Swedish intervention in the Winter War

The Swedish Intervention in the Winter War was a short-lived but successful attempt by the Swedish Volunteer Corps, along with other Nordic volunteers, to prevent a Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War. The volunteers only engaged in a few skirmishes on ground and in the air, the only major battles they participated in being the battles of Salla and Honkaniemi. 
                    
                               Swedish aa-cannon cleaned

                    
                                   Swedish truck's

The term "volunteers" have often been used to describe the Nordic military support for Finland in the Winter War, although involvement by the government of Sweden has been debated over time. Nevertheless, the Swedish military sent enormous amounts of aid to Finland, including:
Approximately 2,000,000,000 crowns (US$ ~312,658,890) of financial aid - twice the size of the Finnish defense budget at the time

50,013,300 rounds of small arms ammunition
135,402 rifles
450 light machine guns
347 machine guns
301,846 artillery shells
144 field guns
92 anti-armor guns
100 anti-aircraft guns
300 sea mines
500 depth charges
83 motorcycles
83 cars
350 trucks
13 tractors
17 fighter aircraft
5 light bombers
1 transport aircraft
3 reconnaissance aircraft
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Swedish Intervention in the Winter War
Part of Winter War and World War II
Swedish soldiers inspecting a disabled enemy T-26 tank
Date 12 January – 13 March 1940 (2 months and 1 day) Location Eastern Finland Result End of the Winter War with the Moscow Peace Treaty Territorial changes Cession of the Gulf of Finland islands, Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia, Salla, and Rybachy Peninsula, and rental of Hanko to the Soviet Union
Belligerents
Sweden  Finland  Denmark  Norway Minor support from:  France  Hungary  Italy  United Kingdom	Soviet Union  Terijoki Government
Commanders and leaders
Ernst Linder  Carl Gustaf Mannerheim  Kurt Martti Wallenius  Voldemar Oinonen	Joseph Stalin  Kirill Meretskov  Kliment Voroshilov  Semyon Timoshenko
Strength
10,397 men:  8,402  1,010  895  13 tanks  26 aircraft Multiple Finnish armybattalions	20,000-30,000 men 58 tanks 29 aircraft in combat
Casualties and losses
523: 245 killed 250 wounded 28 captured 6 fighters lost Specific casualties	891: 640 killed 203 wounded 48 missing 9 tanks 4 fighters shot down 2 fighters damaged 6 bombers shot down 2 bombers damaged 7 more aircraft shot down 8 more aircraft damaged

The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union began in November 1939 after the Finnish government had rejected the Soviet claims to the Karelian Isthmus and all islands in the Gulf of Finland, as well as a demand to dismantle the defences in Finnish Karelia. Finland at the time was only officially allied with Estonia, as Sweden had rejected participation in the anti-Soviet alliance. 

The casus belli for the Soviet invasion was a claimed Finnish attack against the Russian village of Mainila, although it was later revealed that this was a false flag action conducted by the military of the Soviet Union.
                       
                       
                        
                        
                                                 Swedish

                        
                        
                                          Norvegian

                       
                        
                                
                        Danish  (danish pilot too, Morane and Gladiator pilots)

The battle of Salla was fought by Finnish-Swedish forces against the Soviet Union, beginning with a massive Soviet attack against the outnumbered Finnish defenders. Major General Kurt Martti Wallenius, the Finnish commander, ordered his men to retreat up the Kemijoki river where a defensive line could be easily maintained. After numerous suicide charges by the Soviet army, the sudden arrival of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian troops forced a Soviet withdrawal with heavy casualties of up to 500 men, compared to 187 among the Finns and 23 among the reinforcements.
                    
                                    Ex BT-5 tank

                    
                                Soviet BT-5 and T-26
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The battle of Honkaniemi was fought between Finnish and Soviet forces on 26 February 1940 and was the only tank battle of the Winter War. The Finns were supported by Swedish, Danish and Norwegian volunteers from the Nordic volunteer corps and had an unknown amount of infantry at their disposal (although it is known that they were much fewer than their Soviet enemies), as well as 13 Vickers 6-ton tanks. 
                    
Soviet tank men are looking destroyed Finn Vickers tanker's helmet

The Soviet corps of 58 tanks was able to beat back the attackers, losing 3 (Soviet sources) to 9 (Finnish sources) of their armored vehicles while Finland and its allies lost six. Added to that, 87 Finns and 140 Soviets were killed in the battle, while no casualties were reported among the volunteer corps. Although the Soviet casualties were larger than that of their adversaries, the Finnish colonel Voldemar Oinonen ordered a full retreat when he begun to doubt the chances of defeating the enemy.

Kemijoki river battle, January 1940

The Battle of Salla was fought between Finnish and Soviet troops near Salla in northern Finland during the Winter War. The Soviets had orders to advance through Salla to Kemijärvi and Sodankylä, and from there to Rovaniemi in just two weeks. From there they were to advance to Tornio and cut Finland in two. The Finnish troops managed to stop the Soviet advance just east of Kemijärvi. During the last days of February 1940 the Finnish troops were replaced with the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish volunteers of the Stridsgruppen SFK.
                    
