A-Z of the Second World War

F

Finland. In November of 1939 Russia invaded Finland. It was a invasion that had been manufactured (that is it was one the Russians had tried to find reasons to do it). Finland was seen as David against the Russian Goliath and it would be a matter of days before certain defeat. They were defeated, however the incredible vigour they used and the way they kept the fight up until the end of March was incredible. The Fins fought in the forests in conditions of -30oC, they lost over 25,000 of their 600,000 men but caused the loss of almost 50,000 Russians.

A Finnish soldier waits for his next Russian target. The mistakes that the Russians made in this campaign were to help when Germany invaded them.

Fuhrer. The name given to Hitler meaning leader.