The Children's Crusade
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Twenty years ago, you sent us to squat in that Finnish pond. That situation cannot continue indefinitely. The Soviet Union was weak, but now it was a great power, whose interests have to be reckoned with. I beg you, do not make us use force against Estonia.-Molotov
We have touched upon Soviet concerns for their border security, but the role of Finland in such a discussion has been somewhat understated, and it is time to rectify that. Finland’s position in Soviet strategy was fairly obvious if you looked at a map. The Finnish-Soviet border was far closer to the metropolis of Leningrad than the Soviets would have liked. Artillery deployed along the Finnish border could place Leningrad under enemy guns, to say nothing of bombers; and, while the Finns themselves were perceived to be pacifists and incapable of striking against the USSR, it was also thought they would not resist any efforts by third parties to use their territory as a base.
Yet the Finnish border was not the only bone of contention. The Aland Islands strung across the Baltic like a string of pearls, encircled the Soviet Union’s border. Although belonging to Finland, had been demilitarized since 1921. This meant, however, that it would be easy for a third party (either the French, British, or Germans) to seize the islands and use them as a base. [1] Thus, the islands posed a threat to Soviet security throughout the period, and Swedish-Finnish talks to militarize them failed due to Soviet opposition.
The Vilnius crisis crystallized Soviet plans and fears. There was a danger of Germany becoming the master of Eastern Europe, and then turning East, of course. But there was also a chance to acquire a ring of buffer territory to guard Leningrad and Soviet access to the Baltic. Concerns about the German navy operating out of bases on the islands warred with a desire to end the menace once and for all. Tentative discussions between Germany and the USSR over rights to the islands went nowhere, but both parties agreed the current situation had to be resolved, one way or another.[2]
The Berlin Summit, and the outcome of Khalkin Gol left the USSR scrambling. While it was clear that the situation in East Asia was secure, no one in Moscow knew what to make of the Berlin Summit’s nebulous statements, and it was easy to fear the worst. Either it was a prelude to a Franco-German entente which would dominate the continent which, given the ideology of La Rocque, would aim to destroy the Soviet Union, or it was a bid to maintain the status quo in Europe and keep the Soviet Union in a vulnerable position. As Molotov recognized, time was of the essence, and two dispatches were sent to Talinn and Helenski.
On the surface, Soviet terms were surprisingly generous. Estonia would survive as an independent nation, with full control over internal and external affairs. It signed a mutual assistance treaty, of course, and Soviet forces deployed to Estonia outnumbered the Estonian military itself. Nor was the decision as cowardly as some historians have since portrayed it. So soon after Berlin, who would have fought for Estonia, a nation which most thought would be overrun in days? By the time any consensus was reached in the west, the country would have fallen.
The response from Finland, of course, was rather different.
By 1939, Finland had been independent for a generation, and made remarkable strides. Independence had brought prosperity despite the Depression, while the Social Democrat-Agrarian “Red Earth” Coalition kept the country democratic despite threats from the right and left. Helenski was to host the 1940 Summer Olympics, and while there were those concerned with the war scare, the majority of the nation thought war was impossible.
To this day, historians debate what caused Stalin to send his note to the Finns on October 1, less than three weeks after Estonia agreed. Did he really think the Fins would fold, as the Estonians did? Or was he testing the waters to see how united the capitalists really were? What is certain is that the Soviet “invitation” to discuss an arrangement USSR on the issue of the Åland Islands, and the Hanko peninsula caused serious division in the Finnish cabinet. Faced with such an offer, the Finns stalled for time, asking the Western ambassadors for advice and sending a delegation to Moscow.
The Soviet demands were simple. They needed to secure Leningrad and the Gulf of Finland against attack by foreign enemies, a concern raised throughout the latter half of the 1930s. [3] The Finns refused to cede territory to their hereditary enemy, and it was well known that doing so would unleash a storm of public disapproval. And so the situation lay, when the Soviet Union made its demands public on October 10th, with the implications of refusal obvious. The response was not what Moscow intended, as the writer Olavi Siippainen, described the would recall: ‘Now it wasn’t a question of whether we were communists or fascists. The walls that we had built and done our utmost to uphold crumbled … Then was the moment that will never cease to radiate its light on us who experienced it.” The Finnish government, convinced that the Soviets were bluffing, turned down the Soviet demand.
