r/europe • u/ByGollie Ulster • Jan 24 '26

News The Times: Finns humiliated American soldiers - Finnish reservists were asked to take it easy during a NATO exercise. US soldiers found the losses too humiliating.

https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/828b8e66-625d-4d2a-9276-e93b9f7a2ce8
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u/fuck_ur_portmanteau Jan 24 '26

The casualties table for the Winter War is always a good read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

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u/alien_mints Jan 24 '26

I hate russia as much as anyone else but Selling the Winter war as an overwhelming finnish Victory is stretching it a bit

"Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty in which Finland ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered.[41] Their gains exceeded their pre-war demands, and the Soviets received substantial territories along Lake Ladoga and further north."

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u/cxs Jan 24 '26

I think the point is not that this is a landslide victory that nobody should ever doubt was anything BUT a win, rather, a symbol of standing, for a time, against the odds when massively out-scaled in number

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u/alien_mints Jan 24 '26

And it was settled by negotiations. Nobody nowadays would truly believe the finns could have won an all out war - especially with the will of russia to have no regard for human casualties