Over the years my fascination with the Nordic countries has focused specifically on Finland. I do not recall exactly how this resulted, but it may have had something to do with the infamous song Ievan Polkka (Eva's Polka) [2] as performed a cappella by Loituma. From there I sought out more of the group's music, which led to other Finnish folk music. I learned about the kantele and eventually bought two for myself.
Somewhere along the line I discovered the webcomic Stand Still, Stay Silent, by Minna Sundberg. It's a tale of a group with representatives from all Nordic countries as they explore a dangerous post-pandemic world. It is from there that I learned of the Kalevala [4], Finland's national epic poem by Elias Lönnrot from various Finnish and Karelian folk tales and mythologies. At this point I was fairly well invested and the next step, that of reading about Finland's history, started.
One of the most significant events in the 20th century for Finland was the Winter War, a conflict between the small nation and the much larger USSR in the winter of 1939 to 1940. The USSR was flexing its muscles and looking the secure its position in light of the brewing war in Europe between Germany and the Allies. To this effect, they demanded a chunk of land west of St Petersburg and the right to militarily occupy certain areas of Finnish land -- mainly islands and some coastal. In exchange, they offered larger, sparsely populated territories further north. Finland rejected the idea and after some time, the USSR attacked.
The war is legendary for the fact that Finland was tiny in comparison to the USSR and its military was very small and poorly equipped. Following the Finnish independence from Russia in 1917, military spending had been seriously diminished in favour of investment into infrastructure and other nation-building activities. No estimate favoured Finland in the war, but against these expectations, they held off the might of the Soviet military for four and half months.
Unfortunately, while it was certainly a heroic effort, the truth is that Finland barely survived. Their early success was by and large due to Soviet complacence.
The years following the Russian revolution saw many purges of experienced military officers, resulting in a military with little real experience and zero adaptability. They also completely underestimated Finnish determination, believing that within a couple of weeks they would be walking into Helsinki. Finally, the winter that year was very harsh, even by Finnish standards, and Russian soldiers were not equipped to deal with it.
On the Finnish side, they had a military commander in the form of Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, who had decades of experience with the Russian Tsar's army. Also, there were many veterans of the 27th Jäger Battalion, who trained in and fought on behalf of Germany during the first World War. This provided a set of experienced leaders who exploited every weakness the Soviets displayed.
Again, though, the early victories could only go on for so long. The war quickly became and embarrassment to the Soviet Union and Stalin specifically. Gradually, they learned. They changed their tactics and threw a truly overwhelming number of troops at Finland. Their losses were still exceedingly high, but they had more than enough replacements in the form of men, equipment, and ammunition. Finland had a very limited supply of all three of those and towards the end they were scraping the bottom of the barrel.
This novel follows the war through the eyes of Marko, a Finnish teenager who joins the armed forces as a messenger following the bombing of his home town and the death of his closest friend. He suffered from, but survived polio in the years leading up to the war, and wears a brace on his leg to support the much diminished muscle. While this affects his mobility on foot, on skis he is almost entirely unencumbered, and he proves his worth hand-delivering messages between units on the front line.
He is partnered in this duty by Karl, another boy whose home was attacked by the Russians. Unlike Marko, whose family still lives and whose home still stands, Karl's family was murdered and their home destroyed. Karl himself escaped and signed up to avenge their deaths. Presumably he was too young to engage in the actual fighting, but as a messenger he proved very useful.
Many of the plot points are mirrored in history, which I recognised from the book The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish War of 1939-40, by William R. Trotter [5]. For example, when the Finnish armed forces were preparing for the conflict, they decided to burn many communities around the front line to prevent the buildings from being used by the enemy. One old woman, when told of this, cleaned and whitewashed her home after removing her belongings. When asked why she did this, she stated that a gift to Finland should be pristine. Marko's grandmother stands in for this unnamed woman.
