The Winter War and the battle of Suomussalmi shaped the course of the German
invasion. The Germans believed that since the Finns held off the divisions of
the Soviet Union, the mighty Germans with their panzers could do the same.
Hitler viewed the Soviet Union as weak force of subhuman Slavs that would bend
to the will of the German master race (Roberts 84). The Soviets learned a tough
lesson of their short comings in regard to winter warfare: they had no ski
troops or sub machine guns for close quarter fighting, nor were their tanks
winterized to deal with the harsh cold and their treads not designed to move
over snow. One of the tragedies for them is that the commanders and political
commissars who realized this were executed on Stalin’s orders (Breitwaite 51).
Still, there junior commanders who learned from the mistakes of their generals
and did realize the weakness in the Soviet military. They would request that
their men be outfitted with submachine guns and tanks be produced that could
overcome the trials of winter. One of the new weapons to emerge was the PPHs-41
submachine gun and its arrival also came with more T-34 tanks. (Braithwaite
236)
The Soviet Union wrote a communiqué stating why the German Army had failed to
capture Moscow:
"The Germans complain that it was the winter that prevented them from carrying out their
plan to capture Moscow. But first of all, the real winter has not yet started around Moscow:
the frosts are no more than 3-5 degrees. Secondly, complaints about the winter demonstrate
that the Germans did not bother to equip their army with warm clothing, although they
proclaimed to the whole world that they had long prepared for a winter campaign.
And the reason why they had not equipped their army with winter clothing was
because they hoped to finish the war before winter began. That was a most
serious and dangerous miscalculation… it is not the winter that was to blame,
but an organic defect in the way the German High Command planned for the war."
(Braithwaite 310)
Additionally, Stalin felt that Hitler had underestimated the ability of the Soviet Union to
maintain morale and a defense capable of standing up to the German military machine
(Roberts 109).
By comparing these two military conflicts, one can see that the Soviet Union did take the
lessons of the Winter War and the battle of Suomussalmi to heart. There losses were not in
vain as they manage to avoid fighting the same battle when they were invaded by Nazi
Germany in June of 1941. The Soviet Union had a strategic withdrawal and when the
Wehrmacht was at the gates of Moscow, the winter arrived and made it miserable for both
actors. But the winter was harsher for the Germans who came to the fight ill prepared for the
Russian climate. The Soviet Union used the bitter cold to their advantage and manage to
collect their troops and materials to resupply their exhausted frontline defenders. From there
they were able to avoid the German’s attempt at a decisive victory and mount a massive
counter-offensive that constantly chipped away at the Wehrmacht until after two years of
brutal and bitter combat they had pushed them back into the fatherlandand into the German
capital of Berlin in April of 1945.
invasion. The Germans believed that since the Finns held off the divisions of
the Soviet Union, the mighty Germans with their panzers could do the same.
Hitler viewed the Soviet Union as weak force of subhuman Slavs that would bend
to the will of the German master race (Roberts 84). The Soviets learned a tough
lesson of their short comings in regard to winter warfare: they had no ski
troops or sub machine guns for close quarter fighting, nor were their tanks
winterized to deal with the harsh cold and their treads not designed to move
over snow. One of the tragedies for them is that the commanders and political
commissars who realized this were executed on Stalin’s orders (Breitwaite 51).
Still, there junior commanders who learned from the mistakes of their generals
and did realize the weakness in the Soviet military. They would request that
their men be outfitted with submachine guns and tanks be produced that could
overcome the trials of winter. One of the new weapons to emerge was the PPHs-41
submachine gun and its arrival also came with more T-34 tanks. (Braithwaite
236)
The Soviet Union wrote a communiqué stating why the German Army had failed to
capture Moscow:
"The Germans complain that it was the winter that prevented them from carrying out their
plan to capture Moscow. But first of all, the real winter has not yet started around Moscow:
the frosts are no more than 3-5 degrees. Secondly, complaints about the winter demonstrate
that the Germans did not bother to equip their army with warm clothing, although they
proclaimed to the whole world that they had long prepared for a winter campaign.
And the reason why they had not equipped their army with winter clothing was
because they hoped to finish the war before winter began. That was a most
serious and dangerous miscalculation… it is not the winter that was to blame,
but an organic defect in the way the German High Command planned for the war."
(Braithwaite 310)
Additionally, Stalin felt that Hitler had underestimated the ability of the Soviet Union to
maintain morale and a defense capable of standing up to the German military machine
(Roberts 109).
By comparing these two military conflicts, one can see that the Soviet Union did take the
lessons of the Winter War and the battle of Suomussalmi to heart. There losses were not in
vain as they manage to avoid fighting the same battle when they were invaded by Nazi
Germany in June of 1941. The Soviet Union had a strategic withdrawal and when the
Wehrmacht was at the gates of Moscow, the winter arrived and made it miserable for both
actors. But the winter was harsher for the Germans who came to the fight ill prepared for the
Russian climate. The Soviet Union used the bitter cold to their advantage and manage to
collect their troops and materials to resupply their exhausted frontline defenders. From there
they were able to avoid the German’s attempt at a decisive victory and mount a massive
counter-offensive that constantly chipped away at the Wehrmacht until after two years of
brutal and bitter combat they had pushed them back into the fatherlandand into the German
capital of Berlin in April of 1945.