World War II · Film · 1989
The Winter War
Talvisota
Two farmer brothers from Ostrobothnia are called up in autumn 1939 and spend the Winter War in the trenches of the Karelian Isthmus, facing wave after wave of Soviet attacks.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Kauhava, South Ostrobothnia
Martti and Paavo Hakala muster with the other reservists of their parish and board the train for training.
Stop 2: Taipale
Key location
Dug in by the Taipale River, the men endure artillery, air attacks and tank-supported human waves from Independence Day onward.
Stop 3: Vuosalmi, Vuoksi River
Moved to the Vuoksi to stop a river crossing, the depleted company is nearly overrun in the last days before the ceasefire.
What really happened
The film adapts Antti Tuuri's novel about Infantry Regiment 23, a reserve unit from South Ostrobothnia. The Soviet Union attacked Finland on 30 November 1939 after Helsinki refused to cede territory on the Karelian Isthmus; at Taipale, where the Mannerheim Line met Lake Ladoga, Finnish troops held out for three months against constant shelling and mass assaults.
In February 1940 the Red Army broke through at Summa, and fighting shifted to the Vuoksi waterway around Vuosalmi, where the regiment suffered heavy losses in early March. The Moscow Peace Treaty ended the war at 11:00 on 13 March 1940; Finland kept its independence but lost about a tenth of its territory.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Talvisota
- Directed by
- Pekka Parikka
- Countries
- Finland
- Languages
- Finnish, Russian
- Released
- 1989
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Eastern Front
- Themes
- Combat
