Russia’s war in Ukraine has made Finland again feel threatened by its eastern neighbor. Like more than 80 years ago, normally neutral Helsinki turns to the West for help and asks to join NATO.

The Finns are seriously discussing that they could be next and call Russia “a neighbor from whom you do not know what to expect.” Finns’ fears are exacerbated by the fact that the war in Ukraine reminds them too much of the scenario in which the Soviet Union attacked Finland 82 years ago. Then the country lost one tenth of its territory, but was able to maintain independence. And since then, it has significantly improved its defense strategy.

In terms of military strategy, Finland’s main problem is its sparse population. Finland occupies about the same area as Germany. But the population of Germany is 83 million and Finland is 5.5 million. At the same time, Finland has 1,340 km of land border with Russia.

To solve this problem, Finland has developed and uses the concept of “total defense”.

The idea is to have as large a proportion of citizens as possible ready to participate in the war, which will make it possible to pin down and exhaust the enemy as much as possible, inflict such damage on the opponent’s advanced units that they would not be able to continue the offensive. And the enemy himself would become interested in ending the war through negotiations.

In order to ensure defense in the event of a military conflict on the territory of Finland, the army is constantly working out mechanisms for maximizing the mobilization of all the resources of society.

In peacetime, the strength of the Finnish army is about 25 thousand people, of which about 20,000 are conscripts. In wartime, the army can quickly deploy another 280,000 troops. And another 700 thousand – this is the so-called “deep reserve” – these are those who served on the call more than 10 years ago, but even they are periodically called up for exercises.

Not only these people take part in the exercises, but also representatives of private business and local authorities – at least once a year they hone their interaction and learn about the tasks that they need to perform in case of war.

In Finland, there are many warehouses of uniforms, equipment and emergency food. Some of these supplies – such as masks, gloves and medical supplies – were very useful in the first phase of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Every Finnish building with an area of more than 1200 square meters is equipped with a bomb shelter (including an air filtration system in case of a nuclear strike). Most cities also have large buildings built into niches in cut rock. Usually they are used as sports arenas, but in case of war they can be an excellent shelter for civilians or a base for the military.

Also in Finland there is an order to equip each bridge, overpass and tunnel with special niches for the installation of explosives. In peacetime, these niches are empty, but in case of danger, charges will be installed in them to undermine communications in the path of the advancing enemy forces.

The first stage of “total defense” is put into action already at the moment when Finnish military intelligence detects a significant build-up of opponents’ troops near their borders.

In this case, the necessary equipment and machinery will be transferred from storage sites to mobilization centers, and reservists will be called to collection points. Civilian construction companies, along with military engineers, will lay minefields, build defensive fortifications, and plant explosives in bridge and tunnel piers.

In the event of a high probability of an attack from outside, the Finnish navy is ordered to set up minefields in the territorial waters of the country in order to block the passage to the coast. Only a few sea routes will be left free, which will be guarded by warships and coastal artillery batteries. The Air Force is ordered to spread out over numerous small bases. Part of the roads can be used as runways.

But the main role in the defense is assigned to small detachments of infantry.

Lightly armed but highly mobile infantry formations must use the terrain (for example, forests, hills and swamps) to set up ambushes and strike at the units of the advancing enemy.

After a successful ambush, the infantrymen are ordered to retreat deep into their territory in order, on the one hand, to minimize their own losses, and on the other hand, to force the enemy to follow certain routes, on which new ambushes and minefields will await.

A similar tactic – to block the movement of columns advancing along the roads and break them – was successfully used by some units of the Ukrainian army, in particular, in the defense of Kyiv.

Conscription service is compulsory for all fit young men in Finland between the ages of 18 and 30. Girls, if they have a desire, can also serve.

“Serving in the army is considered prestigious in Finland, it is extremely rare to evade conscription. The service itself is clearly organized, conscripts study a large amount of information, they do a lot of tactics and shooting with them. Formalism is kept to a minimum,” says Prof. Petteri Jouko from the National Defense University of Finland. Jouko served in the Finnish army for many years, retiring with the rank of colonel.

On weekends, all conscripts are allowed to go home. On weekdays, they try to give conscripts a few free hours in the evenings or during the day so that they can see friends or resolve urgent personal matters.

Military service lasts from five and a half to 11 and a half months, depending on the specialty and direction. Future officers are prepared for the longest time: recruits who have passed a special selection can receive the shoulder straps of a junior lieutenant by the end of their service and command a platoon.

According to a poll, in 2021, 73% of Finnish residents were in favor of maintaining the mandatory conscription for men.

“After the Second World War, there was a discussion in society whether it was necessary to create a professional army. But in the end, nevertheless, they decided not only to keep the military service, but also to significantly develop it, to improve the training of conscripts. Only competent training of conscripts and the preservation of training and knowledge among reservists can ensure the security of our country. This conclusion was made on the basis of an analysis of the experience of the Second World War and especially the “winter war” with the USSR,” notes Professor Jouko.

The secret annexes to the “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact” concluded in 1939 provided that “in the event of a territorial and political reorganization” Finland would be considered a sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. In other words, Germany undertook not to interfere with Stalin’s attempts to annex Finland.

The concentration of Soviet troops to the Finnish border began already in September 1939. In the 21st century, Russia also began amassing troops on the Ukrainian border months before the invasion began.

Stalin suggested that Helsinki give up part of its territory to the USSR, admit Soviet troops to itself and destroy the line of fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus. The Soviet leader argued that this was necessary in order to secure Leningrad from Finnish artillery shelling.

Documents confirming the existence of a plan to shell Leningrad in Helsinki have not been found. Finland at that time adhered to neutrality, although it focused on the West, and not on the USSR. After two weeks of negotiations, Finland refused to give up its territories to the USSR.

