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History–Tours
193930 November 1939–13 March 1940 · Suomussalmi and the Raate Road

The Winter War

A Finnish ski patrol in white snowsuits lies alert at the edge of a northern forest, January 1940
Archival image: Finnish official photographer. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939 after the Finns refused to hand over territory near Leningrad. Heavily outnumbered Finnish troops held the Mannerheim Line on the Karelian Isthmus and, moving on skis through the forests, destroyed whole Soviet divisions at Suomussalmi and on the Raate Road. Finland kept its independence, but the March 1940 peace cost it about a tenth of its land, including Viipuri.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Raate Road memorial and Raatteen Portti museumA memorial field of stones for the dead of both armies, beside a Winter War museum.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Hietaniemi Cemetery, HelsinkiRows of Winter War graves and the tomb of Marshal Mannerheim.Map ↗

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Also in Helsinki

More from the Second World War

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.