Winter War: 1939–1940 war between the Soviet Union and Finland

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

It began when the Soviet Union invaded 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 troops, tanks and planes than the Finnish Army.

However, the Finnish forces resisted better and much longer than expected. They had good winter clothes and 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 Soviets did not have good winter clothes, and they wore dark green coats, which were easy to see in the snow.

The peace treaty that ended the war in March 1940 left the Finns as a free people.

• World War II