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Casualties in the Winter War

figures of Finnish and Soviet losses

 

 

 

 

FINNISH LOSSES

Finland was one of the few European countries, which made relatively great efforts to bring the bodies of fallen soldiers back, to be buried in their home county. Besides being ordered in the field regulations, it has been said, that to the Finnish soldier, "the idea of leaving the body of a comrade behind was disgusting". Therefore many bodies were recovered from no-man's-land even with high personal risk. The number of evacuated bodies was over 17 000, while some 2300 were left behind (some 12 % of the total number). From the dead, nearly 96 % were identified. 93 % of the fallen soldiers (officers and privates alike), that were evacuated and identified, were buried in the graveyards of their local churches.

In the 'Order of the day', on 1 December, Marshal Mannerheim declared that Finland fought for "Home, Religion and Fatherland". This declaration reflected quite accurately the general feelings of the nation back then.

During Winter War, nearly all classes adopted an extraordinarily positive attitude towards the Church and religion in general. The army chaplains marked a definite rise in the number of men participating in different religious ceremonies on the fronts. In many units, the front religiousness was a definite part of the "Spirit of the Winter War", which kept the men fighting against hopeless odds.

After the war Mannerheim ordered a study to be made about the religiousness of the combat troops. 86 % of the interviewees (chaplains, platoon - and company leaders) confirmed an unusually high degree of religiousness in the troops on the front, although on some occasions the religiousness was only shallow, all confirmed it's positive effects on the fighting spirit.

 

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a Lutheran funeral ceremony
Picture source: "Talvisodan Historia 4", p.222

an Orthodox funeral ceremony
Picture source: "Talvisodan Historia 4", p.222

The burial of a fallen soldier in the Finnish Home Front
Picture source:"

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The following abbreviations are used in the text:

KIA = Killed In Action
MIA = Missing In Action
WIA = Wounded In Action

 

The total losses of the Finnish Armed Forces

Officers
NCOs
Privates
TOTAL
Killed in Action
1 032
3 682
14 862
19 576
Missing in Action
75
937
2 801
3 273
Badly wounded
510
2 891
13 036
16 437
Slightly wounded
977
4 494
21 649
27 120
Total
2 594
11 464
52 348
66 406

(Table source: "Talvisodan Historia 4", p.406)

The figures in the above table were based mostly on reports from the Finnish General HQ's Supply department (Huolto-osasto) and the calculation was done shortly after the war had ended. As time passed, more information became available.

E.g. the return of 847 Finnish soldiers from captivity in USSR decreased the number of MIAs.

Some of the badly wounded died in hospitals (by 30 May 1940, the Finnish GHQ reported that 1 437 soldiers had died) this figure rising later to 3 671. All in all, the most accurate figure of the death toll of the war on the Finnish Armed forces is the figure below.

The most recent data

The most recent list of the number of Finnish soldiers killed, relating to the Winter War,
between 30 November 1939 and 31 December 1940

  • 16 725 KIA, body evacuated and buried
  • 3 671 badly wounded, died in hospital
  • 3 433 KIA, body left in the field
  • 1 727 MIA, declared dead*
  • 28 died in captivity
  • 715 died by accidents or disease
  • 363 unknown cause of death
    Total 26 662 men

    * = Those who were listed as MIA, and not returned in the exchange of POW's. This was made in September 14th 1940 (6 months after the war ended), according to the decision of a court of law.

(Source: "Talvisodan Pikkujättiläinen", p.825)

 


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Monthly losses


The total monthly losses of the Finnish armed forces were:

December 1939
January 1940
February 1940
March 1940
13 239
7 691
17 163
28 925
(Source: "Talvisodan Historia 4", p.406)

Note: the figures of March incorporate a large number of losses from February. This is because the Soviet major offensive was underway and it was nearly impossible to keep track of the time when losses occurred. But the figures give some notion of the Soviet monthly activity and reflect the increase of Finnish losses once they abandoned the main defense line (The Mannerheim Line) and had to fight mostly from unprepared positions.

Additional information: numbers of Finnish Daily Deaths

 

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Losses suffered by individual Corps' / Groups
(only losses sustained in land fronts)

(Note: due to the high number of separate units, that were traded between Cops' and Groups, the figures below don't match 100 % with the figures given above)

KIA
MIA
WIA
TOTAL
I Corps
2 851
440
7 537
10 828
II Corps
4 106
1 589
11 312
17 007
III Corps
2 526
759
7 029
10 350
IV Corps + RT
4 496
514
10 072
15 082
P-SR
2 006
294
4 341
6 641
LR
697
131
1 401
2 229
SFK
33
-
185*
218

Table source:"Talvisodan Historia 4", p.407

RT = (Ryhmä Talvela) Group Talvela
P-SR = (Pohjois-Suomen Ryhmä) North Finland Group
LR = (Lapin Ryhmä) Lapland Group
SFK= (Svensk Frivilligkåren) Swedish Volunteer Unit
(* = some 140 of these were cases of frostbite)

 

Noncombatants

In addition to the losses suffered by military personnel, the soviet bombing raids on the towns, railroad-net, etc. extracted a further 892 dead 540 badly and 1 316 slightly wounded (majority of them were elderly people, women and children).

