Another Finnished series, good job us! :-) We have been using Ridge Wallets for almost 2 years now. They are 100% stylish and 1000% recommended: www.ridge.com/KINGSANDGENERALS Use Code “KINGSANDGENERALS” for 10% off your order!
Thank you for the informative and well-researched video. My great-uncle fought with the Finnish 21st Infantry Division on the Taipale front. He was killed in action on 7 March 1940, a day after his 26th birthday and six days before the armistice. He had volunteered for frontline service, for as a merchant navy sailor he had been originally exempt from combat duties.
Highest respect to the Finns!! 🇫🇮 You people are a perfect example of the term "lost but won" It gave me goosebumps while watching this series! Valour and courage at its best!! Thank you K&G for this epic video and narration. Love from Sri Lanka
Fun fact: the officer named Grendahl (actually Gröndahl) who is in the video was finnish born but fought in the red army after joining it in 1917. His wife and son moved from Estonia to Finland in 1918. His son would fight in the finnish army against the Soviets and his father.
At the end of WWI and during the interwar years, a lot of communist true believers flocked to the USSR. Some became disenchanted and left but others stayed and became Russian.
The Red Army originally had a significant number of Red Finns as officers, however, they were almost completely annihilated in Stalin's purges, which disproportionately affected non-Russians. Those officers would have had experience fighting in Finnish conditions, so killing most of them just before invading Finland was perhaps ill advised.
@@jant.carlsson5061 why was he a traitor? he was born in the russian empire, finland was a part of it after all until the revolution. i find ur statment strange, since you could make a 180 and claim he was loyal.
on the other hand, Stalin won a buffer region that would stop the Nazis from attacking form the North..... Did shit to stop the Nazi's from attacking from the East, but at least he managed to gain the Fins as an additional threat to the North. So yay communism.
@Marcus Aurelius yes u are right as a finn i know this stuff pretty well, i just thought that u were saying that finns didnt attack ussr later on, my mistake ✌🏻😅
@Marcus Aurelius Dude you completely overgeneralize. It is simply false to assume that every german in the wehrmacht was evil and wanted to slaughter russians just like it is false to say that the normal german soldier was innocent and didnt want to have anything to do with the nazis. But one thing is for certain. A lot of these germans did not deserve to die in gulags.
The aim was never to win but resist the invasion until the enemy realized the cost they would've to pay. Too bad Finland was left to fight alone, lots of promises and sympathy but not much else. the thousand or so swedish volunteers were appreciated and nice gesture but strategically not much else.
@@montolonzo3836 You're rewriting history there, bud. The Germans didn't arrive to help in the Winter War. Instead, the Germans were officially supportive of the Soviets. The British and the French were supposed to come and help, but the war ended before they got the chance.
The only time the Soviets really had a minimal casualty loss ratio was when they fought the Japanese. 9,000 Soviets killed and 20,000 wounded, compared to 21,000 dead, 20,000 wounded and 640,000 captured.
Great video! While in the end Finland had to give more land to the Soviets than Stalin originally demanded, it is easy enough to see what would have happened if the Finland had not resisted: the fate of The Baltic States is there for all to see, and what a miserable, grim fate it was. To quote Stalin himself: "Nobody respects a country with a poor army, but everybody respects a country with a good army. I raise my toast to the Finnish Army"
With all due respect, I do not agree on this one. It's easy to imagine yourself a high commander, claiming that Stalin is an idiot, while in reality it's a meticulous and difficult type of work that takes authority and responsibility to make decisions. Especially when invading a country that not Stalin, nor his intelligence had a fresh information about. He wasn't an idiot, although like any general he made mistakes, and quite crucial ones. In fact none of those generlas during that hard time could counted as an idiot. Let us not forget that on both sides are people with their interest. And while claiming that Soviet Union was a pinnacle of evil, you paint a whole history of people who fought and died for this country.
@@AmorPatem And that's not even the worst thing. If Stalin wanted Finland to "suffer the fate of Baltic states" he could have easily done so. Red army could simply occupy entire Finland, either at the end of Winter war or at the end of WW2. Also, "baltic states" are very much overrated in modern times as some "very important" piece of history, most of them never existed before and until WW1 they were part of the Russian Empire for hundreds of years. If Russians really wanted them destroyed, dead, exiled to Siberia, they had like 3-4 centuries to dispose of those people. I will start respecting Baltic states and believe their grudge against Russia and USSR as genuine when they start disposing of benefits they received. For starters, if they so respect their countries between WW1 and WW2, how about giving Vilnus back to Poland, so the city can become Vilna again? Oh, yes, that present from Stalin is far to big to be despised. But it would be a really good start if Lithuania gave its capital back to Poland and prove it doesn't accept Stalin and USSR in reality.
@@Zadrigo No, no. It is not easy to win even you wanted to do so how considerably ever, when other side will fight back as the Finns did. Why USA did not took over Vietnam or Soviets Afganistan? No doubt they both would have resources and power to do so? The answer is: it woud have been too costly, demanded more blood and caused everlasting querrilla war. In addition Stalin did not have time enough because of the threat of British and French groups getting involved with. Anyway, Russia tried and failed! And this is the possibility for small counties to survive!!
@@johnrockwell5834 Perhaps a better question to ask is how Finland avoided the fate of the Baltics. The countries were very similar, yet Finland avoided their fate and was not absorbed into Soviet Union.
President Kyösti Kallio who wrote the peace treaty said "May my hand wither away from having to write a treaty like this." It was a seriously bitter blow.
@@theawesomeman9821 Finnish advance, take their land back and then front goes quiet for years. Finns not advancing more because they already got heir land back and Stalin not accepting it but doing nothing about it. Trench warfare where nothing happens. Weird right? Hitler even popped a vein in his forhead trying to get Finland advance more into Russia but Mannerheim refused. Yes, the middle part was very boring. And when Germany went on retreat, Stalin started taking Finnish land again. This time everything was bigger and there was more of it in both sides: more guns, more men, more tanks, more planes. The result was the same as Winter War except: even more russian casualties, more destroyed russian tanks, more destroyed russian planes... Oh, then there was the Lapland War. When Stalin forced Finland to drive Germany from their land or else russians would come and "help" (invade Lapland). So Finland was forced to fight against Germany and germans burned the Lapland to the ground on their way out.
@@theawesomeman9821 Soviet Union wanted to continue what was stopped in Winter War and annex whole of Finland. Soviet foreign secretary Molotov traveled to Berlin on November of 1940 asking Hitler's approval of renewing invasion against Finland as Germany and USSR were collaborating under Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement. Hitler refused this permission as he saw another war in Baltic region was not in interests of Germany. After Finland got the information that Soviet Union was willing to continue its offensive against Finland and seeing what has happened to Baltic states on summer of 1940 as they were annexed to USSR, Finland decided to start military co-operation with Germany. German forces traveling from German occupied Norway to and back from Germany were granted transit permit through Finland and German troops were also stationed to Finland. It was also agreed that if war brakes out between Finland and USSR, German troops and Finnish troops will work together and Germany will assist Finland militarily. Germany invaded Soviet Union on 22nd of June 1941. Finland wanted to remain non-participant to this war between Germany and USSR and it was agreed that German troops in Finland do not engage warfare against Soviet Union unless Soviet Union starts it first. Soviet Union nevertheless deemed Finland as enemy and launched massive aerial attack against Finnish cities on 25th of June 1941 starting the Continuation War. Finnish troops launched offensive to recapture territories that were lost on Winter War on July of 1941. Finnish troops recaptured those territories and advanced to Soviet territory on Eastern Karelia mostly by military reasons to safeguard safe return of Finnish civilians to evacuated territories. War was mostly on stalemate from autumn of 1941 to summer 1944 when Soviets launched massive attack against Finnish forces on its goal for complete occupation of Finland. Finnish forces were able to halt Soviet offensive on heavy battles in Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia. After stopping Soviet offensive Soviet Union settled for peace agreement with Finland on 4th of September 1944 which ended hostilities between Soviet Union and Finland and Finland remained independent nation.
