Finland suggestion to destory Leningrad in 1941?

Discussions on the Winter War and Continuation War, the wars between Finland and the USSR.
Hosted by Juha Tompuri
Post Reply
Panzermahn
Member
Posts: 3639
Joined: 13 Jul 2002, 04:51
Location: Malaysia

Finland suggestion to destory Leningrad in 1941?

#1

Post by Panzermahn » 31 Jan 2004, 03:40

I read from an exceprt from David Irving's Hitler's War mentioned that

"the finns suggested that the lake ladoga be diverted to the Gulf of Finland where the water level were few meters lower- to swept away Leningrad"

anyone knew about this?

User avatar
Ike_FI
Member
Posts: 578
Joined: 04 Dec 2002, 22:32
Location: Helsinki. Finland

Re: Finland suggestion to destory Leningrad in 1941?

#2

Post by Ike_FI » 31 Jan 2004, 16:35

panzermahn wrote:I read from an exceprt from David Irving's Hitler's War mentioned that

"the finns suggested that the lake ladoga be diverted to the Gulf of Finland where the water level were few meters lower- to swept away Leningrad"

anyone knew about this?
Sounds like quite a wild theory. Lake Ladoga is naturally connected to the Gulf of Finland by the Neva river but the height difference is only some four meters while the river itself is some 70 km:s long - so causing a destructive flood would be quite difficult. Also, if I remember correctly from my long since happened visit to Leningrad, Neva's river banks were high enough to handle almost anything imaginable.


User avatar
Harri
Member
Posts: 4230
Joined: 24 Jun 2002, 12:46
Location: Suomi - Finland

#3

Post by Harri » 31 Jan 2004, 18:48

Sounds quite impossible to me too. There simply isn't enough difference between the levels of water of the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga.

User avatar
Askold
Member
Posts: 1848
Joined: 23 Mar 2002, 09:30
Location: Ukraine
Contact:

#4

Post by Askold » 01 Feb 2004, 22:51

According to Rosenberg's original plan, area of Leningrad was to become part of "Greater Finland".

User avatar
Harri
Member
Posts: 4230
Joined: 24 Jun 2002, 12:46
Location: Suomi - Finland

#5

Post by Harri » 01 Feb 2004, 23:35

Germans had many plans and many of these were their own intentions. Finns had thought that if (sic!) Germany will win the war Finland is not allowed to get Leningrad anyway, so Finns suggested that the River Neva would become a new border. That same was also one of the reasons why Finns didn't want to attack against Leningrad in 1941/42.

Greater Finland had been the day dream of some right wing intellectuals, politicians and soldiers in Finland since the beginning of 20th Century. But instead we got even greater USSR... :|

Hurricane
Member
Posts: 62
Joined: 23 Jul 2003, 13:39
Location: Finland

#6

Post by Hurricane » 02 Feb 2004, 09:41

Finland was never interested in Leningrad for lots of reasons, one that it simply was too big. The population of Leningrad was about the same size as that of Finland.

Witch-King of Angmar
Member
Posts: 915
Joined: 28 Feb 2003, 21:40
Location: Europe

#7

Post by Witch-King of Angmar » 02 Feb 2004, 15:34

Hurricane wrote:Finland was never interested in Leningrad for lots of reasons, one that it simply was too big. The population of Leningrad was about the same size as that of Finland.
Hitler could give a hand in dealing with surplus populations... :D :P :wink:

~The Witch-King of Angmar

Gespenst
Member
Posts: 298
Joined: 22 May 2003, 00:38
Location: Finland

#8

Post by Gespenst » 02 Feb 2004, 23:50

On an off-topic note about the wording "Greater Finland" (Suur-Suomi),
the original concept was idealized by Estonian Konstantin Päts to mean
an union between Estonia and Finland. This was in the 1910's or 20's iirc.

Sami_K
Member
Posts: 200
Joined: 10 Apr 2002, 08:46
Location: Finland

#9

Post by Sami_K » 03 Feb 2004, 11:32

Witch-King of Angmar wrote:
~The Witch-King of Angmar
You're the same dude who got his ass whooped by a girl and a midget?!?!?
:D

JariL
Member
Posts: 425
Joined: 15 Mar 2002, 09:45
Location: Finland

#10

Post by JariL » 03 Feb 2004, 15:55

>Hitler could give a hand in dealing with surplus populations...

This is not a very good joke. That was exactly the German plan. Role of Finns would have been that of a bystander who did nothing. Germans asked Finns if they had any interest in Leningrad and Finnish government replied no. Finnish stand was dictated by the fact that the population of Leningrad in 1939 was about the same as the whole of Finland. It would have been very interesting outcome, if the war that was aimed to save Finland from Russian dominance, would have created a state where half the population were Russians.

Regards,

Jari

Malarkey
Member
Posts: 14
Joined: 02 Jan 2004, 02:27
Location: Spain

#11

Post by Malarkey » 15 Aug 2004, 01:18

Hitler had plans of the complete destruction of Leningrad, because of the symbolic meaning that had this city for the Soviet Union (the second city of the country; the former capital; the place where started the Soviet Revolution, etc.)
Plans like the destruction or Warsaw, and some other places.. But the wild russian winters didnt let Hitler complete his plans.

PD: I have a relative who was killed in the german lines in the Leningrad Blockade. We took part in the spanish "blue division".

User avatar
Christian W.
Member
Posts: 2494
Joined: 10 Aug 2004, 19:26
Location: Vantaa, Finland

#12

Post by Christian W. » 16 Aug 2004, 13:44

Well, there was a lot of talk about sending Finnish troops to Leningrad, however, in March 4th, 1943, after the defeat of German troops in Stalingrad, Marshal Mannerheim said this to General Enfurth, who was his contact officer in the German army, " Minä en hyökkää enää. Olen menettänyt jo liian paljon väkeä! " ( Same in English, " I wont attack anymore! I have lost too many men already! ). After Enfurth had told this to his superiors, the plan was rejected.

Post Reply

Return to “Winter War & Continuation War”