Continuation War provided by Bravenet.com

C.G.E. Mannerheim, Adolf Ehrnrooth ~

In his memoirs, Finland's Marshal Mannerheim emphasizes how Finland had prepared for a defensive campaign - not offensive -, prior to the Soviet opening attack of the Continuation War on June 25, 1941.

Because of this, rearranging the Finnish army to counter offensive formations to the north side of Lake Ladoga took total of three weeks - and another three weeks had to be spent to spread the counter offensive to the level of the city of Viipuri.

In his final interview - given to Pro Karelia on December 17, 2003 -, the famed Finnish General of Infantry Adolf Ehrnrooth discussed the outcome of the Finnish-Soviet wars, 1939-1944:

"I - having participated in both the Winter War and the Continuation War - can stress: I know well, how the wars ended on the battle fields. The Continuation War - in particular - ended in (Finland's) defensive victory, in the most important meaning of the term."

S.P. Platonov, Mauno Koivisto ~

In the much praised Soviet book 'Bitva za Leningrad, 1941-1944' ("The Battle of Leningrad ...") - edited by the Soviet Lieutenant General S.P. Platonov, and published in the Soviet Union - the outcome of the 1944 massive Soviet summer offensive is revealed accurately:

"The repeated offensive attempts of the Soviet forces failed ... to gain results. The enemy succeeded in significantly tightening its ranks in this area and in repulsing all attacks of our troops ... During the offensive operations, lasting over three weeks - from June 21 to mid-July -, the forces of the right flank of the Leningrad front failed to carry out the tasks assigned to them on the orders of the Supreme Command, issued on June 21."

The President of Finland Mauno Koivisto spoke at a seminar held in August, 1994, in the North Karelian city of Joensuu, in the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Finnish defensive victory in the crucial Battle of Ilomantsi, the very final attempt of the Soviet Union to crush the Finnish defences.

Koivisto - the future President of Finland - witnessed this battle as a soldier in a reconnaissance company commanded by the legendary Finnish war hero and a Knight of the Mannerheim Cross, Captain Lauri Törni (later a legendary US Green Beret under the name of Larry Thorne, raised to the rank of major upon his disappearance in Laos in 1965, during the Vietnam War).

In the summer of 1944, when the Red Army launched an all-out offensive, aimed at eliminating Finland, the Finns were "extremely hard-pressed", President Koivisto emphasized, but they "did not capitulate ... We succeeded in stopping the enemy cold at key points", the President continued, "and in the final battle at Ilomantsi even in pushing him back".

Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, Boris Yeltsin ~

The Cold War period history writing for schools of USSR was aimed at wiping out information about the Winter War, so that the causes for the Continuation War could be distorted.

The Finns were portrayed as the perpetrators, and the Continuation War (not called that in USSR) was tainted merely as a Nazi offensive against USSR. Nothing was said about the Soviets themselves launching the Continuation War by a massive air attack against Finnish cities, while Nazi targets were left alone. Nor was it mentioned, that the later Finnish operation was merely a counter offensive, to push the Soviets back.

The Soviet pupils were not told about the Finns having helped save Leningrad, or them having held short of interrupting the critical lifelines that brought help from the Allies to the Soviet people.

However - after the break-up of USSR -, President Boris Yeltsin became the first Russian leader ever to publicly admit that the Finnish-Soviet wars between 1939 and 1944 were triggered by Joseph Stalin’s agressions.

In his memoirs, the post-WW2 Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev explains how the Soviet officials categorically "lied" to the Soviet citizens about the events leading up to the Finnish-Soviet wars, and about the casualties and the outcome of the wars.

