How was Finland involved in World War II?

Question

Were they involved?
How did they act?
What was there role?

Tell me anything....
Thanks

Answer 1

They were lined up with the axis but they were just fighting for their independence from the Soviet Union (Stalin poised to invade them), as a result, both the fascist nations, but also some Allied Nations supported them. They fought the "winter war" in which they fought superbly against far superior russian numbers and were able to hold their own,...however, in a second attempt ("continuation war") the russians were able to defeat them. The finns fought extremely well.

Answer 2

When Russia was Allied with Germany the invaded Finland after the invasion of Poland. The Fins put up a defense that can only be described as brilliant. The managed to hold up the much larger Russian Army an inflict over a million casualties on them. The Russians in the end overwhelmed them and forcing a surrender that lead to loss of some territory but not an occupation. This would be like a high school football team playing the New England Patriots from the NFL, losing but having a finial score of 14 to 10. The British were in the process of sending arms and troops to them when they surrender. If this would have happened WWII would have been total different.

After their surrender they saw that Britain and France would not help them and looked to Germany. Germany sent troops, aircraft, and guns to prevent any further Russian aggression and to prepare for the invasion of Russia.

Once Germany turned on the Russians the Fins invaded with them to regain lost territory and to help the Germans with the siege of Leningrad. They were not successful.

After the Germans where driven out of Russia the Fins surrendered, but they were the only Axis country not to be occupied after the war. The Allies saw the were forced to be with the Germans, and that Finland never let the Germans have their Jews like the rest of Europe did.

Answer 3

Finland was allied with the Axis powers and was invaded by the Red Army leading to what was known as the winter war. In the first few days of the winter war the Red Army lost hundreds of tanks and soldiers and eventually suppressed the Finns retaining part of Finland as the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic after WW2

Answer 4

While being Allied to the Germany they did not contribute many troops to the fascist cause, they held the Russians along the North-western front (the Finnish border with Russia and linked up to them near Leningrad which the Germans had under siege.

The Finns refused to get involved in the actual siege, fearing Russian retaliation against Finnish towns and cities.

Some Finns did join the Scandinavian Viking SS along with other Nordics, Swedish, Norwegians, Danes etc..etc..

Answer 5

You should ask the Russians that question. That is one of my favorite stories from World War II. Damn, they're one tough race of people and I truly admire them. You should be able to deduce the outcome of the Russian invasion by the fact the Finland was never a Soviet Bloc nation.

Answer 6

When the Finns realised they were technically at war with the British the Commander in Chief of the Finish military is reputed to have said " If that is the case we had better make sure all our soldiers have clean boots" You can decide just what he meant by the comment but I don't think he was being disrespectful.

Answer 7

It all started with Stalin's suspicion, mistrust, and paranoia of the Capitalist West (France, Great Britain) in the 1930's. He had always thought that France and Great Britain were his main enemies. In fact he placed more trust in Germany than he trusted the West at the time. In 1939, Germany and Russia signed a mutual Non-Aggression Pact (with provisions that Germany and Russia would never be at war with each other), much to the consternation of both France and Great Britain. The non-aggression pact also contained a secret-protocol (a secret agreement) where Germany and Russia agreed to divide Poland between themselves. Stalin pondered that if Russia took its half of Poland (with Germany taking the other half), he would be risking an armed conflict with France and Great Britain (as Poland itself had an existing agreement with France and Great Britain, where both nations promised to defend Poland if it is attacked). Stalin further pondered that if France and Great Britain would indeed be at war with Russia as a result of Russia's partaking of Poland, he expected that France and Great Britain would be launching an attack on Russia from the north-west (along the Russian border with Finland). Stalin felt that Leningrad would be vulnerable from that attack, as it is only about 60 miles from the Russo-Finnish border. Therefore, Stalin felt that Leningrad can only be effectively protected by creating a buffer zone (extending the Russian border further away from Leningrad). However, this buffer zone will cover most of the Karelian Isthmus (a territory belonging to Finland). Stalin asked the Finnish government to give Russia free access to Karelia. The Finnish government refused. Then Stalin threatened to take Karelia by force. The Finnish government still refused. Stalin then sent an invasion force to occupy Karelia, and the Finnish government sent its own troops to defend it. This resulted in the Russo-Finnish War of 1939. The Finnish troops fought fiercely, although smaller in numbers. They caused heavy casualties on the much larger Russian troops. The war went on, until the Russian troops' superiority in numbers overwhelmed the Finnish troops. The Finns eventually surrendered, and Karelia was ceded to Russia as a settlement for that war.

As we all know, the German invasion of Poland triggered the start of World War II. Luckily for Stalin, the Russians hadn't yet made their own move on Poland. Stalin decided to play the wait-and-see attitude, as Great Britain fought with Germany, and France reinforcing the Maginot Line in preparation for war with Germany (France later fell to the Germans, just the same).

It was Hitler's treachery of invading Russia (discarding the non-aggression pact), that got the Finns into the picture. During the initial success of the German campaign in Russia, the Finns became virtual allies to the Germans, by allowing the free movement of German troops and supplies into Finnish soil from where the Germans launched their attacks to siege Leningrad. However, the Finnish military never participated in the assault on Russia, as they were never interested in taking any Russian territory. Their only interest was the re-taking of the Karelia. This was the extent of Finland's involvement in World War II.

Answer 8

Finland and Russia fought each other by Russia invading the Karelian Isthmus which Russia still holds parts of. Finland during this war which was 1938/39 allied itself to Nazi Germany though strangely enough had 90% of it`s armour (tanks) supplied by the UK, specifically Cardon Lloyd tanks. There was eventually an armistice between the two nations as Russia realised it couldn`t win against the superior Finnish forces who were the first in the World to have most of their regiments trained in skiing. Finland lost large tracts of land along the borders but decided to stay neutral through WW2...

Answer 9

They were "reluctantly" (so my Finnish friend tells me LOL) allied to Germany and fought mostly a holding action against a Russian invasion

Answer 10

Look it up - wiki it !

Finland fought the Russians pre WWII - heroic actions - troops on skis etc. Won the first round - the lost - then the Nazis used it against Russia.

But look it up.