The Finns knew they were out-manned at about one hundred to one, and therefore opted for a defensive, guerrilla-style strategy. At the time, the entire population of Finland numbered around three million, while the Soviet Union was nearer to 171 million. The Soviets began massing approximately one million men along the Finnish border. The Finnish refused and thus the Winter War started. The ultimate goal was to create a buffer zone around Leningrad. The Soviet Union demanded that the Finns move the border between USSR and Finland back 25 kilometers from Leningrad and grant them a 30-year lease on the Hanko Peninsula for the construction of a naval base. Each party also buried the dead of the opposing side, left a stick on the ground marking the burial site and all the tags intact that would identify the dead. Although rare, a few cases have been documented.Ĭommon Russian soldiers and Finnish troops had a great deal of respect for the dead and would allow both parties to retrieve and bury their dead in peace and would make impromptu ceasefires for such occasions. Body of frozen Soviet soldier propped up by Finnish fighters to intimidate Soviet troops, 1939.įinnish defenders sometimes, though very rarely, took fallen frozen Russian soldiers and posed them upright as psychological warfare.

Finnish winter war uniform