History, of course, has shown that the Soviets were not bluffing. Soviet planning for a “counterattack” against Finland had been carried out since 1937, and when Stalin turned towards war in 1939, the tools were at hand. O.W.Kuusinen, leader of the Finnish Reds in 1918, became the founder of a Finnish’s People’s government; conscripts for a Finnish People’s army were drafted from Soviet territories; and on November 26, the workers and peasants of the United Soviet Socialist Republics were informed that war had broken out, as the Red Army poured across the border into Finnish territory. For some people, the first sign that war broke out was a flight of Soviet bombers overhead, enroute to Helenski.
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"I do not believe that there will be a war; the world cannot be so senseless.”-Väinö Tanner, Finnish Foreign Minister
"How can you say this, you who have been involved since the beginning of the century? Where have you seen sense prevailing during the last forty years?"-Juho Kusti Paasikivi, Finnish Ambassador to Sweden
The Winter War began when three hundred thousand troops poured across Soviet borders, and in the initial reports many in the West thought Finland would fall to a stunning Soviet coup. But to the surprise of everyone [4] the Finns held firm, and appealed to the League of Nations for help on December 1. Unfortunately, the consequences of this appeal where not what they intended. The League’s future, by 1936, was uncertain. While it had curbed Italian aggression in Ethiopia, it was powerless to stop the Japanese onslaught and did nothing to curb the Spanish Civil War. Moreover, President La Rocque had made it clear he put little faith in the League and its councils, trusting alliances and personal meetings to provide for France’s security. The Finnish Winter war gave the League’s General Secretary, Joseph Louise Avenol, a chance to reinvigorate support for the League and reach out to the always skeptical European right. [6] Thus Avenol was a stern critic of Soviet actions, and encouraged demands for the immediate expulsion of the USSR. In a stunning display of diplomatic abrasiveness, the Soviet delegate declared they were not at war with Finland; they had in fact just signed a treat of assistance with its legitimate democratic government.
It should come as no surprise that the League Resolution of December 14, 1939 expelled the Soviet Union from the League of Nations and called upon nations to provide humanitarian and war materiel to Finland. [7] Even President Roosevelt supported the Finns with a loan for humanitarian aid, and sent a telegram to Molotov urging that no demands be made upon Finland to infringe upon its sovereignty. [8] Such actions were reflected with more immediate changes; the British and French opened their armories to the Finnish war machine, and the designers of Paris created a “Finnish style” for the winter of 1940, with fur stoles and ushankas coming briefly into fashion. [9] In Germany, however, the reaction was interesting.
From the right to the left, the nation was united behind opposition to Soviet aggression. The right saw it as the beginning of Moscow’s advance across Europe, while the Social Democrats saw a struggle between a land of social justice and workers’ democracy and the autocracy of Communism. Opinion polls taken in the period showed that 80% of Germans wanted to give Finland support, and the Reichsbank provided loans to purchase German military equipment. Yet the reaction from the Foreign Office was considerably more subdued, as German-Soviet relations had always been friendly. For them to then aid Finland in the war threatened to burn their ties with the largest nation in the world. Had Stresemann been more active, he might have managed to steer German policy through this difficult impasse; but, suffering from the first of several strokes which would ultimately cripple him over the next few years, German foreign policy was rudderless. And so it was a situation where the Foreign Office offered to mediate, while the Young German Order created the Lutzow Free Corps.
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The tiny tree was standing near the stove. Little red and white wax candles had been tied by men's clumsy fingers to its branches. The officer said the candles could not be lit, because this might be seen by the bombers through the dugout's canvas roof. Also tied to the green spruce twigs were a few gumdrops the kind you buy twisted in colored wax papers. At the top was tied not a sparkling glass star but a cheap cardboard image of Santa Clause, and this was all. No strips of tinsel, no shining balls, no winking electric lights You can be very glad that the Christmas tree in your home tonight is so much finer.
