,000 total casualties

The Winter War (30 November 1939 - 13 March 1940) was a conflict fought between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began when the Soviet Union tried to invade Finland soon after the Invasion of Poland. The Soviet military forces expected a victory over Finland in a few weeks, because the Soviet army had many more tanks and planes than the Finnish army.

However, the Finnish forces resisted both better and longer than expected. One reason the Finnish forces did better is because they had good winter clothes and they wore white coats which camouflaged them in the snow. As well, the Finnish soldiers moved around on skis, which made it easy for them to sneak up on the Soviet soldiers. The Soviet army did not have good winter clothes, and they wore dark green coats, which made them easy to see in the snow.

The defeated Finns had to give up 11% of their country. They tried to get it back in the Continuation War.

Finnish ski troops

Related pages

• World War II

Images for kids

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  The non-aggression pact signed by Aarno Yrjö-Koskinen and Maxim Litvinov, Moscow, 1932

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  Rybachy Peninsula in 2008. The Soviet Union demanded that the peninsula, the northernmost point of Finland at the time, be ceded along with other areas to protect Soviet assets.

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  Finnish soldiers gathering breakfast from a field kitchen during "additional refresher training" at the Karelian Isthmus on 10 October 1939

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  29 November 1939, foreign press at Mainila, where a border incident between Finland and the Soviet Union escalated into the Winter War

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  Dense forests of Ladoga Karelia at Kollaa. A Soviet tank on the road in the background according to the photographer.

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  Soviet tracks at Kianta Lake, Suomussalmi during a Finnish pursuit in December 1939. Nordic combined skier Timo Murama is pictured.

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  Soviet T-26 Model 1937 "advancing aggressively", as described by the photographer, on the eastern side of Kollaa River during the battle of Kollaa

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  Soviet prisoners of war dressed with new clothes near the Arctic Circle at Rovaniemi in January 1940

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  Finnish officers inspecting Soviet skiing manuals gained as loot from the Battle of Suomussalmi

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  Soviet commander Semyon Timoshenko in 1940

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  11:45 a.m. on 13 March 1940. Finnish soldiers retreating at Viipuri to the demarcation line.

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  Finland's territorial concessions to the Soviet Union displayed in red

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  Franco-British support was offered on the condition their forces could pass freely from Narvik through neutral Norway and Sweden instead of the difficult passage through Soviet-occupied Petsamo