The Trouble With Finland - A Cooperative AAR

[Lord Finnish]

I was wondering about Petsamo too.

I didn't quite understand the ambitious and nearly senseless Soviet claims.

But well, little alt-history is always good

[TeutonburgerW]

Great work on the skins! Will surely follow this.

[Enewald]

Woohooo!
Finland also should have cores on the lands of mordvas and merjas.
And inkeri and vepsälä. And bjarmia.

[Milites]

Will be following!

[Storm501]

Finland got Petsamo only after the Treaty of Tartu in 1920. I wonder if in this alternative universe the East Karelian expeditions didn't happen, or something like that :S

Didn't they have to withdraw the Finnish troops from this area, when the Finns got Petsamo in 1920? So actually that area should be a part of Finland too, since there was no treaty.

[Griffin.Gen]

Troubles in Finland: The Swedish Expeditionary Force
Chapter 1: Training


Somewhere in Lappland, Northern Sweden, December 1935.

With the new Nordic Alliance with Finland, the Swedish Government decided to start recruiting for a new Regiment: the Svenska Skidorjägar (Swedish Ski Rangers), a mountain regiment created to fight in the Mountains and the Winter of Scandinavia. It was to be trained from the usual conscripts of Sweden but they were given the opportunity to become professional and Regulars. Alexander Gustafsson was one of them. A tall, 19 years old that just finished his Basic Training. He always like skiing and mountain climbing and thought this was a good idea. At least he had experience, what some of his comrades did not have.
The training was rough. They had a Commanding Officer named Lt.-Colonel Carlsson, a Swedish Monarchist with Swedish-Finnish Ancestry (something that never mattered to Alexander since he had some family members in Finland and was also a Monarchist). Carlsson would train and train them to the brink of collapsing. The first weeks we’re harsh for Alexander, but he knew he could make it. It would be with pure perseverance that the men could make it. All day they would ski through the rough terrain in the outskirts of the Base. Even sometimes, they would cross to border to Finland. In early December, it was their final test. Each squad was to be place in different places where they would have to meet up at a certain place. They would have to cross over 15 kilometers of Hills, heavy snow and forest. Even worse, there was a snowstorm in the early phases. Fortunately, they made it in a couple of hours. They were now professional soldiers of the Royal Army of Sweden.
In August 1936, the Regiment was ready. 5,000 men we’re battle-ready. Then men we’re issued Swedish Mauser Rifles (M1896) and outfitted with old Stahlhelms. They had two uniforms: One “Summer” Uniform, which was a Greenish-Gray Trenchcoat and a “Winter” Uniform, which was the same but White, as a camouflage in Mountain and Snow-heavy terrain. They were trained to use the newly introduced (in the Swedish Army) Suomi M31, the Finnish Sub-Machine Gun with a round drum magazine that could hold up to 70 bullets with one full mag. Alexander never liked it, he preferred his Rifle over the SMG. He was very accurate with his Mauser. But he was apparently “Not good enough for a Sniper”.
The Soldiers were told that they were the finest soldiers in the whole Kingdom. With the Soviet Menace growing bigger and bigger, the men we’re getting eager to Shoot some Commie Bastards. It was obvious to them that they would be sent to fight alongside the great Finnish Allies. Alexander was also very eager. Instead of staying in Sweden as a Conscript, he would be in the Frontlines attacking some unprepared Soviets.
__________
Parliament of Finland, Helsinki, January 1st, 1936.
It was not usual business in the Parliament, border patrols and spies spotted numerous massing of Soviet Troops on the border. According to Spies, there were at least 8 Divisions in the Finnish-Soviet border, with the majority in Leningrad. The MPs discussed on what if there was a war with the Soviet Union. It was obvious that with such a low Industrial Capacity (14 IC), they were highly vulnerable. The Parliament supported the construction of new War Industries in Helsinki (Series of 5) that was to be done in approximately in early 1939. This, hopefully, would help the Finnish Industry to at least recruit a few new Divisions and construct Fortifications later. Finland was not ready for war. But hopefully, the Soviets would not be ready yet. The MPs estimated that the Soviets would lay their claims on Finland and they thought that wouldn’t happen until at leas 1937-38. Hopefully, the fully mobilized Finnish Defense Forces could repel any Soviet offensive and maybe even launch a counter-offensive and capture Leningrad. It would not be an easy task, but the faith of Finland was to be on the shoulders of the combined Swedish-Finnish Armies.
__________

[Enewald]

Maybe more ic? :rolleyes
A lot more?

[Kurt_Steiner]

Or a Enewald-like president?

