From the pages Time Mag Capsule (Jan. 1, 1940)

Happy Birthday to Joe

For his birthday last week Joseph Stalin wanted Finland.By this week it had become pretty clear that he would be some time gettinng what he wanted. But his Armies made desperate efforts to get him at least something. While strengthened land forces hurled themselves at the Finns on three fronts, Soviet airplanes opened a fresh campaign of terror, raining bombs on Finland's southern cities--Helsinki, Turku, Hanko and Porvoo. Finns said 350 planestook part in a single day's bombing.
The Finnish defenses were surprisingly effective. Anti-aircraft batteries (equipped with fine Swedish Bofors guns) potted Russian bombers high in the clear cold air, and Finnish fighting planes brought other bombers down. Furthermore, the Finns billeted Russian prisoners near schools and hospitals and announced to Joe Stalin's boys that if they bombed these objectives they would get their own men first. Net result of the week's air fighting was to show that the Finns didn't easily scare.
The Russian thrusts across Finland's 485-mile waist also came to real grief. Instead of opposing them near the frontier, the Finns let them move in. One column got as far as Pelkosenniemi, in the center of Finland, before the Finns met it. Then while one detachment of Finns cut off the rear, another attacked the advance column and sent it fleeing eastward. Although the Finns were too weak in manpower to annihilate this Russian force, they harried it with guerilla tactics and leisurely cut it to bits.
The Finns told tales of Russians freezing to death, stuck in the snow. They did not chase the fleeing Russians far because the weather was doing the fighting for them. After three weeks of war, Russia's planned Blitzkrieg had definitely failed to blitz. All in all, Joe Stalin did not have a happy birthday.

Jan. 8, 1940 Time Mag Capsule

"Sisu"
The Finns have something they call sisu. It is a compound of bravado and bravery, of ferocity and tenacity, of the ability to keep fighting after most people have quit. Finns translate sisu as the "Finnish spirit" but it is much more gutful word than that. A good example of sisu was contained in a letter from a soldier to his sister, which correspondent Leland Stowe cabled to the Chicago Daily News.

Excerpts: "Yesterday, in hand-to-hand fight, I was seperated from my men and surrounded by Bolsheviks. Three of them, armed with automatic pistols, started hunting me. I killed two of them and the third ran away. Thank heaven for that! By that time my own pistol was so hot it broke into pieces. I need a big Mauser revolver caliber 9. If you are unable to get this size, and if you can find a big Colt pistol send this with at least 100 cartridges. It is now that your brother's life is depending on his knife."

A Trickle of Help (Jan. 22, 1940 Time Mag Capsule)

Finland was worried last week lest reports of her recent annihilation of two Russian divisions at Suomussalmi lead other nations to think she needed no help. But help on a small scale became more concrete each day. The French Government announced that not only was it shippinng material to the Finns, but that Italy and Spain were also sending arms, airplanes and volunteers via France.Argentina authorized the shipment of 50,000 tons of wheat. both Brazil and Colombia announced donations of coffee. The Canadian Red Cross set aside $50,000 for relief work.
Outnumbered six to one, Finland above all needed fighters, and a few of these too arived. A company of Danish volunteers joined the Swedes already under arms. From Paris went five American aviators who had ffought for the Loyalists the Spanish Civil War and one who flew for Franco.

Red Assault (Feb. 19, 1940)

Last fortnight, Russia began pounding on all fronts with every indication that this mightiest offensive of the war had been carefully planned, was well supplied and employed seasoned Read Army troops. Far behind the lines in Central Finland, Russian planes dropped men by parachute. These men were Finnish Communists who had fled to Russia after the Communist Party was outllawed in 1930. Last week they were back to plague the country, spying out the Army's movements, cutting communications, trying to spread dissatisfaction among the Finns, who sometimes mistook them for loyal brethren. Police rounded up many of these spies, warned the populace to beware of them but how many were still at large at week's end, no one knew.
With the spies came the bombs, sprayed by wave after wave of Soviet planes. Systematically the Russians went after every center of communications. They also got a ski factory and the Finns were short of skis. And with the bombings came Stubborn Russian onslaughts that were wasteful of men and materials alike. From the far north to the Karelian Isthmus, the Russians attacked simultaneously. The Finns were in their tightest spot since the war began.

