Originally posted by Sloehand
Jaxxo, prior to WWII Finland lost a short war against Russia, and so aligned with Germany once conflict broke out between the Germans and Russians. Purely an alignment with the devil to try to recover what was lost in their war with Russia.
Well, this history isn't really the subject of this topic here, but I'd like to clarify in short, that the "alignment" happened before Germany attacked SU. What happened, was that in spring/summer 1940 Germany guaranteed Finnish independency, in a way, against further Soviet aggression. This was a 180 degree reversal on German policy, since Germany was allied to SU during the Winter War. Germany's guarantee prevented "Winter War II", that Soviet Union was preparing for - they were preparing for new war against FInland to begin in autumm/winter 1940. They were, in a way, already conducting political warfare against Finland and trying to fall Finnish lawful government, preparing ground for new military offensive. This ended when Germany told Molotov "hands off Finland", making cross-deals about food supplies to Finland (the country was dependant on foreign trade to feed the population, and the war had cut all trade routes - there were only two nations that could sell food, Germany and SU) vs raw materials to Germany.
So when Germany then suddenly attacked Soviet Union, it was a huge surprise for Finnish population - but SU had already forced Finland into Germany's side, by their attack in 1939 and continued political offensive in 1940.
If you wish to comment this further, please make own thread for it
This should be about honoring the vets.
