Post by flying on Oct 2, 2005 16:18:40 GMT 1
Please note that this entire excerpt (below, between the dotted lines) is taken from a book and therefore is copyrighted material. Please read the specifics of the copyright on the book’s copyright page. See more info on the book at the bottom of the post.
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Like a donkey in heat, Stalin looked at Hitler’s territorial expansion into Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia with great envy. Stalin validly concluded that the Finns would foolishly and recklessly throw their limited armed forces away in suicidal attacks on tanks and machine guns, much the same as the Poles had. Even Stalin’s choice of days for attack suggested foolish arrogance. With winter fast approaching, he ordered an all-out land, sea and air attack on Finland. His goal of emulating Hitler, by securing some cheap new territory, seemed easy and assured.
Stalin’s army of 1.2 million men, 1,500 tanks, and 2,000 aircraft struck on November 30, 1939. Including blood, guts and feathers, Finland could muster only 400,000 people to oppose this seemingly invincible force. This level of mobilization was only possible as a result of assigning absolutely every non-combat job to the 100,000-member Finnish Women’s Auxiliary. Mobilization of the country was virtually 100 percent, but there were virtually no anti-tank weapons other than a few captured from the invaders. The best anti-tank weapon is usually another tank, but Finland had only a handful of obsolete models. Their air force was comprised of ninety-six operational planes! Anti-aircraft guns and heavy artillery were also almost totally absent. The first line of defense in Finland, it was facetiously reported, was a Finn standing on skis in the snow with a rifle.
However, the Finns did have excellent practical common sense, resourceful leaders who refused to commit their soldiers suicidally, and a strong sense of homeland, family and national purpose. They were fighting on familiar ground, and had a bit of maneuvering room precluding anvil-type military actions.
During the first 20 days, white-clad Finnish ski-troopers completely stalled the Soviet advance, stacking up Russian men and equipment like cordwood. Whole Russian divisions, including hundreds of supporting planes and tanks, were obliterated. Those that remained and were separated from their units were buried by an unseasonably early, especially fierce, winter.
Of the approximately 1,600 Russian tanks destroyed, an estimated 400 were taken out by Finns using nothing more than simple Molotov cocktails. Creative Finnish soldiers, working on their own initiative in small detached groups, destroyed tank after tank. Russian tank crews frequently found themselves cut off from their infantry support by super-accurate Finnish sniper fire. Unable to maneuver on the narrow forest-bound roads, they were dead meat.
These were not modern, state-of-the-art tanks as we now know them. But neither were the methods used to destroy them. Finnish soldiers remarked with bitterness that their Molotov cocktails could only be used without immediate detection during daylight hours. Mother Nature provides but four hours of full light at that latitude (at that time of year) and hampered both pilots and Molotov-Throwers.
By popular necessity, Finnish soldiers develops gasoline and sulfuric acid-mix Molotov fuel loads. Chemical, rather than flame, ignition occurred when the acid in the broken bottle hit a rag wrapper soaked in a potassium-chlorate and sugar solution. Finnish daredevils on skis comprised their principal delivery system.
Finland lost about 25,000 killed. Another 44,000 were wounded or captured. For this expenditure they destroyed over 725 Russian planes, 1,600 tanks and killed well over 250,00 Russian soldiers. Incredibly, Finns chronically low on ammunition averaged fifty-four rounds from their AA guns per Red plane downed. God only knows how many hapless Russian conscripts were frozen and forgotten in the minus 40º F Finnish nights. Like WWI French and English officers, the Russians seldom knew their conscripts’ last names!
Because they did not line up in suicidal fashion, under orders from maniacal officers, the thin Finnish line held. After 105 days of incredible punishment, the Russians – with their 108 million citizens pitted against a nation of three million – gave it up as a bad job. This short, intense, little-know Finnish Winter War stands in sharp contrast with the arrogant French- and British-led conflicts which comprised much of WWI.
The Finland Winter War proves that, under the right circumstances, a determined, organized, even poorly equipped civilian army can stall a large, well-equipped and organized modern army which is using heavy weapons. Yet, without room to maneuver, the price that civilians must pay is astronomical. [...]
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David’s Tool Kit: A Citizens’ Guide to Taking Out Big Brother’s Heavy Weapons, by Ragnar Benson, © 1996 by Ragnar Benson, pages 3-5
This is not the canonic way of presenting book information, but it is easier for everybody to understand, and besides it is enough to order the book from Amazon sites.
