On September 28th, 1939, the Germans and the Russians signed a treaty.
After that treaty, the Russians imposed "mutual defence agreements" upon
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. With these, the Soviet troops moved on the
islands of Dago and Osel in Estonia, and at Windau and Libau in Latvia.
Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim
After that Russia made similar demands on Finland. Stalin wanted Finland to withdraw her frontier in the Karelian Isthmus between the Baltic and Lake Ladoga, cede her islands in the Gulf of Finland and her portion of the Rybachiy Peninsula in Lappland to the Soviet Union, and lease an aero-naval base at Hango at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland to the Soviet Union for 30 years. For these sacrifices Moscow offered Helsinki a considerable adjustment of the frontier in Karelia.
Finnish President Cajander, after consultation with Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim, Commander-in-Chief of Finland's armed forces, decided to compromise as far as the islands in the gulf and the Karelian frontier were concerned, provided that the fortified line across the isthmus remained with Finland. Ceding frontier posts in the Rybachiy Peninsula and the base at Hango was rejected. The Russians did not budge from their proposals and threatened war.
On November 26th, Molotov announced that Finnish artillery had bombarded Russians troops and demanded that the Finnish troops should withdraw 15 miles from the frontier. Finland did not reject this offer but said that the Russian troops do the same on her side of the frontier. With this, on November 30th, the Soviet land, air, and sea forces attacked Finland without any declaration of war.
More Russo-Finnish War 1939
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© Copyright 2002 by Shahram Khan.
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