The production quality of your videos are outstanding! Even more impressive is how much the style of videos covering different eras looks so unique. Thanks kings and generals!
Sir Winston Churchill: Only Finland - superb, nay, sublime-in the jaws of peril - Finland shows what free men can do. The service rendered by Finland to mankind is magnificent. They have exposed, for all the world to see, the military incapacity of the Red Army and of the Red Air Force.
Can we all appreciate how cool it is that we get to watch such high quality content for free? Like dayum, this is better than most documentaries I’ve seen... recently I started making simple videos myself and the amount of effort it takes is crazy. Hats off to you Kings and Generals!
@Marcus Aurelius incorrect. The entire war consisted of c. 1.000.000 soviet soldiers - max 700.000 at one time. According to a recent Russian study the soviets lost at least 168.000 men dead - plus all the wounded.
Great series! But to me, it feels like there could be more photos from the period to make it even more immersive and to show us the suffering the Finns had to endure protecting their homeland. Overall nice job!
Great video, the animation is amazing! Nice job! Btw you should cover the major battles of the Finnish War (1808-1809) sometime in the future, it would be quite interesting!
Yes, animations were great but Devin knocks the audio out of the park... Check out his UA-cam station Officially Devin, if you haven't already? Good day.
There were no major battles in the Finnish war of 1808-09, in fact there were only like 2-3 fights which could even be considered battles at that time; Oravais 1808, Sävar 1809 and perhaps also Salmi 1808 (depending on how you look at it).
@@deteon1418 There were a lot of skirmishes; not a whole lot of battles though. The ones I mentioned are the ones which can be considered battles by those days' standard. There were absolutely no MAJOR battles though.
Fortifications, artillery, foreign aid - will be of no value, unless the ordinary soldier knows that it is HE guarding his country.” -Field Marshal Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim
@Sharplight Finland didn’t lose the Winter war, since the Soviet Union’s objective was to annex the country. It was a stalemate. What is it that you’ve got against Finland that makes you launch a smearing raid in the comment section?
6:29 at this exact moment my great grand uncle lost his life in Lähde. I know this because my grandmothers mother (his sister) did an extensive research after the war interviewing other soldiers who fought there and we found the documents from our summer cottage. In the papers it is said he died 13th of February when the Russians broke through at Lähde. He died inside (or near) a pillbox right next to the road when the Russians broke through the lines and flanked from the direction of Leipäsuo (east). He was from Viipuri so quite literally died defending his home, around 30km away. His body was never recovered.
It's actually quite emotional to be able to see through this video what happened. And checking from our papers that my great grandmother had done a great work putting together her brothers last moments as her way to deal with the sorrow. Thanks @KingsandGenerals !
they did get the land that they wanted , the soviets never invaded more than they promised ( unlike germany ) even thought they had all power to do so they stopped at the Prut , they stopped at the polish-majority parts , they never took more of China than they claimed
Interesting note - Grendahl (also Gröndahl) who commanded the Soviet 13th Army was actually born in Helsinki. He abandoned his wife, Nina and children during the Russian Revolution to join the Red cause. Nina later remarried a Finnish man and raised the children as Finns. One of them, Boris fought in the Finnish Army during the Winter War against the men his biological father commanded.
@@zeitgeistx5239 shut up you wannabe just because the channel gives a balanced view instead of your version of history calm down you don’t like this channel make your own one with your “factual history”
@@mikhoon Officially was not, but carried out a plan for weakening Soviet union in favor of Nazis. And Also for Sweden, Britain, France, Italy, Denmark etc. The same is today.
@@mikhoon Not true, Finns visited Germany in the beginning of 1940 and was assured that they will be "revenged". Mannheim fanatically hated Russians, especially Bolsheviks just as Nazis do. The West was striving for war with Russia, as always.
USSR went to war to protect Leningrad from Finland that might let Germans operate from its territory, or at least would never dare to say no to the big boys. After bleeding in the snow and being humiliated on the world stage, it finally enjoyed the spoils of the victory: Creation of the exact threat it thought it was neutralizing.
@@timoterava7108 I'd say they had primary and secondary goals. They started the war with intent to annex, but dropped that eventually. Moving the border away from Leningrad wasn't something they were about to compromise on.
'The protection of Leningrad' was their reasoning for demanding land from Finland. After Finns refused, Stalin was: "thanks, now i have a valid reason to start an invasion and blame it on you." Finland was never a direct threat or threat by letting others use their territory. Doing so would expose them to invasion, occupation and annihilation. Excuse, nothing more. But that unprovoked war made sure that when hostilities broke again, Finland would have no hesitation if they should fight again.
@@alaric_ I'm Finnish and quite familiar with the question. Yes, Finland wasn't a threat to Soviet Union until we had been invaded. Kremlin however was poorly informed of our politics, in part thanks to Red exiles of our Civil War slandering the winners as a bunch of pseudo-fascists oppressing the restive workers. It also massively underestimated Finnish capability and will to resist Great Powers. Hence, as I said, it created the exact threat it thought it was neutralizing.
@@theonlylauri I think that the Soviets actually believed they were liberating Finland and when the would cross the border all the Finns would be cheering that's why they waltzed in like on dancing. The communists were really disillusioned and that's why communism failed so spectacularly. Yet there are many who still believe that communism was fine and that it were the evil forces that destroyed the greatness of the Eastern Block.
Great conclusion Fellas, great that it was mentioned how the Fins would be attacking the Soviets months later and who could blame them? Perhaps because of the Winter War is why Fins don't get a knock for palling up with the Nazis?!? Great work as always!
@@yulusleonard985 wrong choice? You seriously think there was any other choice for nation of 2 million people? May i remind you that during the Winter war Soviet union and Nazi Germany were allies and the secret protocol which mentions Finland ended up under soviet rule. The continuation war is intact a direct causality of what happened in Winter war, and of course we already know UK/France had no possibility to aid Finland them them being in war with the Germans... Unfortunately if there is one thing thing history taught us is smaller nations have to put up with the whims of superpowers under dictator rule , no matter how much they would prefer to live in peace..
@@yulusleonard985 Again you conveniently forget what happened in the winter war, where Finland was neutral until Soviet Union invaded. It is kinda difficult to stay neutral if a superpower is invading you, don't you think? So again you are only thinking of a single event when the truth is much more complicated In any case, the situation for Switzerland and Sweden is totally different due to very different geographical and political reasons. I am not going to even comment on that. it's apples vs oranges.
I am from Vyborg and it is nice to learn more about history of my local area. At school we didn't have local/regional history, only overall Russian history and world history. We didn't even truly study WW2 enough unlike previous generations, who can remember dates of some battles from the school still... Our summer house is also at Lebedevka/Honkaniemi at the site of the only tank battle of Winter war. There is even a local legend about the tank in the lake, but noone checked it so far!
@@henriashurst-pitkanen8735 No they weren't. Hitler and Stalin were allies during Winter War. Finland was neutral. Germany and Soviet Union made a pact that divided Europe and Finland was supposed to go to Soviet Union.
@@BLRSharpLight Well @$$ showing my respect is all I can do. Because I can't build a time machine & go back & help the Finns fight that war. Thanks for showing everyone how much of a spoiled ungrateful elitist's snob you are hope you are proud of yourself.
One could argue that what the Soviets learned was that it was considerably easier to attack against an enemy who had run out of ammunition rather than one which was shooting back. After all by the time the Soviet offensive in February 1940 started the Finnish artillery had largely spent what they had had and the artillery could not longer be used unless situation was critical, if even then.
I think this is not the most important, the main reason is the victory of the Bolsheviks in the civil war and the subsequent large-scale purges of all segments of the population of the former Russian empire, during which the military suffered very badly, and especially the command staff. In pre-revolutionary times, the Russian white army coped with the Finns without serious problems. And the new red army after the victory of the revolution, completely drained of blood, was a pale shadow of the white army, so the first years of the war with the Finns were a disaster. At the end, when the USSR went through the crucible of war with Germany, it solved many army problems, and moreover, a new command structure for the army grew up, which in terms of level can be compared with the times of the White Army and possibly even higher. Therefore, at this stage, it was useless for the Finns to fight with such an army, even if they suddenly had wagons of ammunition, it would not have helped.
