The Winter War has fascinated me for a long time and has formed the backdrop (albeit imaginary) for my book, A WINTER-ISH WAR. When I realised that THE FINNISH-SOVIET WINTER WAR 1939-40: STALIN'S HOLLOW VICTORY had been published, I just had to but a copy!
The book is split into nine chapters and an index:
- Origins of the Campaign
- Chronology
- Opposing Commanders
- Soviet
- Finnish
- Opposing Forces
- Soviet
- Finnish
- Order of Battle, 13th November 1939
- Opposing Plans
- Soviet
- Finnish
- The Winter War
- Opening moves
- Suomussalmi and the Raate Road, 23rd December 1939 to 8th January 1940
- The Battle of Tolvajarvi, 12th December 1939
- The Kollaa sector, 7th December 1939 to 13th March 1940
- The development of Finnish tactics
- Petsamo and Lapland, 1939-40
- Tank battle at Honkaniemi, Karelian Isthmus, 26th February 1940
- Breaking the Mannerheim Line, February 1940
- The air war
- The war at sea
- Endgame, 15th February to 13th March 1940
- Analysis
- The Battlefield Today
- Select Bibliography
- Index
THE FINNISH-SOVIET WINTER WAR 1939-40: STALIN'S HOLLOW VICTORY was written by David Murphy and illustrated by Johnny Shumate. It was published in 2021 by Osprey Publishing (ISBN 978 1 4728 4396 8).
A neglected conflict for sure Bob. I'm reading (currently paused) William R Trotter's book on the same conflict, which is so far an excellent read, with lots of good background info. These early war conflicts I am now finding rather fascinating:)
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteA number of excellent books about the Winter and Continuation Wars have come out over the past five or six years, including some by Finnish authors.
I agree that a lot of these smaller and/or less well known conflicts have much to offer in the way of interest for wargamers.
All the best,
Bob
This is a good tome on the last campaign on the Karelian Isthmus in 1944. Helion have 20% off Eastern Front books at the moment.
Deletehttps://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/vyborg-1944-the-last-soviet-finnish-campaign-on-the-eastern-front.php
Nundanket,
DeleteThanks for the link. Its another book to add to my 'to buy' list!
All the best,
Bob
Trotter's book on this is good. I also enjoyed his volumes on North Carolina in the ACW, which were useful when travelling there.
ReplyDeleteNigel Drury,
DeleteI need to check if I have a copy of Trotter’s book. I think that I read the 2002 reprint, which had a slightly different title to that of the original edition.
All the best,
Bob
I am currently reading Trotter's book. The parallels with the current Russian invasion of the Ukraine are uncanny.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Simon
Simon,
DeleteYou are not the first person to draw the parallel between the two wars … and I suspect that the outcome might be similar.
All the best,
Bob
Thanks Bob. Just out of interest, do you know if anyone has tinkered with PW or written scenarios for this conflict? Cheers Simon
ReplyDeleteSimon,
DeleteOther than my own Winter-ish War battle reports, I don’t know of anyone who has fought any PW battles or written any suitable scenarios for the Russo-Finnish War.
All the best,
Bob