We asked the officer who sent these ornaments and he smiled kindly and said that they came from a very small girl whose father was out on the last line tonight, and with them a note from her mother explaining that the child was very young and could not understand why he could not come back to them even on Christmas, and had cried bitterly until they let her send him these little things so that at least he could have his own Christmas tree. So the tree would be kept as it was in the dugout until he came back from his outpost tomorrow.
So when you take your last look at your own fine tree tonight before turning out its lights, I think you will like it even better since you know about the last sad little Christmas tree of all, which could not even have its poor candles lit because it faces the land where there is no Christmas. Returning to you now in New York...-Bill White, Reporter with CBS.[5]
The air at the rally buzzed with excitement, a murmur of voices as the speaker rose to address the crowd. From where Joachim stood, a forest of red, black, and gold banners arose from the Young German rally outside of Frankfurt, lit only by bonfires and e held the black banner aloft, one of a forest of red, black and gold that rose over the Young German rally outside of Frankfurt, casting a crackling red glow over the youth in their Prussian blue uniforms. The rally had been a glorious one, with speakers from the new Young German branches in Danzig and the former corridor, and a speaker from the Youth of France about the need for “continental collaboration” in the years to come. [10] The effort to stumble through a round of Marseillaise could have gone better, perhaps, but none could deny it was an earnest attempt. [11]
The speaker on the podium bowed, and said, “Now, I would like to give Herr Müller a chance to speak.”
There was a slow murmuring through the crowd, as no one knew who Müller was. Joachim turned to the boy next to him. “What’s going on?”
“Some party Bozen, I guess?” Joachim noticed the group leader scowling at the two of them, and fell silent as the man continued speaking.
“-At Rastatt, Tannenberg, and Leipzig, German soldiers have risked their lives for German freedom. But today calls for a greater, broader struggle! We have seen how the threat of war can threaten to annihilate the continent; and we must not allow it to spread.” [12]
The bonfires, Joachim noticed, were being put out, leaving only the lights on the stage. “Herr President Stresemann is a wise man, but he is old. He lacks the heart for what the world needs. But you do!” Herr Müller raised his voice. “Germany has taken its rightful place among nations, as a guardian of peace. And yet now the dangers of Stalinism threaten the safety of the Reich. Finland, that outpost of Europe, now struggles with a foe who rules an empire of terror. Even as we speak, in a land of eternal twilight the vanguard of Europe do battle for the rest of us.” A hush had descended over the crowd now. “Outnumbered, outgunned, and alone. And we must aid them!”
A row of searchlights turned on around the stadium as Müller’s voice rose. “The German people know how to fight for freedom, even when their government will not. With or without the consent of the government, the Social Democratic Party has called for volunteers to defend the freedom of Finland from Stalin.”
The stadium was encased by pillars of light reaching into the sky, a luminescent cathedral against the blackness of the night. [14] “This is not the first time the German people have struggled for freedom. In 1813 and 1848, the volk rose up against tyranny, and they shall do so again. In honor of those heroes, we are forming the Lützowsches Freikorps. Those patriots gave Germany the red, black, and gold; and today’s heroes it shall carry it wherever freedom and peace are imperiled.”
Meanwhile, in France, a group of young men sat around a tavern, listening incredulously. Under the flickering light of gas lamps, Henri asked, “Finland?”
“Why not?” asked Mattieu as he lit a cigarette. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life staring at the ass of a mule.”
“Yes, and she’s cheating on you anyway.”
Henri poured some wine. “I guess she found out about my time with your sister.” He thought for a moment. “But can you imagine? An entire nation of buxom blondes, eager to welcome their saviors.”
“Could be dangerous.”
“Please, these aren’t Germans. I’ll beat the Russians, be a Finnish hero, and then?” He drained his mug. “You can write me when I’m famous.”
“Sure. I will write a poem so great the women will fight for the honor of throwing themselves on your coffin.”