As the other commenter TIM already said, at this point the Soviet Army had gotten somewhat organized within their upper ranks and the officers actually knew what they were doing. And when an operation aimed at taking Finland failed during December 1939, there was almost a month of relatively "peaceful" time, with no large fights. In reality, after the defeat, the Soviets started re-estimating their strategy on a large scale and plans were drawn up for a massive attack that had the aim of destroying the Mannerheim line and the Soviets started moving huge amounts of equipment (even by Soviet standards to their positions near the line. The attack started with a massive and constant artillery barrage that lasted and lasted, and that coupled with constant harassing attacks from armored and groups and foot soldiers on the Finnish position made it impossible to rotate the exhausted Finnish troops for fresh ones, so a retreat had to be called. Along with the sheer power of the attack, the Finns were surprised with the increased competency that almost all elements of the Soviet army displayed by using armor and foot soldiers together competently. Source: Went to school in Finland, and this is how I remembered it being taught. Of course I'm aware that every country has biases in how they write about their history, but from everything I have read from other sources, this seems to be quite accurate.
Finland never surrendered, thus it was never defeated. A surrender occurs when armed forces on one side are rendered incapable of further combat. They will also usually give up any arms they have left, and submit to winner's will in all aspects. That, is a defeat. Finland negotiated a peace treaty with USSR in 1940 and an armistice in 1944, then another peace treaty only in 1947. An armistice is practically a tie in warfare, where both sides agree to stop hostilities (for now or until a peace treaty is negotiated.)
No one asked for the surrender of Finland either in 1940 or in 1944. If it was not a defeat, then why did the Finnish newspapers come out in a mourning frame?
No one asked for the surrender of Finland either in 1940 or in 1944. If it was not a defeat, then why did the Finnish newspapers come out in a mourning frame?
@@procyonant6805 Finnish delegations of course asked for negations since the war was started by the Soviet Union in 1939, and Russians later on agreed, only because there were real, backed up rumors of Anglo-French intervention. Finnish army just got stronger due to Soviet threat. Finnish papers mourned, and the whole country, because the peace terms from the Soviets directed that you have to give Karelia away (which included the second largest city in Finland and best farming land, black soil) Finnish people were struck and to this day many do not think nice things about Russia. Criminals, who took away our second largest city. Are you in support of this criminal act? The 1941 - 1944 war was about trying to get back the areas we lost in 1939-1940 war, you get it? Surely you understand.
@@HeilAmarth You're right. It was not always a complete defeat and unconditional surrender, as happened with your Estonian brothers in the summer of 1940. Independence was preserved even at the cost of defeat.
Another fantastic vid ty K&G! I'm sure the Finns had a little help with volunteers from other nations. Have you read the book, The Phantom Patrol by W.E.Johns? It's about a small international group of scouts, caught up in the Russo Finn war and it's my favourite novel of all time. It really depicts the tension and desperation, if only someone had made a film of it. It's such a shame no one has thought of doing that. Pls Pls Pls could you make an animation vid about it?
4 роки тому+2
There were about few thousand volunteers(90%+ swedes) that participated in combat for few weeks in the north. There were more volunteers in total, but as the conflict was so short, they simply didn't get ready in time to join the actual fighting. Also, there were some humanitarian volunteers that participated to dangerous duties, for example american ambulances. They didn't fight but they worked on areas that were shelled / bombed at times.
Well to say Finland was defeated when there was never the reality of Finland to win a war against the ussr in the traditional sense is a false narrative as wining was not the goal of Finland. It must also be realized that the red army did not defeat the Finns, while they could have, Stalin balked as he was worried about western intervention and was tired of seeing the train loads of dead and wounded red army and embarrassed by the whole debacle, and he accepted an armistice with Finland, and so the Finnish Army was not defeated in the Winter War and as well was not defeated in the Continuation War either. You can say that Finland lost since they had to cede territory and pay reparations, however for Finland there was never the reality of winning in the traditional sense, there was only surviving as free nation and in that Finland did win.
I read here and there that the soviets were repeatedly denied by the command the appropriate armament, equipment and clothes to fight in the cold. A mistake that the germans would commit as well.
Let us remember those brave Finns and Soviets that fought and died for the interests of their countries. No matter on what side they stood, they did their best to fulfill the future of their generations, regardless of the result of war.
True. I will always side with the Finns obviously but I feel tremendous sympathy for the Soviet young men who probably did not wish for the war either. Why would they, war is hell. Too bad Stalin received the memo only after the war, when both sides had lost some of their bravest and brightest... I remember my grandfathers story when the Finnish MP had to forcefully send some P.O.W.s back to USSR. They did not wish to go, albeit being prisoners, they had better food and arguably more freedom here. And once they got back to USSR many of them were either executed or sent to gulag for being a failure and now a possible dissident to the communist ideology.
one century later and you can see that Finland securing its independence was the real victory. they may have given up an isthmas but stopped repatriation.
@Вхламинго Numbers don't guarantee victory but they are an extremely important key to victory. Especially when the numbers are drastically in favour of the other party.
@Вхламинго Not really? You seriously think numbers are not an important key to victory? Yes, you can win even if you're outnumbered. That's not the point.
I enjoyed the conclusion to this video series. It was a good one. I just hope you people make another video on the Imjin war soon. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
And as usual the soviets gave themselves awards, for example Meretskov who won the Hero of the Soviet Union award, that they were able to defeat an army far smaller then theirs. It is like a grown man with bleeding nose and bruises, would bragging about that he was able to beat a 1. st grader.
If you cover the Continuation War and Lapland War in the future i swear i will kiss you. There is literally zero good videos covering them even tho both wars deserve them, mainly Continuation War which is even more devastating than Winter War and where Finns finally got an ally and some actually good equipment and tanks.
Too nice video with clear explaining of historic event showing in finn's wars huge quantities of armies donating victory to USSR invaders...but finn's soldier's attacked with highly Bravery...thanks for sending
In the Continuation War...Without the help of the Germans, Finland would have been starving because Churchill blocked sea routes from Finland for food. He considered Finland an enemy. This is evident from Mannerheim’s secret folder s32. Worth reading a book " Suomi myrskyn silmässä osa2 (Finnish in the eye of a storm part 2)
@@yulusleonard985 this maybe shocking for you, but there are always two sides of the coin. May i remind you that the actual beginning of continuation war is intact after soviet air raid on Finnish cities in June 25th, 1941, three days after operation Barbarossa. After that, declaration of war followed. Retrospectively speaking, the war was unavoidable of course, as the superpowers had long ago already set their mind in the game.. And just to remind you, while it's true that a buffer zone was created after the beginning of continuation war (very much standard thinking of modern armies, i would argue), not a single Finnish artillery shell was ever fired to Leningrad for example. The Finns were only interested in regaining the lost lands of the winter war. And can you really blame them for that?
@@yulusleonard985 Again you are thinking in somewhat black and white terms. The truth is bit more complicated than that. You are thinking of the continuation war as a single event, while I'm trying to tell you it is a direct causality of what happened in the winter war and the politics followed. And we know who the real aggressor was here. Actions have consequences. Unfortunately the super powers tend to get away from their aggressions, while the smaller countries are not that lucky. Just like it can be argued that the Versailles treaty of WW1 had quite big implication on Germans heading to another world war. All wars are unnecessary, on that we can agree. I also should say Finland never joined the axis treaty, being co-belligerent with Germany is a better term for that. But anyway, i can see that this bickering is leading nowhere. I wish you a nice day 😊
@@yulusleonard985 I am just somewhat disappointed in your world view, when you seem to think USSR did nothing wrong in the world wars. I'm sorry but i disagree with that. Stalin was just as evil as Hitler was. Both were guilty of invading and occupying neutral countries against their will not to mention all the other terrible atrocities these two dictators committed. . Under no circumstance is this acceptable. For Finland things changed forever when USSR made the decision to invade in the winter war and the history was forever altered. I am not saying any country (including Finland) is innocent for some of the events what transpires in a war, after all war brings the worst of us. But I think you should take a bit broader viewer on things to view the overall picture and not just blindly stare at a single event. And can you please stop with the personal insults. Neo nazi? Nazi sympathiser? Do you see me calling you a Neo nazi, because of the secret protocol of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact? No, because that is just childish. I am done, i don't even want to write to you anymore. I wish you a merry Christmas and Happy New year!
