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The Soviet Invasion of Finland, 1939-1940. By Carl Van Dyke. Portland, Ore.: Frank Cass, 1997. ISBN 0-7146-4753-5. Maps. Photographs. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. x, 270. $49.50.
One of the more memorable experiences in this reviewer's career as a Russian military historian was serving as a translator between a Finnish military historian/archivist and a Soviet military historian. My task was made easier by the fact that I had spent many hours talking with my father-in-law about war in Karelian, where he had served on the Karelian Front in 1941. Both historians were veterans of the fighting on the Karelian Isthmus. The Finn had served in both the Winter War of 1939-40 and the Continuation War of 1941-44. The Russian had served in Karelian during the Great Patriotic War. The Finn stressed the successful defense against overwhelming odds, while the Russian underscored the importance of the lessons learned in the course of the fighting and their contribution to final offensives that broke Finnish resistance. The Finn focused on small-unit tactics, infiltrations into the Soviet rear, raids, and Finnish mastery of war in the forests and swamps of the region. The Russian focused on the operational dimensions, the organization of combined-arms breakthrough operations against fortified lines, and the employment...