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12-03-2009, 08:59 AM
Winter War soldiers were no superhumans
Winter War soldiers were no superhumans
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By Anna-Stina Nykänen
Monday is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Winter War. People still are wondering how Finland prevailed in the war, and whether or not Finnish men of today could handle the conditions of the Winter War today.
Would today’s video game generation even know how to ski? Would they be afraid in the forest? There is much talk of the obesity and poor physical condition of today’s conscripts.
“I don’t recognise Finnish conscripts in the image that is put out in public”, says Colonel Pertti Laatikainen, head of training of the Finnish Defence Forces.
The image of the heroes of the Winter War is also convoluted in many ways, says Major Juha Mälkki. For his doctorate in political science, he studied the composition of the armed forces of the Winter War.
So let’s start busting some of the myths.
There is much talk nowadays about conscripts who do not finish their term of service. Nevertheless, more than 80 per cent of those who are called up for duty complete their military service before turning 30. This is more than in the 1930s, when less than 70 per cent did so. At that time many had tuberculosis, Marjor Mälkki says.
But what is worse, malnutrition, or obesity. Before the Winter War many of the men came from such poor conditions that they were actually malnourished.
Many of today’s soldiers suffer from allergies, and there are rumours of barracks with fungus growing in the structures. However, in the 1920s and 1930s, doctors were very critical of the barracks dating back to Tsarist times, where clothes did not dry, and latrines stank.
Today’s conscripts are healthier than before, and their teeth are also in better condition, although injuries from taking part in sports are more common than they used to be.
The Finnish military did not test the men for physical endurance. There were no Cooper tests. In the Winter War some of the men were in their forties, most of whom had not run much, but they did have endurance.
Now endurance is something that Finnish men achieve while they are serving in the military, which is why today’s conscripts practice more in the field.
The Cooper test results did start declining in the mid-1990s when the Internet became more common. The trend was international, but physical condition tends to improve rapidly during military service. This happens even if a conscript does not run a single step. Four months is enough to reach the target. Front-line soldiers are expected to run an average 2,800 metres in the 12 minutes allotted for the Cooper test. For artillery and anti-aircraft forces, 2,600 metres is enough. Those joining special forces are expected to run over 3,000 metres.
The question of how tough or how easy military service is, is a question of constant debate.
“When I compare it with my own service as s conscript, today’s service is harder”, Colonel Laatikainen says. Mälkki agrees. And although the early stages involve a gradual escalation to guard against injuries, the final stages especially are physically more strenuous.
Six months of service cannot be made much tougher than this without problems emerging. Twenty-year-olds do not notice it themselves that their limbs cannot take any more, Laatikainen says.
Problems in adjusting are easily seen as problems of the present day. The thinking is that today’s kids are such individualists that they become stressed by any expectations of obedience.
However, Major Mälkki notes that conscripts had more psychological problems before the Winter War than they do now.
“The generation of the period was not accustomed to discipline - on the contrary. For instance, int eh 1920s discipline problems were very common”, he says.
Nowadays it is thought that young people are spoiled with too much freedom, but forest Finns who grew up in the back woods were a case unto themselves.
“The Army was the first time that they came face to face with the rest of society. Many of them had not even been to school. Today’s young men are accustomed to control already since day care”, Mälkki says.
After the Civil War, military service was based on severe discipline and drills. Those who could not adjust were placed in punitive brigades. In the 1930s the approach was slightly more humane.
Now the adjustment period to the institution takes from four to six weeks, involving adaptation to operating in a group of people.
“The military is still a massive culture shock, as it involves living together at such close quarters. Then you learn whom you can trust, and who needs help”, Laatikainen says.
About 40 per cent of young people in Finland suffer from mental health problems and behaviour disorders, and that can also be seen in the military.
“But if the same test had been in use in 1939 the percentage would have been the same”, Mälkki says.
The miracle of the Winter War is an expression that is used when trying to express how a small nation managed to stay united and overcome a larger adversary. Mälkki says that it did not exactly go like that.
“The miracle of the Winter War is a myth”.
Mälkki has gone through the memoirs of the men who went through the war in his doctoral dissertation in social history, which appeared last year under the title Herrat, jätkät ja sotataito - Kansalaissotilas- ja ammattisotilasarmeijan rakentuminen 1920- ja 1930-luvulla (“Gentlemen, Lads and the Art of War - the Construction of the Citizen-Soldier and Professional Soldier Armies into the Miracle of the Winter War During the 1920s and 1930s”).