@@yulusleonard985 Finland did not broke treaty with USSR as it was USSR who broke peace treaty with Finland by firing and bombing Finnish military positions on Hanko peninsula and Turku archipelago already on 22nd of June of 1941 and then culminating to bombing of multiple Finnish cities on 25th of June 1941 and on evening of that day Finnish parliament approved notion that Finland was in state of war with Soviet Union. German air planes did not used Finnish airfields in attacks against Soviet Union as it was strictly forbidden by agreements between Finland and Germany. German troops in Finland were not engaged in hostilities against the Soviet Union until Continuation War started.
@@yulusleonard985 First Finnish troops that crossed Finnish-Soviet border did that on July 1941, weeks after Continuation War had begun. Finnish troops were on defensive positions on Hanko peninsula on Finnish territory in case of Soviet troops try to attack from there towards Helsinki.
@Uhtred of Bebbanburg Especially the battle of arnhem bridge between the paras and the german panzer divisions they held out for nine days fighting tooth and nail for every building and street despite going up against tanks.
Fortifications, artillery, foreign aid - will be of no value, unless the ordinary soldier knows that it is HE guarding his country.” - Field Marshal C.G.E Mannerheim
@@BLRSharpLight Then you know it took the soviets 4 months to win the war with many times more soldiers, tanks etc. And suffered over three times the amount causalities than the Finns did? I't was a huge embarrassement for the red army, but yes the Finns did lose the war eventually.
@@TheDjtvi It was a charade of course, what lord Iosif wanted was but the whole country, not just a streak of land, i say it ws a very sucessful defense of their homelands.
@@BatmanSeRiedeTi Stalin was bolshevik and the Bolsheviks set the Finns free from the former Russian empire. He never wanted the whole country but just a chance to defend Leningrad in the future war. Finns decided to go to war (on the British and French advice) even later together with war criminals as Nazis.
@@TheDjtvi And i have a bridge to sell you, Stalin was a megalomaniac genocide tyrant, a magnificent one at that but still a tyrant. As bad as Hitler but slyer, he went to the grave undefeated, even this, his bigest defeat terchnicaly counts as a victory. Thus one thing that he didnt knew was meassure, if given the chance he would have conquered the planet, and not for any revolutionary ideal but for himself. I deeply admire the magnificent bastard, ranked second on the top genocides of all time.
@@BatmanSeRiedeTi Obviously you have read a lot of Western propaganda. Tyrant, genocide, slayer, all these written by racists and modern crusaders, hereditary slave owners and slave traders. Try to think with your own mind.
Another Finnished series, good job us! :-) We have been using Ridge Wallets for almost 2 years now. They are 100% stylish and 1000% recommended: www.ridge.com/KINGSANDGENERALS Use Code “KINGSANDGENERALS” for 10% off your order!
Nice pun
Congratulations on finishing a series
Does it means that a new series is coming??
@@35_xe_raghavpatil67 Maybe Napoleon season 3?
@@Τζει-ε5δ well I'm still waiting for the entire history of the Maratha empire
@@35_xe_raghavpatil67 That'll take maybe, 5 months to plan and make for them, I think?
Thank you for the informative and well-researched video. My great-uncle fought with the Finnish 21st Infantry Division on the Taipale front. He was killed in action on 7 March 1940, a day after his 26th birthday and six days before the armistice. He had volunteered for frontline service, for as a merchant navy sailor he had been originally exempt from combat duties.
The North remembers.
Highest respect to the Finns!! 🇫🇮 You people are a perfect example of the term "lost but won"
It gave me goosebumps while watching this series! Valour and courage at its best!!
Thank you K&G for this epic video and narration.
Love from Sri Lanka
Fun fact: the officer named Grendahl (actually Gröndahl) who is in the video was finnish born but fought in the red army after joining it in 1917. His wife and son moved from Estonia to Finland in 1918. His son would fight in the finnish army against the Soviets and his father.
At the end of WWI and during the interwar years, a lot of communist true believers flocked to the USSR. Some became disenchanted and left but others stayed and became Russian.
The Red Army originally had a significant number of Red Finns as officers, however, they were almost completely annihilated in Stalin's purges, which disproportionately affected non-Russians. Those officers would have had experience fighting in Finnish conditions, so killing most of them just before invading Finland was perhaps ill advised.
@@jant.carlsson5061 why was he a traitor? he was born in the russian empire, finland was a part of it after all until the revolution. i find ur statment strange, since you could make a 180 and claim he was loyal.
@@antontornblad160 I have to agree on this one. Also his mother was russian based on her name.
Aah thanks man. I was confused with the rather Swedish name on a Soviet commander.
"Up next: Phyrric Wars" heh, the UA-cam algorithm has some humor
Battle of Greece here lol
WW2 by oversimplified here
Winter War Setup for me
@@rocekth same
@@alexvig2369 a pyrrhic war or battle is where you win but at great cost.
It was an impossible battle to win, but the Finns did their bloody best.
on the other hand, Stalin won a buffer region that would stop the Nazis from attacking form the North.....
Did shit to stop the Nazi's from attacking from the East, but at least he managed to gain the Fins as an additional threat to the North. So yay communism.
@Marcus Aurelius Huh?
@Marcus Aurelius what are u talking about, continuation war was fought between finland and ussr in 1941-1944
@Marcus Aurelius yes u are right as a finn i know this stuff pretty well, i just thought that u were saying that finns didnt attack ussr later on, my mistake ✌🏻😅
@Marcus Aurelius Dude you completely overgeneralize. It is simply false to assume that every german in the wehrmacht was evil and wanted to slaughter russians just like it is false to say that the normal german soldier was innocent and didnt want to have anything to do with the nazis.
But one thing is for certain. A lot of these germans did not deserve to die in gulags.
The Finns could never have won, but damn if they didn’t show the truest human spirit of trying their best.
If the Finns were as numerous as the Soviets they might have won.
they won by holding back hard,
THEN THE GERMANS ARRIVED TO HELP!
The aim was never to win but resist the invasion until the enemy realized the cost they would've to pay. Too bad Finland was left to fight alone, lots of promises and sympathy but not much else.
the thousand or so swedish volunteers were appreciated and nice gesture but strategically not much else.
Finland won. It retained it's independence and freedom. That is a victory
@@montolonzo3836 You're rewriting history there, bud. The Germans didn't arrive to help in the Winter War. Instead, the Germans were officially supportive of the Soviets. The British and the French were supposed to come and help, but the war ended before they got the chance.
A Soviet commander, apparently said after victory that they had won just enough land to bury their dead.
I would not be surprised if it was true, despite all the odds against the Finns they did an outstanding job of defending their country.
@@TheArchaos I read that in Stephen Kotkin's biography of Stalin volume 2, but I don't remember the name of the Soviet general that said it.
USSR army logic
@@TheArchaos And doing a big favour to their ally, Nazi Germany.
The only time the Soviets really had a minimal casualty loss ratio was when they fought the Japanese. 9,000 Soviets killed and 20,000 wounded, compared to 21,000 dead, 20,000 wounded and 640,000 captured.
Great video! While in the end Finland had to give more land to the Soviets than Stalin originally demanded, it is easy enough to see what would have happened if the Finland had not resisted: the fate of The Baltic States is there for all to see, and what a miserable, grim fate it was. To quote Stalin himself: "Nobody respects a country with a poor army, but everybody respects a country with a good army. I raise my toast to the Finnish Army"
With all due respect, I do not agree on this one. It's easy to imagine yourself a high commander, claiming that Stalin is an idiot, while in reality it's a meticulous and difficult type of work that takes authority and responsibility to make decisions.