[robw963]

cool! some Swedish mountain troops to help hold the line. Nice job with the details regarding training Griffin Gen. Playing Finland is HARD...always a trick to figure out whether to build IC or not. Certainly they need more! and the sooner the better. It'll be interesting to see how the next coop participant carries this forward

[trekaddict]

Yes, yes. Mountaineers are always cool.

[Griffin.Gen]

Maybe more ic? :rolleyes
A lot more?

Hehehe, A LOT more! XD
I could barely afford building them until I got a trade offer for our rare materials for some supplies, clearing some IC from Supplies to others.

Or a Enewald-like president?

lol, don't ask me!

cool! some Swedish mountain troops to help hold the line. Nice job with the details regarding training Griffin Gen. Playing Finland is HARD...always a trick to figure out whether to build IC or not. Certainly they need more! and the sooner the better. It'll be interesting to see how the next coop participant carries this forward

14 IC is barely enough to build a Division. So thats why I figured to build more IC.

Yes, yes. Mountaineers are always cool.

Indeed they are!

[Prinz Wilhelm]

Just a note, it is "Skidojägare" or "Skidjägare" Skidor is the name of the Ski, but it is not used in it's full form.

[Stene]

Didn't they have to withdraw the Finnish troops from this area, when the Finns got Petsamo in 1920? So actually that area should be a part of Finland too, since there was no treaty.

History Lesson

The province that is green, was never legally part of Finland. The provinces of Repola and Porajärvi are there. They were back then, almost fully Finnish by population, and decided to join Finland by their own will, sending Moscow a simple letter that they have decided to join Finland. There were some battles in those provinces, private expeditions instead of real war though, unlike Polish-Soviet war.

North Ingria, which was an independent nation for a matter of weeks, also decided to join Finland, it was near Leningrad in shore of Lake Ladoga.

The Soviets saw these provinces important and did not give them to Finland. But in the Treaty of Tartu, they gave Petsamo to Finland, so that Finland now had access to the Arctic Ocean and Norway no longer had to border Russia.

In the Winter War, they took back the Northern Petsamo (Kalastajansaarento), and in 1947, Petsamo and a small part of Lapland.

Before Winter War, Stalin offered Porajärvi and Repola for Finland, in case Finland would seed a slight part of Karelia to USSR and allow them to set up military bases on Finnish land. Because Finland didn't agree to that offer as the Russians wanted way too much, Stalin declared war. Finland had to lose 90% of the whole Karelian isthmus along with Salla-Kuusamo which isn't included in HoI 2, but atleast Finland didn't have to suffer the same fate as the Baltic States...

[Storm501]

I haven't studied this matter very accurately, but the condition for getting Petsamo was to withdraw the Finnish troops / expeditions from that area. Without that treaty the area would have been occupied and maybe during 10-15 years (1920s to 1936) incorporated into Finland. But the Soviets might have protested and the Finnish would have retreated from that area, but there are a lot of ifs in alternative history...

Anyway a nice start for this AAR, can't wait to see who posts the next part.

[Arilou]

I remember doing a Finnish/Swedish coop against USSR with Phax. We actually got to Moscow before the germans did, although we couldn't push much farther.

[Stene]

I remember doing a Finnish/Swedish coop against USSR with Phax. We actually got to Moscow before the germans did, although we couldn't push much farther.

What atleast sucked with when I played the game like that, was how it was Germany that went for bitter peace with the USSR, then all of the areas that Germany had taken became their territory, but those that I had, yet again became parts of the USSR and I for some reason got a peace treaty with them, for no reason.

[Le Jones]

Finally got mod to work - let's go!

[Kurt_Steiner]

Troubles in Finland: The Swedish Expeditionary Air Force
Chapter 2: To fly or not to fly


Ze Shakaer-1

Ze Plane... Zome people zought it would never fly. Zhey were zrong...
Zome other people zought it was a weird idea. Zhey were too wrong...

It coulz have been worze...

Things were never easy for Johan von Shaka. Since he was a child he had always to endure the fact that he was black. To make it worse, he had only a wish: to fly. So, with the help of his grandfather, Orwill von Shaka, he began to build a plane of his own. Good old Johan von Shaka had a lot of enthusiasm, but he had no idea of airplane building. Anyway, he managed to end a flyable (if odd shapped) plane. Thus, he began to write letters to the Swedish War Ministry to persuade them to take his plane for the bomber groups of the Swedish Air Force. Of course, nobody trusted his mad design. However, when the new Nordic Alliance with Finland was a fact, the Swedish Government decided to get rid of Johan von Shaka. If they had sent the Svenska Skidorjägar regiment to Finland, they could also send von Shaka and his flying aberration.