                Swedish soldiers inspecting a disabled enemy T-26 tank
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Soviet preparations 
                      
                         Initial Soviet advance November 30 – December 17


By 1938 the Soviet Union had decided to conquer Finland. Relying in part on the information provided by Finnish communists, detailed intelligence on Finnish infrastructure had been prepared by the summer of 1939 in a 200-page book that was distributed to the invasion force. The Soviet 9th Army was tasked with invading Finland between Kuhmo and Salla and cutting the country in half by advancing to the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. 

As part of the 9th Army's offensive, the 122nd Rifle Division, having arrived from Poland on 8 November 1939, was supposed to capture Salla and Kemijärvi and advance to Rovaniemi within two weeks, from where it would continue to Tornio near the Finnish border with Sweden. The Soviets were only expecting light resistance and the troops were ordered not to cross the Swedish frontier. 

The Soviets began building a railroad from Kandalaksha to the Finnish border in 1939 using 100,000 prisoners as slave labor. In the late 1930s, existing roads were improved and new ones built from the Murmansk Railway to the Finnish border, such as the road from Kandalaksha to Alakurtti.

Air surveillance, beard coat

women's coffee break

                                      reindeer skins are prepared
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Finnish preparations 
                     
                              Finnish counter-attacks and Soviet withdrawal

The improvements in Soviet infrastructure and demographics near the border that made it possible to supply 40,000 troops in the region had little effect on Finnish operational planning in northern Finland. The Finnish general staff did not believe the Soviets would launch a major offensive from the White Sea region to Finland. As a result, work on fortifying key road choke-points in northern Finland only began in the autumn of 1939. 

The forces in northern Finland were under the command of the staff of the Lapland Group , which in turn was led by the North Finland Group. The Finns had one detached battalion (Er.P 17) and one company (Er.K Kojonen) near Salla that were supposed to conduct an active defense by crossing the border, stopping the advance of the Soviet regiment that was expected in the area and harassing the Soviet lines of communications, thereby tying down Soviet forces. 

The Finnish general staff considered the force insufficient for even this mission, but could not spare any more troops from the more important Karelian Isthmus. As Finland undertook a general mobilization in October 1939, the troops had time to take stock of the situation and came to the conclusion that even limited offensive operations across the border were beyond their capabilities and afterwards only defensive and delaying operations were practiced in training. 


A Finnish intelligence estimate on 15 October placed one Soviet division in the Murmansk-Kandalaksha area. The Finns expected a larger Soviet force concentration in the future. On 30 November, the Soviets had four divisions in the area.

Battle of Salla
Part of Winter War
A Finnish soldier on guard near Kemijärvi , 11 February 1940.
Date 30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940 Location Salla , Finnish Lapland Result Finnish victory
Belligerents
Finland  Swedish volunteers	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Kurt Martti Wallenius  Ernst Linder	?
Units involved
North Finland Group  Lapland Group Detachment Roininen  Stridsgruppen SFK	9th Army 122nd Rifle Division 88th Rifle Division
Strength
c. 3,500 From 10 February 1940 9,400 Scandinavian volunteers	Two infantry divisions
Casualties and losses
Finnish: 650 dead or missing 450 wounded Volunteers: 33 dead 50 wounded 130 frostbitten	4,000

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Southern Lapland is 80% covered by forests or swamps. The geography is dominated by forest-covered fells that surround large swamps and lakes. In December 1939 the lakes and swamps were not yet sufficiently frozen over to support motor vehicle movement but this became irrelevant as the winter progressed and the temperature dropped to -40°, which also made military operations more difficult. 

Movement outside roads was thus impossible for large military formations. Only one road existed from the Soviet border to Salla. The road network was better developed west of it, with numerous small roads to support lateral movements and the encirclement of defending forces. 

There were only a few Finnish troops in the area at the start of the war. The 17th Separate Battalion (Er.P 17) or the "Salla Battalion" was mobilized before the war. Its main components came from a company of the Frontier Guard . From 11 December 1939 onward the Finnish troops were part of the Lapland Group (Lapin Ryhmä) which was commanded by Major General Kurt Martti Wallenius . After 5 December infantry, artillery, mortar and anti-tank units were to reinforce the defenders. The total number of Finnish forces in the area was c. 3,500. 


The Soviets attacked with 122nd Rifle Division. The stalling of the offensive forced the Soviets to reinforce it in late December 1939 with the 88th Rifle Division.

                                Cossack sword and soviet cars full of American food

Soviet troops pushed the Finns up to the Kemijoki river, but were unable to break through the Finnish defences on the river. The Soviet supply lines were now 145 kilometers long. The Finns took advantage of the overstretched Soviet position by launching attacks with ski troops on the Soviet lines of communications. One third of Soviet troops were tied up guarding them. On January 13, the Soviet 9th Army ordered the 122nd Division to retreat to the Märkäjärvi village.

For the next two months the battle was a stalemate, apart from small skirmishes and exchanges of artillery fire. On March 13, the last day of the war, the Soviets initiated a major fire preparation with artillery, aircraft and infantry weapons as part of a planned renewal of offensive operations towards Rovaniemi. The Scandinavian volunteers suffered their most casualty-intensive day of the war, with 10 killed and 30 wounded. 


Overall, Finnish casualties were 1,100 men, including 650 dead or missing. Scandinavian volunteer casualties were 33 dead, 50 wounded and 130 frostbitten. Soviet losses are estimated at 4,000.