So, there we have it. There were no war with the Soviet Union... But as mentioned, that did not meen that there would be no war. But more on that in the next update, that also will hold a perhaps even more surprising turn of events.
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Really nice AAR 
Fascinating reading. That alliance with the British and the French was a truly stunning event.
The expression on Juho Kusti's face would propably have been priceless had such an offer been made in real life at that particular place at that particular time...
Fascinating reading. That alliance with the British and the French was a truly stunning event.The expression on Juho Kusti's face would propably have been priceless had such an offer been made in real life at that particular place at that particular time...
An alliance with the Brits and the French? Well thats a first time...
Nice update, BTW.
Yes, I don't know how it fired, actually. I only know that it is 28.11.39, the SU has 55 (including 10 tank) divisions at my border (I had 25 myself) and suddenly from out of nowhere comes an invitation to join the allies. And as this is not enough, two days later the SU choses leave them alone in the Winter War event.
And as this is not enough, two days later the SU choses leave them alone in the Winter War event. 
Not me, I've been in a deadlock with the Bear for months. He won't attack and neither will I!
Good to see your game take a different route as mine is a rather boring defensive one.
Good to see your game take a different route as mine is a rather boring defensive one.
Wow. That was very surprising. Usually Germany asks Finland to join the Axis. I have played as Finland a couple times and the allies NEVER invite me.
Thats is quite surprising that Finland joins Allies.
I have seen it only once.
Great AAR.
I have seen it only once.
Great AAR.
Stabbed in the back
After our alliance with the western powers coming into effect in December 1939, we finally had some breathing space from the Soviets. They still came with demands for Viipuri and Sortavala every two weeks or so, but these were largely ignored. Only the odd note with a negative response was sent. From what our intelligence could gather, the Red Army was in no particularly high esteem with Stalin after the failed attack. People were starting to criticize the goverment for warmongring and the dissent was rising at an alarming rate. Not that this disturbed us the least. The more focus Stalin had to put on inner politics, the less he put upon us. For the first time in time in quite a while I could sleep well.
In Germany the same situation came like lightning from a clear sky. To Hitler Finland was nothing but, as he stated in a speach: ”A cowardish bunch of turncoating, cowardish traitors that that had betrayed the Fenno-German legacy of 1918 by allying with the degenerate, weak governments of the west. Soon, German feet would once again walk upon Finnish soil, and the same people that had freed Finland from the bolscheviks would now not be as kind.”
I responded to the accusations by stating that it was Germany that had betrayed the Fenno-German legacy of 1918 by selling us out to the Soviets, and that we bloody well allied with whomever we chose. Göring took this as a personal insult and on the 15th of January 1940, the first bombers over Finland was sighted. This was however, no surprise to us as we on New Years Day the same year had received the German plans, when the the German commander of 1918, Count Rudiger von der Goltz suddenly resigned and fled to Helsinki. With him he had not only the plans for the bombing campaign, but also exact details about the fighterdoctrines of the Luftwaffe. The slow, German bombers, on their way to Turku was no threat to our airforce, now consisting of four fightergroups. The Brewsters commanded by Lieutenant-General Ernst Viktor Lorentz, soon became knows as ”the butchers of the Baltic” beacuse of their habit to attack out at sea. In early March the campaign was ended, due to high losses and little damage.
However, no-one could have forseen the development that would take place on the 8th of April 1940. At the said date I and my closest colleagues were dining at the Gustavian Cabinet of the Swedish Club in Helsinki, a fine old institution. As usual we started with smorgasboard with schnaps and beer. The maincourse of the day was and excellent fillet of beef with a dark sauce made morels, onion and rosemary. As dessert there were served a Sabayon made from Cherries. At the dinner was, appart from myself and my junior adjutant, the Generals, Oesch and Lahti, the Lieutentant-Generals Heinrichs, Airo, Nenonen, and Siilasvuo and the Norwegian Military Attaché, Colonel Wilhelm von Hanstén, known as the Viking for his great red beard.
