Russo-Finnish War 1939

Surrender

by Shahram Khan

The Finns surrendered on March 12th. Terms of the surrender stated that Finland would cede the Viipuri district, lease the Hango Peninsula for 30 years, cede the Salla district, cede her portion of the Rybachiy Peninsula in Lappland, and build a railway between Murmansk and Kemijarvi, which would permit the Soviet Union to use railway support for offensive operations against Sweden.

Finland had lost 24,934 men killed and 43,557 wounded. In trying to attack between Lake Ladoga and the Arctic Ocean, five Russian divisions had been destroyed and three other almost decimated in the five months of fighting. Russians lost 48,745 men killed and 158,863 wounded. The Red Army also lost 1,600 tanks and 872 aircraft to achieve this victory. Also, during this war, Sweden had sent more than 8,000 volunteers, plus 85 anti-tank guns, 112 field guns, 500 machine-guns, 104 anti-aircraft guns and 80,000 rifles to Finland to help the Finns in their struggle against the Russians.

Bibliography

Hart, Liddell: History Of The Second World War: Da Capo Press, 1999, New York.
Bauer, Eddy: The History Of World War 2: Orbis Publishing, 2000, London.
Trotter, William: A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1991, North Carolina.

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