However, in the Allied leaders’ Tehran conference in 1943, Joseph Stalin correctly referred to the war efforts of the Finns as a "defensive" campaign. In 1948, in presence of high ranking Finnish government officials, he paid respect to the Finnish Armed Forces in Moscow:

"Nobody respects a nation with poor armed forces. Everyone respects a nation with good armed forces. I raise my toast to the Finnish Armed Forces !" ~ Joseph Stalin

Finns block critical operations of Stalin and Hitler ~

Myths of Finnish defeat in the 1941-1944 Finnish-Soviet Continuation War die hard. Finns were victorious on the battle fields, but - after fire had seized - they agreed to a few concessions, to reach a solid peace.

Importantly - however -, Finland had succeeded in her goal to save her independence and sovereignty, by preventing the take-over attempts of USSR, launched by two massive attacks by the Red Army, one initiating the Winter War on November 30, 1939 - lasting until March 13, 1940 -, and another initiating the Continuation War on June 25, 1941 - lasting until September 19, 1944.

Out of all warring nations in Europe during WW2, west from USSR and besides England, Finland came out as the only one whose capital was never occupied during the entire World War. Furthermore, whereas all other European nations bordering USSR ended up either becoming part of it, or were forced into becoming it's satellites following WW2, Finland - despite of its longest border with USSR - continued as a sovereign democracy throughout WW2, and beyond.

USSR - on the other hand - fell far from its objective, conquering Finland, a goal set forth in Moscow on August 23, 1939, by signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between USSR and Germany. Two days before, Stalin had spelled out his plan to the Soviet State Duma.

To rescue Finland's second largest city from destruction, and to take the fighting to the nearby rural areas instead, the Finns had executed a strategic abandonment of Viipuri in just few hours’ time on June 20, 1944, using delaying tactics. The day’s fighting in Viipuri was brought to a halt by 16:40, leaving only 120 Finns dead or missing in action (Eeva Tammi, 8/2006).

Following the abandonment of Viipuri, all the war’s final nine major battles were victorious for the Finns. Furthermore, ever since the start of the Continuation War, the Soviets had not been able to cross the preceding - 1940 - Finnish-Soviet border during the entire war, except for a short-lived moment in the very final major battle at Ilomantsi in 1944, where the Red Army suffered a devastating loss, when two of its divisions were fully decimated and shattered, as the Soviets were pushed back.

A narrow - but massive - Soviet spearhead on the Karelian Isthmus had been stopped earlier by the Finns in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala. On other sectors, the Finns were on the Soviet soil when guns turned down at the war’s end. Of the territory eventually ceded to USSR, the Red Army had won only a fraction in battles. Thus - from a military point of view -, Finland clearly came out a winner of the war.

Yet, if Finland were to be portrayed as an ally of Germany - an aim of the post-WW2 propagandist history interpretation of KGB -, Finland indeed could be viewed to at least have been on the losing side of WW2.

However, there never was an ally treaty or a pact signed between Finland and Germany. Although the two nations shared a common enemy, their objectives and strategies were very different.

Finns wanted to live, and to protect their sovereignty. In order to save themselves from the destiny of their Baltic neighbors, they knew there was no other choice - following the peace treaty of the Winter War - but to begin preparing themselves for another Soviet attack.

Another Soviet offensive was inevitable, unless the Finns were to surrender to all Soviet demands - and that would have meant disaster for Finland. Signs of a renewed Soviet attack were everywhere, as the Soviets had not paid much respect to promises disclosed in the end of the Winter War.

During the so called Interim Peace period - the short-lived truce between the Winter War and the Continuation War - the Soviets had lauched a campaign to manipulate the Finnish political decision making processes, including naming of the highest ranking Finnish government officials. What the Soviets had not been able to gain in the battles of the Winter War, they tried taking during the following truce, without firing a bullet.

At this point, the Soviet tactics also included numerous border violations against Finland. Additionally, the Soviets had began demanding control of strategically vital parts of Southern Finnish railroads, while - at the same time - the Red Army continued building up forces by the nations' border.

By now, all the Baltic nations and Norway and Denmark had become occupied by either the Germans or the Soviets. Even in theory, Germany now was the only place, from where the Finns could acquire material for their defense.