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A painting of Jena students in the (1813) Lützowsches Freikorps, by Ferdinand Hodler
Volunteers for the Finnish cause came from across Europe; Frenchmen, Hungarians, Germans, Britons, Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians came forward, while even Italy shipped armament. Some of these "volunteers" were military observers who wanted to discern the state of the Red Army, while the Pope led prayers on behalf of Finland. For Moscow, this only exacerbated the darkest fears; what else could bring the capitalists of Europe together, but a strike against Communism? Thus, informal contacts and peace terms were being passed back and forth, while the Soviets readied a grand offensive that would be unleashed in February of 1940.
The February offensive came as a bitter blow to the Finns, who in January were convinced they could hold the Red Army. They had destroyed two Soviet divisions at Suomussalmi in the North, while the Mannerheim Line had held in the south. But when the Soviets struck in early February with 23 divisions, and breached the Mannerheim Line. Moreover, the Finns themselves were becoming concerned. Despite volunteers and aid, the Soviet Union’s manpower reserves seemed inexhaustible, and the Finnish cabinet began debating concessions. [15]At a fateful meeting on February 12, Foreign Minister Tanner said there were ultimately two options; they could appeal to Sweden and the powers for direct military assistance, or they could negotiate with the USSR. Drawing foreign powers into the war directly risked escalation, but might also preserve Finland’s territory; and so it should come as no surprise that Finland’s . And so Vaino Tanner asked the nations of Europe for direct military aid., invoking Article 11 of the League of Nations Covenant.
It was La Rocque, of course, who led the way. While Stresemann consulted with his ministers and generals about Soviet capabilities, and the Halifax government became painfully aware of Britain’s military weakness, French military reforms made this man, who spurned the League as a joke, into the guardian of Europe. He did not call for mobilization, instead planning to send the core of the new French military, and stepping around Radical and Socialist opposition by phrasing it as “enforcing the League of Nations Mandate”. Within a week of the Finnish plea, La Rocque had authorized the dispatch of French forces, which would begin arriving on February 27. Such a reaction presented Stresemann with the opposition of allowing the French to occupy (as they almost certainly would) the Aland Islands, or join in a confrontation that could lead to war with the Soviet Union. And so it is no surprise that Stresemann concurred, pledging direct assistance to Finland. Faced with such a fait accompli, Sweden agreed to provide direct assistance as well, and so Soviet military success had presented them with the situation of backing down or facing escalation. On the other hand, Western military assistance would only total twenty two thousand men in the first few weeks, and the Soviet breach of the Mannerheim Line meant that the nation might be indefensible. Indeed, threats of Western intervention provoked a stronger Soviet response, raising memories of the Civil War.
The Treaty of Moscow ended the winter war on March 3, and it was a bitter pill for the Finnish people to swallow. The Finns lost their islands in the Gulf of Finland, parts of Kuusamo, and the part of the Rybachy Penninsula that belonged to Finland. They were also forced to accept the demilitarization of the Karelian Isthmus, and allow for Soviet inspections of an area where “Soviet security interests were paramount.” Finland also agreed that no nation would have basing rights on its territory. Yet its sovereignty retained intact, and it maintained control of the Karelian isthmus. Was this a victory for Finland, then?
It certainly was not for the USSR. The war ended with few of the Soviet Union’s goals achieved, and almost leading to the Western presence in Finland that it so feared. Moreover, it had revealed grave deficiencies in the Red Army [16], and further isolated the Soviet Union.
For the rest of Europe, the consequences were equally ambivalent. True, more steps were taken towards continental collaboration. But perversely, the Soviets were viewed as a threat to the peace of Europe and also one that could be dissuaded by threats and warnings, dismissed like barbarians to the depths of Asia. Not until 1944 would the leaders of Europe realize just how great their mistake had been.
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An artillery shell whistled overhead before crashing nearby. In German, a voice cried out “Fall back! I repeat, fall back!”
