1942: Finland

More besieged than belligerent, Finland in June 1942 entered upon the second year of her second war since 1939. After fifteen months of peace, following her 'winter war' with Russia (ended March 12, 1940) she found herself again, at the end of June 1941, in conflict with the same country. Throughout 1942 she held fast, attacking but seldom, and intent upon measures to keep her own territory inviolate. She continually stated her unique position to be that of non-involvement in the Second World War. She sought for understanding from Britain and the United States. She strove to reduce incitements for Russia to attack her further, at the same time that she held to a minimum the assistance she received from Germany. To the other Scandinavian countries at liberty to deal with her, she became a bastion of the North. Denmark and Sweden showed her marked friendship.

Defensive Warfare.

By October of 1941, the Russians had been evicted from most of Finland though they still held Hangö and a few other bases; the Finns were on their former border on the Karelian Isthmus and on the East, and had moved into Eastern Karelia, where the majority of the population is Finnish, to prevent Russian attacks from bases there.

Through 1942 the military operations were continuous though slight. In May Finland's air forces bombed vessels in harbors on the east coast of Lake Aänisjärvi; there were engagements on the Karelian Isthmus, the Aunus Isthmus; the Louhi region. In June these areas figured again in despatches, and there were battles at Lake Ladoga, the south side of the Eastern front, the Maaselka area, at Rukajärvi and Uhtua. In August it was reported that forty Russian planes staged a raid near Helsinki. In the same month Finnish advices claimed to have shot down forty-three Russian planes off Kronstadt in one week, reported eight air battles, and quoted the official Finnish High Command's figures of 1,089 Russian aircraft destroyed.

Meanwhile, though Finnish forces were within forty miles of the Russian Murmansk railway, no attempt was made to interrupt traffic, a decision impelled by the desire to refrain from impeding American aid to Russia in the south, to withhold from Russia new excuses for attacking Finland, to prove that Finland's warfare was defensive only and, doubtless, to forestall further additions to German forces or prestige in Finland.

Finland's Anomalous Position.

Because of Finland's unique international position she is faced with peculiar difficulties. She continues to declare that her war with Russia is in no sense a part of the World War; that she is only resisting attack, has no claims to make on Russian soil (except to prevent bases there being used for attack against her), and has refrained from advancing her lines beyond points necessitated by defense. She maintains that she has not lost her independent character; that German troops are only on her soil to aid in her defense, as British troops would have been in the 'Winter War' (1939-40) if Britain had sent them.

She acknowledges membership in the Anti-Comintern Pact, but holds that this has no military or political significance; she has not joined the Three-Power Pact, allows no dictation in her war aims, fights without any ideological objective, remains a democracy, and although she accepts Germany as an ally, conducts a purely local war against one enemy.

To charges that Finnish volunteers were serving in the German army, a Finnish news bureau official pointed out that in the German army, among several battalions composed of foreign volunteers, there was one which included mainly Finnish volunteers who had joined before Finland went to war with Russia, 'since which time no Finn has been permitted to volunteer in any foreign army.'

Finland strives to avoid unfriendliness with Britain and with the United States. She has been bewildered by British and United States reaction to her stand, especially by a veiled warning of Secretary Hull; she hopes for a United States declaration against a Bolshevist-dictated peace in the Baltic, as a part of America's policy of protection for small nations. Indeed, she feels that the Allied Powers would do well to state that they wish the Scandinavian States to retain their independence in the future.

Finland sees herself, and believes that all Scandinavia sees her, as a bulwark against Bolshevism. Though her war is not ideological, but one of territorial integrity and of independence, she identifies with Bolshevism the Russia who held her captive from 1809 to 1917; who fostered a Finnish revolution in 1918, quelled by General Mannerheim; who is the only nation to have tried to conquer Finland by force of arms. According to President Risto Ryti in his address to the Finnish Parliament, Feb. 3, 1942, Russia has waged twenty-five wars against Finland, three of them in this generation. Finland maintains that the picture of 'Finland cum Germany' is more truly seen as 'Finland versus Bolshevism.'

Charges by one belligerent against its enemy are to be expected. Finland declares that on July 24, 1942, the International Red Cross at Geneva reported that, despite valiant efforts, they could not get Russia to give any information regarding war prisoners; that in more than a year of Russian-Finnish fighting, no kind of official information regarding Finnish war prisoners in Russia had been obtained; that efforts even by Swedish authorities in charge of Finnish interests in Russia had failed.

