Something i will always be freaking proud of.

• Northwind wrote on 2011-12-06 15:49
  so yeah, Finlands independence day today so feeling a bit more patriotic than usual :V and for me that means looking for stuff about Winter War...
  
  [video=youtube;5tzgN2J5VUU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tzgN2J5VUU&feature=related[/video]
  
  

  Quote from Wikipedia:

  The Soviet forces had three times as many soldiers as the Finns, 30 times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. The Red Army, however, had been crippled by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of 1937, reducing the army's morale and efficiency shortly before the outbreak of the fighting. With more than 30,000 of its army officers executed or imprisoned, including most of those of the highest ranks, the Red Army in 1939 had many inexperienced senior officers. Because of these factors, and high commitment and morale in the Finnish forces, Finland was able to resist the Soviet invasion for far longer than the Soviets expected.

  
  
  inb4nooneevenheardaboutwinterwar :fail3:
  
  And yes, I am bragging.
• Fabian wrote on 2011-12-06 17:08
  I never knew about the Winter War. All I remember is about Napoleon attacking Russia and failing due to winter.
  
  Congratulations on Finland's independence day though. It's really something to feel proud of.
  
  :skip:
• Northwind wrote on 2011-12-06 17:16

  Quote from Fabian;683061:

  I never knew about the Winter War. All I remember is about Napoleon attacking Russia and failing due to winter.
  
  Congratulations on Finland's independence day though. It's really something to feel proud of.
  
  :skip:

  
  
  not a big surprise, outside of Finland not many people seem to know it. And yeah, after being under Swedens control for 600 and Russias for 100 years, independence is pretty big thing to us :cheer:
• Cucurbita wrote on 2011-12-06 18:28
  America doesn't teach things that doesn't pertain to it.
  
  And it doesn't teach things that pertains to it but makes them look bad.
  
  So no, most of us haven't heard the winter war. Sounds a lot like the Korean Admiral Yi Soon Sin, who got bad ass of the week.
  
  http://www.badassoftheweek.com/admiralyi.html
  
  Basically his track record is "0 loss, over 9000 japanese ships down"
  
  And his most famous battle is when he took 13 ships and held off 300 Japanese warships, and forced them to retreat after he took out half of the Japanese naval fleet while having his own losses total only 3 wounded, 2 killed, no ships lost.
  
  His story is pure bad ass drama. He had his rank stripped twice and tortured as a criminal in the country he defended, only to rise to rank again each time. He took a country with no naval force or experience and fought off massively superior forces like they were nothing without losing anything on his side. He died giving chase in a huge scale battle against 500 ships retreating, when he was shot in the chest. Before dying, he told his men to not announce his death to keep morale high, then he stabbed himself with multiple swords and set them towards the ground so that even after he loses consciousness he would still be "standing" in front of his troops.
  
  I love bad ass strategic stories like these. The Spartans were another example of just pure bad ass strategy usage.
• Northwind wrote on 2011-12-06 19:49

  Quote from Cucurbita;683133:

  [spoiler]America doesn't teach things that doesn't pertain to it.
  
  And it doesn't teach things that pertains to it but makes them look bad.
  
  So no, most of us haven't heard the winter war. Sounds a lot like the Korean Admiral Yi Soon Sin, who got bad ass of the week.
  
  http://www.badassoftheweek.com/admiralyi.html
  
  Basically his track record is "0 loss, over 9000 japanese ships down"
  
  And his most famous battle is when he took 13 ships and held off 300 Japanese warships, and forced them to retreat after he took out half of the Japanese naval fleet while having his own losses total only 3 wounded, 2 killed, no ships lost.
  
  His story is pure bad ass drama. He had his rank stripped twice and tortured as a criminal in the country he defended, only to rise to rank again each time. He took a country with no naval force or experience and fought off massively superior forces like they were nothing without losing anything on his side. He died giving chase in a huge scale battle against 500 ships retreating, when he was shot in the chest. Before dying, he told his men to not announce his death to keep morale high, then he stabbed himself with multiple swords and set them towards the ground so that even after he loses consciousness he would still be "standing" in front of his troops.
  
