Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Finland's War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in World War II
    Unavailable
    Finland's War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in World War II
    Unavailable
    Finland's War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in World War II
    Ebook613 pages6 hours

    Finland's War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in World War II

    By Henrik Lunde

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A selection of the Military Book Club.

    This book describes the odd coalition between Germany and Finland in World War II, and their joint military operations from 1941 to 1945. This is a topic often missing in English, though in stark contrast to the numerous books on the shorter and less bloody Winter War. That conflict represented a gallant fight of a democratic “David” against a totalitarian “Goliath” that caught the imagination of the world. The story of Finland fighting alongside a “Goliath” of its own has not brought pride to that nation and was a period many Finns would rather forget.

    The prologue of this book brings the reader up to speed by briefly examining the difficult history of Finland, from its separation from the Soviet Union in 1917 to its isolation after being bludgeoned in 1939–40. It then examines both Finnish and German motives for forming a coalition against the USSR, and how—as logical as a common enemy would seem—the lack of true planning and preparation would doom the alliance.

    This book posits that it was mind-boggling how the highly professional German General Staff allowed itself to accept the militarily unsound and shaky coalition that resulted. The war aims were not discussed or harmonized, there were no campaign plans with tasks and missions spelled out past the initial assault, no effective main effort established, inadequate force levels, and an unsound command structure with various headquarters. Practically every rule in the book was broken. The objective of linking up with the Finns in the Leningrad area was an important factor in Hitler opting for three main drives into the Soviet Union rather than an earlier OKH plan that called for only two.

    After describing the operations during and after Barbarossa, this book describes how the Finnish theater became a blind ally for the Germans. Their strongest and best army was trapped both operationally and geographically in central and northern Finland, making virtually no contribution to the war effort. The Germans could not bring to bear enough forces to accomplish their objectives without substantial Finnish assistance, and that was not forthcoming.

    The final chapters deal with the Soviet counteroffensive against the Finns in 1944. The Finns lost all their gains and quickly concluded a separate armistice. This left the German forces in Finland to simply vacate the territory, fighting between the Finns and Soviets alike as they tried to return to the main war. Jointly suffering 291,000 casualties, the only consolation was that the coalition had inflicted some 830,000 on the Soviets.

    In this book, Henrik Lunde, a former US Special Operations colonel, and the renowned author of Hitler’s Pre-emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940, once again fills a profound gap in our understanding of World War II.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCasemate
    Release dateFeb 22, 2011
    ISBN9781612000374
    Unavailable
    Finland's War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in World War II

    Related to Finland's War of Choice

    Related ebooks

    Wars & Military For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Hitler’s Greatest Mistake?

      Nov 25, 2021

      Hitler’s Greatest Mistake?
      8 min read

    • Article

      Age Of Empires

      Dec 5, 2021

      Age Of Empires
      3 min read

    • Article

      The War Without An End

      Apr 16, 2020

      The War Without An End
      9 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Nov 26, 2020

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Dark Mirror

      Mar 14, 2024

      The Dark Mirror
      9 min read

    • Article

      Fighting The People’s War

      Dec 27, 2018

      Fighting The People’s War
      2 min read

    • Article

      Franco Had Joined The Axis?

      Apr 11, 2024

      Franco Had Joined The Axis?
      6 min read

    • Article

      Military History Is Set To Repeat Itself

      Nov 30, 2023

      IN JUNE LAST YEAR GENERAL SIR PATRICKSanders, the Chief of the General Staff, told an audience, “This is our 1937 moment … We must, therefore, meet strength with strength from the outset and be unequivocally prepared to fight …” Just a few months lat

      5 min read

    • Article

      Welcome September 2023

      Aug 3, 2023

      "The Great War, 1914–1918. We see those dates so often on memorials and in museums, in books and on TV, that it’s easy to forget that this four-year span was not predetermined. The actors of the time did not know when the conflict would end, and some

      1 min read

    • Article

      Hitler’s Strategic Errors

      Nov 25, 2021

      Hitler’s Strategic Errors
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Nation At War

      Oct 1, 2020

      A Nation At War
      4 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Jan 24, 2023

      Reviews
      8 min read

    • Article

      March 1940

      Feb 20, 2020

      March 1940
      1 min read

    • Article

      Eduard Frankl

      Jun 11, 2019

      Eduard Frankl
      5 min read

    • Article

      Finland’s Wars with USSR

      Oct 1, 2021

      Finland’s Wars with USSR
      7 min read

    • Article

      Boldly Betting Badly

      Aug 2, 2022

      Boldly Betting Badly
      2 min read

    • Article

      Sea Change

      Feb 12, 2019

      Sea Change
      9 min read

    • Article

      Bomber Onslaught

      Apr 30, 2019

      Bomber Onslaught
      6 min read

    • Article

      They Also Served

      Aug 22, 2023

      They Also Served
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Bitter Taste Of Victory

      Apr 16, 2020

      The Bitter Taste Of Victory
      9 min read

    • Article

      Storm of Victory

      Oct 30, 2018

      Storm of Victory
      3 min read

    • Article

      Another Contemptible Little Army?

