One of the scariest things I ever saw was Tufte's map of Napoleon's march on, and retreat from, Moscow. Showed the movement of N's army in arrows-- the thickness of the arrow showed how many men were left. You could watch it shrink.
Finland's Simo Häyhä, whom the Russians called ``The White Death'' is considered by many to be the world's greatest sniper, earned that sobriquet during the Winter War.
Lots of incredible accomplishments during that period of history though often overshadowed by Finland's agreements w/ Germany during World War II and their classification as a belligerent in the Paris Peace Treaty.
I think my fascination w/ Finland dates back to one of the first articles in Guns & Ammo which I can recall reading which was on the Finnish Lahti L-35 pistol....
The 1944 defensive battles were impressive too. The Soviets had expected to occupy all of Finland in that attack but they got bogged down and stalled time after time. Finnish scouts saw empty trains pulling up to take back the Soviet soldiers as they were needed for the push into Europe. There was a film called 'Tali-Ihantala 1944' released recently that coveres this.
Western allied attitude to Finland was poor. Allied attitude to Poland was horrific. Remember the war started because Poland was occupied. At the end .. it STILL was.
One of the scariest things I ever saw was Tufte's map of Napoleon's march on, and retreat from, Moscow. Showed the movement of N's army in arrows-- the thickness of the arrow showed how many men were left. You could watch it shrink.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: Tufte used the mao in his book, but it was drawn by Charles Joseph Minard.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/posters
I hate when people quote Heinlein.
ReplyDelete...Oh no, wait, it's Hemingway that I hate when people quote, sorry!
Heinlein is just fine.
Finland's Simo Häyhä, whom the Russians called ``The White Death'' is considered by many to be the world's greatest sniper, earned that sobriquet during the Winter War.
ReplyDeleteLots of incredible accomplishments during that period of history though often overshadowed by Finland's agreements w/ Germany during World War II and their classification as a belligerent in the Paris Peace Treaty.
I think my fascination w/ Finland dates back to one of the first articles in Guns & Ammo which I can recall reading which was on the Finnish Lahti L-35 pistol....
William
The 1944 defensive battles were impressive too. The Soviets had expected to occupy all of Finland in that attack but they got bogged down and stalled time after time. Finnish scouts saw empty trains pulling up to take back the Soviet soldiers as they were needed for the push into Europe.
ReplyDeleteThere was a film called 'Tali-Ihantala 1944' released recently that coveres this.
Western allied attitude to Finland was poor.
Allied attitude to Poland was horrific.
Remember the war started because Poland was occupied. At the end .. it STILL was.