Review: The Winter War

Title: The Winter War: The Soviet attack on Finland 1939-1940
Authour: Eloise Engle & Lauri Paananen
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0-8117-2433-6
Stars: 5 (out of 5)

Having nothing in my personal library on this conflict I picked it up when I saw it. Not disappointed.
The book is broken into 17 chapters and covers the political beginings of why the Soviet Union wanted to attack, right on up to the end where Finland signed for Peace.
I had heard how the Finnish soldier managed to hold off large Soviet attacks of both soldiers and tanks and this book describes how it was possible. There are unit designations for both sides that include losses when available. Even though the Soviet armed forces had a material advantage of Artillery, Tanks, Aircraft and Soldiers they suffered huge losses due to bad planning, extremely poor logistics, and the high moral of the Finnish defenders, which was not expected. The moral was so high, that when the Peace was signed, most soldiers still considered that they won the war.
There are a few 1st person accounts which definately add to the book and the descriptions of how the Soviets surrvived in their mottis and were ultimately destroyed in them, makes for some informative reading.
There are only a couple of maps and there are some good photos with only a few of them being seen in other publications.
There is an Appendix at the end where it shows which countries helped Finland out w/military aid and volunteers
Definately a book worth reading if you are wanting to learn or inform yourself on the Finnish side of the Winter War.