Comments by "John Burns" (@johnburns4017) on "Finland's Continuation War in a Nutshell #WW2" video.

  1.  @FulmenTheFinn  I have. I do not trust Finnish sources. - In 1919 the Bolsheviks gave Finland independence, foolishly agreeing borders that were poor for Russian defence. - The USSR occupies, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia as part of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. - Pact gives Finland to the USSR, however, in 1939 the Soviet administration wanted the border of Finland further back as it was in artillery range of Leningrad, not wanting to occupy all of the country. - The Soviets offered a territory exchange in which the Soviets gave more away than what they would get. - The Finns said "no". - A war broke out. - The Soviets won. - The Soviets did not occupy all of Finland, as they did with the other three Baltic states. Neither taking Finland back into Russia. - The Finns signed an agreement with the USSR in 1940. - In June 1941 they broke the agreement attacking the USSR.
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  2. "Finland presented herself as a co-belligerent fighting her own war, one that was defensive in nature and separate of that of Germany's offensive war." German troops were on Finnish soil fighting alongside Finns. The Germans were supplying Finland. I do not buy that.
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  3.  @slavashishkin3313  They could have had no Finland.
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  4.  @slavashishkin3313  You need to do some research. British supplied tanks were 30-40% of heavy and medium tanks used at Moscow. Nice people that we are we gave the tanks to them.
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  5. You are confused. The Soviets agreed a peace with Finland who broke it. They had no intention of attacking Finland. They could have occupied the whole country in 1940, but never.
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  6.  @FulmenTheFinn  Even Finns thought it was wrong to attack the USSR after making a peace with them in 1940.
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  7.  @suppo6092  "But I still don't understand how a man like Churchill would like an alliance with the bolsheviks. He seems so smart otherwise. " In a special radio address to the British nation on the evening of 22 June 1941, Churchill said, “No one has been a more consistent opponent of Communism for the last twenty-five years. I will unsay no word I have spoken about it. But all this fades away before the spectacle which is now unfolding. The past, with its crimes, its follies, its tragedies, flashes away.… The Russian danger is therefore our danger, and the danger of the United States, just as the cause of any Russian fighting for hearth and house is the cause of free men and free peoples in every quarter of the globe.” Churchill then announced that Britain would provide all possible military aid to the USSR in its battle against Germany. Britain provide 40% of the tanks used in the vital battle of Moscow. Britain was fighting the Japanese in Malaya/Singapore. The Japanese had tanks, the British troops never. Just one convoy destined for the USSR, diverted to Singapore would have meant British victory.
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  8. Facts are wonderful things....... ♦ The Bolsheviks did not have to grant independence to the Finns in 1919, it was a part of Russia. Even the rail gauge was Russian not compatible with other adjacent countries. ♦ The borders of independent Finland (a country that had hardly ever been independent in its history) were too close to Leningrad for defense reasons. A mistake by the Bolshevik independence negotiators. ♦ Guns were available to hit Leningrad from the Finnish border, although none in Finland. Leningrad was too close, vulnerable to large easy air strikes from Finland. War technology had move on a lot quite quickly. ♦ The Soviets never wanted to take all of Finland, as they did with the three other Baltic states, just move borders back with a territory exchange for defense reasons. Finland would gain more territory in the deal. ♦ The Bolsheviks were not statesmen. The Soviets wanted to rectify a mistake on the independence agreement. ♦ Germany was expecting the USSR to take all of Finland back into Russia, reverting the situation as it was 20 years previously. ♦ Finland refused any territory exchange. ♦ In 1939 the USSR moves into Finland to move the border back. ♦ The Finns resist. ♦ The Soviets win. ♦ The Soviets in 1940 never took all of Finland, as they did with the other three Baltic states, just moved the border back, having no desires on all of Finland. This baffled the Germans. ♦ Peace is signed between Finland and the USSR in 1940. ♦ The USSR had no intention of occupying or attacking Finland once the border was moved back. ♦ The Finns allowed Germans onto their territory within months after the Soviets never incorporated Finland back into Russia, which they could easily have. ♦ The Soviets were naturally concerned with German troops in Finland, realising they made a mistake in not incorporating all of Finland back into Russia. ♦ Finland attacks the USSR along with Germany in June 1941, despite signing a peace treaty with the USSR in 1940. ♦ The USSR realises it made a mistake by not incorporating Finland back into Russia, having to fight on a front that need not have been there. ♦ Finland imprisons its leader after WW2 for attacking the USSR in 1941.
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  9. About 15-16 planes from the carriers Furious and Victorious were lost in raids on Petsamo.
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  10.  B A  I prefer facts myself.
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  11.  @Leperzco  Finns made a peace with the USSR, then broke it by attacking the USSR.
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  12. They did need the doctors. When you need something a blind eye is sometimes used.