Finland calls attention to the fact that while Russia was calling for assistance to her troops fighting Germany in the south, she was still maintaining forces along the seven-hundred-mile Finnish front and continuing to attack. Whatever reports have circulated that Finland might negotiate a separate peace with Russia, Finland declares to be untrue.

Finland maintains it to be her policy not to interfere with the political and social patterns followed beyond her borders, but insists that her way of life be similarly respected. In this war she accepts and hopes for aid from any, including Germany and Sweden, but she urges that Sweden preserve her own military and economic strength.

Here, then, is beleaguered Finland, suspected by former friends among the Great Powers; allied, for her own defense, with their arch enemy, Germany, and fighting against one of their chief allies in a war which for her is fateful, though it is but a side issue in the global conflict.

Domestic Affairs.

Domestically, Finland's affairs were such as to give her encouragement, for despite difficulties her government, Parliament and people moved through the months of war with rare self-control and growing unity. Her year began with the national debt at 27 billion marks (approximately $540,000,000), having grown from an August 1941 figure of 22 billion marks (approximately $440,000,000). On March 1, 1942, she launched the Faterland Loan bonds for two billion marks (approximately $40,000,000). By early July this was oversubscribed and was kept open; by August 1, it had broken all records with an oversubscription of 849,000,000 marks; and by early September it was subscribed at 3,108,000,000 marks, equivalent to about $62,160,000; or an average of $16.25 for every man, woman and child in Finland.

In June, seven new tax bills were laid before Parliament; one month later they were passed, providing for extra taxes on income, property, forest estates, an increase in death duties, duties to be paid on the sale of real estate, and temporary taxation of savings banks. In August, it was estimated that the sales tax had netted one and a half billion marks during the first half of 1942.

In the early fall, the government proposed a record budget, with an estimated expenditure of over eight billion marks (seven billion marks above expenditures in the current budget, an increase of 834 per cent) as against a revenue whose excess was estimated to be 89,889,500 marks. With this went a proposal to increase official wages by 42 per cent; a statement that no new taxes were planned, and an announcement that a new state loan of nearly one and a half billion marks would be needed. This was followed in late September by a statement from the Finance Minister to the effect that the economic life of the nation was gradually recovering; that crops were good, industry was reviving; that currency circulation was rising, but that curbs on inflation were operating. He announced foreign trade showed an 'unfavorable balance' but was up; that as taxation measures had practically reached their limit the government must depend on loans; that the state debt was at a record figure of thirty-five billion marks.

Parliament showed vigor in July when it extended the 'Power Law' (in force since early 1941) giving the President unprecedented powers and enabling the government to regulate the economic life of the nation during the war, but cut the government's request for extension of its powers, by one year, and curtailed further requests of the government to increase its power.

In October the government issued a wage-control decree, and on Oct. 14, state price-control was extended over all goods on the markets.

Social Gains.

The people of Finland offer the world an astonishing picture of social responsibility, despite the fact that the cruel blows of war have displaced, killed, and wounded great numbers of their citizens.

By May 1942, thousands of Finns were back in the Hangö peninsula (recaptured from Russia). In August it was announced that about two hundred thousand refugees had returned to the recaptured Western Karelian territory, and that a winter program had been drawn up to erect five thousand 'saunas' or bath-houses adjacent to private dwellings, a nationwide, historic health feature of Finnish residences. A redistribution of farmlands on the Karelian Isthmus was launched in October, to put agriculture on a more efficient, equitable, profitable basis.

October reports also declared the reconstruction of Lapland to be going ahead at a terrific pace, as were also operations in Petsamo, where pre-fabricated homes from Sweden, and loghouses, were rising, and in the devastated parish of Salla. By mid-September the 'Winter War' refugee relief lists were down from 345,000 (as of March 1941) to 20,000, most of whom were aged or sick, or without providers.

Food Situation.