Since we had a guest at our table, even Airo, that I think is a little enbarrased about his swedishability, totally unfound I might add, spoke swedish. This was, though, nothing unusual as most of us had swedish as our mothertounge anyway. I had a very pleasant conversation with the huge norwegian, he was around two meters tall. He invited me for a hunting trip to Dovre where the Muskoxen is said to live. I must say that when I finally got to make the trip, in 1949 I was quite overwelmed by the magnificent nature that these grandiose animals live in.
When the coffee was served, along with some of the Club’s famous Arrak-scented Punsch, my senior adjutant, Liutenant-Colonel Ragnar Grönwall suddenly stormed into the Cabinet with a strange look in his eyes. ”What’s up Grönwall?” I asked him, ”You look like you have run all the way from Högbergsgatan.”. ”No, sir,” he resonded, ”but it is of greatest importance that you all gentlemen follow me to the HQ at once. You better join us, sir” he said to von Hanstén. ”What, me?” the norwegian uttered with a surprised look, ”What the devil should I have to do there? Is it even legal for me as a foreign officer to be there?”. He looked at me. ”Oh, if Grönwall says so, you’d better join us” I replied. ”I’m quite sure he knows what he’s doing.” Outside a convoy of black staff cars where waiting, with an armed escort.
At Högbergsgatan 21, where the HQ was located, we were directed into the Minister of Defence’s, Rudolf Walden’s, office. To my surprise, President Kallio was waiting there, and what was even stranger, so was the Norwegian ambassador, Mr. Truls Hanevold. ”Now, what the hell is all this about?” I asked, ”Have the reds attacked?” ”No thank god” Kallio replied, ”but times are still severe. Around 11 o’clock PM last night, our Embassy in Stockholm reported about gunfire in the city. About noon today martial law was declared and about half an hour ago we received this.” He gave me a folded piece of paper. ”What, are they serious?” Was all I could say after reading the paper. ”I’m afraid so.” Kallio replied. ”I was just informed from Oslo that we have received one too.” the ambassador said, ”that’s why I’m here.” ”Gentlemen, ” the Minister of Defence suddenly said, opening his mouth the first time, ”if you would kindly follow me. We have prepared a briefing for everyone.”
We walked into a small auditorium that was situated next to the Minister’s office. There a huge map of the Nordic Countries hung, with various arrows and markers on them. I certainly didn’t like the look of some of them. ”Mr. President, Mr. Fieldmarshall, Generals, Gentlemen.” the Minister started. ”As of 5 o’clock PM today the 8th of April, Finland and her allies, that has been checked, is in a state of war with Sweden.” ”WHAT!!!” Heinrich shouted, ”Why?! How?! Who?!” Walden continued, ”It appears that the swedish government has been overthrown by a military, and it seems,Germanybacked, coup d’état. An usurpator government that is calling themself ’The Vasaunion’ has taken control of the country. It seems as some of the ministers in the government, as well as the Generalstaff, have chosen the side of the Vasaunion. The king and the ministers loyal to him have left Stockholm on the destoyer Nordenskjöld, bound for Turku. The worst thing is,” the minister sighed,”that Sweden has joined the Axis.” No-one in the room said a word.
Finally Walden continued. ”The Vasaunion have made speaches in the Swedish radio about how Sweden once again shall be the dominant force of the North. It has also claimed all of the Scandinavan Peninsula to be parts of Sweden. We intercepted radio transmissions from the Generalstaff to the army in Kiruna and now also have airphotos. A Swedish army of approximatly three divisions is attacking towards Rovaniemi as we speak. A second thrust is dircted towards Narvik and a third is moving towards Kirkenes. ”What, are they mad?!” Airo cried, ”How many divisions do they think they have?” ”Well” Walden replied, ”we are not quite sure, but we have estimated around 17 infantrydivisions and 8 airgroups. Their navy, that seems to be the most royalistic branch of the armed forces, have been been divided. The Royal Fleet in Karlskrona that is still loyal, consists of the cruiser Fylgia along with six destroyers. The loyalist fleet has also left Sweden and is escorting the king to Turku. The rest of the fleet, four coastal battleships and 11 destroyers has anchored in Stockholm.
