lordmongrove
Justified & Ancient
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The poo wars.
Weird War Tales
- Thread starter lordmongrove
- Start date
lordmongrove
Justified & Ancient
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- May 30, 2009
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- 4,968
The Soviet Division That Was Massacred by Something Unknown in Finland during 1939
lordmongrove
Justified & Ancient
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Marines Mess with Ouija Boards
kesavaross
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All three are well worth watching. Thanks for posting them. The first one though is a corker of weirdness.
It's all about your enemies poo.
It's all about your enemies poo.
Spookdaddy
Cuckoo
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I’d be willing to make a bet that the second story is made up - in fact, there's so little actual detail among the broad brush strokes and cut and paste visuals, that even the term 'made up' seems to be giving it more respect than it deserves.
I’d take a guess that the modern footage is cut from a film like Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) or Rukajärven tie (Ambush) - although neither are actually set in the war in question (they are both set in the Continuation War of 1941/42). Nor, as far as I can recall, does either make any mention of supernatural intervention.
The elderly chap featured in a brief interview at the start is actually an American, John Hasey- who was a 22 year old living in Paris at the time of the Soviet invasion of Finland. He’s talking about what inspired him to set up a volunteer ambulance unit to aid the Finnish cause (the Iroquois Ambulance Corps). The interview was part of HBO’s documentary, Fire and Ice – The Winter War of Finland and Russia. It's a few years since I watched it, although I think it may be available online somewhere. Again, my memory may simply have failed me, but I have no recall of any reference to the supposed subject of the YouTube documentary, or of how John Hasey's comments may connect to it..
I'm by no means an expert, but I've read a fair bit about the Winter and Continuation Wars - a charitable explanation would be that this is a mythologising of an actual event within the context of conventional warfare; a modern euhemerism of some Soviet debacle like, for instance, the Battle of Raate Road.
The Soviets totally underestimated the Finns willingness to fight and their ability to do so (their successors clearly haven't taken that lesson on board). The Finnish forces were massively outnumbered but still managed to destroy entire divisions. The Finns were amazing soldiers, and this attempt to apply a supernatural intervention to their successes seems on a par with claiming aliens built the pyramids.
That said, I can maybe see how a military debacle might be allegorised
But to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s literally just been made up for the purposes of this video.
I’d take a guess that the modern footage is cut from a film like Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) or Rukajärven tie (Ambush) - although neither are actually set in the war in question (they are both set in the Continuation War of 1941/42). Nor, as far as I can recall, does either make any mention of supernatural intervention.
The elderly chap featured in a brief interview at the start is actually an American, John Hasey- who was a 22 year old living in Paris at the time of the Soviet invasion of Finland. He’s talking about what inspired him to set up a volunteer ambulance unit to aid the Finnish cause (the Iroquois Ambulance Corps). The interview was part of HBO’s documentary, Fire and Ice – The Winter War of Finland and Russia. It's a few years since I watched it, although I think it may be available online somewhere. Again, my memory may simply have failed me, but I have no recall of any reference to the supposed subject of the YouTube documentary, or of how John Hasey's comments may connect to it..
I'm by no means an expert, but I've read a fair bit about the Winter and Continuation Wars - a charitable explanation would be that this is a mythologising of an actual event within the context of conventional warfare; a modern euhemerism of some Soviet debacle like, for instance, the Battle of Raate Road.
The Soviets totally underestimated the Finns willingness to fight and their ability to do so (their successors clearly haven't taken that lesson on board). The Finnish forces were massively outnumbered but still managed to destroy entire divisions. The Finns were amazing soldiers, and this attempt to apply a supernatural intervention to their successes seems on a par with claiming aliens built the pyramids.
That said, I can maybe see how a military debacle might be allegorised
But to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s literally just been made up for the purposes of this video.
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