Especially when invading a country that not Stalin, nor his intelligence had a fresh information about.
He wasn't an idiot, although like any general he made mistakes, and quite crucial ones. In fact none of those generlas during that hard time could counted as an idiot.
Let us not forget that on both sides are people with their interest. And while claiming that Soviet Union was a pinnacle of evil, you paint a whole history of people who fought and died for this country.
@@AmorPatem And that's not even the worst thing. If Stalin wanted Finland to "suffer the fate of Baltic states" he could have easily done so. Red army could simply occupy entire Finland, either at the end of Winter war or at the end of WW2. Also, "baltic states" are very much overrated in modern times as some "very important" piece of history, most of them never existed before and until WW1 they were part of the Russian Empire for hundreds of years. If Russians really wanted them destroyed, dead, exiled to Siberia, they had like 3-4 centuries to dispose of those people. I will start respecting Baltic states and believe their grudge against Russia and USSR as genuine when they start disposing of benefits they received. For starters, if they so respect their countries between WW1 and WW2, how about giving Vilnus back to Poland, so the city can become Vilna again? Oh, yes, that present from Stalin is far to big to be despised. But it would be a really good start if Lithuania gave its capital back to Poland and prove it doesn't accept Stalin and USSR in reality.
@@Zadrigo No, no. It is not easy to win even you wanted to do so how considerably ever, when other side will fight back as the Finns did. Why USA did not took over Vietnam or Soviets Afganistan? No doubt they both would have resources and power to do so? The answer is: it woud have been too costly, demanded more blood and caused everlasting querrilla war. In addition Stalin did not have time enough because of the threat of British and French groups getting involved with.
Anyway, Russia tried and failed!
And this is the possibility for small counties to survive!!
If the Soviets treated the Finns like the Germans. Finland would be Soviet Union.
@@johnrockwell5834 Perhaps a better question to ask is how Finland avoided the fate of the Baltics. The countries were very similar, yet Finland avoided their fate and was not absorbed into Soviet Union.
President Kyösti Kallio who wrote the peace treaty said "May my hand wither away from having to write a treaty like this." It was a seriously bitter blow.
I hope that the Continuation War will also be covered in the future.
what's that?
@@theawesomeman9821 Finland involvement in WW2
@@theawesomeman9821
Finnish advance, take their land back and then front goes quiet for years. Finns not advancing more because they already got heir land back and Stalin not accepting it but doing nothing about it. Trench warfare where nothing happens. Weird right? Hitler even popped a vein in his forhead trying to get Finland advance more into Russia but Mannerheim refused. Yes, the middle part was very boring.
And when Germany went on retreat, Stalin started taking Finnish land again. This time everything was bigger and there was more of it in both sides: more guns, more men, more tanks, more planes. The result was the same as Winter War except: even more russian casualties, more destroyed russian tanks, more destroyed russian planes...
Oh, then there was the Lapland War. When Stalin forced Finland to drive Germany from their land or else russians would come and "help" (invade Lapland). So Finland was forced to fight against Germany and germans burned the Lapland to the ground on their way out.
@@theawesomeman9821 Soviet Union wanted to continue what was stopped in Winter War and annex whole of Finland. Soviet foreign secretary Molotov traveled to Berlin on November of 1940 asking Hitler's approval of renewing invasion against Finland as Germany and USSR were collaborating under Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement. Hitler refused this permission as he saw another war in Baltic region was not in interests of Germany. After Finland got the information that Soviet Union was willing to continue its offensive against Finland and seeing what has happened to Baltic states on summer of 1940 as they were annexed to USSR, Finland decided to start military co-operation with Germany. German forces traveling from German occupied Norway to and back from Germany were granted transit permit through Finland and German troops were also stationed to Finland. It was also agreed that if war brakes out between Finland and USSR, German troops and Finnish troops will work together and Germany will assist Finland militarily. Germany invaded Soviet Union on 22nd of June 1941. Finland wanted to remain non-participant to this war between Germany and USSR and it was agreed that German troops in Finland do not engage warfare against Soviet Union unless Soviet Union starts it first. Soviet Union nevertheless deemed Finland as enemy and launched massive aerial attack against Finnish cities on 25th of June 1941 starting the Continuation War. Finnish troops launched offensive to recapture territories that were lost on Winter War on July of 1941. Finnish troops recaptured those territories and advanced to Soviet territory on Eastern Karelia mostly by military reasons to safeguard safe return of Finnish civilians to evacuated territories. War was mostly on stalemate from autumn of 1941 to summer 1944 when Soviets launched massive attack against Finnish forces on its goal for complete occupation of Finland. Finnish forces were able to halt Soviet offensive on heavy battles in Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia. After stopping Soviet offensive Soviet Union settled for peace agreement with Finland on 4th of September 1944 which ended hostilities between Soviet Union and Finland and Finland remained independent nation.
@@Leperzco True lies!
The production quality of your videos are outstanding! Even more impressive is how much the style of videos covering different eras looks so unique.
Thanks kings and generals!
Sir Winston Churchill: Only Finland - superb, nay, sublime-in the jaws of peril - Finland shows what free men can do. The service rendered by Finland to mankind is magnificent. They have exposed, for all the world to see, the military incapacity of the Red Army and of the Red Air Force.
Congratulations on 1.6 million subs
Such amazing graphics! I love the real satellite map overlay!! It adds so much strategic and tactical context 😍
Incredible details in this video. Even covering every engangement on the islands outside Viborg.
Can we all appreciate how cool it is that we get to watch such high quality content for free? Like dayum, this is better than most documentaries I’ve seen... recently I started making simple videos myself and the amount of effort it takes is crazy. Hats off to you Kings and Generals!
Assalamu aliekum 😀
@@AkhandBangladesh Wa Alaikum As Salam
This isn't free. This was paid by the patrons on Patreon and by the sponsorship.
@@budakbaongsiah yes but we didn’t pay for any of it with our own money did we ?
@@bannerofislam8119
If those patrons and sponsors stop their money this channel will be gone.
Mad lads those Finns, mad lads.
*respects*
"Would you fight to the end, in a cause truly hopeless, for those that you love?" - The Lay of Blackstone, Dennis McKiernan.
USSR: We won... so why doesn't it feel like it?
Finns: We lost... so why doesn't it feel like it?
You pretty much described every discusion about this war on internet xD
I mean the fins lost 30% of their economic assets and their second largest city. They definitely felt it lmao.
Valiant defeat
@Marcus Aurelius tell that to the 321,000-381,000 sovit losses
@Marcus Aurelius incorrect.
The entire war consisted of c. 1.000.000 soviet soldiers - max 700.000 at one time.
According to a recent Russian study the soviets lost at least 168.000 men dead - plus all the wounded.
This is EPIC!
Great series! But to me, it feels like there could be more photos from the period to make it even more immersive and to show us the suffering the Finns had to endure protecting their homeland. Overall nice job!
Great video, the animation is amazing! Nice job!
Btw you should cover the major battles of the Finnish War (1808-1809) sometime in the future, it would be quite interesting!
Yes, animations were great but Devin knocks the audio out of the park... Check out his UA-cam station Officially Devin, if you haven't already? Good day.
There were no major battles in the Finnish war of 1808-09, in fact there were only like 2-3 fights which could even be considered battles at that time; Oravais 1808, Sävar 1809 and perhaps also Salmi 1808 (depending on how you look at it).
@@Leaffordes There where several battles, just because they were small doesn’t mean the aren’t worth talking about.
@@deteon1418 There were a lot of skirmishes; not a whole lot of battles though. The ones I mentioned are the ones which can be considered battles by those days' standard. There were absolutely no MAJOR battles though.
@@bjorntorlarsson Excuse me
, but Mannerheim wasn't president until 1944. Kyösti Kallio was the Winter war president
Great respect to the Finnish fighting spirit... Truly breathtaking!
Fortifications, artillery, foreign aid - will be of no value, unless the ordinary soldier knows that it is HE guarding his country.”
-Field Marshal Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim
It's amazing to watch Finnish battalions and regiments (sometimes divisions) standing up to Soviet divisions, corps and armies. Just amaxing.