Men often spoke of the Winter War as a kind of forest camp, where sublime ideologies did not feel like much in the severity of reality.
“Even war was a job that had to be done. Or to borrow from the language of real forest camps, the lads did not necessarily appreciate the bosses, but they did their jobs.”
Many felt that the war was a war of the upper classes. There was a tension between the superiors and the lads, which gave rise to an eagerness to fight.
When the job got underway, there was not much desire to get the officers to join in.
“What was important was for the men to get enough space to do things themselves”, Mälkki says.
The forest camp model worked, because the people at the time were familiar with it.
Now the default value of war has changed, says Major Mälkki. The Winter War does not work as a model any more.
Weapons systems have developed in such a way that they “communicate from afar”, as officers now say. People have disappeared from the battlefield.
“Consumption warfare” based on superiority in materiel and manpower is from a bygone day. Soldiers do not gather in large numbers in a trench 100 metres long. The fighting takes place in groups of ten.
Teamwork is now the way things are done - in cells and networks. It requires more individuality and personal initiative.
Soldiers need to evaluate how their adversaries might operate. Mechanical obedience will not work here, Laatikainen says. More space needs to be left for the individual, but in such a way that everyone knows their limits.
“One cannot express one’s self limitlessly, but limitless obedience is also not and end in itself. The leaders need to know when it is appropriate to give a total order, which has to be carried out automatically”, Laatikainen says.
Colonel Laatikainen says that openness is expected of soldiers nowadays, and a willingness to voice opinions.
Nowadays Finnish soldiers are well trained, and they have experience from work. This is an advantage, which is used only by the “professional reserve”.
What about the skills of an individual fighter?
The soldiers of the Winter War are remembered for their snow suits and their skis. At that time large numbers of men were moved around on skis, because there were not enough vehicles. Nowadays warfare is faster, and helicopters are needed. Skiing is no longer as important as it was during the Winter War.
Nevertheless, complaints are heard often that today’s young people do not know how to ski. Still, 60-70 per cent of conscripts know how to ski when they start their service. “This is not a real problem”, Laatikainen says.
In his view the most important outdoor skill is orienteering. “I wouldn’t be too worried about that either”, he says. The school system still teaches children both skiing and orienteering.
If someone doesn’t know how to use a knife, the army will teach how to whittle and light a camp fire.
The ability to swim is required of all, and 90 per cent have it when they enter service.
Finns have always been skilful in shooting, a skill which they learned from video games, instead of hunting, as was the case before.
Even professionals use simulators to learn their skills, and do so in realistic surroundings. They are called “serious games”. Major Mälkki says that they should be taken seriously. Some of the perpetrators of school massacres in the United States were surprisingly good shots, thanks to playing games.
“Games train killers, but they lack the guidelines of the laws of war. They teach the misuse of violence. I believe that there will be restrictions on them”, Mälkki says.
Those who are excited by the model shown by video games and movies might be disappointed by an army where the environmental impact of the use of weaponry is taught.
“A Rambo army has never been the goal”, Colonel Laatikainen says.
It has been said that today’s kids are too accustomed to an easy life. Would they freeze in a cold winter?
In the military they are taught early on how to recognise frostbite. They are issued with a field uniform, a composite helmet, gloves, and thermal underwear. They simply need to be used in the right way.
In the Winter War, clothing included a snow suit, boots, a fur hat and a belt. Warm clothing had to be supplied by the men themselves. In the 1920s it was common for conscripts to suffer frostbite. It was common for fingers and toes to be amputated, Mälkki says.
Has a higher standard of living led to greater tendency toward cowardice? It is hard to measure that. People cannot predict how they will react in a crisis, Laakkonen says. The fears of the men in the Winter War are not sufficiently known. After the Second World War the Americans had plenty of psychiatric problems, Mälkki notes.
“Did we get off easier? Or could it be that the traumas were kept inside the families and were passed on from one generation to the next?”
The willingness to fight is not something that would trip up a Finnish soldier. The spirit of national defence is good. When conscripts are asked at the end of their service if they would be willing to defend their country, 85 per cent say that they would.
“If the same would have been asked in the 1930s, the numbers would have been low”, says Mälkki. In 1938 many were doubtful. Some had never travelled beyond their home village, and then they had to go far.
Nowadays young Finns travel around the world, but they are still committed to Finland and this society. They are conscious of the legacy of the Winter War.
