When the Russians demanded territorial concessions from the Finns that would have made them a vassal of Stalin, they steadfastly refused. With a population smaller than the Red Army (3.5 v. 4.0 million) and no armor they fought the Russians toe to toe for over three months. Inflicting almost 1 million casualties by the end of the War, the Finns were forced to give up mostly uninhabited northern forests, but also the lands around Lake Ladoga. Most of this land had been settled by Finns for over four hundred years, but it protected the northern approaches to Leningrad.

Stalin, having destroyed over three-quarters of the officer corp of the Red Army during the purges of the 1930s, was left with nothing but syncophants and yes-men. That the Red Army performed so poorly was a combination of fear of initiative and the standard of attacking head-on against any defensive obstacle. The Russians would literally beat you to death with their bodies, piling up corpses like cordwood.

What finally beat the Finns, wasn't so much force of arms as it was just brute force. By the time the Russians finally broke through the final Finnish defensive line, over half the Finnish Army had been killed or wounded. This percentage of Finnish manpower would have been equal to 2.6 million American casualties (base on the US population at that time).

The poor performance of the Red Army was one of the reasons that the Germans thought they could destroy them in a short time and force the Russians to sue for peace. What the Germans forgot to take into consideration was that Stalin would fight to the last drop of Russian blood. The Red Army theory was that even if they lost 2 men for every German they killed, at the end they would still have an army of ten million and there wouldn't be a Wehrmacht soldier left. (As Stalin said, the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million is just a statistic.)

Zeb Kantrowitz

The Winter War was a legend from a time when the world needed legends. Finland's sturdy yeomen standing in defense of their homeland against immeasurable numbers and performing the unique achievement of killing enough Russians to give even Stalin a feeling of indigestion. In our iconoclastic age it comes as a bit of a supprise that much of the legend is in fact true. There is another side, as there always is. War is always nasty, brutish and uncomfortable and our age is not unreasonably suspicious of all that seems to obscure that. Arguably Finland's later renewal of the war was an unnecessary aggression, though equally arguably it was provoked because the arrogance,ambition,and ruthlessness of Russia's leaders made it extremely plausible that Russia still intended to swallow Finland. Even Finland's defection gives a very slight hint of dishonor for those with an odd sense of quixotism. Though given their "allies" nature, not more then a whiff. In any case no nation can be expected to commit suicide for the sake of an ally of convenience. And the thought of the politically inexperienced Finnish "rustics" shrewdly outdeviling the devil brings a touch of amusement. The Finns managed to outfight and outwit both Russia and Germany and were the only country in Europe to do that successfully.
Some have even said that Stalin only wanted enough territory to protect Russia, territory which Finland could live without. I find that hard to believe. Stalin's record shows that he kept pushing as far as he could get away with and stopped when he could no longer. Or to put it another way Finland was a bush that could spare a few flowers but unless it proved it could stick Stalins hand full of thorns it would lose all it's flowers.
All that is of course the concern of the high and mighty. As far as ordinary Finns were concerned their own leaderships possible failings were beside the point. They had built an admirable society under very harsh circumstances and it was worth fighting to protect. And fight they did. In doing so they not only protected their own country but proved that the people of democratic countries are not thereby effete and that tyranny could indeed be resisted. They gave hope when hope was needed and for that alone we should thank them.
Someone said that they found Mannerheim a dull character. Personally I found him fascinating. He reminded me a lot of Captain von Trapp as played by Christopher Plummer and had similarities to both the movie one and the real one(especially the movie one). He had the curious attraction of several of the aristocrats of the time that comes from a mixture of nostalgia, fairy tale romance, and "lost causedness". He served Finland rather then Democracy. And the things he stood for had their flaws. However his ideas were far superior to the prevailing ideas of political idolatry that threatend both his way and Finland's way. He was intensely masculine just as the Finnish people were, but in a patrician rather then a plebian way. The Finns were men and he was a man to lead men. Or as the writter said he was a nobleman who was also a noble man. And if the Ancient Regime had had more like him, it would not have been what it was and there might have been no need to overthrow it.
Despite what has been said, Mannerheim would make a great movie hero. He had a fascinating life, from his Indiana Jones like spy mission to Central Asia, to his service in previous wars, to his present service. He new everyone that was "worth knowing." His hauteur might be hard to work with but could be done if acted well and it would be lovely watching him turn it on some arrogant SS Staffie as indeed he did on one or two occasions.
All that aside, Frozen Hell was a fascinating book about a fascinating campaign. I am glad to own it.