”THAT DOES IT!” the old President roared. ”I have confered with the PM and he agrees with me. We are to strike back against those that unjustly have attaked us and after that take the battle to his territory. Mannerheim, you are hereby Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish armed forces, and I want to have a plan for our defence and the comming counterattack on my desk within 48 hours. And make sure that the king gets to Finland alive. He has asked for refuge, and we shall bloody well give him just that.” With that he stormed out as to show that the meeting was over.
Interesting direction you're taking the story in, Anzu. And a very well-written AAR. I like the twist with Finland with the Allies. Nicely done!
Mannerheim greets King Gustav V in Helsinki
The diplomatic situation at the time of the meeting
The Second Great Nordic War
Four days after the meeting at the HQ, I was summoned to a meeting at the presidential palace where I was to presented the situation for the President and the government. The Swedish king and his government-in-exile, that had been established in Turku, the old capital of the swedish era, were also present. I remember thinking that the old king looked even older than he used to, the dramatic escape from Stockholm had clearly worn him, poor man.
"Gentlemen", I started, "I hope the trip from Turku was not an unpleasant one.
Our situation is not an enviable one, but it is hardly critical, though the swedish attack came as a very unpleasant surprise for all of us. We do not know how the coup d'état was possible yet, bur now we at least know who we are dealing with. It appears that an individual named Martin Ekström has taken control over the Vasaunion. This is a decorated soldier, that for example fought as a volunteer for our freedom 20 years ago and was made lieutenat-colonel for his deeds. A fanatical anti-communist and national-socialist, he has somehow got into his mind that the only reason for the Soviet Union not to attack us five months ago is that we have made a deal with tham that involves a soviet attack on Sweden. He has been reinforced in his believes by the death of his finnish wife around New Years-day, which he also only sees as a murder part of the conspiracy. This man is clearly a highly unstable one, but he has the support of the army and of the industrial leaders. A fool, but a very dangerous fool. We also have evidence that he has the support of Hitler and of other fascist leaders around Europe, including Vidkun Quisling in Norway.
The norwegian government are as concirned as we are about the situation and during these two days we have worked out a common plan for the war. General Heinrichs, our Chief-of-Staff, is here to present it."
"Oh, what?" Heinrichs said with a yawn, "oh, oh yes, sorry sir, just a minute sir" he added when he understood what I had said. It was clear to us all that he had not slept a minute in nearly three days. After drinking a glass of water, Heinrichs continued:
"Gentlemen," he said and pointed at a map filled with arrows and flags, "behold Operation Gemini, the fenno-norwegian counter-attack. The plan is the following: We cut off the swedes in Lapland while the norwegian navy goes to sea to intercept any supplieconvoys there. When the swedes have banged their heads on our defences long enough we counterattack by two thrusts codenamed Castor (norwegian) and Pollux (finnish).
We move our Karelian Army to the west and attack Stockholm and Karlskrona from the sea for this we get the assistance from the Royal Navy that also will supply us with transports. We also send the Northern Command into Kiruna and Gällivare to take control of the swedish mines there.
The norwegians attack into Värmland and Dalarna while fortifying the mountainrange in north."
The swedish advance
He pointed again, "this is how far we have estimated the swedes, nine divisions in all, to advance. Fortunatly their attack seams to have run out of steam when General Lahti and his Northern Command stopped them from taking Rovaniemi. General Siilasvuo, and the Jaegercorps have flanked them by pulling back and trapped them between the Tornionjoki and Oulunjoki rivers. As all bridges have been blown up and they have no escaperoute we expect them to surrender soon, when they have run out of supplies. We are also in the middle of moving our troops from Karelia to Turku and Åland. 15 divisions in all is waiting for orders. The norwegians and their 10 divisions have also fended off the swedish assault. By controlling all mountain passes into Norway they made the swedes pay dearly outside Trondheim and Narvik. General Laake and the Royal Guard has already struck back and occupied Karlstad in Värmland. As we have an advantage in quantity, we together have 25 divisions against their 18, and a huge advantage quality of leadership and troops, we have predicted that we can take control of Sweden before Midsummers Eve."