      Feb 23, 2018

      Another Contemptible Little Army?
      12 min read

    Reviews for Finland's War of Choice

    4/5

    16 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      My relationship with Casemate Books is a mixed one, as for every worthwhile book approaching the quality of, say, the Kansas or Texas A&M operations, there seems to be two potboilers that mostly exist to sponge up the buying budgets of the public libraries of America. Having gotten that off my chest, this is one of the worthwhile books, as the author concentrates on the high strategy and operations of the so-called "Continuation War," in the process cutting through Finnish obfuscation about their real agenda in this conflict. Basically, it would appear that Finnish society had its own version of expansionist politics, and if this appetite could be opportunistically sated so much the better; who doesn't want to be on the side of the winners? Such is the state of official denial in Finland, that Lunde has to tease out hints of this agenda as to what responsible Finnish leaders were thinking at the time from German accounts of the alliance, but the evidence is good that this was never merely about undoing of the results of the "Winter War." However, the Finns always tried to limited their liability in this adventure, so total disaster was staved off in the end (as compared, say, to the results of Hungarian or Romanian military adventurism).While I have no real complaints about this book (apart from some clunky production values), one particular instance illustrates the limits of this study: In the collection of the photos there is a collective image of a group of Finish politicians on trial for war crimes and no real explanation is offered in the epilog. It all begs the questions of what crimes and whose court? This is not to mention the question of how Carl Mannerheim should be assessed in regards to the other military adventurers in politics of the Interwar Period; there's a rich topic there for someone with really good linguistic skills and a knack for synthesis.
    • 4/5
      The Continuation War is the ugly younger brother of the famous Winter War. Stalin's foolish invasion and partial annexation of Finland had made his flank less secure and created much bad blood. So much in fact, that Finland joined Nazi Germany's planning of Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union. Finnish and German officers jointly planned their offensives. Finland's army officially delayed its participation in the attack for a week, so that it could claim victim status and "shoot back". During my visit to the Mannerheim Museum in Helsinki a few years ago, they actively denied Finnish cooperation in the German attack. This book clearly presents the case that the Finnish generals and politicians knew. "Plausible deniability" is not plausible.Finnish strategic thinking about the war was seriously flawed, because the permanent recovery of its lost territory rested on the Nazis winning the war. Any other outcome would pit tiny Finland against the Russian behemoth. Finland tried to fight a limited war in a total war environment which frustrated both the Germans and the Allied. The Germans approached the war in the North with much muddled thinking too. For Hitler and the Wehrmacht, the Continuation War ranked third, well behind the main attack on Russia and the defense of Norway (and Swedish resources). Constrained by scarce logistical capabilities up north, the Germans never achieved the critical mass necessary to cut the crucial Soviet supply line to the ice-free harbor of Murmansk. Even the available forces in the far north were split to three tasks of defending Norway, attacking Murmansk and cutting the railroad further south. Instead of a Schwerpunkt, the German forces were frittered away and contained by the Soviets who could rely on reinforcements via their strategic rail line.In the southern part, the Finns recovered their lost territories but refrained from cutting off Leningrad from the north. The stalemate resulted in a drôle de guerre, while both sides waited for a decision in the main theater. As the Soviets prevailed, the Finns had to pay the price. The newly freed up Soviet forces quickly convinced the Finns to negotiate and surrender in 1944. In retaliation, the retreating Germans inflicted widespread destruction of civilian property and infrastructure in the north. Finland's war of choice turned out to have been indeed an unfortunate decision.This book offers a good, staff study-like overview of the war with a heavy focus on the German actors. I would have preferred a more balanced approach, giving the Finns and the Soviets more space. Often it remains unclear how much of the Soviet forces were actually opposing the German forces listed, making a assessment harder than necessary. The maps could also have been a bit more detailed. Overall, still a worthy introduction to this unnecessary war in the cold north.