------------------------
Like a donkey in heat, Stalin looked at Hitler’s territorial expansion into Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia with great envy. Stalin validly concluded that the Finns would foolishly and recklessly throw their limited armed forces away in suicidal attacks on tanks and machine guns, much the same as the Poles had. Even Stalin’s choice of days for attack suggested foolish arrogance. With winter fast approaching, he ordered an all-out land, sea and air attack on Finland. His goal of emulating Hitler, by securing some cheap new territory, seemed easy and assured.
Stalin’s army of 1.2 million men, 1,500 tanks, and 2,000 aircraft struck on November 30, 1939. Including blood, guts and feathers, Finland could muster only 400,000 people to oppose this seemingly invincible force. This level of mobilization was only possible as a result of assigning absolutely every non-combat job to the 100,000-member Finnish Women’s Auxiliary. Mobilization of the country was virtually 100 percent, but there were virtually no anti-tank weapons other than a few captured from the invaders. The best anti-tank weapon is usually another tank, but Finland had only a handful of obsolete models. Their air force was comprised of ninety-six operational planes! Anti-aircraft guns and heavy artillery were also almost totally absent. The first line of defense in Finland, it was facetiously reported, was a Finn standing on skis in the snow with a rifle.
However, the Finns did have excellent practical common sense, resourceful leaders who refused to commit their soldiers suicidally, and a strong sense of homeland, family and national purpose. They were fighting on familiar ground, and had a bit of maneuvering room precluding anvil-type military actions.
During the first 20 days, white-clad Finnish ski-troopers completely stalled the Soviet advance, stacking up Russian men and equipment like cordwood. Whole Russian divisions, including hundreds of supporting planes and tanks, were obliterated. Those that remained and were separated from their units were buried by an unseasonably early, especially fierce, winter.
Of the approximately 1,600 Russian tanks destroyed, an estimated 400 were taken out by Finns using nothing more than simple Molotov cocktails. Creative Finnish soldiers, working on their own initiative in small detached groups, destroyed tank after tank. Russian tank crews frequently found themselves cut off from their infantry support by super-accurate Finnish sniper fire. Unable to maneuver on the narrow forest-bound roads, they were dead meat.
These were not modern, state-of-the-art tanks as we now know them. But neither were the methods used to destroy them. Finnish soldiers remarked with bitterness that their Molotov cocktails could only be used without immediate detection during daylight hours. Mother Nature provides but four hours of full light at that latitude (at that time of year) and hampered both pilots and Molotov-Throwers.
By popular necessity, Finnish soldiers develops gasoline and sulfuric acid-mix Molotov fuel loads. Chemical, rather than flame, ignition occurred when the acid in the broken bottle hit a rag wrapper soaked in a potassium-chlorate and sugar solution. Finnish daredevils on skis comprised their principal delivery system.
Finland lost about 25,000 killed. Another 44,000 were wounded or captured. For this expenditure they destroyed over 725 Russian planes, 1,600 tanks and killed well over 250,00 Russian soldiers. Incredibly, Finns chronically low on ammunition averaged fifty-four rounds from their AA guns per Red plane downed. God only knows how many hapless Russian conscripts were frozen and forgotten in the minus 40º F Finnish nights. Like WWI French and English officers, the Russians seldom knew their conscripts’ last names!
Because they did not line up in suicidal fashion, under orders from maniacal officers, the thin Finnish line held. After 105 days of incredible punishment, the Russians – with their 108 million citizens pitted against a nation of three million – gave it up as a bad job. This short, intense, little-know Finnish Winter War stands in sharp contrast with the arrogant French- and British-led conflicts which comprised much of WWI.
The Finland Winter War proves that, under the right circumstances, a determined, organized, even poorly equipped civilian army can stall a large, well-equipped and organized modern army which is using heavy weapons. Yet, without room to maneuver, the price that civilians must pay is astronomical. [...]
------------------------
David’s Tool Kit: A Citizens’ Guide to Taking Out Big Brother’s Heavy Weapons, by Ragnar Benson, © 1996 by Ragnar Benson, pages 3-5
This is not the canonic way of presenting book information, but it is easier for everybody to understand, and besides it is enough to order the book from Amazon sites.