Everyone in the room applauded but the old king seemed sceptic. "I hope you do not underestimate us swedes," he said, "remember that we more than once have been the terror of all of Europe." I must admit that I, too, found the plans to be perhaps a bit... ...optimistic in nature. Not that I lacked any confidence in the ability of our army or in General Heinrichs, the time just seemed terribly short. "Oh, don't worry your Majesty," Heinrichs laughed, "I too, am very well aware of our common history, and espescially one part of it is quite interresting I think: Sweden has not been at war since 1820, while all finnish military men in this room have been in at least two. I'm sure your army is quite fine, but to fight war, you have to know war, and fortunatly for you, you have not had to do that for quite some time." "Oh well, I suppose you know what you do," the king said angrily, "just remember that I warned you!"
President Svinhufvud, that had been silent during the presentation, hurried end the meeting to make sure that this did not evolve into a fight or a pissing-contest. "Mannerheim," he said to me when everyone else except Heinrichs and myself had left the room, "are we really ready for this?" " Mr. President," I answered, "no-one ever is, but you can be sure that we are more ready than the nabour who is about to get a rude awakening. Not even Hitler will be able to save the fascists this time" "Well I hop you are right," the president sighed, "otherwise, god help us all."
Swedish Prisoners-of-War in Lapland, May 1940
Operation Gemini
The Northern front
On the 13th of April, 1940, finnish soldiers entered Sweden with their weapons for the first time in over 130 years. But this time not as a beaten pack that escaped the Russians as was the case in 1809, but as a victorious, confident army that was pushing the enemy in front of it. After encircling and destroying four swedish divisions west of Rovaniemi, General Lahti took the fighting to Swedish Lapland. There he sent the Jaegerscorps to take control over the mines of Kiruna, while himself attacking towards the the Norwegian border and Jällivare, that fell on the 27th. By doing this he cut the supplylines for all 7 swedish divisions in the north.
The swedish general in the north, Arthur Lindén, knew that without supplies he would be lost, so he ordered three divisons to take the Norwegian citis of Hammerfest and Tromsö. Hammerfest fell on the 2nd of May, but the norwegian commander in the North, Lieutenant-General Olaf Helset repelled all attacks on Tromsö, even when vastly outnumbered. The conquest of hammerfest did not help the swedes, however, as this was anticipated and the Norwegian fleet, that had been redeployed to Narvik went to sea and blockaded the harbor. It is said that swedish lookouts on the mountains around Hammerfest could see the swedish transports being sunk by the norwegians out at sea, some times as close as 10 nautical miles from the harbour. Out of all the convoys the swedes sent to the north only six ships ever came safely into port.
After starving for three weeks, Lindén admitted defeat and on the 19th of May, he surrendered to Lahti.
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Mannerheim is greeted by a pair of local girls in Stockholm. May 1940
Operation Gemini
The Southern front
When I in mid-April got the information of comming encirclement of the swedish northern army, I consulted my closest advisors about what to do next. The concensus was that we should use the confusion the loss would cause the swedes and take the opportunity to gain the initiative in the south as well. As our intelligence told us that the swedes had thrown all their reserves to the north to break the northern army out of Lapland we decided that the best course of action would be a naval landing south of Stockholm. The only problem was the swedish fleet, that even if it was elderly on a European standard, still was bigger and more powerful than our own. We could not afford to lose our own fleet, as having it as a Fleet-in-Being in the Turku Archipelago was a big deterrent against attacks there. Neither could we ask for help from the Norwegians, as their fleet was in the Norwegians Sea, intercepting swedish convoys.
