Ilkka Kylä-Harakka altábornagy beszéde a téli háború emléknapján
2008. márc. 13-án volt a téli háború befejeződésének 68. évfordulója. A Finn Nagykövetség ez alkalomból szervezett ünnepi rendezvényén Ilkka Kylä-Harakka altábornagy tartott beszédet, melyben kiemelte a külföldi önkéntesek – köztük magyar katonák – által nyújtott segítséget.
Your Exellency, Our honoured hostess, Distinguished Friends of Finland, Ladies and Gentlemen!
The Winter War was the first European war in which a small state did not allow a great power to dictate its faith. The situation was threatening. In Finland people tried to lighten it with humour.
The story has it that in negotiations between Finland and Soviet Union Molotov asked how many men Finland would be able to set against the soviet army. Paasikivi, who was the main negotiator for the Finns, replied that about half a million men. Molotov laughed and said: “What if we put one million men against your half a million?” Paasikivi silently stood up and was leaving the room. Molotov asked where he was going to. “To telegraph back to Finland and tell them to give another bullet to each man,” Paasikivi replied.
When the war actually began, Finland was able to raise an army of 337 000 men. Because our country had not really believed that war would occur, the troops were not, however, properly equipped. There was a shortage of cannons, antitank-weapons, fighters, tanks, not to mention the equipment for individual men. The last men to be called in to arms had to settle for an emblem, belt and a rifle.
The Soviet Army attacked with 500 000 men. It had the order to crush the Finnish defence and conquer the country in two weeks. During the first month Finland was able to defend itself against the enemy. The so called “miracle of the Winter War”, the stopping of the Soviet Army’s advance, was based on the ferocity of the Finnish troops. The men had the courage to fight against the Soviet mechanised army with only “Molotov’s cocktails”, logs of birch and hand-thrown improvised explosives. They became known for the tactic of encircling the enemy units in the wilds, the so called “motti” tactics.
One of the most famous examples is the Battle of the Raate road. It has served as a model of a good tactic in military academies throughout the world. On the Raate road the mechanised Soviet division was broken up into smaller pieces and then encircled and destroyed them completely by Finnish light and mobile skiing troops one by one.
According to estimations the Soviets lost 17 500 men, that is, 70 percent of the men in the division, more than 5000 rifles, 100 machine guns, 100 cannons of various types and more than 40 armoured vehicles. Anecdote was told that a lance corporal was looking at the war booty captured from the Soviets and said: “It’s really fine, that the superpower is equipping also our army.”
The Soviets soon realised that they could not occupy our country in just a few weeks. The Red Army had to regroup in order to launch another major offensive at the beginning of February 1940. The Finns were facing almost one million Soviet soldiers supported by an arsenal of artillery, armour and aerial forces. It became obvious that a small nation could not defend itself against the Soviet superiority in force forever. The Finnish troops were tired, worn out and the artillery had no ammunition left.
However, the soldiers had already been able to win time and credibility for diplomacy.
Ladies and gentlemen
When the war began our embassies all over the world received offers of help. In Hungary the number of volunteers willing to help was considerable. As many as 25 000 men volunteered to fight at the Finnish front. This signalled the compassion that the Hungarian had towards the “northern sister nation”. On the other hand, Hungary could thus show to the world that it could act independent of Germany and support the battle for a just cause.
By the end of the Winter War 11 600 foreign volunteers served in Finland. Majority of them, more than 8 000 men, were from Sweden.
After the Scandinavian countries the largest amount of volunteers came from Hungary: One full battalion consisting of 346 men. There were almost as many Hungarian volunteers as there were Americans and Canadians together.
Hungary was the only country to send organised troops to Finland. Hungary had paid careful attention to the selection of men. All the applicants had to meet the selection committee in person. They had to be young and unmarried. They had to have their military service completed and they should not have any criminal record. Imre Kemeri Nagy, the battalion commander, was an interesting exception to these rules. His past was somewhat shady.