Desperate Week. (Time Mag Capsule March 4, 1940)
A snowstorm swept over Finland ass the week began. It grounded Russian aviation, slowed mechanized attack, made the Russian infantry advance half blind. But still the Red Army came on. Over the clean new snow, waves of Russians croucching behind their tanks swarmed over the Finns' weakened positions. Above the fog 200 Russian pursuit planes circled to keep off Finnish aircraft.

Desperately the Finns tried to replace their men who had fallen. Convicts serving light sentences, men up to 46 and those once rejected for physical incapacity were rushed into uniform. Any man of any nationaility who would volunteer, regarldess of military experience, was eagerly recruited. As was shown in Spain, however, these are no match for trained troops.

A Bitter Defeat. (March 11, 1940)
Around three sides of Karelia's crumbling capital Russian field artillery stood hub to hub and under the torrent of shells they threw, the Red Army lasst week battered its way into Viipuri. A ruined town makes the best of all fortifications and as the Russians entered the outskirts, Finnish machine guns spat from the gaping windows of the all-but-demolished houses. The Russians were now only 150 miles from Helsinki.

One War Ends (March 25, 1940)
The 105th day of vasst Russia's hammerein attack on little snowbound Finland opened as usual on all fronts last week. Soon after dawn, Red bomber appeared over interior cities, methodically droppinng demolition where it would most damage communcations and transport and civilian morale Tired Finnish defenders still stood firm under fresh concentrations of heavy Red artillery but all around the world most people knew that Finland's ordeal was over. The British-accented German radio propagandist, "Lord Haw-Haw," reported that he had word from Moscow that terms were finally struck between Finnish and Russian negotiators. Their final session in the Kremlin was joined by Dictator Joseph Stalin, who served a round of beer.
Official notice that the smoking guns were still and Finland was at peace again wass radioed by Foreign Minister Vaino Tanner at noon. Flags were half-staffed, the people stood speechless and downcast to her him. "our ary did well and fought with all its might," he said. "But we are a small nation. The same men have had to remain under fire the whole time. And even the pluckiest troops gradually become tired. We could not win this war alone."

What Finland Paid
Last Autumn Russia demanded a lease on the Hanko Peninsula for a naval basse and on Lappohja Bay for an anchorage; plus certain islands in the Gulf of Finland, plus enough Finnish territory to put Leningrad out of range of artillery on the Karelian Isthmus; p;us the west end of the Rybachi Peninsula north of Petsamo. Now at a cost of some 250,000 dead, 250,000 wounded, 1,500 tanks, 700 planes, and a promised $128,000 per year rent for 30 years for Hanko, she wrested from Finland all these demands plus even more.
The Finnish Diet ratified the terms and 100,000 Finns at once started the sad march out of a bigger-than-ever Russia into an even smaller Finland--carrying their babies and chattels, driving their few remaining cows and horses. The narrow roads and war-taxed railroads clogged up. Snoe fell, gales raged. Yet the Finns did not despair or complain. The one thing in their country that seemed unimpaired was their sisu.

A little Trivia (From Oct. 21, 1940 Time Mag Capsule)

New School Tie

"LImey!" hooted toughies. "I say, ole chahp," they drawled, making monocles with their fingers. With such normal antics, pupils in many a US school this month welcomed greeted their small British guests. But by last week, most of Britain's 2,700 young evacues in the US had begun to feel at home in US schools.
The little Britons were surprised to find that most US pupils wear no school uniforms. Skinnier than their US contemporaries, they found the food much better than in British schools, quickly put on weight. They missed tea, got used to drinking milk instead, were delighted with unaccustomed shower baths and pencil sharpeners.
British boys found classes more informal and discipline less strict in US schools, were shocked to discover that US pupils were never caned. In classes, British pupils showed they knew more of world affairs (more even than some of their teachers), were far ahead than their US classmates in vocabulary and spelling, pretty bad in Western Hemisphere geography and US history. On one thing they all agreed: they had to study harder in Britain. Said one of them: "In our country, they give you more than you can do and then do not expect you to do it all. Here they give you just enough and expect you to do it."