65 men lost their lives serving in the merchant fleet.

 

 

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SOVIET LOSSES

The exact number of soviet casualties in the Winter War has been uncertain for decades.

After the war, in a meeting of the high council, Minister Molotov represented an estimate of 200 000 dead, wounded and missing Soviet soldiers. These figures contradicted even the lowest Finnish estimates. The numbers usually referred to, gives a Soviet death toll of at least 150 000 - 200 000, which would bring the total casualty near 400 000 - 600 000.

(The former leader of the Soviet Union Nikita Kruchev has written in his memoirs that the Soviet losses were a million men, a great exaggeration as we now know.)

 

Soviet losses as dead or lost without a trace

These are reported to be the most accurate figures available.

Officers
NCOs
Privates
Unknown rank
TOTAL
Killed in action or died after a wound in a battlefield
6 000
9 611
54 215
1 388
71 214
Died in a hospital
802
1 436
12 185
1 869
16 292
Lost without a trace
1 010
2 998
33 827
1 534
39 369
TOTAL
7 812
14 045
100 227
4 791
126 875
Source:The G.F.Krivosheev "The Secret stamp has removed: casualties of the Soviet Armed Forces in wars and military conflicts", Moscow, 1993

 

The table above was provided by Valeriy Potapov and is based on the book mentioned below the table.

 

Total losses:

The above table data gives a total death count of 126 875. Krivosheev's study came up with the figure of 264 908 wounded (not including the cases of sickness), thus giving the total number 391 783 Soviet casualties.

 

 

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Losses suffered by individual Armies

Data was provided by M.D.Fox, and is based on

"Soviet casualties and combat losses in the twentieth century"
edited by Colonel-General Krivosheev, ISBN 1-85367-280-7

Note that the following totals are different than those in the table above. The reason for the discrepancy is that the updated roll of losses (in the above table) include air force losses, men who died in the hospital after 15 March 1940 and border guards and other military personnel who are not covered in the following tables

The Armies are not listed in a numerical order, instead by theater of operation.
1. The Karelian Isthmus
2. The Ladoga Karelia
3. Middle Finland
4. Northern Finland
5. Others

 

 

7th Army

operated in the Karelian Isthmus

30 November 1939 - 13 March 1940

Officers
NCOs
Privates
TOTAL
KIA
1 320
2 649
12 453
16 422
MIA
86
189
1 762
2 037
WIA
4 021
8 240

48 392

60 653
Sick
119
174
1 464
1 757
Frostbite
25
45
653
723
TOTAL
5 571
11 297
64 724
81 592

To this figure one must add 18 327 men for whom there was no breakdown by rank giving a grand loss total of
99 919

 

 

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13th ARMY

operated in the Karelian Isthmus

26 December 1939 - 13 March 1940

Officers
NCOs
Privates
TOTAL
KIA
1 239
2 430
13 209
16 878
MIA
106
376
3 344
3 826
WIA
3 476
7 009
46 476
56 961
Sick
80
144
1 011
1 235
Frostbite
128
321
2 750
3 199
TOTAL
5 029
10 280
66 790
82 099

To this figure one must add 7 061 men for whom there was no breakdown by rank giving a grand loss total of
89 160

 

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8th ARMY

operated in Ladoga Karelia

30 November 1939 - 13 March 1940

Officers
NCOs
Privates
TOTAL
KIA
654
1 273
6 173
8 100
MIA
129
446
4 396
4 971
WIA
1 524
2 582
17 222
21 328
Sick
?
?
?
?
Frostbite
45
154
2 598
202
TOTAL
2 352
4 455
30 389
37 196

To this figure one must add 7 296 sick cases and 395 WIA cases for whom there was no breakdown by rank, giving a grand loss total of
44 887

 

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15th ARMY

operated in Ladoga Karelia

12 February 1940 -13 March 1940

Officers
NCOs
Privates
TOTAL
KIA
860
1 976
10 169
13 005
MIA
127
339
2 523
2 989
WIA
1 350
2 977
19 984
24 311
Sick
136
317
3 317
3 770
Frostbite
0
0
0
0
TOTAL
2 473
5 609
35 993
44 075

To this figure one must add 2 071 KIAs and MIAs, 3 641 WIAs and sick cases for whom there was no breakdown by rank, giving a grand loss total of
49 787

 

 

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9th ARMY

operated in middle Finland

30 November 1939 - 13 March 1940

Officers
NCOs
Privates
TOTAL
KIA
634
1 214
5 770
7 618
MIA
208
566
3 895
4 669
WIA
1 280
2 635
13 070
16 985
Sick
?
?
?
?
Frostbite
52
177
2 107
2 336
TOTAL
2 174
4 592
24 842
31 608

