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What if the Soviets had decided to hold off on war with Finland until Spring 1940? Maybe there is a bout of atrocious weather right before the planned attack. Maybe Stalin decides to wait a bit, hoping that he can launch the attack to coincide with some German action that distracts the western Allies. In any case, the attack happens in late March of 1940, with the same forces or slightly more than they used historically.

The Finns have had more time to get ready for the attack, but they don't have the advantages that winter gave them in terms of mobility for their ski troops. The Soviets are probably not much different in terms of quality than they were historically because they didn't know how bad they were.

So what do you think happens, and what impact does it have on the rest of the war? Do the Soviets simply overwhelm the Finns though with heavy casualties? If so, do they settle for only part of Finland or do they try to make it an SSR? How do the western Allies react? How does Sweden react? How do the Germans react?

Historically, the Winter War gave Britain and France a dry run for an occupation of Norway, with aid to the Finns as an excuse. In this scenario, would they still prepare for a Norway occupation in the winter of 1939/40 or would they wait until after the Soviet attack? How would that affect the timing of the Norway campaign, assuming that it still happened? Would the Germans still occupy Norway?

What would happen to Soviet army reforms? They would presumably be delayed the five months that the Finland invasion was delayed, but in this scenario would the Finns cause enough damage to make it obvious that things had to change in the Soviet army?
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