Hi everyone i want to tell you a bit about the finnish winter war cause where i am from(the Netherlands) no one has heard of it cause we are not taught about it.
The finnish winter war was a war between finland and russia before the second world war that started because russia wanted to take over finland and thought it could just march into finland, with artillery,tanks and more than a million soldiers russia invaded finland from the south on the Karelean border and from the east.
The finnish where heavily outgunned, outnumbered and lacked the proper training to even compete with russia but this did not stop the finnish from defending their own country.

The finnish quickly started building defenses like trenches and barricades in temperatures of -40 degree celsius they managed to complete the defenses
Meanwhile they started to make ammunition and training with new weaponry but they were still no match for the great russian army
When the russians arrived the finnish defended themselves with everything they had
The russians suffered huge losses and were thinking of different tactics but this was difficult because there were only 2 experienced russian generals in command(because of the great purge in russia when communism took over as new political situation in russia)
The russians still tried to break the barricades and take over the defenses of the finnish soldiers but the finnish drove them back, with big losses but not as much as the russians

When the russians started to deploy tanks and artillery and planes the finnish were driven back from their defenses
Luckily the finnish were hardened for the brutal winter that was coming their way cause that whole winter it was -40 degrees celsius or even lower and if you were stabbed with a knife you would die instantly and freeze there on the spot in a matter of seconds
The finnish made good use of the cold
If the russians were sending a division somewhere the finnish would ambush them by destroying the first and the last vehicle in the column and then there were finnish soldiers who put on ice skates they would skate towards the Russians and slit there throats while the russians were astonished and trying to regroup, these attacks where a great way to thin the russian numbers
There is a lot more to tell about the winter war like a inspiring story about the world best sniper in history but i will make another thread about him and if you want to know more about this war try the documentary fire and ice the finnish winter war