Winter War history fans know this Soviet movie from 1940 very well. A person from our time would easily notice Soviet propaganda messages, staged episodes and distortions of historical facts. Despite all this, the movie used a fair deal of Soviet original footage from Winter War on the Karelian Isthmus. Many Finnish bunkers that were destroyed in summer of 1940, are very well shown in this movie. Thus the movie is a definitely a very interesting document of its time.
There are brief comments only to the parts that are related to Mannerheim Line
Fragment ¹3. Preparation of assault on the Mannerheim Line
| 07.37. | Kombrig Veshev, commander of the 24th Rifle Division, and his staff. he was killed on December 6, 1939, ambushed by Finnish patrol at Vaisanen. Kombrig Veshev was posthumously awarded with the top military honour of the Soviet Union, the Golden Star and title of Hero of the Soviet Union. |
| 08.05. | Launch
of a Soviet artillery observation baloon. The air baloon units were stationed
at Perkjarvi railway station (now Kirillovskoe). |
Fragment ¹4. Description of Mannerheim Line and preparation of Mannerheim Line assault
| 00.25. | Description of Summankyla sector. Number of bunkers, barricades and obstacles is exaggerated. |
| 02.57 | Soviet railway artillery based at Perkjarvi. These artillery pieces were dubbed "ghost cannon" by the Finns, as the cannons could fire as far asy Viipuri (Vyborg) from Perkjarvi. |
| 04.38 | A clearly staged scene of blowing up the anti-tank obstacle. |
| 04.52 | Reminds of wartime photo footage of the 35th Light tank Brigade |
| 06.58 | Frontline footage of the beginning of the war - note thin snow. |
| 08.15 | Hero of the Soviet Union Major V. V. Smirnov, commander of the 50th high-speed bomber regiment. |
Fragment #5. Asssault of Mannerheim Line
| 01.46 |
Soviet artillery barrage, real wartime footage. Ghost cannon in action is also there. |
| 02.40 | T-28 medium tank tows Sokolov armoured sled. Most likely a staged episode. |
| 05.13 and 05.45 | ChT-130 flamethrower tank throwing flame |
| 07.20 | Destroyed Finnish AT-gun |
| 07.36 | It is not possible to identify the bunker with 100% certainty |
| 08.22 | Western casemate of Le7 bunker |
| 08.27 | Destroyed western casemate of Sk11 Peltola |
| 08.50 | Hero of the Soviet Union Colonel A. F. Hrenov studying Sj4 Poppius bunker or Sk10 Kymppi bunker |
| 09.09 | A standard armoured cupola of a Finnish bunker |
Fragment #6. Captured fortifications of the Mannerheim Line
| 00.08 | Looks like eastern casemate of Sj5 Millionaire bunker or eastern casemate of Sk2 Terttu. |
| 00.42 | Ink6 bunker before destruction. Note two layers of rocks on the roofs of the casemate - field repair after several direct hits by Soviet heavy artillery. |
| 01.43 | Bunker Ink7 |
| 01.54 | Looks like a two storey command bunker in Kolmikesala, which served as Cp of the 10th Infantry Regiment. |
| 02.02 | Either Ink6 or Sk10 Kymppi. |
| 02.27 | Staircase into the western casemate of the Sk10 bunker. |
| 02.46 | Air ventilation system of a Mannerheim Line bunker. Bits and pieces of these filters can still be seen around the bunkers today |
| 03.08 | A stove in a bunker was both for heating and for cooking. It was made of bricks, which can still be found in ruins of the bunkers today. |
| 03.18 | A piano in a bunker is most likely a propaganda overstatement. |
| 03.23 | Extremelly rare footage of a wooden MG carriage for bunkers with armoured front wall. |
| 04.10 | Auxiliary gunport for a submachine gun or a light machine gun, not a cannon, as the narrator states! |
| 04.19 | Easern casemate of Sk2 |
| 04.33 | The footage of power station inside a bunker is most likely NOT from Mannerheim Line. Barbed wire obstacles with electricity were only found at Ink6 and Ink7 bunkers. |
| 05.23 | Again bunker Ink6 |
| 05.55 | A stationery armoured shield for installation on a breastrwork |
| 06.58 | War booty of the 123rd Rifle Division in Sunnajarvi sector. There is a Finnish-produced Bofors 37 mm anti-tank gun and howitzers of the 2nd heavy artillery battalion in the background. |
| 07.20 | Renault FT-17 tank captured by the Red Army |
| 07.33 | Destroyed 25 mm Marianne AT-gun |
| 07.39 | Knocked out Vickers 6 ton tanks, captured by the Red Army |
| 08.00 | Captured Finnish coastal batteries at Koivisto (Bjorko) Island. |
© Bair Irincheev 2001 - 2008