Another example is of a Russian soldier, captured by the Finns, who had been drafted off the streets of St Petersburg to fight in the war. He had just finished buying a new pair of shoes for his wife and claimed that he still carried them when he was captured. The Finnish soldiers checked and found a pair of brand new red lady's shoes.
The bulk of the story is of Marko's experience of the cold, the hard duties, and of the attacks by Russian soldiers. Towards the end he is sorely pressed by the unending artillery attacks and when peace is finally achieved, he finds difficulty in adjusting to quiet nights. In one late scene, he wakes up in terror while in hospital, and is only able to sleep after taking his bedding to the floor and resting there.
A theme strongly portrayed is the sense of betrayal the Fins feel towards the Allies, particularly the US. In one scene the Finnish soldiers are inspecting a Russian tank and discover that the engine is American-made. It is implied that all the while that Finnish diplomats were trying to negotiate for aid from the US, the Russians were the ones receiving ammunition and equipment. Know this, it is very easy to understand why after the war Finland sided with Germany in their invasion of Russia.
There is one other plot element that I want to discuss, but doing so will reveal an important spoiler. Amazon's blurb about the book reveals it, but for the purpose of this review I would prefer not to do so in this main portion. Instead it will be found following the bibliographical notes. Before I get to those spoilers, though, here are my impressions:
The book is in the young adult genre. I am not sure if it is simply due to this fact or if it is simply the author's style, but the prose is rather sparse. William Durbin writes what he needs and adds little adornment. The words remain effective, but there is little of the highly descriptive and atmospheric language that one would get from a writer such as Stephen King. This is not to say that I did not enjoy the book, but it is something to note.
The Winter War is a great introduction to the history of the conflict. I read it after having read William Trotter's treatise, but it is sufficiently true to life as to provide the reader with some of the basic facts and the experiences of those who fought. Marko's story is moving and wonderful to read.
1. The Winter War, by William Durbin: https://www.amazon.ca/Winter-War-Novel-William-Durbin/dp/0385746520
2. Ievan Polkka, by Loituma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yh9i0PAjck
3. Stand Still, Stay Silent, by Minna Sundberg: http://www.sssscomic.com
4. The Kalevala, by Elias Lönnrot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala
5. The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish War of 1939-40, by William R. Trotter: https://www.amazon.ca/Winter-War-Russo-Finnish-1939-40/dp/1781312265
**************************************
SPOILERS BELOW:
**************************************
At one point Karl reveals that he is not in fact a boy, but a girl. During the Russians' attack on her home, she saw the raped bodies of her sister and mother and was about to be attacked herself. She defended herself with a shovel and escaped with her brother's Civic Guard uniform, which she used to join the military.
After telling this to Marko, she makes him promise to keep the secret, of course. He promises and goes through the rest of the war without revealing it. He even stands guard outside of the unit's makeshift sauna, late at night, so that she can secretly bathe. It is only at the end, in a hospital, where her sex is revealed to other soldiers. Seeing her clean and dressed as a girl, Marko wonders how he was ever fooled.
One interesting aspect of the Finnish language is that the third person pronouns are not gendered. There is but a single set of pronouns, unlike the 'he' vs 'she' in English. For this reason, as long as Marko made no explicit remarks as to Karl (Kaari, actually) being a girl, it was linguistically an easy secret to keep. Oddly, enough after the initial reveal, the author refers to Karl as 'he'. I am not sure why this is the case, but perhaps it reflects Marko's determination to keep the secret.
This entire plot point is something that I have oddly found fascinating in many stories. The first two examples I recall seeing are the female lead in the 1981 Disney film Dragonslayer, and the character of Louise 'Lou'" McCloud from the 1989-92 TV series The Young Riders. Coincidentally, the sex of both characters are revealed to another character while bathing in a lake. I don't know what it is, but I find something rather admirable about such efforts to defy period gender roles to pursue goals and dreams, while still remaining decidedly feminine at heart.
