Winter War · War Crimes & Atrocities

The Darkest Hours

The Winter War was not primarily characterized by deliberate atrocities against civilians in the manner of some other 20th-century conflicts, but Soviet forces committed documented war crimes and caused significant civilian suffering. The systematic bombing of Finnish civilian population centers from the first hours of the war, in violation of international law, killed and wounded hundreds of civilians and constituted one of the most internationally condemned acts of aggression of the early war period. Soviet forces occupying brief stretches of Finnish territory also committed documented acts of violence against civilians in border villages. The bombing campaign was significant enough to be cited by the League of Nations as a primary reason for the USSR's expulsion — the only expulsion in that body's history.