The Finnish fighters rose again to meet them. After thawing out their frozen motors, Soviet bombers took to the sky, targeting rail lines, depots, and towns. The airfields on both sides remained “socked in” until the 18th.īy the 20th, skies were clear but the temperatures were below freezing. Starting on December 2, an epic snowstorm blew across southern Finland for several days, grounding the aircraft of both sides while, at the same time, setting up the snow and icy conditions that would make the ground war favorable for the defenders. At the beginning of the Winter War, the Soviet Air Force had 2,500 planes the Finns only 114. A Soviet navigator checks his settings on a Tupolev night bomber. The Finnish pilots had found the bombers’ Achilles’ heel. An inspection of one unlucky SB-2 revealed that the engines had armor plating but the fuel tanks in the wings did not. On the second day, Finnish fighters patrolled the skies beginning at dawn and shot down several bombers others, when attacked, dropped their bombs prematurely and ran for home. The small force of Finnish fighter planes took to the skies in pursuit, but the Soviet bombers, having the head start of a sneak attack, all got away. Fighting commenced on the ground while Soviet medium bombers (DB-2s and DB-3s) attacked 21 cities and towns, including Helsinki, the Finnish capital, where over 100 people were killed. Based on a flimsy pretext, Soviet ground forces jumped across the Finnish border in several locations without warning. The Finns, distrustful of Russian intensions from past experience, refused, and when Finland rejected Soviet demands for territorial concessions, war was inevitable. Moscow wasted no time before making proposals to Finland, in the form of demands to move their common border away from Leningrad (the Finnish border was just 20 miles from the city) and be compensated by land elsewhere. This new pact meant that Germany would stay on the sidelines. In 1918, when Finland gained its independence from Bolshevik Russia, Imperial German troops fought alongside the Finns and made the difference in the battle. This was good news for the Soviet leader. Hitler agreed to give Stalin a free hand in the Baltic States and Finland. Besides dividing up Poland, they agreed to allow each other free reign over nations and territories they deemed important. When Stalin and Hitler signed a non-aggression pact in August 1939, they secretly created spheres of influence.
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