Soviet bombing of Finland 1939-1940

Discussions on the Winter War and Continuation War, the wars between Finland and the USSR.
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Seppo Koivisto
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Re: Soviet bombing of Finland 1939-1940

#31

Post by Seppo Koivisto » 09 Jun 2012, 11:29

A fully functioning Russian 1,5 kg fire bomb was kept as souvenir in family for 60 years.
Image
Larger picture here:
http://img.yle.fi/uutiset/incoming/arti ... ATES/w960/
http://yle.fi/uutiset/vaarallinen_palop ... ta/6171966#
http://www.ess.fi/?article=373941

varjag
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Re: Soviet bombing of Finland 1939-1940

#32

Post by varjag » 09 Jun 2012, 11:50

Thank you Seppo Koivisto, nice picture
A fully functioning Russian 1,5 kg fire bomb .....
Or a ZAB-/AO-2½kg... perhaps???? Remarkably similar to these in casettes....(scroll down)

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 4&start=15

If the thing didn't function, when it arrived in Finland 60 years earlier, I reccon the risk of it becoming nasty - was nonexistant :roll:

But old fireworks, no matter how harmless - always rips down a Police reaction.....

Regards, Varjag


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Juha Tompuri
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Re: Soviet bombing of Finland 1939-1940

#33

Post by Juha Tompuri » 09 Jun 2012, 22:51

Thank you Slon for the info here.

Regards, Juha

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Juha Tompuri
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Re: Soviet bombing of Finland 1939-1940

#34

Post by Juha Tompuri » 24 Jul 2012, 21:15

OJJE wrote:Rakennusmestari Kalle Kauto tells that the repair work on the important brigde began immediately after the bombing. Military engineers (they also had an repair train containing all of the tools) and also got help from specially trained members of the VR's workshop in Oulu to help speed up the repairs, and the brigde was repaird and reinforced within a couple of days, its seems they replaced the destryed support beams. The repair work was done in temperatures of -30 c. It does not seem that the bridge got any hits after the initial bombing.
A photo from book Talvisodan Historia 4 (History of Winter War)
Attachments
vaala.1.JPG
"Soviet AF tried to harass specially the (military) transport by bombing railway bridges.
Vaala railway bridge, repaired by the 10th railway repair Company "

varjag
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Re: Soviet bombing of Finland 1939-1940

#35

Post by varjag » 25 Jul 2012, 13:40

Thanks for that post Juha! And YES, railway bridges - were probably the prime target for the Soviet bombers in the Winter War.
There are three different, but discernable, target groups for the bombing. And the primary - was the Finnish railways.
More sorties were flown against railway bridges, junctions, stations and associated resources such as turntables - than any other in the entire bombing campaign. Secondary - was ports and harbours. And as third - came industrial cities - which, not seldom also - were railway junctions.
The railway bridge at Tiukka -
rail-bridge at Tiukka.JPG
rail-bridge at Tiukka.JPG (39.77 KiB) Viewed 777 times
- was attacked on 29th January 1940. About thirty 50-Kg bombs fell.....but with the sloppy bombing aim - the bridge remained intact. Nor were any persons in the hamlet around the bridgehead killed or wounded.
It was reported, that a large number of the Russian bombs - were duds..... :P
As evidence, the good citizens of nearby Kristiinankaupunki (Kristinestad), have preserved -
a little memorial.jpg
a little memorial.jpg (70.66 KiB) Viewed 777 times
to the incident. And - perhaps to explain the -
splinterchips in foundations.JPG
splinterchips in foundations.JPG (30.55 KiB) Viewed 777 times
The Tiukka bombing, is also evidence of the somewhat diletantic russian approach to bombing. Tiukka, was well beyond the reach of the most common Soviet aircraft - the SB. So - they risked their far less expendable DB-3 aircraft to hit this railway bridge. I say three DB-3, as their standard bomb-magazines held 2 rows of 5 bombs each = 10 x 3 a/c = 30 bombs.

Now railway bridges, are notoriously difficult targets to hit and damage, especially with the ''level bombing'' tactics used by the soviets.
Still, after two months of bombing - the russians refused to recognise that to hit and destroy such a target - U do not send three bombers. U send three-hundred!

A distinct lack of ''concentrated bombing'' - is evident, with few exceptions in the 1939-1940 Soviet bombing campaign.

Varjag

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Harri
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Re: Soviet bombing of Finland 1939-1940

#36

Post by Harri » 02 Aug 2012, 16:33

Also the war diary of Kymenlaakson suojeluskuntapiirin esikunta (Kym.skp.E / Ky.Sk.PE) [HQ / Kymmene Dahl Civil Guard District] contains detailled information on Soviet bombings and their results (in Finnish only):

http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=1542046

It covers the area around the cities of Kouvola, Hamina and Kotka which were heavily bombed during the Winter War. This is the type-written version of the diary but unfortunately it is in "picture format", not in "text format".

Also shot-down Soviet planes are mentioned. The dates are unclear in the marginal but I think can connected to actual happenings comparing to other sources.

There are also interesting information on the "panic-like situation" of the Finnish coastal defence in March 1940.

varjag
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Re: Soviet bombing of Finland 1939-1940

#37

Post by varjag » 03 Aug 2012, 04:14

Thank you Harri - and I'm sure, very interesting. But, alas - I cannot avail myself of it as I do not command Finnish :roll:

best rgds, Varjag

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