Mark V wrote:
So that facts are not forgotten - on average it is much colder in Russian heartland than in Finland during winters.
I guess winter could not be used as an excuse.
Despite this, the Red Army still lacked some essential equipment, like winter camouflage suits and field accomodation for winter.
The winter of 1939-40 broke long-term meteorological records in its severity all over Europe, and casualties from frostbite or hypothermia must have been significant for anyone not prepared.
Sometimes even advancing Russian patrols were protecting their ears from freezing by covering them with the flaps of their
budyonovka caps, which of course dampens all sounds that can be heard. Finnish front guards would not make that mistake, and they could hear from distance the "neighbour" approaching, which made all the difference in preparing an ambush.
Finnish troops were equipped with white winter camouflage suits, skis (and the skill how to use them) that gave them superior tactical mobility, and they had tents with wood-burning furnaces that could be packed in
ahkio sleighs pulled by the skiers, so they could quickly set up their camps anywhere to warm up and rest without attracting attention.
On the contrary, Russian troops lacking these facilities sometimes lit up huge bonfires to warm themselves up that could be seen miles away. While the soldiers gathered around it in their false sense of security, Finnish ski patrols would sometimes sneak in on them and open automatic fire at close range with their Suomi submachine guns. Needless to say, the results were devastating.
The Red Army took the Winter War lessons very seriously, and there is general agreement that the Red Army of the Continuation war was an entirely different adversary.