I Can’t wait for the continuation war!!!!
@Sharplight
Finland didn’t lose the Winter war, since the Soviet Union’s objective was to annex the country. It was a stalemate. What is it that you’ve got against Finland that makes you launch a smearing raid in the comment section?
6:29 at this exact moment my great grand uncle lost his life in Lähde. I know this because my grandmothers mother (his sister) did an extensive research after the war interviewing other soldiers who fought there and we found the documents from our summer cottage. In the papers it is said he died 13th of February when the Russians broke through at Lähde. He died inside (or near) a pillbox right next to the road when the Russians broke through the lines and flanked from the direction of Leipäsuo (east). He was from Viipuri so quite literally died defending his home, around 30km away. His body was never recovered.
It's actually quite emotional to be able to see through this video what happened. And checking from our papers that my great grandmother had done a great work putting together her brothers last moments as her way to deal with the sorrow. Thanks @KingsandGenerals !
Grendhal shouts: Where is Beowulf?
You should cover the Serbian campaign in WW1, battles of Cer and Kolubara.
Title should be “How the Red army tried to take over Finland but failed”.
they did get the land that they wanted , the soviets never invaded more than they promised ( unlike germany ) even thought they had all power to do so
they stopped at the Prut , they stopped at the polish-majority parts , they never took more of China than they claimed
Interesting note - Grendahl (also Gröndahl) who commanded the Soviet 13th Army was actually born in Helsinki. He abandoned his wife, Nina and children during the Russian Revolution to join the Red cause. Nina later remarried a Finnish man and raised the children as Finns. One of them, Boris fought in the Finnish Army during the Winter War against the men his biological father commanded.
Quality that’s all I can say whenever I get notification I know I will be watching quality content
@@zeitgeistx5239 What inaccuracies are there?
@@zeitgeistx5239
Care to list them out?
@@zeitgeistx5239 shut up you wannabe just because the channel gives a balanced view instead of your version of history calm down you don’t like this channel make your own one with your “factual history”
Finland 🇫🇮 will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
I really appreciate how the Finns fought until their last breath
They got the respect of the whole world
You mean they fought until last breath as Nazis allies?
@@TheDjtvi Finland wasn't even allied to Nazi Germany during Winter war
@@mikhoon Officially was not, but carried out a plan for weakening Soviet union in favor of Nazis. And Also for Sweden, Britain, France, Italy, Denmark etc. The same is today.
@@TheDjtvi They had no any plan with Germany either in that point.
@@mikhoon Not true, Finns visited Germany in the beginning of 1940 and was assured that they will be "revenged". Mannheim fanatically hated Russians, especially Bolsheviks just as Nazis do. The West was striving for war with Russia, as always.
USSR went to war to protect Leningrad from Finland that might let Germans operate from its territory, or at least would never dare to say no to the big boys. After bleeding in the snow and being humiliated on the world stage, it finally enjoyed the spoils of the victory: Creation of the exact threat it thought it was neutralizing.
The last sentence is correct. However the soviet true goal was to annex whole Finland.
@@timoterava7108 I'd say they had primary and secondary goals. They started the war with intent to annex, but dropped that eventually. Moving the border away from Leningrad wasn't something they were about to compromise on.
'The protection of Leningrad' was their reasoning for demanding land from Finland. After Finns refused, Stalin was: "thanks, now i have a valid reason to start an invasion and blame it on you." Finland was never a direct threat or threat by letting others use their territory. Doing so would expose them to invasion, occupation and annihilation.
Excuse, nothing more.
But that unprovoked war made sure that when hostilities broke again, Finland would have no hesitation if they should fight again.
@@alaric_ I'm Finnish and quite familiar with the question. Yes, Finland wasn't a threat to Soviet Union until we had been invaded. Kremlin however was poorly informed of our politics, in part thanks to Red exiles of our Civil War slandering the winners as a bunch of pseudo-fascists oppressing the restive workers. It also massively underestimated Finnish capability and will to resist Great Powers. Hence, as I said, it created the exact threat it thought it was neutralizing.
@@theonlylauri I think that the Soviets actually believed they were liberating Finland and when the would cross the border all the Finns would be cheering that's why they waltzed in like on dancing. The communists were really disillusioned and that's why communism failed so spectacularly. Yet there are many who still believe that communism was fine and that it were the evil forces that destroyed the greatness of the Eastern Block.
This is the best part of the series.
Never underestimate the love of country
@@BLRSharpLight I mean when you face a mighty juggernaut with limitless resources alone you too have to make hard decisions
Thank you for reminding people that the Finns did in fact lose this war
Finns must be top five best warriors ever
Excellent production quality! Enjoyed the series!
Great conclusion Fellas, great that it was mentioned how the Fins would be attacking the Soviets months later and who could blame them? Perhaps because of the Winter War is why Fins don't get a knock for palling up with the Nazis?!? Great work as always!
@@yulusleonard985 wrong choice? You seriously think there was any other choice for nation of 2 million people? May i remind you that during the Winter war Soviet union and Nazi Germany were allies and the secret protocol which mentions Finland ended up under soviet rule. The continuation war is intact a direct causality of what happened in Winter war, and of course we already know UK/France had no possibility to aid Finland them them being in war with the Germans... Unfortunately if there is one thing thing history taught us is smaller nations have to put up with the whims of superpowers under dictator rule , no matter how much they would prefer to live in peace..
@@teemukustila Tell em, he needs it.
@@yulusleonard985 Again you conveniently forget what happened in the winter war, where Finland was neutral until Soviet Union invaded. It is kinda difficult to stay neutral if a superpower is invading you, don't you think? So again you are only thinking of a single event when the truth is much more complicated
In any case, the situation for Switzerland and Sweden is totally different due to very different geographical and political reasons. I am not going to even comment on that. it's apples vs oranges.
I would love to see a video covering the continuation war
I am from Vyborg and it is nice to learn more about history of my local area. At school we didn't have local/regional history, only overall Russian history and world history. We didn't even truly study WW2 enough unlike previous generations, who can remember dates of some battles from the school still...
Our summer house is also at Lebedevka/Honkaniemi at the site of the only tank battle of Winter war. There is even a local legend about the tank in the lake, but noone checked it so far!
Excellent work man. You know, another series for modern warfare you'd be the Yugoslav wars. Make it real if it's possible please.
i felt that.. being alone to def against a superpower
Huge respect to the Finn's!for their spirit and Congrats to to the King's and General s for his EXellent work..one more time.
They were allied with Nazi Germany, and this conflict only served to help Nazi Germany by ensuring Soviet troops were involved in another theatre.
@@henriashurst-pitkanen8735 Hitler or Stalin?,Beatles or Rolling Stones? ,well THAT'S a Dilemma!!
@@henriashurst-pitkanen8735 oh really. how were nazis and finns allied in 1939-40?
@@henriashurst-pitkanen8735 No they weren't. Hitler and Stalin were allies during Winter War. Finland was neutral.
Germany and Soviet Union made a pact that divided Europe and Finland was supposed to go to Soviet Union.
Posted 1 min ago? Hell yea
If only the fins has better weapons . What a bravery
Great video.
The continuation war next please !
I love your videos I'm such a war buff and y'all make the wars come alive
remember to win any war in life we must first to learn to understand the power of inconvenience as we go after our goals and wants
very good series on the Winter War. Animation excellent.....
Imagine destroying 3000+ enemy tanks with just having 29 of your own and with infrantry anti-tank weapons(scarce too).
Most of them didn't destroyed most of them became immovable because hostile Climate for Armoured divisions
And that's how it ended, the war that became a meme.
Need meme wars series 2.0 aka Vietnam War
@@yousefseed1874 *surfin bird starts playing* Gooooood Morning Vietnam
Meme war series 3.0 Soviet Afganistan war
Joonas P, For 1 soviet killed mujahideen lost 200 soldiers
@@yousefseed1874 Vietnam wasnt a meme war. Alot more Vietnamese died vs Fins
Mad respect for the Finns for standing up for themselves & holding out as long as they did against the Red Army.