We then asked the brittish government for help, but they were quite reluctant to expose their ships to land-based aircraft based in the low countries. But finally, after three days of hard negotiations between the Admirality and our London-Ambassador, the brits agreed to help us. They would send home fleet to shell the swedish West Coast for three days, and would leave aftre that. In return we promised to send substantial forces to North Africa, where the Italians were wreaking havoc.
So, between the 23rd and 25th of April, His Majesty's Royal Navy bombarded the West Coast from Halmstad to Gothenburg. Fortunatly, the swedes took the bait and sent their fleet to Kattegatt where they were engaged by the brits. In the following battle, Fylgia was sunk after two hits from Rodney, while the brittish Ajax was severly wounded after a torpedohit from the cruiser Dristigheten. After four hours both fleets pulled back and the swedes pulled back into Gothenburg. They had, however, fallen for the faint and we had got the room for operation that we needed.
In the morning of the 26th of April, a lonely freighter pulled into the harbour of Norrtälje and a regiment of Jaegers disembarked. They quickly overpowered the guards and radioed the rest of the force, three divisions, that were steaming off Kapellskär that the coast was clear. Before sunset, 30.000 men and all their equpiment had been unloaded. Scenes like this took place all along the coast, from Sundsvall in the north to Kalmar in the south. As the the swedes were taken completely by surprise by this move all of the coast except Stockholm had been by the morning of the 3rd of May. In the province of Uppland, where the swedes were caught the most off-guard, Lieutenant-General Heinrichs's 2nd Corps managed to overrun the F16-airflotilla outside Uppsala and capture three fighterwings on the ground.
The "Panssarilaiva" or Coast-Defence Ship Ilmarinen, photographed from her sister Väinämöinen, giving firesupport during the landings.
By the 9th of May I got the word from General Walden that Stockholm had been surrounded by nine divisions divided into two corps's, the 2nd under Heinrichs in Uppsala and the 3rd under myself in Södertälje. As I found the thought of dragging the war out longer than necessary quite repugnant I ordered an attack. I was to attack from the southwest, along the southern bank of Lake Mälaren and the southeast from Haninge, while Heinrichs was to follow the Stockholm-Uppsala railway south.
After five days, on the morning of the 14th, our divisions had infiltrated as long as to Sollentuna-Täby in the north, while we in the south, due to stiff resistance from the Royal Guards had been forced to stop our attack by the line of Botkyrka-Huddinge-Tyresö. Ath this moment, the Lieutenant-Generals Talvela and Nenonen wanted me to shell the city center with artillery, to force it into submission, but I found this absolutely out of the question. As a result of our rapid advance, there were several hundreds of thousands of civilians left in Stockholm, and as I was not at war with them, we were here to liberated them from a totalitarian, fascist regime and to re-instate the constitutional monarchy, I declined.
Instead I sent a message over the radio, where I requested the population to keep their calm, to stay inside and not to take up arms against the finnish forces. Furthermore, I gave the Vasaunion time until midnight on the 15th to lay down their weapons and turn themself in. If this would not have happened by the said date, we would attack, and anyone bearing arms at that time would be considered an enemy, and countered as such. We also encouraged the Royal Guards not to fight for the Vasaunion as the king was still alive and formally their highest commander. This led to massive desertions in the enemies forces, as thousands of men raised the white flag and gave up the fight. However, nothing was heard from the Vasaunion.
Three minutes after midnight on the 16th, the codeword "Ukkoskuuro" or thunderstorm was given. This meant that the time of talk was over, now we would make sure that what we had said was not only empty words. The first, and only artillerybarrage was fired over the city at ten past midnight and ended precisely ten minutes later. The attack continued during the night and following moring, and by noon our forces stood outside the emediate city center where the hardline Vasaunionists, the Karolines, had decided to make their last stand. Here I ordered halt, to get a clear view of the situation which was the following: Under our control was now the suburbs Solna, Nacka and Lidingö. We had conquered the Bromma Airport and we had troups possitioned for the final push into the city. I summoned my commanders for a final council.