  I love bad ass strategic stories like these. The Spartans were another example of just pure bad ass strategy usage.[/spoiler]

  
  
  well, i think they dont teach about winter war in russia at school so yeah. And there actually were a few volunteered Americans driving people to hospitals with ambulances. To make sure they wouldnt be killed one of them nailed a sign to a tree: "Don´t shoot the Americans"
  
  I also like those kind of stories, there was a Finnish sniper in winter war who killed 200-700 soviets (so much contradicting information around @_@) named Simo Häyhä. He went alone to shoot soviets with his "Pystykorva" (standard rifle finns used)and spent hours lying in snow. He also put snow to his mouth so that his breathing wouldnt be visible.
  
  He was known as the "White Death" around soviets and they sent multiple counter-snipers after him. During the last days of the war, he was shot to the jaw with an exploding bullet. He woke up in the hospital week later. :smoke2:
  
  I also heard about one finnish pilot who destroyed 5 Soviet planes alone in under 2 mins (there was still one left but he ran out of ammo)
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-12-06 22:53
  I've heard about it. Stalin was an ass. :P
  Though those individual tales of triumph are most likely greatly exaggerated. And in the end, it's all simply disgusting killing, anyway.
• Fynl wrote on 2011-12-06 23:40
  I haven't heard of it either :( but you've given me something to look into x]
• Kaeporo wrote on 2011-12-06 23:52
  I first learned of the Winter War in High School. It's an event that was reintroduced to me during mobility school. Most people don't know or care about events outside the country that they live in, though i'm not a position to comment on American culture in particular.
  
  The name "Simo Häyhä" is also not unheard of among those knowledgable of world military history. Lyudmila Pavlichenko was yet another great warrior in a similar line of work.
• Zid wrote on 2011-12-07 00:55
  Winter War, I have heard of it, yes. In fact, I'm pretty sure it became concrete in my mind after playing a mission in a modded video game about it.
  
  I'd have to give props to the Finnish in that campaigns. Escalating into an actual resistance against Soviet occupation is no small matter.
• Northwind wrote on 2011-12-07 15:30

  Quote from Yoorah;683477:

  I've heard about it. Stalin was an ass. :P
  Though those individual tales of triumph are most likely greatly exaggerated. And in the end, it's all simply disgusting killing, anyway.

  
  
  Even when they often are, I´m pretty sure the stuff i told about Häyhä is correct (but i think the kill count goes to the lower part of 200-700) And even when i doubt i could be able to kill someone, I still greatly respect people who can do stuff like this in such a difficult situation.
  
  And I also heard that Stalins officers promised that Finland would be his birthday present, lol.
  
  

  Quote from Fynl;683543:

  I haven't heard of it either :( but you've given me something to look into x]

  
  
  You can learn something new everyday ;)
  
  

  Quote from Kaeporo;683554:

  I first learned of the Winter War in High School. It's an event that was reintroduced to me during mobility school. Most people don't know or care about events outside the country that they live in, though i'm not a position to comment on American culture in particular.
  
  The name "Simo Häyhä" is also not unheard of among those knowledgable of world military history. Lyudmila Pavlichenko was yet another great warrior in a similar line of work.

  
  
  To me it seems rather obvious that one would be most interested in their own countrys history as I see that building up their identity as citizen of their country. However, if they do not look into other countries history they will never have a good overall picture of big events in the history.
  
  Mentioning a female soldier reminded me about one article i read about Winter War relating how finns reacted to seeing women in opponents army (Finland didnt have female soldiers at the time) a bit more shady side of the war. (some of them undressed dead women and took photos of them, right now I cant remember what was the conclusion in article why they would do that)
  
  

  Quote from Zid;683630:

  Winter War, I have heard of it, yes. In fact, I'm pretty sure it became concrete in my mind after playing a mission in a modded video game about it.
  
  I'd have to give props to the Finnish in that campaigns. Escalating into an actual resistance against Soviet occupation is no small matter.

  
  
  Well, still waiting for a proper fps with official (as in, no need for mods) campaigns about winter war.