Reluctantly - left with no alternative -, the Finns now agreed to a minimum level of cooperation with the Nazis. However, the Nazis' key proposals for strategic cooperation were turned down by the Finns.

Besides not handing over any of the Finnish Jews to the Nazis (note: eight non-Finnish Jews seeking political asylum from Finland were turned down), the Finns refused to join Germany's - nearly successful - Siege of Leningrad, in one of the most critical operations of WW2.

Based on Mannerheim's orders, the Finns also held back from interrupting the Allied "lifeline" of help over Lake Ladoga, which delivered desperately needed supplies to the Soviet defenders of Leningrad. Furthermore - based on Mannerheim's orders -, the Finns freezed their counter-offensive to the level of River Syväri (Svir), a tributary to Lake Ladoga.

The Finns also held back from cutting down the Murmansk railroad near the Finnish-Soviet border, along which massive amounts of American materials were transported to the Soviets.

All this - and much more - was done on behalf of the Finns, not to interfere with the Allies' war against Germany, despite the fact that the Allied arms transported close by the Finnish border regularly ended up being used against the Finns themselves, not only against the Nazis.

In several ways, the Finns made an important contribution to the Allied war efforts against the Nazis. For the most part of the war, the Germans were engaged only to operations in Northern Finland, while - at the same time - the Finns themselves kept the Allied supply lines open in the South.

By not crossing the Finnish-Soviet border into Leningrad, and by allowing the Allied supply lines to operate freely by their borders, the Finns prohibited a full Nazi encirclement of the City of Leningrad - during over 900 days' siege, thus denying a huge stratecig and moral victory from the Nazis.

USSR's attempt to occupy Finland in the Winter War - starting in 1939 - had been pre-approved by Adolf Hitler, in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. On his visit to Berlin, November 12-13, 1940, the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov sought for a renewed Hitler's approval, this time for the continuation of the Winter War (to be named Continuation War by the contemporaries), a continued Soviet take-over campaign over Finland. Nevertheless, Hitler no longer approved.

During the following four years, it was up to the Finns themselves to show their own disapproval. By August 1944, it had finally been made clear to Joseph Stalin, that Finland could not be beaten militarily, and there would not be a Soviet occupation of Finland. The Finns had pushed the Red Army back behind their borders, and had held it there until the conditions for peace were to be negotiated and agreed upon.

On the critical Leningrad sector, however, the final battles had to be fought on the Finnish side of the pre-WW2 border - because the border ran along the outskirts of Leningrad, and because Mannerheim had given strict orders for the Finns to stay out of the city.

On June 17, 1944, before the anticipated summer offensive of the Red Army, the Finnish General K.L. Oesch - with Mannerheim's approval - made a final decision about the defensive line, where the Red Army would be stopped on the Leningrad sector.

Following the plan, - using delaying tactics - Finnish troops on this sector were withdrawn to the so called VKT- defensive line. Although the summer's Soviet offensive turned out to be extremely fierce, the VKT-line proved impenetrable for the Red Army, despite the unprecedented Soviet fire power which included an artillery bombardment in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala unlike never seen before in history.

Only after having suffered a loss in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala - not before -, the Soviets began pulling out the remains of their divisions from the Finnish front, to be joined with the Allied forces advancing towards Berlin.

Following the Continuation War - as a part of the Finnish-Soviet peace agreement -, Finns had a war against the Nazis next, who at this point had to be chased out of the Finnish Lapland (the Lapland War).

The Continuation War was a separate war from WW2. Therefore, its aftermath was dealt under an independent and conditional peace treaty, signed in 1944. The following year, the Nazis were forced into an unconditional surrender.

Unlike many Nazi leaders who received death penalties, Mannerheim had advanced to become the President of Finland on August 4, 1944, continuing in office until March 4, 1946 - 19 months after the ending of the Continuation War.

Finland had won - in only way a defensive struggle can be won - by a defensive victory.