-Zome day it zill fly -von Shaka swore to himself...

In Helsinki the Air Force officers were stunned by the plane that von Shaka offered them. With good words they suggested him that, not due to the fact that the plane looked as a hellish thing, not at all, but, as it was nothing but a yet-to-test-plane, it may be "tested" first. And for them, to test the plane meant to send it (with its creator) as far as they could.

Johan was lucky. Towards the end of October, 1936, he got a letter from which had been already baptised as the Shakaer-1 (from Shakaenska Aeroplan One). Thus, Johan travelled to China with his plane, where he was offered to join the Chinese Army with the rank of leutenant. Those were happy times for Johan, as he was able to fully test his plane. Then, the day of the first combat mission came.

The plane was waiting at the runway, with the crew ready. Johan was checking the controls of the plane when a hand tappend on his shoulder. Then, before he could mutter a word, a white paper told him everything he needed to know:

"Mission Cancelled. The War is Over."

-Zhit -it was all that von Shaka was able to say.



A few weeks later he was reading the newspapers. Something odd has taken place in the USA. The voters, unable to decide who wanted to be their president, had selected both candidates, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alf Landon to rule (1). However, it seemed that FDR had managed to persuade Landon to withdraw from the game. A Zommy gun iz alwayz helpful, von Shaka thought

Then he had a new chance to fly. A civil war had erupted in Spain and the Republican government, which was in dire need of help, asked von Shaka to bring his bomber to them in order to defeat the "Fascist scum". Von Shaka did not give a damn about politics, but a chance to fly was a chance to fly, so he accepted. When the plane and his creator arrived to Spain, the Republic was in a quite disgusting situation. Johan was not surprised when he ended being sent to Seville to test his bomber there, to pound the enemy divisions which were marching against the city. Fully confident in the capacities of his plane, he took for his first and historical mission of the Shakaer-1 at dawn of October 1st, 1936.

He had hardly took off when the airstripe came under attack, with enemy bombers releasing their bomb load and plenty of fighters straffing anything that moved. It was a miracle that he was able to steer the plane into a cloudbank, scaping that way of the danger of being attacked. Alàs!, during the attack the navigator had been killed by a fragment of shrapnel fired by the Republican AA guns, and, when von Shaka got out of the clouds he had not the slightest idea of were the hell he was. Then he saw them.

There, in the ground, a vast concentration of soldiers, guns and tanks. He had been told that the enemy was ready to attack Seville and it was needed that he managed to cause enough damage to the attacking troops to give time the reserves to hold the line. Thus, he was in the right place. Without a second thought he and and his co-pilot pulled the bomber into a dive as steep as he dared, with the engines to full power. Then, when they were almost to crash against the ground, von Shaka managed to pull the plane from the dive and, with an incredible amount of luck, to place all his charge of bombs just in the middle of the enemy formation, who vanished in a hell of explosions as the whole place went ablaze.

Also, without time to pause, he tried to broke contact with the enemy and the bomber buzzed towards the nearest friendly airfield as fast as possible. It goes without saying that von Shaka was awfully happy when the airstrip came in sight.

When his plane stopped dead on the green and von Shaka and his pals saw themselves surrounded by Nationalist forces, they all knew that something had went awfully wrong. Then, as they went out of the plane with their hands raised, a colonel came happily grinning to them:

-You! You're the heroes that have won the day!

It seemed that the Republican reserves had routed the enemy forces. Then, von Shaka had just dropped their payload and gave the Nationalist army the chance to conquer Seville. That way, von Shaka was still dressed in his Republican suit of aviator when he was given the Cruz Laureada by Franco himself.

His words when when he received the award were recorded by all the newspapers all around the world.

-What the zuck...

__________

Parliament of Finland, Helsinki, January 1st, 1937.
As the members of the Parliament had got used to, border patrols and spies kept spotting numerous massing of Soviet Troops on the border, around 28 divisions, all in all. According to this information, the few available divisions were kept in full allert near the border, hoping that nothing came out of it. Meanwhile the country kept its development when the mechanization reached the farms, increasing the production of food goods. Also, with a bit of luck, Finland got the license to produce the Blenheim Mk IV light bomber for his still unborn air force, which was achieved that at the end of December, 1939.
__________

[robw963]

that plane is pure genius! where on earth did you find such a contraption! did Peti put you up to this? Poor Shaka...the lone black man in the frigid dark north....great update Kurt_Steiner!

[trekaddict]

Hahahah. You didn't disappoint, mate!