Shortly thereafter, on November 26, Moscow claimed that Finnish artillery had fired on Soviet units near the village of Mainila on the Karelian Isthmus, killing four Red Army soldiers. Despite the fact that in the documents of the 68th Infantry Regiment of the 70th Division, which allegedly came under fire, there is no mention of either the shelling or the losses on that day.

In 2022 – a few days before the invasion – Moscow began to report on the shelling of its territory from Ukraine and announced the danger that would inevitably threaten the inhabitants of Donbass.

In 1939, the “response” of the USSR was swift. On November 30, four Soviet armies, which “for some reason” were completely ready to throw, crossed the border of Finland and struck at once in several directions. The bombing of Helsinki, Tampere and other cities began. In the 21st century, Russia also launched an invasion of Ukraine from several flanks at once and fired at Kyiv, Kharkov, Ivano-Frankivsk and a number of other cities.

The fighting on the territory of Finland in the Soviet Union was called not a war, but “aid to the workers of Finland who rebelled against the bourgeois government of the White Finns”. In the 21st century, Russia also prefers to call its military invasion of Ukraine not a war, but a “special operation.”

On the second day of the war, a puppet government headed by the Finnish communist Otto Kuusinen was created on the territory of the USSR. In the 21st century, British intelligence spoke about Moscow’s plans to create a puppet government in Kiev from pro-Russian politicians a month before the invasion.

In 1939, according to a number of historians, Soviet generals planned to end the Finnish campaign in three weeks by December 21 – Stalin’s birthday – and declare victory. According to American intelligence, in 2022, Russian military leaders also planned that the attack on Ukraine would be quick and successful.

In 1939-1940, the USSR ran into desperate resistance from the Finnish military. Despite the fact that the Finns had only 15 tanks (the USSR put up about 4,000 tanks) and half as many fighters, they were able to stop the advancing units of the country of the Soviets.

For 104 days of the war, the Red Army lost more than 120 thousand people, Finland – less than 26 thousand. The Soviet military lacked interaction between the branches of the armed forces, communications did not work. Infantrymen perished under machine gun fire from fortifications well-placed on the well-fortified Mannerheim Line.

The rank and file of the Red Army were poorly trained and equipped. Despite frosts of minus 30-40 degrees, many were dressed in autumn clothing, did not receive skis or did not know how to use them. Soviet officers were given white sheepskin coats, which set them apart from the soldiers and made them an easy target for Finnish snipers.

“The frost has come, and the fighters do not have shoes and gloves, and besides, they are not provided with food and ammunition. More than two hundred fighters were out of action, some died, and the other part without shoes (the legs were wrapped in footcloths and bandages) were in such a bad moral state that it was impossible to go into battle with them,” the NKVD of Soviet Karelia reported on the state of the 29th rifle regiment in December 1939.

In 2022, in Ukraine, the Russian army faced similar challenges: insufficient coordination between units, communication problems, expired rations, and a high proportion of officers among the dead. Some soldiers – just like in 1939 – were evacuated with frostbite on their legs.

The Soviet military were shocked by the level of well-being in the homes of the Finns, so there were frequent cases of looting. The food was eaten on the spot, but the things were tried to be sent to relatives. Soon the NKVD began searching the houses of the suspects.

“As a result of a search in the apartment of the platoon commander of the communications company G. and the assistant commander G., a bicycle, a suit, two carpets, 14 towels, 6 sheets, a sewing machine, dishes were seized sent from the city of Terijoki …”, – said in a memorandum of the NKVD of Leningradsky military district of December 14, 1939.

In 2022, the Russian military was also repeatedly accused of looting.

By March 1940, the USSR had already broken through the Manerheim Line, but suffered huge losses. Moreover, there was information about the impending landing of French and British troops in northern Finland. London was working on the option of sorties of heavy bombers to strike at the oil fields of the USSR in Baku and Grozny.

Stalin decided to negotiate and the parties signed a peace treaty. Finland lost 40 thousand square kilometers of territory, where 11% of the country’s GDP was produced and 12% of its population lived.

But the Finns retained their independence and showed that an attacker would pay a heavy price for an encroachment on any part of Finnish territory.

The events of the “winter war” also influenced the further decisions taken by Finland. In the next phase of World War II, when Hitler and Stalin ceased to be allies and Germany attacked the USSR, the Finns took the side of Germany, hoping to return the lands lost as a result of the Soviet-Finnish war.

For decades after World War II, Finland adhered to the neutrality initially imposed by the Soviet Union, without entering into any military alliances.

During the last decade, the idea of joining NATO was supported by only 20-25% of the population. But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the latest public opinion poll, this figure rose to a record high of 76%.

If Finland joins NATO, the length of the alliance’s border with Russia will double.

“I think it is very important that now almost the entire Baltic Sea will be surrounded by NATO countries. Out of their control will be only St. Petersburg, a small piece of the Gulf of Finland and Kaliningrad. This is a significant change for the region,” said Ian Bond, an analyst at the Center for European Studies.

The expert believes that it is highly likely that Helsinki will decide to join NATO without any reservations. But Sweden can set a number of conditions: for example, not to place foreign military bases on its territory in peacetime and not to install nuclear weapons.

“From the point of view of the NATO bloc, Finland’s strength is not only in its own well-functioning defense system, but also in the fact that the Finnish army already has experience of interacting with the forces of the North Atlantic alliance,” said retired General Ben Hodges, who commanded US forces in Europe. .

The officers of the Finnish Armed Forces are experts in warfare in the Arctic climate and masters of survival in the harsh forests of Scandinavia. And that could go a long way in countering Russian attempts to increase its influence in the Arctic, Hodges adds.