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Old 2nd March 2005, 10:29
Franek Grabowski Franek Grabowski is offline
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Quote:
Even if Finland wasn't an Axis power at that time, as it was in war against SU which was a sort of non-combat partner of Germany at that time, I post this in this forum.
Having in mind Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, joint aggression on Poland, then Treaty of Mutual Assistance signed in Moscow at the end of September and then full cooperation like sabotage performed by Soviet agents - communistic trade unions - during the German aggression on the West (almost blocked production of Spitfires at a crucial moemnt before the BoB), I cannot call Soviet Union anything by an ally of Germany.
We should end at last with Soviet/communistic propaganda and call it by name. And also clearly call the 'Winter War' a Finnish Campaign, integral part of WWII.

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(“Red Stars 5”, pp. 178 - 182 contains a list of each VVS KBF aircraft loss, down to damaged, 30 Nov 1939 - 13 March 1940.)
The question that still remains valid is how accurate those data are. High losses caused a lot of concern in Soviet command and IIRC there are some stories of how loss stats were falsified by field commanders to avoid responsibility, understandable having in mind fear caused eg. by recent purges. Therefore it cannot be excluded some of the reported non combat losses actually were the ones.

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The Winter War is a clear case of a war where the numerical superiority which one of the two sides held was THE factor which decided the outcome.
This is a clear example that quantity not supported by any quality means nothing. Look waht Finland was, a small country with a population comparable to a big Soviet city, with no industry, which just regained independence. Despite of huge numerical superiority, Finnish AF did not cease to exist within the first few days of campaign. Well, it even increased.

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Finland actually was defeated twice by the Soviets - in 1940 and in 1944.
Considering the Soviets did not manage to occupy Finland nor to establish a puppet communistic government (which was already waiting on the Soviet side of the border), I cannot call this defeat. Perhaps a bitter victory but definetelly not a defeat.
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