At that moment I got the word: A royalist mob in Stockholm was attacking the Royal Palace that had become the HQ of the Vasaunion and streetfights between Karolines and civilians had errupted all over the city central, mostly in the workingclass-quarters on Södermalm. As the lastthing we wanted was open rebellion on our hands, I emediatly ordered an attack. As a result of the general dissorder and lawlessness in the city, we countered only very light resistance and by sunset all of Södermalm, Norrmalm, Östermalm and Kungsholmen was under military control. At this moment I proclaimed martial law in the city as the mob, after their failed attack on the Palace had started to plunder stores and were wreaking havoc in the city. At dusk only "Gamla Stan", the Old Town, with it's winding alleys and squares, was left in the fascists's hands. It was the twilight of fascist rule in Sweden.
The last stand of the Karolines
At sunrise on the 17th, shots were once again heard over Birger Jarl's medieval city. Two batallions of swedishspeaking jeagers from the swedish parts of the Turku Archipelago and Ostrobothnia, many of them with relatives in Stockholm, had been chosen as the first wave of attack, due to their knowledge of the language. As the first jaegers began moving towards the bridges at Karl Johansslussen and Strömsbron a massive covering fire was released from the surrounding buildings. The Opera and the National Museum were used as observationpoints for the mortarfire that also broke out from Mosebacke and Blasieholmen. The Jaegers from the south passed the bridges unharmed and started to advance up along the Skeppsbron and Stora Nygatan. On the north side, mortars on the palaceyard opened up and pinned the advancing jaegers down outside the Palace walls. A third batallion attacked and captured the lightly defended House of Parliament. The advance from the south was steady, but slow, as all alleys had to be secured from ambushing Karolines. The advances was finally halted by the Tyska Kyrkan where about half a company of Karolines were holding the jaegers back with machineguns and handgranades. But when the commander for the southern batallion, called JB 23 or simply "Åboland" by it's soldiers, asked for direct mortarfire on the church the swedes gave up. On the northern side, the jaegers had to be reinforced and finally, when almost a regiment of jaegers were deployed they broke through.
The jaegers continued across Mynttorget and and up along Lejonbacken, attacking towards the outer courtyard with the Guards Quarter. There they took up defensive positions and waited for the southern group to join them. They had not have to wait for long, as the Åboland-batallion quickly cleared Stortorget, "the Great Square" and the nearby Storkyrkan. Here the commander of the jaegers, Colonel Runo Winberg, radioed me saying: "Sir, we have taken the bloody Old Town, only the blood palace is left. Now, what the bloody hell do we do?" I answered him that I wanted that palace taken, and I wanted the leaders found, preferebly alive, but that I would understand that accidents do happen.
Winberg sent up three red flares, the sign for an all out assualt towards the palace, and seconds later, mortarshells started to hit Tessin's lifework, the Royal Palace, one of the biggest in Europe. Four hours later, after a fierce close-quarters battle between jaegers and die-hard Karolines the leaders of the Vasaunion had been pinned down inside Rikssalen on the 2nd floor, the gallery where the king opens the Parliament every year, where they had barricaded themself with their bodyguards, called drabants. The final assault commenced when a hole was blown through the floor of the Guest Quarters one storey up. A score of handgranades where thrown throught the hole and the door was broken down. The last shots of the attack on Stockholm was fired by a Captain Söderholm when he as the first through the door shot a drabant and one of the leaders, Admiral Charles de Champs, with his Suomi Sub-machinegun. The rest of the Vasaunion surrendered moments later.
On the morning of the 18th of May the Finnish flag was raised over the Stockholm City Hall as a sign that the King had formaly been reinstated. However, as a measure of security, Sweden would remain in finnish and norwegian military occupation throught the war, though with almost complete selfgoverning right. On the 20th, Operation Gemini was officially declared a success.
Europe after Operation Gemini and the creation of Vichy France
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