Finland's Diary

by sniisawesome

Late 1939- early/mid 1940. Russia and Finland go to war, because Russia wants Finn to become one. Written for a SOSE assignment.

The Winter War - Finland's Diary

10/OCT/39

Dear Diary;
I have decided to keep a diary. I haven't had a diary since I divorced Sve (just so I remember if I forget his pet name, that's Mr. Sweden). Not that I didn't like him, mind. He just didn't know about personal space. Although I have more freedom now, I like to think we're still friends.
I live in Helsinki. It's a very pretty place, and my neighbours are very nice. Quite a lot of them speak both Finnish and Swedish, too. I live with my pet dog, Hanatamago. Hanatamago lives with Sve every other year. That was part of the divorce arrangements.
Anyway, not much going on. I'm neutral, by the way. Or, you know, trying to be.
Hanatamago is refusing to eat dry dog food again.
-Finland (Tino Väinämöinen)

11/OCT/39

Dear Diary;
Today my boss met up with Mr. Russia's boss. It would seem they want a trade.
That is, Karelian Isthmus, islands in the Gulf of Finland, and the Rybachy Peninsula, and thirty years' use of my naval base at Hanko.
In exchange, Mr. Russia would give me Reopla and Porajärvi. That's twice the land he's asking from me; however it is like trading a pound of gold for ten of dirt. He wants me to destroy the fortifications at Karelian Isthmus too, and those are the strongest in all of Finland.
Hanatamago is still off her food.

12/OCT/39

Dear Diary;
My boss has declined the offer. I hope Mr. Russia doesn't get mad. That would be scary.
Mixed gravy with Hanatamago's food. She wolfed it down.
Excuse the pun.

23/OCT/39

Dear Diary;
My boss decided that giving up Terijoki would be better. It's not a lot of land compared to what Russia wanted, but it's surely better than nothing.
It turns out that Hanatamago wasn't hungry before because she was slowly going through my entire fermented herring collection! I was saving those!

13/NOV/39

Dear Diary;
My boss went home. I think we've given up. It's a good think we secretly started mobilisation a month ago. I think Mr. Russia might be angry. I just hope that he isn't. I mean, the non-aggression pact between us should prevent him from hitting me, right?
…Right?

17/NOV/39

Dear Diary;
It has just occurred to me that my coat of arms is a lion stabbing itself in the forehead.

26/NOV/39

Dear Diary;
Someone shot at the Russian town of Mainila. It's right near my border! Even my own soldiers heard it, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't them. I hope no one was hurt.

28/NOV/39

Dear Diary;
Russia is no longer in a non-aggression pact with me. Um… I'm still sure the shelling of Mainila wasn't my people. I guess I'll get someone to look in to it later.

30/NOV/39

Dear Diary;
Mr. Russia bombed Helsinki today, and crossed my border. I'm glad I didn't get killed. It's okay though, I'll be fine. Okay, I'll be honest. I'm terrified.
I'm totally not expecting anything from my former husband though. Nope. Nothing.
And I am not in denial.

1/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
Mr. Russia has made himself a puppet government in the places that he's occupying, called the Finnish Democratic Republic. I think he wants to win over my working class. I hope he doesn't convince my people to follow him.
I do somewhat feel sorry for him though. It's as if he's genuinely trying to make friends. I mean, the pact between him and Mr. Germany - on Germany's part, I think it was just making sure Mr. Russia wouldn't get in the way. Mr. Russia seems like he wants to happily rule over Europe with Mr. Germany. At least, that's my point of view on it.
The way that they invaded Ms. (?) Poland, too. Taking one half each, and greeting each other as something like comrades at the centre. Perhaps that was part of their pact too - which countries went to who. Perhaps I was promised to Mr. Russia, along with the Baltic States. That makes too much sense. I won't think about it for now.
Hanatamago found a nest of mice.

3/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
It would appear that, yes, I really am absolutely desperate. We appealed to the League of Nations for help. As of yet, no response.
Still cleaning up the mouse mess that Hanatamago made. Some got in my bed. It was pretty gross.

5/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
Helsinki's bombing a few days ago killed 97 people and injured many others. 55 buildings were destroyed. It really could have been worse, or so I keep telling myself. After all, it's not like I had any huge highways or industrial centres to bomb.
I'm just going to keep smiling through it. Winter is as cold as usual. The snow is as white as usual. Ever since the bombing, Helsinki is not as lively as it would usually be this near to Christmas, but I'll cope like I always do. I am good at being tough when everything is against me.
Ate some fermented herrings. Gave one to Hanatamago. She begged for more. Hanatamago, it would appear, has a fermented herring addiction. I can relate.

