Three months after Hitler invaded Poland triggering a series of nasty and costly wars across the world, the Soviet Union took the opportunity to invade Finland to settle some longstanding political issues, mostly to take land from Finland to use it as a buffer between the newly christened city of Leningrad and the rising power of Nazi Germany. The Finnish fought hard in freezing temperatures and repelled Soviet attacks for two months, inflicting substantial losses on the invaders initially. But the Red Army came back hard and overcame Finnish defenses during the later stages of the war. Hostilities finally ceased with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty, but it was Finland who got the short end of the stick. They were forced to ceded substantial territory to the Soviet Union amounting to nearly one-tenth of their entire land, which translated to a loss of 30 percent of its economic assets. Understandably, the conditions of the peace treaty left Finland bitter. The world was sympathetic to the Finnish cause and the Soviet aggression was deemed unjustified. Fifteen months later, when Nazi Germany prepared for an invasion of the Soviet Union, Finland joined in hoping that a combined attack would bring the mighty Soviet Union down to its knees and Finland would regain its lost territories. This second conflict was called the Continuation War.
Finnish soldiers celebrate after recapturing Viborg in August 1941.
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