The Finnish Army at War: Operations and Soldiers, 1939–45

Abstract

This chapter introduces the complexities of events on the fronts of the Winter War, the Continuation War and the Lapland War. It discusses the chronology of main military events for Finland in 1939-45, and the Finnish military art with a clear focus on the operational level of land warfare. The conclusion that the Finnish Army performed reasonably well in World War II requires an explanation. In the chapter, combat effectiveness and motivation are, therefore, analyzed by utilizing military sociological and social psychology viewpoints. The focus of the chapter has almost exclusively been on land warfare. Important air and naval operations did take place both in the Winter War and in the Continuation War, but they were never as central as in many other theaters of World War II in Europe. Keywords:Continuation War; Finnish Army; land warfare; Lapland War; Winter War