Joachim lept from his fox hole, panting. His fingers felt stiff even under the gloves, and his breath created a cloud of steam. His Prussian blue uniform was caked in mud, and the situation looked bleak. “God in Heaven,” he muttered. The Russians had massed enough men for a breakthrough, and it looked like there was no stopping them.
He just had to make it to the fallback position. It wasn’t too far, and the Russians were targeting their rear positions. He ran past fallen fir trees towards, and smiled. He would make it.
Since such thoughts in a work of fiction mean a character’s about to die, what happened next should come as no surprise. A Russian shell fell short, and landed near Joachim, sending a burst of shrapnel that sliced through his coat and stomach. He ran a few more feet before he realized what happened, and his legs gave out. And so Joachim fell to the ground, his dark red blood staining the pure white snow.
It lay there until two Soviet soldiers came across it, hours later. The first, Sergei, knelt in the snow next the corpse, and shook his head. “Fucking idiot,” he muttered. “You don’t squat out in the open.” He opened the soldier’s knapsack, and laughed. “Hey Roman, check it out!” He took out a bar of chocolate and broke it in half, handing half to his comrade. “There’s other stuff in here too.” After rummaging for a moment, he swore. “Why is he carrying cigarettes if he doesn’t have a lighter?”
Roman halfheartedly kicked the corpse. “What’s wrong with these people?” he asked. “We’re here because there are guys five kilometers back who will shoot us if we leave, and he volunteered for this? Is he a Stakhanovite or something?”
“Careful,” Roman said. “Or do you want to get sent to Siberia?”
Sergei tossed a watch to Roman and snorted. “I haven’t said anything.”
“Yeah, and for that you get five years.”
“Heh.” Sergei savored the chocolate’s flavor, smooth and creamy like nothing he had ever tasted. “It’s funny how you can tell where the soldiers are from. The Germans have expensive watches and chocolate in their pockets, the French have love letters and cigarettes, the British have volume of poetry and flask of gin, the Americans have gum."
"But Roman, what if they have nothing in their pockets?"
“Then you’ve found a Russian. And if they have all of that stuff in their pockets…”
“It’s a commissar.” Laughing, the two men resumed their patrol, leaving the corpse in the snow.
[1] Since the British, French, and Germans did all have plans to take the islands in the event of war, this concern was correct.
[2] During the historic Allied-Soviet discussions of 1939 the Soviets demanded basing rights on the islands.
[3] Oddly, Mannerheim was sympathetic to the Soviet view, and even urged that the Finna s should offer to move the frontier further from Leningrad.
[4] Except the Finns.
[5] What a lie. Stalin legalized Christmas trees in the 1930s!
[6] Avenol, incidentally, was a twat who promptly urged sucking up to Hitler in 1940. Fortunately Europeans ignored him.
[7] Finland, who had to actually live next to the Soviet Union, opposed their expulsion but was ignored.
[8] Molotov’s reply urged America to concern itself with the sovereignty of the Philippines and Cuba.
[9] At some point somebody pointed out that’s actually what Russians wear, and the whole thing died down by March.
[10] Something Bonapartist wouldn’t go over too well in France.
[11] Perversely, La Rocque is probably more popular in Germany than Stresemann at the moment.
[12] Arguably Leipzig shouldn’t be here but every nation needs its national myths.
[13] What, you think only the Nazis can master pageantry?
[14] The Social Democrats have become, umm, interesting. They were one of the big opponents of going to war in 1939, and are making inroads into the DDVP’s disaffected liberal base. During the Weimar Republic they were never sure if they were a class party or a national party of the left, but they were moving towards the latter; their experience in forming the Reichsbanner have only helped solidify this, and they have adapted the slogan of a greater, just Germany.
[15] And sans the worst of the purges is probably fighting a bit better. So are the Finns, since they have heavy weapons they lacked OTL, but it balances out.
[16] Though note that the Red Army’s deficiencies come in part from the rapid expansion it’s undergoing. A lot of the serious problems will be shaken out over the next few months, in large scale training exercises.
) but I do wonder if the second is perhaps slightly possible...
