Did the Baltic states support Finland against USSR

[pinjarra]

Did any of the Baltic states support Finland efforts against the USSR, or were they just observing the outcome and then officially recognize the success by establishing diplomatic recognition before they were annexed by the USSR, not exactly sure of timelines in regard to the history of the events

[Mangrove]

If you are referring to the Winter War, the Baltic states declared their neutrality on 8 December 1939. However, the war diary of the Finnish Navy contains a coded message, also dated 8 December 1939, referring to eleven aeroplanes to be flown from Estonia to Finland. None of these planes arrived to Finland.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi pinjarra,

It wasn't really practicable for the Baltic States to display support for Finland as they had just been obliged to accept Red Army garrisons on their soil following their allocation to the Soviet sphere of influence by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Finland had also been allocated to the Soviet sphere by the same pact and Moscow initially hoped that it could place similar garrisons in Finland with equal impunity. However, the Finns were in a better position to resist than Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and did so. The Winter War was the result.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Seppo Koivisto]

There was Finnish–Estonian military co-operation before the war, but it had to be kept secret during the Winter War. About 100 Estonian volunteers served in the Winter War, the exact number is not known.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish%E ... ooperation

During the Continuation War Estonian volunteers served in the Finnish Army and made about 10% of the rank and file of the Finnish Navy,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erna_long ... ance_group
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_I ... giment_200
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=35868&start=75#p2229600

[Juha Tompuri]

A memory from the past:

Hi AAA,

It may be relevant - interestingly, two former Latvian army crypto specialist captain K.Porietis and warrant officer Pauls Eizenbergs claimed in their memoirs post WW-II that Latvia has broken soviet codes in the mid-30's, and were supplying radio intel to Finland during the winter war. Unfortunately, there is no direct evidence ever come to light to back up their claims, which is not surprising considering the secret nature of such things, the delicate situation of Latvia at the time (there were soviet bases present already), and the full occupation following in the summer of '40.

According to Raimo Heiskanen book Saadun Tiedon Mukaan (According to the info received) Finnish embassy member at Latvia, Riga, possibly it's chief, Minister Palin, was, during the Winter War, in contact with some foreign intelligence service member.
The info received was clearly get by radio intelligence service. The common language (between the source and Finns) seems to have been german. It is unlikely that the info had came from German sources, but from Latvian Defence Forces intelligence unit.
Ambassador Palin telegammed (56 telegrams between Dec-39 - March-40) to Finland for example about the troubles etc of the Red Army, Air Force and Navy at Latvia during the winter 39-40.

A Finnish language Latvian origin travel guide(!) to Riga/Latvia: Riika matkaopas by Andris Kolbergs mentions about the issue that Latvian Army radio intelligence officers broke Soviet coded radio messages and delivered them then to the Finns. Their superriors mostly were not aware of the work. General Krišjānis Berķis whose wife was finnish probably knew about it.
The Latvian code breaking is said to have helped Finns mostly against the 168th, 18th and 75th div North of Lake Ladoga, against 163th and 44th div at Suomussalmi-Raate region and against 54th div and Dolin ski brigade at Kuhmo region.

Regards, Juha