Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
The Soviet Union Presents The Bill ...!
On December 19, 1944, Finland and the Soviet Union sign the Moscow Armistice ...:
This means that the Finns, who have fought against the Soviet Union since 1941 as part of an (unofficial!) Alliance on the part of the Germans, are eliminated from the war.
Finland under its head of state Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim ...
... had only entered the war to get back the areas in Karelia that had been lost in the Soviet-Finnish "winter war" of 1940.
Finland calls this the "Continuation War" after the "Winter War".
Otherwise, the Finns carefully kept their distance from the Germans - although Hitler had made every effort to draw the Finns into a solid alliance with the German Reich.
Mannerheim refused, among other things, to send Finnish troops to the siege of Leningrad and to attack the Murman Railway to the northern sea port of Murmansk (where the Western Allied supplies for the USSR were delivered), which was vital for the Soviet Union.
Hitler's secret visit to Mannerheim on June 4, 1942 ...
... did not bring the Nazi dictator anything tangible!
The “Führer” ranted endlessly (the only sound recordings of this exist that show Hitler during diplomatic talks), but simply flashed off at Mannerheim.
Now, in 1944, Finland is militarily at an end - the resources are exhausted and the army and population are tired of war!
Marshal Mannerheim has to ask for an armistice.
And now the Soviets present the Finns with the bill ...:
At the price that from now on there will be no more shooting, Finland finally loses Karelia, plus the Petsamo area (Russian "Petschenga") and the Salla area, where important ore mineral resources are located ...:
The Finns must also lease the Porkkala peninsula and a pair of islands in the Gulf of Finland to the Soviet Union for a period of 50 years; however, the territories will be returned to Finland as early as 1956.
The Finns also have to pay war compensation of 300 million US dollars!
The Finnish Army must also be completely demobilized immediately!
The most delicate point in the armistice agreement, however, is the whereabouts of the approximately 200,000 members of the Hitler armed forces under the convinced Nazi Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic (he even imitated his leader in the beard!) ...
... which are still on Finnish territory ...:
Finland undertakes, secretly and retroactively to September 15, to first intern these troops and then to extradite them to the Soviet Union.
But the Germans defend themselves and fight in the so-called "Lapland War" from now on against Finns and Soviets alike.
The German troops slowly withdraw to the north and try to escape to Norway, which is also occupied by German troops.
The Germans do not limit themselves to mere retreat, but also use scorched earth tactics in the context of combat operations.
On the way to retreat, almost all villages, individual houses, roads and bridges are destroyed or mined, which greatly slows the advance of the Finnish pursuers.
The city of Rovaniemi burned down completely in a fire caused by the explosion of an ammunition train.
As a "thank you" the Germans leave behind cynical posters - on the following one, left behind from the SS in a destroyed Finnish village, one can read: "As a thank you for unproven brotherhood in arms!" ...:
This episode of the Second World War, officially referred to by the Germans as the "Lappkand War", was contemptuously called "Children's Crusade" on the German side, because of the demobilization of the regular army on the Finnish side (which was not allowed to participate due to the armistice conditions!) Here on pages The Finns used particularly young and inexperienced soldiers who suffered very high losses ...:
The last place in Finland that was evacuated by the Germans after the fighting with the Finnish troops on April 25, 1945, was the village of Kilpisjärvi in the far north-west of the country on April 27, 1945.
The picture shows Red Army soldiers restoring the border markings ...:
Then the Germans fled to Norway - where they were captured by the Western Allies ...:
Marshal Mannerheim himself did not twist a hair with the Soviets: he remained head of state until he resigned in 1946 for health reasons.
Nazi General Rendulic was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 1948 for war crimes and crimes against humanity against the civilian population ...:
After a petition for clemency, the sentence was reduced to ten years on January 31, 1951 by the American High Commissioner John Jay McCloy.
In the same year, Rendulic - like most convicted war criminals - was released early from custody in Landsberg prison.
He then wrote a book of justification with the title "Soldier in Falling Reichs", in which he - by now historically has long since refuted! - myth of the "clean and decent fighting" Wehrmacht preached and claimed that all war crimes were committed by the SS.
The cover photo of this book shows a later forged version of the picture I posted above:
The Hitler mustache, which is clearly visible there (the original photo was taken in 1945 during an award ceremony at Hitler), became a completely normal mustache through subsequent retouching ...:
One don't really need to say more about this Nazi's book - it is a lie from the first to the last page!