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  13. Finland played a very dodgy game that came off beyond their expectations. I am surprise the Soviets did not just take the whole place over, making it a part of the Soviet block, or more likely reincorporating Finland back into Russia. Stalin did not like that the Bolsheviks agreed to Finland being independent in 1919. After all it is another way into Russia as WW2 proved. Incorporating Finland back into Russia would mean the Soviets had the Baltic Sea between them and the west on that front.
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  14. From June 1941 onwards, the Germans and Finns attempted to seize the vital Murmansk port in the Arctic circle. They were beaten back by an equal sized Soviet force aided by the Royal Navy and the RAF who stationed Hurricanes in Murmask. One Hurricane was lost. The RAF trained the Soviets to fly the planes then handed them over to the Soviets.
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  15. So much they imprisoned their leader after WW2 for attacking the USSR.
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  16.  @jussim.konttinen4981  The trials were all conducted by Finns, undertaken in Finland.
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  17.  @jussim.konttinen4981  The Finns agreed that they attacked the USSR. They agreed to a trial as well - conducted by the Finns.
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  18. ​ @FulmenTheFinn  The Bolsheviks did agree to Independence, however further Soviet administrations were uneasy on actually giving independence and concerned at the lax way in which they decided the borders when they did. The Germans gave the four Baltic states to the USSR. They did not intervene in the Winter War or supply arms to Finland, as this was the USSRs. The USSR did not occupy the whole of the country. Something the Germans were mystified at, as they would have. Not doing so came back to bite the Soviets in a big way.
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  19.    The Finns fought the Germans to get them out.
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  20.  @slavashishkin3313  Except when the territory poses a threat to the USSR.
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  21.  @VHemmila  The raid on Petsamo destroyed the pier. But British provided arms for the Soviets to do the fighting.
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  22.  @artificialintelligence8328  If idiot Percival had just kept fighting he would have won as the Japanese had run out if ammunition. Yashita bluffed at the table. A convoy of Matilda 2 tanks would have meant the Japanese would not have got anywhere near Singapore.
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  23.  @TheImperatorKnight  TIK, you are wrong that the Soviets just wanted territory for the sake of it. Finland proves that. You are giving opinion. I am putting up a factual timeline. That is all. The Soviets did not want Finland, facts prove that. They could have moved right in and took the lot in 1940. They never. They could have in 1945, they never. Most of the Finnish population was actually born in Russia, as it was part of Russia only 20 years previously. Mannerheim was actually in the Russian army when Finland was part of Russia, he could hardly speak Finnish needing an interpreter. If the Soviets had incorporated Finland back into Russia, it would have made matters far easier for them to defeat the Germans. The Germans having troops in Finland, needlessly as far as the Soviets could see as they were not hostile to Germany, supplying them with many raw materials. The Soviets had no intentions of moving into Finland after the 1939-40 winter war. That would also consume military resources. The fact they never proves the Soviets never had intentions of grabbing all territory they could lay their hands on. They did respect the Independence agreement just wanting amendments on territory for defense purposes. A territory exchange. They walked right in and took all of the other three Baltic states, as they were more strategically important for defense reasons. They stopped once they got what they wanted with Finland for defense reasons, moving back borders. Apply analysis to the factual timeline, not opinion. ;)
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  24.  @mabussubam512  No he never.
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  25.  @anaccountmusthaveaname9110  This is unbelievable. He wrote: "Like how do you know that the soviets didn't want to take all of Finland?" Because the Soviets never in 1940 when defeating the Finns.
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  26. The Soviets won. They achieved their aims, which was to roll back the borders. They could have taken Finland back into Russia. They had no intention of doing so.
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  27.  @anaccountmusthaveaname9110  If the Soviets wanted to incorporate Finland back into Russia it would have happened.
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  28.  @mabussubam512  I agree.
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  29. Molotov-Ribbentrop pact gave the four Baltic states to the USSR. The USSR was a co-belligerent with Germany in Poland. Germany never intervened in 1939-40 Finnish-Soviet war. Or supplied arms to Finland. The USSR applied to join the Axis in late 1940. Hitler talks of carving up the British Empire with the USSR. Ribbentrop in a German bunker said to Molotov that England is defeated. Ribbentrop said "what is that I hear above us" - Berlin was being bombed by the RAF - with the British wiping out the Italians in North Africa, most of the German fleet in Norway and large parts of the French and Italian fleets. The Soviets objected to German troops on Finnish soil. Germany say they were to guarantee nickle and wood supplies. The USSR was supplying oil and resources to the USSR. Soviets were puzzled and uneasy that Germany gave Finland to the USSR, which the USSR did not fully occupy, yet put troops in Finland. Germany refused the USSR into the Axis. The Soviets are weary of German/Finnish intentions. Rightly so.
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  30.  @sergeontheloose  Finland is the 1st or 4th Baltic state, depending if you count from the top or bottom.
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