Befuddled Soviet riflemen floundering through deep snow and sub-zero temperatures while they froze to death. Russian tanks and their hapless crews set ablaze by Molotov cocktails. Soviet paratroopers jumping from airplanes without parachutes, hoping that a snowbank will cushion their fall.
These are the enduring images of Russia and Finland at war. Though the story about Soviet paratroopers jumping without parachutes is apparently a myth, the popular story of the Russo-Finnish conflict of World War Two remains a David versus Goliath tale of outnumbered but nimble Finnish ski troops zipping around massive but clumsy Soviet divisions. It's a sort of Nordic version of the Confederate narrative of the Civil War, with Jeb Stuart's cavalry making fools of the inept Yankees.
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