A BOOK REVIEW
of
THE WINTER WAR
By William Durbin
It was expected to be one of the shortest wars in Finland’s history. Leaders from
the Soviet Union estimated it would only take 10-12 days for the mighty Red Army to
wield enough military power to get an easy surrender from its tiny neighbor to the West.
But, there was one primary factor they failed to anticipate. In November of 1939,
Finland was experiencing one of the coldest winters in its history.
The battleground was what historians have since described as “a frozen hell.” The
Russians did not have the athletic skills or the knowledge to deal with the winter the ways
the Finns do.
At the end of the war, which lasted 105 days, Finnish casualties numbered 25,000.
About 50,000 Finns were wounded.
The total Russian dead and wounded exceeded 500,000.
Many articles and books have been written about the Winter War during the past
60 years. A documentary film titled “Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and
Russia” was released two years ago.
Last month, a new book was published: “The Winter War,” by William Durbin.
The book is a novel, but it is more than a fictional account of an historical
happening. The Minnesota writer has based the story on the actual events that shattered
lives, homes and villages in the tiny nation. The creative fictional technique is the vehicle
that brings it together.
Durbin, an award-winning author of several books, has the ability to draw a
reader into a story right from the beginning with his unique writing style.
In “The Winter War,” Marko and his best friend, Johan, are junior volunteer
members of the Civil Guard in Finland. Seated in the eight-sided bell tower of the old
church, they have been trained as sky watchers to listen for the engines of a Russian DB-
3 bomber. Suddenly hearing one, and unable to reach the Guard headquarters using a
hand-cranked field phone, Marko senses an urgency and stumbles down the narrow
stairway, plagued by a leg weakened by polio. Johan reaches the bottom, runs for his
bike, and pedals away.
But it is too late for any warning.
We hear the bomb blast, feel the ground tremble, smell the fire, and see the white
snow blackened with soot and blood.
Thus the story unfolds.
The Finns are outnumbered by the Russians in manpower and equipment, but
with courage, guts and determination – their innate Finnish Sisu – they carry on against
the odds.
White-suited Finns ski through the forests on moonless nights, encountering the
frozen bodies of their enemy. Artillery shells rip through the trees above them. Russian
tanks sludge forward as the Finns desperately search for a dwindling supply of
ammunition.
The Russian offensive is terrifying.
There is no way to diminish or downplay the graphic nature of a war, especially
for an historical writer like Durbin. In his extensive research, he talked to a retired
teacher who served in the Junior Civil Guard; two Winter War veterans; and a former
member of the Lotta Svärd, a volunteer corps of Finnish women who helped on the home
front.
Durbin has seen the war through their eyes and the actual photographs of the
battle. He fills his palette with descriptive words and paints a picture for the reader.
Through Marko’s eyes and experiences we feel the pain of a senseless war, the
loss of a friend, the crumbling of a country.
But, Durbin also lets us feel pride.
We hear the sound of the national anthem. We see the Finnish flag. We rejoice at
the spirit of the people.
The Finns will build their country back up again.
In an Afterword at the end of the book, Durbin leaves the reader with a little
history lesson about the beginning of the Winter War, the aftermath, and Finland’s
struggle as it tried to regain the land it had ceded to Russia.
And, we are reminded that the tiny nation paid its war debt.
Once again, Durbin has done a masterful job in enabling a reader to feel and more
easily understand a little more about the history of Finland and its people.
And, he is to be commended for that.
Karen Berg Douglas is a journalist and lives in Lansing, Michigan. She also is of
Finnish and Swedish-Finn heritage.