I became interested in the Winter War while reading one of the excellent Time-Life World War II books, "Battles for Scandinavia. A search led to "A Frozen Hell", a book with much more detail and very well written. While the Time Life book is full of photos, maps, illustrations, and artwork you are left wishing form a more detailed narrative that "A Frozen Hell" provides.

One quibble. Even though "A Frozen Hell" has 14 maps, I was often frustrated when many of the cities and other locations described in the narrative are often not shown on the maps.

My mother was evacuated from Karelia at the age of 15 years and my father fought in the Winter War. My Finnish parents emigrated to South Africa and I was born here. Therefore my dominant language is english and my sons speak no Finnish. This is a wonderful book to pass on this story to my english speaking children. It is easy to understand and interesting to read. It reads like an entertaining novel. I also hope that it can bring this story and the case for the return of Karelia to the wider world.

A good read but badly needs a post-Cold War update. This book is about a conflict between Russia and Finland, but the only Russian source listed in the "Notes on the Sources" (there is no bibliography) is the English translation of the memoirs of Khruschev, who didn't even participate in the Winter War. Other than a few short, atmospheric accounts by Russian soldiers taken from earlier English or Finnish books, no other Russian source is cited, leaving us almost wholly dependent on Finnish historians and the memoirs of Finnish commanders. This is not a scholarly approach.
Maybe there just weren't any other Russian sources available; or maybe they were only available in Russian (which the author does not know, although he is rightly proud of having mastered Finnish). All that may have been a tolerable excuse in 1991 (when this book came out), but the Russian state archives are now open to all, and certainly much more material has been translated into English in the past 16 years. At the very least, Trotter could speak to some Russians. He found Finnish veterans to interview, and I bet some of their Russian counterparts can also still be found among the WWII veterans who totter around public parks in Russia every May 9.
But to find, you have to look, and what's disappointing is that I have no sense the author feels any need to seek out more significant sources from the other side.

A good read but badly needs a post-Cold War update. This is a book about a conflict between Russia and Finland, but the only Russian source listed in the "Notes on the Sources" (there is no bibliography) is the English translation of the memoirs of Khruschev, who didn't even participate in the Winter War. Other than a few short, atmospheric accounts by Russian soldiers taken from earlier English or Finnish books, no other Russian source is cited, leaving us almost wholly dependent on Finnish historians and the memoirs of Finnish commanders. This is not a scholarly approach.
Maybe there just weren't any other Russian sources available; or maybe they weren't available in English, and the effort of mastering Finnish drained the fight out of our author to tackle Russian. That's tolerable for 1991 (when this book came out), but the Russian state archives are now open to all, and certainly much more material has been translated into English in the past 15 years. At the very least, Trotter could speak to some Russians. He found Finnish veterans to interview, and I bet some of their Russian counterparts can also still be found - but to find you have to look. Here's a hint: Go to any public square in Moscow on May 9 and you'll still see hundreds of WWII veterans tottering around in uniform. Surely we can do better than Khruschev's memoirs to tell the Russian side of this story.

Although I was raised in the 70s by uncles full of admiration of what the Finns did to the Russians for three months it is still a profound dissapointment that few people know, and even fewer people care about this profound struggle of 3 Million Finns -- a free people -- against the tyranny of Stalinst Russia.

