Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Finnish AFVs

     The tiny nation of Finland was invaded by the Soviets in 1939. Through that winter the Finnish army managed to hold off the invading Russians, capturing vast amounts of war material. At the prodding, and hoping to recapture land lost at the end of the Winter War, the Finns joined in as a Co-Belligerent when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa. Through all of this they had only the smallest of forces. As far as armor goes they had no local production, only some modifications to vehicles purchased or captured. As all of the other vehicles come from other nations I will concentrate exclusively on the home-grown products.

BT-42                   Size 6                  Armor 9 
Move: Road 16”    Good 10”    Bad 6”     Obstacle -5”

Ordnance QF 4.5-inch howitzer
Range      up to 6”        up to 30”       up to 60”      up to 120”
Dice           5d6                5d6                5d6                 5d6
to hit         +1                     0                  -2                   -3



Vickers 6-Ton          Size 4            Armor    10
Move:   Road   10"   Good  8"   bad   6"    Obstacle   -3"

45mm 20-K
Range     up to 6”      up to 20”      up to 40”      up to 80”
Dice            5d6            4d6               4d6-2            3d6
to hit           +2                0                  -1                  -2
two shots per turn if stationary and not changing target 
these tanks were re-armed with captured Soviet 45mm cannon
instead of the Bofors 37mm that they were supposed to receive

  

9 comments:

  1. By the end of the war the Finns had raised a small armored division stocked with an assortment of AFVs. In one of the Finnish movies there's a great scene of a captured T-34 knocking out several Soviet armored vehicles. Also of note, during 1944 the Finns were provided with numerous AT weapons by the Germans.

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  2. CelticCrumudgeon, So right you are, but I had covered those vehicles under the Finns major suppliers: the USSR and Germany. As I wind down this series I'm trying to stick with the vehicles that were made, or significantly modified, by the nation in question.

    The Finns are one of my favorite examples of how motivation and training are the things that set one force above another; for all intents and purposes the Soviet Union and Finland had the same equipment (the Finns having inherited their small arms from Czarist Russia when they broke away in 1917).

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  3. I believe that the Finns produced a version of the Moisin Nagant rifle under license. In the film Winter War there is a scene where a Finnish patrol goes out to recover documents and weapons after a bloody exchange during the day. The sergeant in charge tells one of his men to just take the firing actions from the Soviet weapons because they worked more smoothly.

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    1. The Finns retained a large number of Mosin-Nagat rifles from their arsenals when they separated from Russia. They worked hard at refitting them and began making their own receivers. The Finn-made Mosins are famous for their accuracy, any gun that wouldn't shoot quarter minute of angle was destroyed or sold overseas. I have a M-39 from 1944, it shoots like a dream but it racks a little slower because of the tighter tolerances.

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  4. There is the 2015 Finnish film free on Amazon Prime - 1945 The Final Defence. using T34's and StugIIIs if anyone is interested

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  5. I just want t know why the Finnish were not the last country list posted?

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    1. Your irrepressible need for the Pun knows no bounds. If it would make you feel better I could delete this post and re-post it after I have completed the rest of things.

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  6. No, no, that is not needed, it just 'violates' my sense of propriety, and makes me reference my nearest 'safe space'.

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  7. Very nice! Although I'm quite certain the blue/white stripes were dropped after the winter war before the Vickers were converted to 45mm guns.

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