6/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
The smell of ash is bothering Hanatamago. I plan to stay in this city, even if it gets bombed again.

7/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
Looks like I am going to fight for real, since Mr. Russia has reached the Karelian Isthmus. This means they'll have to get past the Mannerheim Line, my greatest defence, to go further. I left Hanatamago in the care of Sve. Sve seems to be genuinely worried about my wellbeing, but I really can't tell what his thoughts are. His face is scary.
"Although, Finn, m' boss d'sn't want m' t' fight on y' be'alf," was his explanation for the lack of help he was giving me. By his facial expression (≖_≖), I could tell that he probably didn't feel like helping me anyway. Probably.
I thought for a while before telling him that, for now, I didn't mind.
He seemed a bit hurt by this response, but then he's really pretty easily hurt. When I first told him I wanted a bit of space, he drew a circle in the corner of our living room with chalk. He then sat in this circle and told me that everywhere else was my space. It took a week to convince him to come back out of his circle. If you go to our old house, it's still there. He'd often go there to sulk. Fun times.
Back to reality.

10/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
In Tolvajärvi.
Incidentally, there are many forces in Suomussalmi, to fight those that were sent to capture Oulu (which would have meant that half of me belonged to Mr. Russia).

11/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
I hope Sve is doing okay with Hanatamago. With any luck, they're getting along and playing fetch and eating fermented herrings. I feel a little bit apprehensive about this fight, to be honest. I am in Group Talvela, which is a group of four batallions. I am going to Tolvajärvi to fight.
I hope not too many people die, in Tolvajärvi or Suomussalmi.

12/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
I don't think I have ever felt so relieved in my life. Being a country, I myself can't die so easily, but I was shot in the right shoulder. Our army was outnumbered by over 4:1 - Mr. Russia had about 20,000 on his side, I only had about 4,000. We captured a hotel and found a dead commander with his papers.
Fighting the Soviet army is like swatting a swarm of ants - despite the numbers, they seem to go down far too easily. It may be because my army is more mobile. According to my commander, Paavo Talvela, their losses were about 10,000 wounded and half of those probably died, as well as the loss of a lot of equipment - from what we captured, they really were underequipped to begin with. Our losses were about 100 dead and 250 wounded.
As it is, I spent most of the without the use of my left arm. The cold was a good thing. My blood froze on the outside of my jacket. The pain wasn't as bad as what it could have been.
Mr. France was once beheaded, and required his head be sewn back on before he could heal. At that time, I was still living with Sve.
Speaking of Sve, I wrote him a letter:
" Dearest Sve;
Moi moi! I think you will be glad to know that I am actually holding my own. Make sure to feed Hanatamago, but keep her away from fermented herrings. Maybe when this is over, come back to my place for a party? We could invite Norge, Ice, Den, Eesti and everyone that wants to come. Think of it as a 'Cheer up Finland' party. Maybe at the spa. I love the spa.
Forever yours, Fin
P.S. Please do not take the use of 'dearest' or 'forever yours' to mean I want to marry you again. "
My wrist hurts from writing now… Being shot in your dominant arm is not a fun thing, even though it was just a flesh wound and will heal pretty quickly.

16/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
Of all the people I thought would help me, Ms. Hungary? I am grateful to her in the least. She is recruiting volunteers to help me, but her boss seems to be against it.
How many volunteer applications that will actually pass is up to her boss. Either way, the materiel they are sending over is much appreciated.

19/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
Eesti seems to be happy to help me too, as long as Mr. Russia doesn't know. He was fairly quick to allow Mr. Russia to put a base in his land, as were Latvia and Lithuania. Even after declaring neutrality like Sve, Norge and I did. Actually, those three are really very weak when it comes to Mr. Russia's demands. They probably just don't want him to invade them like he did me. It makes sense.
Either way, getting help is nice. Maybe Norge will help me too, but I doubt it. He's pretty obsessive about his neutrality.

24/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
It is cold. Freezing cold. I hope Hanatamago and Sve are having a happy Christmas Eve together. If I go back to Helsinki I will write to him again and he will be able to reply.

