March 13, 1940: The Winter War Ends

March 13, 1940: The Moscow Peace Treaty is signed, ending a war between the Soviet Union and neighboring Finland, a sub-conflict of World War II that had been known as the Winter War.

From the 13th Century until the Finnish War of 1808-09, Finland was a part of the Kingdom of Sweden. From that war until 1917, the Grand Duchy of Finland had been part of the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution, on December 6, 1917, Finland declared its independence.

When World War II started on September 1, 1939, Finland knew it faced an attack from the Soviet Union, especially since Leningrad (the once and future St. Petersburg) was only 20 miles from the Soviet-Finnish border. Indeed, when Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia to launch his Bolshevik Revolution, it was by train at St. Petersburg's Finland Station.

The Soviets made several demands, mostly the cessation of some border territories. The Finns refused, and, on November 30, 1939, the Soviets invaded.

But just as the cold and the snow would prove to be the Soviets' ally once Nazi Germany attacked them in 1941, it was Finland's ally on this occasion, as temperatures dropped to less than 40 degrees below zero (the point at which the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales meet).

The Finns were able to use cold to their advantage, but also heat. They filled jars with alcohol, put wicks in them, lit the wicks, and threw them at the Soviets. In Britain, this was already known as a "petrol bomb." In Finland, they named it after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, the man who had presented the Soviets' demands to them: The Molotov Cocktail.

The war turned into a stalemate, and the Soviets took heavy losses: Over 160,000 dead, another 140,000 wounded, and over 60,000 removed from action due to frostbite. Finland, outnumbered 2-1 in total manpower, lost 26,000 dead and 43,000 wounded.

Simo Häyhä, often referred to by his nickname, "The White Death," for his white uniform that blended in with the snow, is believed to have killed more than 500 enemy soldiers during the conflict, the highest number of sniper kills in any major war. On March 6, 1940, the tables were turned, and a Soviet sniper hit him in the face. He recovered, but remained disfigured for the rest of his life -- until 2002, at the age of 96.

A peace treaty was signed. The Soviets got some of what they wanted: Finland ceded 9 percent of its territory, and the war was over. The Finns got the main things they wanted: Peace and the retention of their independence.

The Finns were hailed all over the world for their resistance. Chancellor Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany took note of the Red Army's poor performance, and would launch his attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941. But he couldn't get either Moscow or Leningrad before the Winter set in, and this would be the beginning of his end.

Hostilities resumed in June 1941 with the Continuation War, when Finland allied itself with Germany in an attempt to regain the territory lost to the Soviets barely a year earlier. Finnish troops occupied Eastern Karelia from 1941 to 1944, and assisted the German army in the Siege of Leningrad. The massive Soviet Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive in the Summer of 1944 led to a breakthrough until the Finns finally repulsed it at Tali-Ihantala. This partial Soviet success led to a stalemate and later an armistice. This was followed by the Lapland War of 1944-45, when Finland fought retreating German forces in northern Finland. In other words, the Finns were with the Nazis before they were against them.

As a result of the three wars, Finland lost 12 percent of its land area; 20 percent of its industrial capacity; its second-largest city, Viipuri, which the Soviets renamed Vyborg, a name it still has today; and the ice-free port of Liinakhamari. The Finns lost around 97,000 soldiers, and were forced to pay war reparations initially set at $300 million in 1938 prices, later adjusted to $226.5 million.

However, the country avoided occupation by Soviet forces, and managed to retain its independence. Along with Great Britain, Finland emerged from the war as one of the only European countries to have taken part in hostilities that was never occupied and managed to preserve its democracy throughout. In 2022, Finland remains a democracy, home to about 5.6 million people. And, alone among the four mainland Scandinavian countries, it is the only one without a monarchy. (I say, "mainland," because Iceland, unlike Norway, Sweden and Denmark, does not have a monarch.)

UPDATE: In 2025, the YouTube comedy series Epic Rap Battles of History paired Simo Häyhä, played by "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist, with Manfred von Richtofen, the German pilot of World War I known as the Red Baron, played by "Nice" Peter Shukoff. Lloyd cleverly rhymed the brand of rifle the White Death used, Mosin-Nagant, with "frozen savant."

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March 13, 1940 was a Wednesday. Soul singer Candi Staton was born on this day.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. The NBA had not yet been founded. There were 3 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat their tenants at the old Madison Square Garden, 4-2. It was considered a Ranger home game. Neil Colville scored twice for the Broadway Blueshirts, while former Toronto superstar Charlie Conacher scored twice for the Amerks. Exactly on month later, on April 13, the Rangers would win the Stanley Cup.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Boston Bruins were not scheduled.