@@BLRSharpLight Well @$$ showing my respect is all I can do. Because I can't build a time machine & go back & help the Finns fight that war. Thanks for showing everyone how much of a spoiled ungrateful elitist's snob you are hope you are proud of yourself.
But they failed
One could argue that what the Soviets learned was that it was considerably easier to attack against an enemy who had run out of ammunition rather than one which was shooting back. After all by the time the Soviet offensive in February 1940 started the Finnish artillery had largely spent what they had had and the artillery could not longer be used unless situation was critical, if even then.
I think this is not the most important, the main reason is the victory of the Bolsheviks in the civil war and the subsequent large-scale purges of all segments of the population of the former Russian empire, during which the military suffered very badly, and especially the command staff.
In pre-revolutionary times, the Russian white army coped with the Finns without serious problems. And the new red army after the victory of the revolution, completely drained of blood, was a pale shadow of the white army, so the first years of the war with the Finns were a disaster.
At the end, when the USSR went through the crucible of war with Germany, it solved many army problems, and moreover, a new command structure for the army grew up, which in terms of level can be compared with the times of the White Army and possibly even higher.
Therefore, at this stage, it was useless for the Finns to fight with such an army, even if they suddenly had wagons of ammunition, it would not have helped.
As the other commenter TIM already said, at this point the Soviet Army had gotten somewhat organized within their upper ranks and the officers actually knew what they were doing. And when an operation aimed at taking Finland failed during December 1939, there was almost a month of relatively "peaceful" time, with no large fights. In reality, after the defeat, the Soviets started re-estimating their strategy on a large scale and plans were drawn up for a massive attack that had the aim of destroying the Mannerheim line and the Soviets started moving huge amounts of equipment (even by Soviet standards to their positions near the line. The attack started with a massive and constant artillery barrage that lasted and lasted, and that coupled with constant harassing attacks from armored and groups and foot soldiers on the Finnish position made it impossible to rotate the exhausted Finnish troops for fresh ones, so a retreat had to be called.
Along with the sheer power of the attack, the Finns were surprised with the increased competency that almost all elements of the Soviet army displayed by using armor and foot soldiers together competently.
Source: Went to school in Finland, and this is how I remembered it being taught. Of course I'm aware that every country has biases in how they write about their history, but from everything I have read from other sources, this seems to be quite accurate.
I would love to see you cover the continuation war
Hate warring among humankind but your delivery of info is second to none , many thanks
Defeated? I call that a tactical armstice
Miks sun pitää tehä näin :DDD jos sota hävitään nii se hävitään, ei siitä piä ruvetä vääntämään. Hyvin taisteltu, mutta häviö on häviö.
@@BLRSharpLight well yes but no
Thank you Kings and Generals Team!
Hail to the Finns !
Bloody impressive performance
Finland never surrendered, thus it was never defeated. A surrender occurs when armed forces on one side are rendered incapable of further combat. They will also usually give up any arms they have left, and submit to winner's will in all aspects. That, is a defeat. Finland negotiated a peace treaty with USSR in 1940 and an armistice in 1944, then another peace treaty only in 1947. An armistice is practically a tie in warfare, where both sides agree to stop hostilities (for now or until a peace treaty is negotiated.)
No one asked for the surrender of Finland either in 1940 or in 1944. If it was not a defeat, then why did the Finnish newspapers come out in a mourning frame?
No one asked for the surrender of Finland either in 1940 or in 1944. If it was not a defeat, then why did the Finnish newspapers come out in a mourning frame?
@@procyonant6805 Finnish delegations of course asked for negations since the war was started by the Soviet Union in 1939, and Russians later on agreed, only because there were real, backed up rumors of Anglo-French intervention. Finnish army just got stronger due to Soviet threat. Finnish papers mourned, and the whole country, because the peace terms from the Soviets directed that you have to give Karelia away (which included the second largest city in Finland and best farming land, black soil) Finnish people were struck and to this day many do not think nice things about Russia. Criminals, who took away our second largest city. Are you in support of this criminal act? The 1941 - 1944 war was about trying to get back the areas we lost in 1939-1940 war, you get it? Surely you understand.
@@HeilAmarth You're right. It was not always a complete defeat and unconditional surrender, as happened with your Estonian brothers in the summer of 1940. Independence was preserved even at the cost of defeat.
@@HeilAmarth nice cope, lol
A country is defeated in a war when it's forced to sign peace with unfavorable terms.
Another fantastic vid ty K&G! I'm sure the Finns had a little help with volunteers from other nations.
Have you read the book, The Phantom Patrol by W.E.Johns? It's about a small international group of scouts, caught up in the Russo Finn war and it's my favourite novel of all time. It really depicts the tension and desperation, if only someone had made a film of it. It's such a shame no one has thought of doing that. Pls Pls Pls could you make an animation vid about it?
There were about few thousand volunteers(90%+ swedes) that participated in combat for few weeks in the north. There were more volunteers in total, but as the conflict was so short, they simply didn't get ready in time to join the actual fighting. Also, there were some humanitarian volunteers that participated to dangerous duties, for example american ambulances. They didn't fight but they worked on areas that were shelled / bombed at times.
Who is more important the King, or the general? Great work.
Well to say Finland was defeated when there was never the reality of Finland to win a war against the ussr in the traditional sense is a false narrative as wining was not the goal of Finland. It must also be realized that the red army did not defeat the Finns, while they could have, Stalin balked as he was worried about western intervention and was tired of seeing the train loads of dead and wounded red army and embarrassed by the whole debacle, and he accepted an armistice with Finland, and so the Finnish Army was not defeated in the Winter War and as well was not defeated in the Continuation War either. You can say that Finland lost since they had to cede territory and pay reparations, however for Finland there was never the reality of winning in the traditional sense, there was only surviving as free nation and in that Finland did win.
I agree
There's something called sweet defeat, as well as a bitter victory.
I think this kind of suits those descriptions.
@@DanRyzESPUK yup so so true
But Finland invaded Russia twice
@@генералратко didn't you see that joke,
"When Finland invades badly
Soldiers: Idiots Nudge
When USSR invades badly
Soldiers: Normal Monday"
Amazing channel!!! Love you guys.
This conflict had a 10 to 1 casualty ratio in favour of the Finns. Your an epic n00b Stalin
@@BLRSharpLight Epic failure for the mass murderer Stalin. His poor performance encouraged Hitler to start Operation Barbarossa in which Finns joined.
@@BLRSharpLight lol I suppose Stalin wins no matter what happens. He doesn't care how many people get killed, he's always fine in the end
I read here and there that the soviets were repeatedly denied by the command the appropriate armament, equipment and clothes to fight in the cold. A mistake that the germans would commit as well.
Finns were absolutely the best soldiers of WW2
That is a very bold statement
@@Leaffordes But true.
It's interesting that Vasili Chuikov (of Stalingrad fame) commanded a Soviet army in this Finnish war.
he never mentioned this war, or his participation in it, in his memoirs
Will you continue the continuation war
Respect to Finns!
Seeing the title of the video.
Kicks open the sauna door
Angry Finnish noises.
Great video. Thanks.
Very Brave of Finns. 👏👏
Let us remember those brave Finns and Soviets that fought and died for the interests of their countries.
No matter on what side they stood, they did their best to fulfill the future of their generations, regardless of the result of war.
True. I will always side with the Finns obviously but I feel tremendous sympathy for the Soviet young men who probably did not wish for the war either. Why would they, war is hell. Too bad Stalin received the memo only after the war, when both sides had lost some of their bravest and brightest...
I remember my grandfathers story when the Finnish MP had to forcefully send some P.O.W.s back to USSR. They did not wish to go, albeit being prisoners, they had better food and arguably more freedom here. And once they got back to USSR many of them were either executed or sent to gulag for being a failure and now a possible dissident to the communist ideology.
one century later and you can see that Finland securing its independence was the real victory. they may have given up an isthmas but stopped repatriation.
If the Russian federation continues to decline Finland might actually get its century long dream of greater Finland
It was a strategic victory for Finland.