When conscripts are asked whom they thank for Finnish independence, they thank the veterans and the members of the Lotta women’s auxiliary, and some express appreciation for everyone who lived on the home front.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Winter+War+soldiers+were+no+superhumans/1135251159006
Winter War soldiers were no superhumans
print this
By Anna-Stina Nykänen
Monday is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Winter War. People still are wondering how Finland prevailed in the war, and whether or not Finnish men of today could handle the conditions of the Winter War today.
Would today’s video game generation even know how to ski? Would they be afraid in the forest? There is much talk of the obesity and poor physical condition of today’s conscripts.
“I don’t recognise Finnish conscripts in the image that is put out in public”, says Colonel Pertti Laatikainen, head of training of the Finnish Defence Forces.
The image of the heroes of the Winter War is also convoluted in many ways, says Major Juha Mälkki. For his doctorate in political science, he studied the composition of the armed forces of the Winter War.
So let’s start busting some of the myths.
There is much talk nowadays about conscripts who do not finish their term of service. Nevertheless, more than 80 per cent of those who are called up for duty complete their military service before turning 30. This is more than in the 1930s, when less than 70 per cent did so. At that time many had tuberculosis, Marjor Mälkki says.
But what is worse, malnutrition, or obesity. Before the Winter War many of the men came from such poor conditions that they were actually malnourished.
Many of today’s soldiers suffer from allergies, and there are rumours of barracks with fungus growing in the structures. However, in the 1920s and 1930s, doctors were very critical of the barracks dating back to Tsarist times, where clothes did not dry, and latrines stank.
Today’s conscripts are healthier than before, and their teeth are also in better condition, although injuries from taking part in sports are more common than they used to be.
The Finnish military did not test the men for physical endurance. There were no Cooper tests. In the Winter War some of the men were in their forties, most of whom had not run much, but they did have endurance.
Now endurance is something that Finnish men achieve while they are serving in the military, which is why today’s conscripts practice more in the field.
The Cooper test results did start declining in the mid-1990s when the Internet became more common. The trend was international, but physical condition tends to improve rapidly during military service. This happens even if a conscript does not run a single step. Four months is enough to reach the target. Front-line soldiers are expected to run an average 2,800 metres in the 12 minutes allotted for the Cooper test. For artillery and anti-aircraft forces, 2,600 metres is enough. Those joining special forces are expected to run over 3,000 metres.
The question of how tough or how easy military service is, is a question of constant debate.
“When I compare it with my own service as s conscript, today’s service is harder”, Colonel Laatikainen says. Mälkki agrees. And although the early stages involve a gradual escalation to guard against injuries, the final stages especially are physically more strenuous.
Six months of service cannot be made much tougher than this without problems emerging. Twenty-year-olds do not notice it themselves that their limbs cannot take any more, Laatikainen says.
Problems in adjusting are easily seen as problems of the present day. The thinking is that today’s kids are such individualists that they become stressed by any expectations of obedience.
However, Major Mälkki notes that conscripts had more psychological problems before the Winter War than they do now.
“The generation of the period was not accustomed to discipline - on the contrary. For instance, int eh 1920s discipline problems were very common”, he says.
Nowadays it is thought that young people are spoiled with too much freedom, but forest Finns who grew up in the back woods were a case unto themselves.
“The Army was the first time that they came face to face with the rest of society. Many of them had not even been to school. Today’s young men are accustomed to control already since day care”, Mälkki says.
After the Civil War, military service was based on severe discipline and drills. Those who could not adjust were placed in punitive brigades. In the 1930s the approach was slightly more humane.
Now the adjustment period to the institution takes from four to six weeks, involving adaptation to operating in a group of people.
“The military is still a massive culture shock, as it involves living together at such close quarters. Then you learn whom you can trust, and who needs help”, Laatikainen says.
About 40 per cent of young people in Finland suffer from mental health problems and behaviour disorders, and that can also be seen in the military.
“But if the same test had been in use in 1939 the percentage would have been the same”, Mälkki says.
The miracle of the Winter War is an expression that is used when trying to express how a small nation managed to stay united and overcome a larger adversary. Mälkki says that it did not exactly go like that.
“The miracle of the Winter War is a myth”.
Mälkki has gone through the memoirs of the men who went through the war in his doctoral dissertation in social history, which appeared last year under the title Herrat, jätkät ja sotataito - Kansalaissotilas- ja ammattisotilasarmeijan rakentuminen 1920- ja 1930-luvulla (“Gentlemen, Lads and the Art of War - the Construction of the Citizen-Soldier and Professional Soldier Armies into the Miracle of the Winter War During the 1920s and 1930s”).
Men often spoke of the Winter War as a kind of forest camp, where sublime ideologies did not feel like much in the severity of reality.
