The Winter War in Air: Finnish & Soviet experience 1939-1940

[GuerraCivil]

One of the interesting sideshows of WW2 was the Finnish-Soviet Winter War in 1939 - 1940. Most of the publications have been in Finnish (although containing often English text) and the focus has in been in Finnish side.

Fokker D XXI Aces of World War 2

For starters I would recommend the Osprey title Fokker D XXI Aces of World War 2 by Kari Stenman and Peter de Jong. It follows the straightforward Ospery aircraf ot the aces format which is not of liking of all, but in my opinion good intro. The Winter War section is the most important in the book and you will also learn something about the Fokker D XXI fighter in general. Fokker D XXI was the icon of Finnish side in Winter War.


If interested more in the developmet of Finnish Air Force before the war and wanting a good day-to-day chronicle of Winter War in air you can take a look on Suomen ilmavoimat 2 - Finnish Air Force 1928 - 1940 by Keskinen et al. It covers not only fighter units but also bomber and recce units of Finnish Air Force during Winter War. Book is bilingual - all text is both in Finnish and English.

With the two book above you are pretty well informed when it comes to Finnish Air Force during the Winter War and how it was built before the war.

Then it is time to watch the other side to get more complete picture:

The Winter War in the Air. Red Stars, vol. 7.

This book of C.F.Geust would have been better with some more editing, but it is very good also as it is. This bilingual (Finnish and English) book is the best specialised work on the Red Army Air Force during the Winter War. It has good general introduction and combat records of all VVS RKKA units that participated in the Winter War. With this volume you get a good picture of Soviet flying units and their experiences in the Winter War.