On December 19, 1944, Finland and the Soviet Union sign the Moscow Armistice ...:
This means that the Finns, who have fought against the Soviet Union since 1941 as part of an (unofficial!) Alliance on the part of the Germans, are eliminated from the war.
Finland under its head of state Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim ...
... had only entered the war to get back the areas in Karelia that had been lost in the Soviet-Finnish "winter war" of 1940.
Finland calls this the "Continuation War" after the "Winter War".
Otherwise, the Finns carefully kept their distance from the Germans - although Hitler had made every effort to draw the Finns into a solid alliance with the German Reich.
Mannerheim refused, among other things, to send Finnish troops to the siege of Leningrad and to attack the Murman Railway to the northern sea port of Murmansk (where the Western Allied supplies for the USSR were delivered), which was vital for the Soviet Union.
Hitler's secret visit to Mannerheim on June 4, 1942 ...
... did not bring the Nazi dictator anything tangible!
The “Führer” ranted endlessly (the only sound recordings of this exist that show Hitler during diplomatic talks), but simply flashed off at Mannerheim.
Now, in 1944, Finland is militarily at an end - the resources are exhausted and the army and population are tired of war!
Marshal Mannerheim has to ask for an armistice.
And now the Soviets present the Finns with the bill ...:
At the price that from now on there will be no more shooting, Finland finally loses Karelia, plus the Petsamo area (Russian "Petschenga") and the Salla area, where important ore mineral resources are located ...:
The Finns must also lease the Porkkala peninsula and a pair of islands in the Gulf of Finland to the Soviet Union for a period of 50 years; however, the territories will be returned to Finland as early as 1956.
The Finns also have to pay war compensation of 300 million US dollars!
The Finnish Army must also be completely demobilized immediately!
The most delicate point in the armistice agreement, however, is the whereabouts of the approximately 200,000 members of the Hitler armed forces under the convinced Nazi Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic (he even imitated his leader in the beard!) ...
... which are still on Finnish territory ...:
Finland undertakes, secretly and retroactively to September 15, to first intern these troops and then to extradite them to the Soviet Union.
But the Germans defend themselves and fight in the so-called "Lapland War" from now on against Finns and Soviets alike.
The German troops slowly withdraw to the north and try to escape to Norway, which is also occupied by German troops.
The Germans do not limit themselves to mere retreat, but also use scorched earth tactics in the context of combat operations.
On the way to retreat, almost all villages, individual houses, roads and bridges are destroyed or mined, which greatly slows the advance of the Finnish pursuers.
The city of Rovaniemi burned down completely in a fire caused by the explosion of an ammunition train.
As a "thank you" the Germans leave behind cynical posters - on the following one, left behind from the SS in a destroyed Finnish village, one can read: "As a thank you for unproven brotherhood in arms!" ...:
This episode of the Second World War, officially referred to by the Germans as the "Lappkand War", was contemptuously called "Children's Crusade" on the German side, because of the demobilization of the regular army on the Finnish side (which was not allowed to participate due to the armistice conditions!) Here on pages The Finns used particularly young and inexperienced soldiers who suffered very high losses ...:
The last place in Finland that was evacuated by the Germans after the fighting with the Finnish troops on April 25, 1945, was the village of Kilpisjärvi in the far north-west of the country on April 27, 1945.
The picture shows Red Army soldiers restoring the border markings ...:
Then the Germans fled to Norway - where they were captured by the Western Allies ...:
Marshal Mannerheim himself did not twist a hair with the Soviets: he remained head of state until he resigned in 1946 for health reasons.
Nazi General Rendulic was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 1948 for war crimes and crimes against humanity against the civilian population ...:
After a petition for clemency, the sentence was reduced to ten years on January 31, 1951 by the American High Commissioner John Jay McCloy.
In the same year, Rendulic - like most convicted war criminals - was released early from custody in Landsberg prison.
He then wrote a book of justification with the title "Soldier in Falling Reichs", in which he - by now historically has long since refuted! - myth of the "clean and decent fighting" Wehrmacht preached and claimed that all war crimes were committed by the SS.
The cover photo of this book shows a later forged version of the picture I posted above:
The Hitler mustache, which is clearly visible there (the original photo was taken in 1945 during an award ceremony at Hitler), became a completely normal mustache through subsequent retouching ...:
One don't really need to say more about this Nazi's book - it is a lie from the first to the last page!