To this figure one must add 1 249 KIAs and MIAs, 689 WIAs, 12 250 sick cases and 313 frostbite cases for whom there was no breakdown by rank, giving a grand loss total of
46 109

 

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14th ARMY

operated in North Finland

30 November 1939 - 13 March 1940

Officers
NCOs
Privates
TOTAL
KIA
40
22
119
181
MIA
0
0
2
2
WIA
14
36
251
301
Sick
?
?
?
?
Frostbite
2
24
75
101
TOTAL
56
82
447
585

The number of sick cases for the 14th Army is unknown, so based on the available information, the grand total is
585

 

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RED BANNER BALTIC FLEET

30 November 1939 - 13 March 1940

Officers
NCOs
Privates
TOTAL
KIA
48
39
67
154
MIA
45
33
77
155
WIA
54
55
192
301
Sick
?
?
?
?
Frostbite
5
8
132
145
TOTAL
152
135
468
755

To this figure one must add 845 sick cases for whom there was no breakdown by rank, giving a grand loss total of
1 600

 

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Air Force

Losses for the Red Air Force against Finland have been impossible to breakdown.

It is stated the the air force lost 785 KIA and 144 WIA, giving a grand total of 929.

 

 

The question about Soviet POWs

The number of Soviet POWs in Finland grew steadily to the end of the war. The Finnish General HQ issued an order on December 3rd, that the prisoners were to be divided into 6 groups isolated from each other. They were:

- Political personnel (regardless of rank)
- Officers
- NCO
- Rank and file
- national minorities sympathetic to Finland
- deserters

 

The reports to the Home Front HQ, gave the following numbers of POWs in either camps or in hospitals:

Date Number of POWs A count made on April 8th gives the following number of POW's in different groups

24 December
6 January
20 January
3 February
17 February
2 March
16 March

84
1 225
2 583
3 038
3 531
4 173
5 041
Political personnel
Officers
NCOs
Privates
minority nationals
in hospitals
TOTAL
25
215
253
3 826
666
484
5 469
(Note that Soviet POWs kept coming from the combat troops even after the war, that's one reason why the numbers above don't match)

 

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The exchange of prisoners

The exchange of prisoners was made between April 16th and 25th, as agreed in the Moscow - peace treaty.

The final number of Soviet POWs, that were released and exchanged was 5 572 according to Finnish sources.
(Source: "Talvisodan Pikkujättiläinen" , p. 815)

According to Colonel General Krivosheev's "Soviet casualties and combat losses in the twentieth century", ISBN 1-85367-280-7, the figure of POWs is 5 468 which doesn't match the Finnish number, but is close to it.

 

The big question is, what happened to the Soviet POWs

The Soviet Union hadn't signed the Geneva convention in 1929, regarding the treatment of POWs (alongside with Germany and Japan). The Soviet POW's were decided to be treated according the Criminal Law of the Soviet Socialistic Republic of 1926. The section 193. "Leaving the battlefield without permission" was defined as an act of treason against the Fatherland, and was to be punished by execution and the confiscation of property. Also, on June 8th 1934 a law was passed, in where "... the full aged (adult) members of the family (of the traitors), who at the time of the crime were living with him or were supported by him, were to lose their right to vote and be banished to southern Siberia for five years."
This gave the Soviet soldier only grim options, kill the enemy on the battlefield and die with honor, or lose your honor and be punished by the state.

( -The book made by Viktor Stepakov and Dmitri Orehov (Paraatimarssi Suomeen "Parade march into Finland",1992) clearly states that they were executed. This is backed up by the information acquired from several Soviet POW's captured during the "Continuation War" (1941-1944). They told that they were involved in the transportation of these prisoners to isolated camps where they were interrogated and subsequently shot.-)
- Another newer book by Viktor Stepakov (Sodalla on hintansa "The war has it's price",1995) sheds more light on this issue. Although many of the POW's of Winter War were executed, many were sentenced to hard labor in northern Russia. (The sentences were given without logic. While a guy, who had lost both his legs and was captured unconscious, got a 8 year sentence, while an unharmed man got only 5 years.)-

According to the newest Finnish source that I have ("Talvisodan Pikkujättiläinen", p.815) , the POWs were transported back to the USSR by trains guarded by the NKVD. The released POWs were sent to one of the camps that had been intended to be filled by Finnish war prisoners (near Juski Gork). A special detachment of 50-men was sent to investigate if the POWs had surrendered out of their own will or if they had helped the enemy. After long investigations, some of the POWs were acquitted and sent home, but some 500 Soviet POWs were executed, and 4 354 were sentenced to hard labor for 5 - 8 years. Note that the no evidence was found against those who were sentenced to hard labor.

 


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