Thursday, June 15, 2006

The Winter War The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940 by Eloise Engle and Lauri Paananen

The Winter War The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940 by Eloise Engle and Lauri Paananen is one of the few books in English devoted to the Winter war the campaign between Finland and the Soviet Union in the early stages of the second world war. This directly led to Finland's involvement and the continuation war against the Soviet Union when Nazi Germany attack the USSR.

The book describes the political maturation that led to the outbreak of war as well as the defense tactics of Finland's forces. One thing I learned was that the famous Molotov cocktail was actually mass-produced by Finland's liquor board.

most of the sources drawn upon our translated this gives access to the English reader to information otherwise unavailable. A good book on a relatively an obscure campaign. The book could have perhaps been served by research in Finland's archives. I'm not sure if this was available in the 1970s when the book was originally written.

If you're interested in a story of this heroic defense take a look.





For more WWII book reviews Take a look at My World War II bookshelf.

For reviews take a look at My Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Partisan and Guerrilla Warfare bookshelf.

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