For a nation this small to have the stomach to thumb their noses at the Russians and then to systematically cut their attacks to ribbons -- inflicting colonial war casualties on the Russians -- it truly one of the David against Goliath matches in history.

But there is more to the traditional interpretation notion of the "plucky Finns" and the "incompetent Russians:" Finns eventually did succumb to the inevitable onslaught of the Russians. There were cases of the Finns actually breaking from the front, and Russians actually adapting tactics to overcome the Finnish ability to use their understanding of their own geography to dominate the Russians. That is perhaps not so hard to believe. What is harder to believe is miracles such as the battle of Soussalmi -- where Finnish ski troops cut to pieces 30,000 Russians for the total of 1,700 Finnish dead.

The book is an overview only and does cover the various stages of the war -- the initial and failed Russian Offensive of December, the holding pattern of January and the final onslaugth that brought the end for Finland. But the book does not pretend to be a total overview of the fighting on the front -- on that point there still needs to be a definitive English edition of this war such as what Norman Davis' "Rising 44" did for the Warsaw Insurrection.

There is also not enough background on the political developments surrounding the war and the geopolitical drivers of policy (the actions of the Western allies are a bit bewildering to those uninitiated in a good understanding of the history of these times).

There is also a good chapter on Mannerheim. This man, so long assciated with both the fighting spirit of Finland is often equated totally as the heart of Finn resistance. His personality was in fact authoritarian, problematic and a direct result of the Tsarist officer corps he was raised within and whose spirit he imbided.

A good read and well worth your time.

awesome reading of a awesome moment in our recent history. How finland could survive this war?? David vs Goliath. but not all was romantic, finland has to make a lot of concesions, and they "lost" too the war in a certain way. its the best example of how always both sides lost in a war

this war has been forgotten over the years, and with this book is posible to remember or know for first time one of the most heroic moment in our history. a fight for freedom and for independence.

I loved the book

This history is a testament to the value of a highly trained military force. The Finns accomplished very much with very little, in the face of a massive Soviet invasion at the outset of World War II. Despite Finland's small population, and poorly supplied armed forces, they held their ground against an incredible onslaught of modern weaponry.
The Soviets had Finland vastly outnumbered in troops, artillery, armored vehicles, aircraft, ships, and all manner of supplies. However, most of the Soviet troops were pathetically trained cannon-fodder, wasted in enormous human-wave assaults against fortified positions (very typical of all communist regimes). The Soviet officer corps had been recently liquidated in concentration camps at Stalin's oders!
The Finnish soldier was generally a well-trained reservist, adept at marksmanship, wilderness survival, camoflage, skiing, and all pertainent infantry skills. Finland greatly lacked most of the modern weaponry possessed by the Soviets, but frequent raids on the enemy bolstered their supplies. In general, all Finnish forces, air, land, and sea inflicted terrible damage on a much larger invading force.
Meanwhile, the international community cried out against the Soviet invasion...but did very little to actually assist Finland. Disgusted with their indecisive government, some 8000 Swedish military personnel "took leave" to help their neighbors, but it was too late. Finland's military commander, the famous Karl Gustaf Mannerheim, did manage to negotiate a peace which kept the U.S.S.R. from occupying most of Finland, but large regions of territory were lost.
This book describes all aspects of the Winter War in great detail, from individual accounts to major units. Here are some of the highlights:
-The aggressive and ingenious tactics of the Finns, such as 2 man night-raids on skis. One man carried a Soumi submachinegun (excellent weapon), the other a pistol and flashlight. Both had grenades. They would sneak up to the Russian trenches, flash-blind the enemy with the light, and strafe the trench, toss grenades, and be off before the panicing Soviet troops knew what hit them. Soviet soldiers learned to fear the Finns!
-Read how Finland's small airforce knocked disproportionate numbers of enemy aircraft out of the sky!
-Creative improvisation by Finnish troops on the battlefield, in attack and defense!

