Rich, if you don't want to repost what you originally did, could you PM me? I've always been interested by Finland's largely unknown and kind of confusing involvement in WWII.
Well more "yeas" then "Nays" so Ill post shortly, and from memory.
Finland was in a complicated position as Europe moved towards war. They despised Stalin and were rightfully fearful of the Soviet Union which always had hegemonic designs on the mineral rich, and strategic, Finland. The Soviets even supported the losing side in the Finnish civil war of 1918. So there was no love lost there. To Hitler and his cronies Finland was not only an important source of minerals but also, in their minds, a fellow Aryan people.
Remember Hitler made a deal with the Soviets when they both invaded Poland, "the non-aggression pact"? What most people dont know is that Hitler signed away on Finland and the Baltic states belonging to the Soviet sphere of interest. That was the price of Poland for the Germans. Latvia,Estonia,Lithuania, ceded themselves to Soviet control. The price demanded of the Finns was a big chunk of their territory. The Finns resisted. The Soviets attacked them. The winter war had started.
Into this morass came a small number of Brewster Buffalos. Now as far as I know they were stripped due to American export Laws and then reassembled with mostly Yank kit except for the sights. Back to the winter war. The Finns survived but had to give large chunks of its territory to the reds and had to resettle a whole lot of their citizens. It was at this time that they pursued close relations with Hitler. Britain and France had just been defeated so it wasn't like they could turn to anyone else. So again you see, "complicated".
But at the same time the Finns allowed Germany to secretly move troops thru their territory on their way to occupied Norway in 1940, sticking a knife in their Nordic neighbor in the back. They started drafting for German SS units even before Hitler attacked Russia. After the attack, even tho they declared neutrality, they allowed Luftwaffe units to use their bases which cause the Russians to go to war with Finland again. The Continuation War had started.
During which Finland was about as allied with Germany as you can get. Hitler visited Finland. Finnish boys wore SS uniforms. Britain and Canada actually declare war on Finland. Finland allows German units to use its land mass to stage attacks. America threatens a war declaration if the Finns cut off the Murmansk supply chain to the Soviets, "now western allies".The Germans armed and trained the Finnish Military. The Finns annexed Russian territory. They were firmly in the German camp until Stalingrad, after which as you can imagine, they started having 2nd thoughts. From then on up to about the end of '44 the Finns played both sides. Accepting arms from Hitler while secretly negotiating peace with Stalin. Even tho they had promised Hitler they wouldn't.
Eventually in The Lapland war the Finns turned and attacked the Germans forcing them out of their territory into Norway. This was after making a separate, secret deal with Stalin. The beginning of this war was phony however, both the Finns and Germans only pretended they were attacking, "another secret deal". At least until Stalin found out and the shooting began for real, each side even threatening to kill each others POWs. Anyway the Nazi/Finnish love affair was over. Yes, the Finns fought both for, and against, each side during this war.
So on the one hand there is a small country desperately trying to find a way to survive. On the other hand there was a opportunistic nation playing each side for its own benefit. In their defense their choices were few, tho they certainly were allies of Germany. One thing they were not were allies of the west. While they bravely protected their Jews they also allowed the German to use American and Brit POWs to build roads and track in northern Finland where many perished due to the cold and ill treatment.
Sorry if I was over-long. No doubt the Finns have a gentler memory of the war.
The Finns in those Brewsters were defending themselves from a mass-murdering dictator with more resources and a higher ultimate body count than Hitler had. And they did it almost by themselves.
They don't teach you much about the matter of Finland vs. USSR in school, not many t.v. programs about it either. I think it is perhaps it makes all too clear the way the West repeatedly made deals with the devil and wussed out in regards to communist aggression against small nations in the 20th century.
Now heres a real historian.
There were only a small number of Brewsters delivered to Finland, like 40 or 50 right? No doubt the Finns flew them bravely, "having your country invaded will do that", but the condition of the Soviet air force on that front, at the time, was simply atrocious. 1/2 was in the gulag and the other half was afraid of going there. The Germans destroyed almost their entire air force in the opening days of Barbarossa.
Still, and all things considered, both the airplane and the Finnish Pilots shined when their country desperately needed them. Of that there is no question.