25/DEC/39

Dear Diary;
It would seem that there were many other battles and counterattacks this month, although I was not part of them. It's Christmas, anyway. We ate thick fish stew. I was glad that I could eat properly. Most Christmas times, I take off in my sleigh and play Santa to the rest of the world.
I don't even have the strength to do that this year. Being a country, you see, battles fought on my land hurt my body. The greater the losses for me, the more it hurts my body.

26/DEC/29

Dear Diary;
I miss Hanatamago.

1/JAN/40

Dear Diary;
Happy New Year's Day! I'm back in Helsinki, by the way. What do you mean, by 'I get special privileges'? Yes, probably.
I get the feeling that Mr. Russia should give up on wanting all of my body at some point. Maybe he'd be happy with a toe or something. I mean, he's probably in more pain than me. He really has taken a bit of a beating, after all. Maybe, then, we'll be able to arrange a peace treaty.
That would be nice.

8/JAN/40

Dear Diary;
The battle of Suomussalmi is officially over!
I'm fairly chuffed about this one: about 11,000 on our side against about 50,000 on theirs.
It ended with the battle of Raate Road.
From December 11, our forces have been cutting off supplies to Mr. Russia's 163rd rifle division on this road. We also cut off their southern and northern routs. So, they had to get their supplies over Lake Kiantajärvi. Being badly wounded, they requested retreat from their boss. This request was denied. So, they marched up Raate Road and there our forces came to battle, on some day between the 1st and 7th of this month.
I think we mostly won overall because of the flexibility of our forcesin comparison to theirs. Using skis instead of tanks can be a good thing, indeed.

Written years later: So, I found out the statistics for the battle of Raate Road. Their weakened army of about 14,000 was matched up with ours of about 10,000. It was a fairly evenly matched battle, though, because we had more materiel. We even had a cavalry. I know, ever since what happened to Ms. (?) Poland you'd think that was a bad idea. We won, anyway.
Our casualties were 402 killed, theirs was at least 7,000-9,000 killed and 1,300 captured as well as 5,000 rifles captured. As well as this, most of the people we captured but released were executed by the Russian secret , that's according to my historians, don't know what Mr. Russia's are saying.

9/JAN/40

Dear Diary;
I am happy that we won that, sure, but Mr. Russia and I are still fighting. I get the feeling that he's probably got something planned. It'll be okay though - I have enough willpower to stand up to him, no matter how mean he is to me.
Or how scary he is.
Or how much bigger than me he is.
Well, for now I'm okay.
In the long term… Ah… Yep. I'm going to die.

10/JAN/40

Dear Diary;
Hungary came over to visit me! She brought with her about 350 volunteers for training. Oh, and she's cross dressing again. It's not unusual for her, though. She promised that she'd fight alongside me. Speaking of getting help, Italy has sent me lots of rifles and stuff, but Mr. Germany wouldn't let them reach me. Eesti is giving me information of Mr. Russia's military movements, even though our formal alliance was over before this war even began. No word from Sve, but I don't mind. Really.

13/JAN/40

Dear Diary;
A letter from Sve!
" 9-1-40
Finn;
I hope you are well. Hanatamago seems happy. I just found out where to send this letter from my boss. Back when you were my wife, even my boss would do anything to help you. Right now, I miss you a lot. Doesn't matter - I don't think my boss will let me fight for you, even if you asked. We'll see what happens, but for now please wait for me.
- Sverige
P.S. Hanatamago made a mess on the carpet. Does she do that for you too? "

I'll be honest. I was kind of expecting a lot more help from him than I ended up receiving. It's probably to do with politics. Bleh.

15/JAN/40

Dear Diary;
We had fermented herring as a snack. Just thought that was worth mentioning. Love that stuff.

19/JAN/40

Dear Diary;
The snow is falling again. I took a walk around my capital city. A lot of sporting venues were built here for when we were going to host the 1940 Olympics. Makes me feel a little bit sad that they won't be used. At least not this year.

27/JAN/40

Dear Diary;
Russia just called me.
"Moi Moi," as a greeting to him as I picked up the phone.
His breathing was somewhat heavy. "You really are cute, little Finland-Podsolnechnik. I would like to be informing you that I am going now to attack you with more of the forces."
"What?"
"Oh, is Russia! You will become one with me, da? We can be happy family."
He laughed. I honestly couldn't tell if he was being serious.
"Anyway, Podsolnechnik, thought you would like that knowledge. You are as mine as Lithuania."
Lithuania? Not sure how he's related. Mr. Russia hung up after that. It was really very weird. I think I will be going to bed now.

