1941

by  Heikki Kekäläinen Simo Häyhä and the numbers Häyhä was a soldier who filled the boots of a fighter in a tight spot. He was a very efficient soldier and he became sort of an idea or symbol of the fighting spirit of the Winter War already during the war. He was a symbol of the fight between David and Goliath. A man who fought against the mechanized army with a rifle. A man who was made a legend, though as a the humble man he was, he probably did not wish such a fate for himself. But it happened and the legend is more alive today than it ever was. And this legend ofcourse includes the number of RKKA soldier who met their fate through Häyhä´s m/28-30 rifle. In public, in literature and especially in various Internet forums numbers are thrown as truth without any knowledge on the matter. This ofcourse is naturally part of being a legend. These numbers 542, 542 + 200, 700 etc. are without any base or reality in them. The numbers have been invented when time has gone by and now th...

On April 23, 2020, an article by Oleg Kiselev, specializing in the history of the Soviet-Finnish wars, dedicated to the hero of the Finnish national epic was published on the popular and reputable site warspot.ru. The following is a Google translation without editing. SIMO HYUYAHIA: MAN-LEGEND OR MAN-MYTH? Simo Hyayuha is a legendary man, one of the most successful snipers in world history, who is credited with more than 500 to 700 confirmed murders committed in just 98 days of participation in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. According to the Finnish version, on average, Hyayuha dealt with 5-8 Soviet fighters every day, making the Red Army so terrified that they called him "White Death." Gregory Mast, the author of the book “Being a Military Sniper,” suggests that Hyayuha made such an indelible impression on the command of the Red Army that later Soviet propaganda specially “wound up” sniper Mikhail Surkov to score 702 Nazis killed in order to overshadow the achieveme...

The history of the Finnish state originates in 1917. A month and a half after the October Revolution, on December 6 (19), 1917, the Finnish Parliament approved the declaration of state independence of Finland. Already after 12 days - December 18 (31), the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Republic adopted the Decree on the recognition of Finland's independence, signed personally by V. I. Lenin. Soviet Decree on the recognition of independence of Finland Nevertheless, after the recognition of Finland’s independence by Soviet Russia, an uprising of Finnish Red Army detachments broke out in Helsinki on January 27, 1918. The same date is considered the start date of the Finnish Civil War. The Finnish Socialist Workers Republic (Suomen sosialistinen työväentasavalta) was proclaimed on the same day. The Finnish Red Guard's further attempt to advance the offensive to the north is unsuccessful, and in early March, under the command of General Karl Gusta...

Дмитрий Шеин All the bravery and good soldiership of Finnish soldiers appeared to be nullified by suicide policy of Finnish government from outbreak of Winter war until armistice at Continuation war. Please have a look. The enormous Soviet superiority at least in numbers was clear. So Finns assumed that there is the only possibility to repulse Soviet strike successfully, it's the involvement of great powers in war, so Soviets, fighting at other fronts with powerful enemies, would have neither enough forces to crush Finland nor focus of their interest in destruction of Finland. But at the same time Finland had no guarantees by any great powers and wasn't involved deeply in negotiations leading directly to obtain such a guarantee in shortest time. So Soviets put pressure on Finland during Finnish-Soviet negotiations and demanded to cede some territories. Finnish government had the fresh Czech case, when great powers refused to fulfill their guarantees, and the mos...