The birthrate, dropping from 78,000 in 1939 to 66,000 in 1940 (ascribed to war conditions), rose to about 90,000 in 1941. Anxiety about food decreased as the 1942 harvest and berry crops looked promising, imports continued, the fish catch increased, and thousands of children were being cared for abroad. Rationed foods included bread, meats, fats, sugar, and milk. However, with milk production up after July 1942, skimmed milk and buttermilk ceased to be rationed, and stores of butter and cheese were being saved for winter. Eggs were a black spot: none were available to adults; children had two eggs a month. Extra bread and fat rations were provided in October for families having four or more under-aged children at home. Beginning Oct. 1, tobacco was rationed, with men over 21 and women over 24 being permitted to choose between tobacco and an extra ration of sugar.

The ingenuity and mental vigor of the government and people were evidenced in various ways. 'Pine oats,' a new forest product of cellulose cattle fodder with high nutritive value, was put on the market in March; another result of Finnish scientists' labors was the manufacture of sugar from wood-waste and sawdust (adopted in 1941). Plans were announced in 1942 for the country's first motor charcoal factory. A former busy small-scale industry was revived, the lifting of iron ore (containing 30 to 40 per cent iron) from the Finnish lakes.

Economic Cooperation.

A consciousness of the familyhood of all Finns was also noticeable. This found a most dramatic manifestation in a 1942 revival of one of Finland's historic and most unique folkways. This is the 'Talkoot,' a general movement of cooperation, 'all together for the common good'; a neighbor-help scheme known and practiced by Finns for centuries, which probably began in the mobilizing of farmers to help one another.

In July, a 'Suurtalkoot,' or 'Great Working Bee,' was organized to launch a series of expeditions from Helsinki to the surrounding farm country, whereby city dwellers would do physical labor for hard-pressed farmers. For this, Sundays were utilized, and, where possible, hours after work on weekdays. Many business and industrial establishments cooperated in various ways; motor vehicles were loaned; some places closed early. The 'Talkoot' members worked free, but the farmers regularly paid wages which were put in the 'Talkoot' fund for citizens in difficulties caused by the war. Work done for war widows and war invalids was free of charge.

As fall approached, a fuel shortage threatened the country and a nation-wide 'Everyman's Motti Talkoot' was organized. The goal was 1 million cubic metres of firewood (about 35,289,000 cubic feet). The minimum quota for each citizen taking part was one motti or cubic metre (about 35.3 cubic feet). Emblems were provided for every participant, a silver emblem for the cutting of four mottis. Contests were arranged. Every community joined in, some of them on 'Talkoot' day practically closing all business. In two days, a quarter of a million recruits signed up.

Mannerheim Honored.

On June 4, the nation celebrated the seventy-fifth birthday anniversary of General Mannerheim; the President made him 'Marshal of Finland'; Parliament presented him with a home of his own in the capital; his birthday was decreed to become the Flag Day of the Finnish Army, Navy and Air Forces, and the City Council of Helsinki announced that one of the principal streets of the capital would be named for him. An interesting incident was the visit of Adolf Hitler to Finland on this day and his congratulations to the General, whose reply dealt with 'deliverance from the danger which for more than two decades has threatened the Eastern frontier' and omitted all reference to other foes of Germany.

Scandinavian Neighbors.

To the Finnish people and government there came in 1942 incontrovertible proofs of the friendship of Sweden and Denmark. In May, one thousand Swedish boys and farm workers (recruited in part by Swedish political youth organizations) came to Finland to aid farmers; the same month, eight Swedish officers volunteered for the Finnish army; in June, the Swedish Association of Slaughterhouses increased its original gift of 50,000 crowns to 150,000 for Finnish agricultural reconstruction; in July, Swedish school children collected 63,000 crowns for Finnish children; in August, a representative of the Swedish 'Save the Children' organization, toured the country announcing 12,000 Swedish sponsors for Finnish war orphans, and funds available up to one and a half million crowns. The list multiplies, with Health Homes donated; eleven thousand tons of grain sent in six months; twenty-three thousand Finnish children cared for in Sweden; a new trade agreement between the two countries, and so on.

A similar picture is that of Denmark's activities: 880,000 pounds of seed potatoes sent to Finland by the Danes; 35,000 Danish homes opened to Finnish children, and 3,600 Danes registered as sponsors to Finnish children; Danes reducing their own butter rations to send more to Finland; a Finnish-Danish trade negotiation announced. These are a few of the shining incidents on record.

On the military front, and in diplomacy, one harmonious people, heartened by her Scandinavian friends, Finland awaits with fortitude whatever may be in store.