A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-40

by William R. Trotter

Release Date: January, 2000

Edition: Paperback

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Important book about an under-reported conflict

Unfortunately, the Russo-Finnish war is usually given short shrift in most histories of WWII. This, in spite of the fact that it resulted in hundreds of thousands of casulties, in spite of the fact the Finns performed some of the most brilliant feats of arms in modern history, and, in spite of the fact that the Western Allies sacrficed the Finns on the alter of political "necessity".

The courageous, remarkable defense of their homeland by the Finns in the face of insurmountable odds is no less inspiring or intriguing for its ultimate futility. With an even hand, Trotter guides the reader through the ferocious Finnish winter, and takes us into the minds of both Russian and Finnish soldiers as they fight in some of the most appalling battlefield conditions ever.

In conclusion, my sysmpathy for the Finns is obvious, as is Trotter's, but don't doubt that this is a serious work of history. Trotter deals judiciously with all parties to the conflict based on fact; popular mythology plays no role in this work.

Balanced view of Russo-Finnish Winter War

I have read both William R. Trotter's "A Frozen Hell" and Engle & Paananen's "The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940". In addition to these books I am in the process of reading 2 books by Max Jakobson, one of which is specifically on the Winter War, as well as a number of academic journal articles on Finland between 1937-1945.

Trotter has done a great job of recounting the Winter War from both the Finnish and Russian political and military perspecives, using available documents. I am an American-Finn who is very proud of my Finnish heritage, yet I was not insulted by Trotter's treatment of the Russian perspective at all - it was very enlightning. I prefer to understand ALL the "why?"s surrounding an event as momentous as the Winter War. It is nice to have some idea what the Russian reasoning and motives were, even if I don't agree with them. Life is rarely black and white as we would like it to be.

The short biography of Marshall Mannerheim in the beginning was especially useful. Understanding the man sheds light on his actions and opinions. It also explains a bit of the history of Russian-Finnish relations as well.

Improvements: More maps would be very helpful. Also, as a Finnish speaking American I can appreciate Trotter's attempt to make understanding easier for non-finnish speakers, however the occasional reference to places in Finn-glish was a slight annoyance. An example would be "... east of Lake Kuokj�rvi" where the word "Lake" is redundant because the name of the place says it is a lake. This is a very picky detail and does not detract from the content.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading "A Frozen Hell". The more balanced and objective view taken by Trotter does not take away from the heroics and Sisu of the Finns. I also appreciated inclusion of a more detailed explanation on the surrounding political climate/situations.