The Winter War by kenwas

Vue • Historical • posted on Aug 09, 2010

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Description

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939—three months after the start of WW 2 and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty. . The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union on 14 December 1939. The Soviet forces had three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. The Red Army had been crippled by Soviet leader Stalin’s Great Purge of 1937, reducing the army's morale and efficiency shortly before the outbreak of the fighting. With over 30,000 of its officers executed or imprisoned, including most of those of the highest ranks, the Red Army in 1939 had many inexperienced senior officers. Because of these factors, and high commitment and morale in the Finnish forces, Finland was able to resist the Soviet invasion for far longer than the Soviets expected. Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland ceded 11% of its pre-war territory and 30% of its economic assets to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses on the front were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. The Soviet forces did not accomplish their objective of the total conquest of Finland but did gain sufficient territory along Lake Lagoda to provide a buffer for Leningrad. The Finns, however, improved their international reputation and accomplished the main goal of retaining their sovereignty. Vue 8.5 Infinite Tank from Target 3D by Porsimo

Comments (27)

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romanceworks

5:08AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

A superb image and what sounds like a hellish war. CC

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T.Rex

6:03AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

Thanks for publicizing this little known aspect of history. As for the geography, most of Finland is very flat, so I don't know what region your image represents. Also, the Soviet tanks in the "Winter War" were the early types which the Finns found means of knocking out; the KV-1 came into the war at the German invasion of Russia in 1941 and was a nasty surprise for them (fortunately for them, not many KV-1 tanks were available). And, the COLD was incredible, people freezing to death on both sides! I've read several books in Swedish on the subject out of interest since coming to Sweden, and seen several documentary films and Finnish movies (extremely well made!) on the subject. Unfortunately, due to language, these rarely reach an audience outside Scandinavia. The Finns accomplishment in face of the Soviet invasion commands respect, as you indicate in your text. The quality of you image is fantastic. Please do keep up the good work! We could need more images from the "Winter War". :)

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kenwas

6:11AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

Thanks for the comment. Give me some artistic license on the terrain....;)))))))) As for the introduction of the KV1 I should have broken the history down into the three wars, including the Continuation War and the Lapland War but I just choose the Winter War for the title to suggest the whole aeries of wars. You are correct, it was an amazing period in the history of Finland and a great tribute to the character of its people.

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Ahmed4

6:37AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

thats a part of history i didnt know ....thanks for the info...the artwork is pretty cool too ...

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bruno021

7:01AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

I don't know how you made those trails, but they're incredible! Great atmo too, you can really feel the cold.

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Krid

7:29AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

great scene with excellent snow texture

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jclP

7:31AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

part of history,great scene & snow

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Seahorse

7:59AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

Fantastic scene!!!!

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debbielove

8:22AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

Yes, I to have only just read a book (in English...called White Death.. by Robert Edwards..).. The terrain, so what.. It looks fantastic. Yes, there were very, very few KV-1 tanks during this part of the war. But some.. Vast areas were covered in tightly packed forests, areas of which had been cleared to provide 'Killing Grounds' and basically, thats what happened! 100,000's of Russian Troops froze of were killed by the war.. And the worse thing, no-one sent aid to them.. Everyone who did charged TOP dollar! Thus, so impressed were they when push came to shove, the Fin's chose the Axis side later, because THEY gave them free equipment! Excellent work mate Rob

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fallen21

8:42AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

Beautiful!

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porsimo

11:16AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

The rock on the left isn't actually that uncommon around here. Needs just some trees on top of it :) Yeah, not exactly a Finnish landscape but as said, who cares! The scene looks fantastic and you've put the tank to a great use!

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kelvinhughes

11:29AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

excellent Ken well done

KnightWolverine

11:41AM | Mon, 09 August 2010

Even though your commentary is a little off the actual event you still did an AMAZING JOB with what you created! "Me thinks I have a little clue on how the tank treads where achieved but you'll have to beat it out of me because some secrets to creating certain things should be learned by the individual so you can have the pleasure feeling when it turns out the way you hoped for.(smile).. -Will-

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