The Republic of Finland still exists, Soviet Union and Red Army are gone for good. Which side finally was defeated?
my grandpa who fought for the finns said "the biggest issue of the war was there was always ten bullets for fifty russians."
@Вхламинго Yeah, 30 divisions against 8 made no difference whatsoever.
@Вхламинго says the russian.
@Вхламинго yes they do and often. It is when you don’t have the numbers you have to spice it up
@Вхламинго Numbers don't guarantee victory but they are an extremely important key to victory. Especially when the numbers are drastically in favour of the other party.
@Вхламинго Not really? You seriously think numbers are not an important key to victory?
Yes, you can win even if you're outnumbered. That's not the point.
I enjoyed the conclusion to this video series. It was a good one. I just hope you people make another video on the Imjin war soon. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
The war was defensive and Pyrrhic victory.
but we all remember how russia lost so bad that we ignored/Disregard that in the end the finns lost
@@nicmagtaan1132 in war only true defeat is to be conquered as it takes everything from the defeated,to deny that is true ignorance.
K&G, congratulations on 1.6 M subscribers!!!!!
the finns really made the soviets pay for that victory.
@@BLRSharpLight Makes sense, it must've been loud... The 150 000 families crying after their lost sons. PERKELE!
Thanks for good subtitles
Most of these soldiers were from central and eastern Ukraine if I am not mistaken...
I want a video on the Sino-Vietnamese War, cause that is another nice under-dog story.
Will u do the continuation war as Well?
Congrats on 1.6 million subsribers!
And as usual the soviets gave themselves awards, for example Meretskov who won the Hero of the Soviet Union award, that they were able to defeat an army far smaller then theirs. It is like a grown man with bleeding nose and bruises, would bragging about that he was able to beat a 1. st grader.
Couldn't have put it better myself.
these videos are like proper movies
If you cannot win then you must make the enemy pay for every inch with blood.
I only wished you had taken out more of those thieves.
great work
If you cover the Continuation War and Lapland War in the future i swear i will kiss you. There is literally zero good videos covering them even tho both wars deserve them, mainly Continuation War which is even more devastating than Winter War and where Finns finally got an ally and some actually good equipment and tanks.
Too nice video with clear explaining of historic event showing in finn's wars huge quantities of armies donating victory to USSR invaders...but finn's soldier's attacked with highly Bravery...thanks for sending
In the Continuation War...Without the help of the Germans, Finland would have been starving because Churchill blocked sea routes from Finland for food. He considered Finland an enemy. This is evident from Mannerheim’s secret folder s32. Worth reading a book " Suomi myrskyn silmässä osa2 (Finnish in the eye of a storm part 2)
@@yulusleonard985 this maybe shocking for you, but there are always two sides of the coin. May i remind you that the actual beginning of continuation war is intact after soviet air raid on Finnish cities in June 25th, 1941, three days after operation Barbarossa. After that, declaration of war followed.
Retrospectively speaking, the war was unavoidable of course, as the superpowers had long ago already set their mind in the game.. And just to remind you, while it's true that a buffer zone was created after the beginning of continuation war (very much standard thinking of modern armies, i would argue), not a single Finnish artillery shell was ever fired to Leningrad for example. The Finns were only interested in regaining the lost lands of the winter war. And can you really blame them for that?
@@yulusleonard985 Again you are thinking in somewhat black and white terms. The truth is bit more complicated than that. You are thinking of the continuation war as a single event, while I'm trying to tell you it is a direct causality of what happened in the winter war and the politics followed. And we know who the real aggressor was here. Actions have consequences. Unfortunately the super powers tend to get away from their aggressions, while the smaller countries are not that lucky.
Just like it can be argued that the Versailles treaty of WW1 had quite big implication on Germans heading to another world war. All wars are unnecessary, on that we can agree. I also should say Finland never joined the axis treaty, being co-belligerent with Germany is a better term for that.
But anyway, i can see that this bickering is leading nowhere. I wish you a nice day 😊
@@yulusleonard985
I am just somewhat disappointed in your world view, when you seem to think USSR did nothing wrong in the world wars. I'm sorry but i disagree with that. Stalin was just as evil as Hitler was. Both were guilty of invading and occupying neutral countries against their will not to mention all the other terrible atrocities these two dictators committed. . Under no circumstance is this acceptable. For Finland things changed forever when USSR made the decision to invade in the winter war and the history was forever altered. I am not saying any country (including Finland) is innocent for some of the events what transpires in a war, after all war brings the worst of us. But I think you should take a bit broader viewer on things to view the overall picture and not just blindly stare at a single event.
And can you please stop with the personal insults. Neo nazi? Nazi sympathiser? Do you see me calling you a Neo nazi, because of the secret protocol of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact? No, because that is just childish. I am done, i don't even want to write to you anymore.
I wish you a merry Christmas and Happy New year!
@@yulusleonard985 Finland did not broke treaty with USSR as it was USSR who broke peace treaty with Finland by firing and bombing Finnish military positions on Hanko peninsula and Turku archipelago already on 22nd of June of 1941 and then culminating to bombing of multiple Finnish cities on 25th of June 1941 and on evening of that day Finnish parliament approved notion that Finland was in state of war with Soviet Union. German air planes did not used Finnish airfields in attacks against Soviet Union as it was strictly forbidden by agreements between Finland and Germany. German troops in Finland were not engaged in hostilities against the Soviet Union until Continuation War started.
@@yulusleonard985 First Finnish troops that crossed Finnish-Soviet border did that on July 1941, weeks after Continuation War had begun. Finnish troops were on defensive positions on Hanko peninsula on Finnish territory in case of Soviet troops try to attack from there towards Helsinki.
Could you guys do a follow up series on the Continuation War
How about a video on Operation Market Garden?
@Uhtred of Bebbanburg Especially the battle of arnhem bridge between the paras and the german panzer divisions they held out for nine days fighting tooth and nail for every building and street despite going up against tanks.
Those 3 words bring a pain to me and a desire to watch British Paratroopers die from a terrible plan
@@rocekth Most of them were captured ( 6,000) after they ran out of ammunition, only about 1,500 died.
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- I didn't say they all died
@Uhtred of Bebbanburg Market Garden deserves to be known for the sacrifice of 15-17,000 allied soldiers that became casualties by horrid planning
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes few numbers formidable; procures success to the weak and esteem to all. -G. Washington
Fortifications, artillery, foreign aid - will be of no value, unless the ordinary soldier knows that it is HE guarding his country.”
- Field Marshal C.G.E Mannerheim
Even small countries can put up a fight against Super powers
@@BLRSharpLight what u mean, winter war is a great example for that?
@@BLRSharpLight Did you even watch the previous videos?
@@BLRSharpLight Then you know it took the soviets 4 months to win the war with many times more soldiers, tanks etc. And suffered over three times the amount causalities than the Finns did? I't was a huge embarrassement for the red army, but yes the Finns did lose the war eventually.
Stalin: Gimme your lands!
Finland: Come and get them!
And he did get them, even more than Finns expected!
@@TheDjtvi It was a charade of course, what lord Iosif wanted was but the whole country, not just a streak of land, i say it ws a very sucessful defense of their homelands.
@@BatmanSeRiedeTi Stalin was bolshevik and the Bolsheviks set the Finns free from the former Russian empire. He never wanted the whole country but just a chance to defend Leningrad in the future war. Finns decided to go to war (on the British and French advice) even later together with war criminals as Nazis.
@@TheDjtvi And i have a bridge to sell you, Stalin was a megalomaniac genocide tyrant, a magnificent one at that but still a tyrant. As bad as Hitler but slyer, he went to the grave undefeated, even this, his bigest defeat terchnicaly counts as a victory. Thus one thing that he didnt knew was meassure, if given the chance he would have conquered the planet, and not for any revolutionary ideal but for himself. I deeply admire the magnificent bastard, ranked second on the top genocides of all time.
@@BatmanSeRiedeTi Obviously you have read a lot of Western propaganda. Tyrant, genocide, slayer, all these written by racists and modern crusaders, hereditary slave owners and slave traders. Try to think with your own mind.