“Even war was a job that had to be done. Or to borrow from the language of real forest camps, the lads did not necessarily appreciate the bosses, but they did their jobs.”
Many felt that the war was a war of the upper classes. There was a tension between the superiors and the lads, which gave rise to an eagerness to fight.
When the job got underway, there was not much desire to get the officers to join in.
“What was important was for the men to get enough space to do things themselves”, Mälkki says.
The forest camp model worked, because the people at the time were familiar with it.
Now the default value of war has changed, says Major Mälkki. The Winter War does not work as a model any more.
Weapons systems have developed in such a way that they “communicate from afar”, as officers now say. People have disappeared from the battlefield.
“Consumption warfare” based on superiority in materiel and manpower is from a bygone day. Soldiers do not gather in large numbers in a trench 100 metres long. The fighting takes place in groups of ten.
Teamwork is now the way things are done - in cells and networks. It requires more individuality and personal initiative.
Soldiers need to evaluate how their adversaries might operate. Mechanical obedience will not work here, Laatikainen says. More space needs to be left for the individual, but in such a way that everyone knows their limits.
“One cannot express one’s self limitlessly, but limitless obedience is also not and end in itself. The leaders need to know when it is appropriate to give a total order, which has to be carried out automatically”, Laatikainen says.
Colonel Laatikainen says that openness is expected of soldiers nowadays, and a willingness to voice opinions.
Nowadays Finnish soldiers are well trained, and they have experience from work. This is an advantage, which is used only by the “professional reserve”.
What about the skills of an individual fighter?
The soldiers of the Winter War are remembered for their snow suits and their skis. At that time large numbers of men were moved around on skis, because there were not enough vehicles. Nowadays warfare is faster, and helicopters are needed. Skiing is no longer as important as it was during the Winter War.
Nevertheless, complaints are heard often that today’s young people do not know how to ski. Still, 60-70 per cent of conscripts know how to ski when they start their service. “This is not a real problem”, Laatikainen says.
In his view the most important outdoor skill is orienteering. “I wouldn’t be too worried about that either”, he says. The school system still teaches children both skiing and orienteering.
If someone doesn’t know how to use a knife, the army will teach how to whittle and light a camp fire.
The ability to swim is required of all, and 90 per cent have it when they enter service.
Finns have always been skilful in shooting, a skill which they learned from video games, instead of hunting, as was the case before.
Even professionals use simulators to learn their skills, and do so in realistic surroundings. They are called “serious games”. Major Mälkki says that they should be taken seriously. Some of the perpetrators of school massacres in the United States were surprisingly good shots, thanks to playing games.
“Games train killers, but they lack the guidelines of the laws of war. They teach the misuse of violence. I believe that there will be restrictions on them”, Mälkki says.
Those who are excited by the model shown by video games and movies might be disappointed by an army where the environmental impact of the use of weaponry is taught.
“A Rambo army has never been the goal”, Colonel Laatikainen says.
It has been said that today’s kids are too accustomed to an easy life. Would they freeze in a cold winter?
In the military they are taught early on how to recognise frostbite. They are issued with a field uniform, a composite helmet, gloves, and thermal underwear. They simply need to be used in the right way.
In the Winter War, clothing included a snow suit, boots, a fur hat and a belt. Warm clothing had to be supplied by the men themselves. In the 1920s it was common for conscripts to suffer frostbite. It was common for fingers and toes to be amputated, Mälkki says.
Has a higher standard of living led to greater tendency toward cowardice? It is hard to measure that. People cannot predict how they will react in a crisis, Laakkonen says. The fears of the men in the Winter War are not sufficiently known. After the Second World War the Americans had plenty of psychiatric problems, Mälkki notes.
“Did we get off easier? Or could it be that the traumas were kept inside the families and were passed on from one generation to the next?”
The willingness to fight is not something that would trip up a Finnish soldier. The spirit of national defence is good. When conscripts are asked at the end of their service if they would be willing to defend their country, 85 per cent say that they would.
“If the same would have been asked in the 1930s, the numbers would have been low”, says Mälkki. In 1938 many were doubtful. Some had never travelled beyond their home village, and then they had to go far.
Nowadays young Finns travel around the world, but they are still committed to Finland and this society. They are conscious of the legacy of the Winter War.
When conscripts are asked whom they thank for Finnish independence, they thank the veterans and the members of the Lotta women’s auxiliary, and some express appreciation for everyone who lived on the home front.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Winter+War+soldiers+were+no+superhumans/1135251159006