WI: Winter War Differences

The next step is improving Finnland's anti-tank armament. If the Llahti 20mm anti-tank rifle was introduced a few months earlier, it could drastically changed the outcome of the Winter War. OTL only a pair of 20mm Llahtis were ready for battle.

very interesting weapon thanks for sharing that! a few hundred of those sniping tanks and aircraft would have been quite a shock for Soviets!
 
Finnland already led the world in sub-machine gun and light machine gun design.
The next step is improving Finnland's anti-tank armament. If the Llahti 20mm anti-tank rifle was introduced a few months earlier, it could drastically changed the outcome of the Winter War. OTL only a pair of 20mm Llahtis were ready for battle.
After the Winter War, Finnland would need to develop larger calibre AT and eventually AT rockets .... excellent opportunities for a small nation to profit from arms exports.

OTL The Winter War proved so disasterous - for - Russia that Finnish soldiers carried captured Russian rifles for decades after the war.

Perhaps a Finland wank would include victorious Finns selling arms technology to WALLIES or the highest bidder.

very interesting weapon thanks for sharing that! a few hundred of those sniping tanks and aircraft would have been quite a shock for Soviets!

I see! So the Llahti 20mm Anti-Tank Rifle, if it was widely available during the Winter War, could definitely be a game changer.

I'm trying to write a TL about a Winter War that goes in the favor of the Finns. So far, I have the following PoDs down to make this feasible:

1) Finland gears itself for war earlier on (beginning of the 1930's) and begins to import and produce more weapons. The military is given more funds and the conscription is set in place for potential war. This allows Finland to be better prepared and well equipped when the Soviets roll in to Finland.

2) Closer ties with Sweden and Estonia. This will eventually have the Swedes agree to send more volunteers and supplies to Finland during the course of the Winter War. As for Estonia, the Estonian government will send several thousand men and military equipment to Finland before the Soviets occupy the Baltic States.

3) A silent agreement with Germany, which will have the Germans send military equipment and "volunteers" to help challenge the USSR early on and evaluate the strength of the Soviet Union.

4) Soviet Union invades in spring or summer of 1941 after Stalin realizes that Finland is well equipped and allows his generals to prepare the logistics and supplies for the invasion.

5) The anti tank rifle is designed and the blue prints are sent to Britain or Germany, which helps the Finns to produce the guns in time for the Winter War.

Am I missing anything crucial?
 
I see! So the Llahti 20mm Anti-Tank Rifle, if it was widely available during the Winter War, could definitely be a game changer.

I'm trying to write a TL about a Winter War that goes in the favor of the Finns. So far, I have the following PoDs down to make this feasible:

1) Finland gears itself for war earlier on (beginning of the 1930's) and begins to import and produce more weapons. The military is given more funds and the conscription is set in place for potential war. This allows Finland to be better prepared and well equipped when the Soviets roll in to Finland.

Finland had fairly widescale conscription with some 2/3rd of annual male age class taken in already during 1930's with 350 days for privates and 440 days for officers and NCO's. This was supported by widescale refresher exercises and volunteer Suojeluskunta organization. I don't think there's realistically much room to improve here. Of course training might be improved, less conscript time used for work purposes instead of training etc, but looking at the European situation Finnish training was top notch.

As for defense expenditure, it was fairly high in European standards throughout 1920's and 1930's. However, one place to improve would be the period of Kamikaze spending in 1938-1939. Finland had low taxation and basically no foreign debt. If low taxation and low foreign debt wasn't seen as an economic priority not to be violated Finland could have had vastly better situation in number of items. Above all, US debt market was open for Finnish offers and Finland could have bought massive amount of equipment of US factories hungry for orders in addition to domestic economic mobilization.

Am I missing anything crucial?

Finland did not do economic wargaming during 1930's. As a result, Finnish foreign trade was virtually cut off from the world when Germany closed the Baltic sea. Even some modest preparations, such as leasing harbour space in Narvik, preparing the Petsamo for foreign trade and perhaps Lyngefjord as well, would have been a vast improvement.

Even more importantly, domestic production of food should have been improved. Finland could have been made self sufficient in food production, especially with domestic fertilizer production being a possibility.

But this all comes down to one important economic point: Finland had vast possibilities for economic improvement and industrialization in 1920's and 1930's and state taking a role in economic projects was in itself not seen as heresy. However, taxation was kept low and taking foreign debt was an aberration. Thus there was lack of capital for economic improvement.
 
This is all well and good in dragging the war out for a bit longer and raising the blood cost for the Soviets, but I don't at all see how it will actually win the war for the Finns. Particularly when the Soviets stop trying to mess around with their disastrous maneuver schemes, bring up formations that are actually combat ready, and then brute force their way through the peninsula towards Helsinki.
 
This is all well and good in dragging the war out for a bit longer and raising the blood cost for the Soviets, but I don't at all see how it will actually win the war for the Finns. Particularly when the Soviets stop trying to mess around with their disastrous maneuver schemes, bring up formations that are actually combat ready, and then brute force their way through the peninsula towards Helsinki.

Better Finnish preparations will possibly raise the bar of aggression for Stalin (or perhaps not), at very least it will cut down Finnish casualties and make the war drag on longer making better peace conditions possible. Or do you want a scenario with Finnish flag on top of Kremlin?
 
I don't know, I'm not the OP.
This is the topic of an extremely well-researched TL, What if Finland had been prepared for the Winter War by CanKiwi :)

Basically, I mainly want to Finns to do better than they did in OTL and even gain some small concessions in the north and central regions.

The Finns will be in Moscow... With the Germans (though it'll only be a few thousand Finns at most). And Finland will mainly join in on Germany's invasion to secure its own territories for good (Leningrad is a great place to start).
 
So it is possible if they had the necessary equipment? If they had enough artillery, anti-tank, fighters, rifles, and the such, would it be definitely possible to delay the Soviets?

Yes, in 1939 Finnish Army artillery training and doctrine were second to none. Their organization and fire control methods were decades ahead of any other army in the world. but equipment was outdated and shell stockpiles were abysmal.

How do I know that its definitely possible? Because that is exactly what Finnish Army did in Tali-Ihantala battle in 29. June - 4. July 1944. They essentially stopped Russian Army offensive using concentrated artillery.
 
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