After the training period the voluntary battalion headed for Finland on the 7th of February in 1940. A group pretending to be skiing tourists travelled first to France via Yugoslavia and Italy. Then they continued their journey to Great Britain and further to Norway. From Norway they travelled through Sweden to northern Finland, and eventually to their final destination in southern Finland. They arrived at the Finnish training centre in Lapua on the 2nd of March.
According to reports from the armed forces headquarters, the leaders of the Finnish armed forces were very satisfied with the trained and disciplined Hungarian battalion. Even its equipment was better than usual.
The war ended in March, so that the Hungarian troops did not take part in the actual fighting. After mid-May the battalion began its journey back home. In the going away parade Imre Kemeri Nagy was promoted captain, and he received a medal, the Order of the White Rose of Finland - Knight 1st Class. Sixteen other Hungarian officers received a medal, the Order of the White Rose.
Other than Swedish troops may not have been of great military assistance, but their political and psychological significance was great. The volunteers showed that other countries were willing to help Finland. The troops that did not make it to the frontline contributed to the fact that Stalin was willing to negotiate a peace treaty with Finland.
Ladies and gentlemen
In the tense international atmosphere of 1939 the supply of military equipment on the international market did not meet the Finnish demand. The general demand of military equipment rose considerably and the prices went up quickly. Almost every European nation was purchasing weaponry and other equipment in order to reach the military capacity of their neighbours. Their own industries were unable to meet their needs. All the other countries except Sweden were not willing to sell weaponry to Finland even though they would support Finland politically.
The Hungarian contribution to the Finnish armed forces equals 2.2 percent of the total value of the military equipment that Finland received during the war. Prior to the war Hungarians had sold to Finland, among other things, shell casings, Kovacs-outboard motors, cannon barrels, explosives and anti-aircraft cannons.
At the end of the year 1939 Finland and Hungarian companies made contracts mainly on ammunition, such as half million rifle tracer bullets, 300 000 hand grenades, 100 000 light artillery grenades, 56 000 antitank-grenades, 30 000 mortar grenades, 20 000 high explosive light grenades, 20 000 tracers, but also 300 field kitchens and 24 tractors for artillery. Due to the country’s own needs and the limitations in industrial capacity, Hungary was able to deliver only some of the equipment immediately. The majority of the deliveries were postponed until the end of the war.
After the war Finland also received equipment ordered later on during the war. It consisted of 16 000 artillery grenades, 75 000 helmets and 100 outboard motors.
In addition, of the material extracted from Poland to Hungary, Finland bought 300 rifles, 30 pieces of antitank rifles and rounds to them, 16 light mortars and grenades to them, and 223 malfunctioning field radios. Later on Finland bought 26 000 cartridge pouches and almost 20 000 helmets. Hungary would have been ready to selleven more of the Polish equipment.
Hungary’s fast build-up, the concern of its military leaders about the future, the requirement to pay in currency and the difficulties in transports set further limitations to deliveries. However, of the so called small countries, Hungary was Finland’s second most important partner when it comes to military equipment. Only Belgium was able to contribute more. Even though only anti-aircraft guns arrived in time for the Winter War, the military equipment that Finland received from outside countries played an important role in the Continuation War.
Ladies and gentlemen
In the Winter War Finland achieved it’s most important goal. After the war it was still an independent and morally strong country. This explains why Finns associate the Winter War with independence.
The Finnish Marshall Mannerheim expresses the significance of the foreign assistance in his order of the day in the following way: ”Without the ready help in arms and equipment which Sweden and the Western Powers have given us, our struggle up to this date would have been inconceivable against the countless guns, tanks and aircraft of the enemy”.
Mannerheim also expresses well our gratitude to the Hungarians by saying that: ”Our blood relatives from the shores of Danube have heard the call of our war horn, and the sword of the Madjar has been drawn to the help of the Finnish sabre”.