Rules Court #30

The commentary of "Rules Court" in Issue 30 calls for special treatment of Finland in FitE/SE. It recommends a special Soviet stop line that comes into play once Finland has been beat up enough. The rationale is that "the Western Allies would have pressured the Soviets politically to halt short of overrunning the entirety of Finland."

No way.

Now, I personally like Finland and its people. I admire the Finns' courage and ability in the Winter War. I understand the situation that led them to join the wrong side in 1941. (No letters, please. I know that Finland wasn't officially allied with Germany and did pursue its own war aims, but to all practical purposes the country was part of the Axis.)

All this does not excuse adding unrealistic sentimentality to FitE/SE. First, if the Soviets planned to steamroller Finland, they would have done so, despite western Allied objections. Possession may not be 9/10ths of the law in actuality, despite the saying, but it was so in World War II. What would the western Allies do to a Soviet Union that occupied Finland--go to war? As long as Germany was at war with the world, the Soviets knew their other Allies wouldn't risk a break, especially over a sideshow in Scandinavia.

Second, we have a historical example of what the western Allies would have done if the Soviets did roll over Finland. Let's take a look at Poland. The immediate reason why Britain and France declared war on Germany was its invasion of Poland. Poland was officially allied to Britain and France, and the Polish government continued the fight in exile when the Germans overran the country. Polish forces were in action against the Axis from 1 Sept. 1939 right through to May 1945, fighting under Allied direction alongside British (and, later, American) forces on land, in the air, and at sea. If any country had a moral, legal, or sentimental claim on the western Allies, it was Poland. The western Allies sold Poland out.

When the Soviets rolled through Poland and chased out the Germans, they occupied the place and began setting up a Communist state, defying the legitimate Polish government, in exile in London. The western Allies acquiesced to this, unofficially at first and officially at the Yalta Conference in early 1945.

If the western Allies would allow this to happen to Poland, what chance did Finland have? None. The Finns were at war with one of the Allies (the Soviet Union), were accepting aid from the Germans, and were allowing the Germans to wage war from Finnish territory. Had the Soviets overrun Finland, the western Allies would have allowed it to join the ranks of the other pro-western democracies (Poland and Czechoslovakia) that had the misfortune to be between the Germans and the Soviets.

So, if there's no outside force to stop the Soviets from overrunning Finland, why did they stop? One reason is that the Soviets were very practical. The overriding Soviet goal was to expel the German invaders from the USSR, to march into Germany, and to destroy forever the Nazi state. Everything else was secondary. By the summer of 1944, when the Soviets moved to take out Finland, total occupation of the country was not necessary. The Germans were on their way out of the USSR, so occupation of Finland would not give the Soviets a flanking position on the main front. Further, the Finns put up their usual stiff fight against the Soviet offensive, and Soviets would have had to send more troops there to overrun the country. Instead, the Finns were willing to leave the war as long as Finland remained independent, and the Soviets agreed, rather than diverting more forces away from their primary goal.

In FitE/SE, the Soviet player may not be as practical as the Soviets were historically, and thus may be willing to expend more resources than necessary in a sideshow. Also, Finland often gets overrun in games where its occupation does give the Soviets some military advantages: the Germans are still entrenched in the Soviet Union, and Soviet control of Finland opens an air and naval threat on the Germans' flank. Everything here is fine by me, and I see no reason to meddle with the rules.

Inside Europa You Ask, I Answer

Questions and Answers
Victory in Europa
Mountain Units and Operational Flexibility
Grand Europa Economics
Partisans
Finland
HX: Exchange Commentary
Army Group North Operations
Leningrad 1941 Tournament Cancelled
Overrun-Proof Lines