This history is a testament to the value of a highly trained military force. The Finns accomplished very much with very little, in the face of a massive Soviet invasion at the outset of World War II. Despite Finland's small population, and poorly supplied armed forces, they held their ground against an incredible onslaught of modern weaponry.
The Soviets had Finland vastly outnumbered in troops, artillery, armored vehicles, aircraft, ships, and all manner of supplies. However, most of the Soviet troops were pathetically trained cannon-fodder, wasted in enormous human-wave assaults against fortified positions (very typical of all communist regimes). The Soviet officer corps had been recently liquidated in concentration camps at Stalin's oders!
The Finnish soldier was generally a well-trained reservist, adept at marksmanship, wilderness survival, camoflage, skiing, and all pertainent infantry skills. Finland greatly lacked most of the modern weaponry possessed by the Soviets, but frequent raids on the enemy bolstered their supplies. In general, all Finnish forces, air, land, and sea inflicted terrible damage on a much larger invading force.
Meanwhile, the international community cried out against the Soviet invasion...but did very little to actually assist Finland. Disgusted with their indecisive government, some 8000 Swedish military personnel "took leave" to help their neighbors, but it was too late. Finland's military commander, the famous Karl Gustaf Mannerheim, did manage to negotiate a peace which kept the U.S.S.R. from occupying most of Finland, but large regions of territory were lost.
This book describes all aspects of the Winter War in great detail, from individual accounts to major units. Here are some of the highlights:
-The aggressive and ingenious tactics of the Finns, such as 2 man night-raids on skis. One man carried a Soumi submachinegun (excellent weapon), the other a pistol and flashlight. Both had grenades. They would sneak up to the Russian trenches, flash-blind the enemy with the light, and strafe the trench, toss grenades, and be off before the panicing Soviet troops knew what hit them. Soviet soldiers learned to fear the Finns!
-Read how Finland's small airforce knocked disproportionate numbers of enemy aircraft out of the sky!
-Creative improvisation by Finnish troops on the battlefield, in attack and defense!

Trotter has a very easy-to-follow style of writing which he uses to great effect as he introduces the reader to the background to The Winter War. The background set, he also examines the mindset of the key people who were later to play a pivotal role in an epic David-and-Goliath struggle.

Trotter uses a witty, often dry, tone on occasion which, to my mind, adds a much more familiar tone to the book, ensuring that it does not end up as a plain, single-dimensional report. Rather it shows just how the people involved were real, imperfect and yet played their own part.

I've read my copy over a dozen times and it will always remain at the top of my favourites list.

The book deals with one of the least narrated conflicts during the preliminary years of the WW2.The writer is unprejudiced about the varios versions of the war.The interesting thing about the Finnish War is that it has a lot of conseqences affecting the both parties at war.The Red Army general staff and Soviet leaders test their strength really for the first time when you disregard the Ghalkin-Gol conflict in the far east.Though defeated, Finland does not bow to Soviet pressure unlike Baltic states.After nazi invasion of Russia, the Finns try their luck by fighting alongside nazi invaders but were finally beaten with the rest.Today the border lies where it was settled then.

A Frozen Hell is a fascinating overview of the little-known Russo-Finnish War of 1939-40. Expected to make short work of the small Finnish military and occupy the country within a few short weeks at most, the massive Russian military machine was stopped in its tracks, and suffered extremely high casulties before finally forcing a peace on the Finns a hundred days later. But Finland maintained its independence, the only country bordering and fighting against the Soviet Union to avoid becoming a satellite state. Trotter covers it all: the basis for the crisis that led to the conflict, the political maneuvering, the battle plans and action, the guerillas on skis. The only complaint I had with it was that he did not go into enough details about the Continuation War which occured a few years later. Nevertheless, a highly recommended work. Read it and find out how the world came to know the meaning of the Finnish word, sisu.