1/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
It would seem that Mr. Russia has started an all out attack on the Karelian Isthmus. I may have to go and face him in person soon.

6/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
An unexpected phone call from France.
"Moi moi?"
"'Ello, ma cherie. I 'ould like t' 'elp you with your war."
I asked him why he would like to help. He kindly explained, "I 'ould like t' 'elp because it is better for moi zhat way. I 'uge war off in Scandinavia is less likely to affect me zhan a 'uge war in France."
"Ah. Right."
"What is your problem, ma cherie? Any 'elp is better zhan none, even if we don't actually care about your health."
I could only concede and admit that he was correct.

Another call, this one from Britain.
"Moi moi."
"Why hello there, good chap! How goes your day?" his slightly stringy sounding voice filled the phone. He honestly sounds like he has something stuck in his throat.
"Could be better."
"Oh, well, dear boy, I would like to inform you that 100,000 of my troops and 35,000 of old Frog's are coming to help you!"
"Yes, but not because you like me."
"Oh? Did Frog call you first? Doesn't matter, chap, stiff upper lip."
"…Yes, but…"
"Now, now, I know English isn't your first language, but I honestly don't care. So what if it's actually an attempt to get Norway and Sweden to join the Allies? That doesn't matter. You know, just because we're trying to stop Sweden selling materiel to Germany as well… Nope, none of that poppycock matters! You need all the help you can get."
He hung up immediately. I think I preferred France's reason.

7/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
An apologetic call from Britain.
"Moi moi!"
"Sorry, chap, did I say 100,000 were going to help you? No, no, 100,000 are going to Scandinavia. Only 20,000 are going to actually help you. Same for Froggy. Sorry if I caused any confusion, but you know how it is, chap."
Again, immediate hang up. Huh.

11/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
So it would seem that Mr. Russia has breached the Mannerheim Line.
I am so dead.
Well, it'll be okay, since Britain and France are sending help. Even if it is for all the wrong reasons.

12/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
My boss has finally decided to start peace negotiations. Russia's boss (who, I think, might be off his rocker) wants my industrial centre, including the city of Viipuri. I am really thinking that just accepting his offer back in '39 would have been better. Oh well. I'm no time doctor.

13/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
Suddenly, Britain and France seem happier to lend more help.
It's as if they just want credit for ending the war. Actually, that's not unheard of really. I mean, America did it last time everyone started punching each other up for no real reason (the Great War).

15/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
We sent a formal plea of help to Sve. He himself seems to want to help me, but his government doesn't seem to want to let him. There's still hope though.

19/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
I think I officially hate Sve forever. His boss gave a speech today, Statsrådsdiktamen or whatever. He basically told us that no, they will never agree to help us. They also want us to give in to Russia's new peace demand.
Why, Sve? I thought we were friends. I guess I was wrong.

20/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
I want Hanatamago back from Sve. I just can't trust her with a pretend-friend meanie. Hmph.

28/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
I take back what I said about Sve. He's actually really nice. Sorry, Sve.
Ah… he joined the Swedish Volunteer Corps. I didn't know about that. He called to tell me. I asked him to put Hanatamago on the phone. He told me he left her with Norge.
Great, now my dog is officially a dog-prostitute. She'll love anyone that feeds her. That's not even above a cat.

29/FEB/40

Dear Diary;
Viipuri would appear to be under attack. My second largest city… It's not like Helsinki. Viipuri is my industrial capital, so it would be very bad for bad things to happen to it.

12/MAR/40

Dear Diary;
I have been neglecting you, haven't I? Sorry. I've been busy. It would appear that I've officially lost.
Viipuri was raided massively, bombed so much it was almost level with the ground. What, Mr. Russia, are you that much of a brute that you can only use pure force?
Saying that, unfortunately, has less effect when it won him the war.
Next, it seems that Norge wouldn't even let France or Britain anywhere near his land, and neither would Sweden. Apparently to do so would be illegal (seeing as they are neutral countries).
In short, I was beaten up really bad, and now my boss had gone over to tell Mr. Russia's boss that he's okay with signing a peace treaty. So now the Karelian Isthmus and my shore of Lake Ladoga are his. As well as this, the Hanko Peninsula is being lent to him for 30 years. I feel a bit sad. I guess it's better than 'becoming one' with him. I shiver at the thought.

13/MAR/40

Dear Diary;
Now, we are officially at peace with Russia. Maybe I will fight to take back the places that were taken, some day.
I'd better just huddle up and sulk for now.
My body hurts.