shelling of Mainila

The Soviet Union had signed international and mutual nonaggression treaties with Finland: the Treaty of Tartu of 1920, the Non-aggression Pact between Finland and the Soviet Union signed in 1932 and again in 1934, and further the Charter of the League of Nations. The Soviet government attempted to adhere to a tradition of legalism, and a casus belli was required for war. Earlier in the same year, Nazi Germany had staged the similar Gleiwitz incident to generate an excuse to withdraw from its nonaggression pact with Poland. Also the Soviet war games held in March 1938 and 1939 had been based on a scenario where border incidents taking place at the village of Mainila would have sparked the war.{{cite book |last=Leskinen | first=Jari |trans-title=Hushed bridge of Finland |title=Vaiettu Suomen silta |year=1997 |pages=406–407 |trans-chapter=Blockade of the Gulf of Finland and the Soviet Union |chapter=Suomenlahden sulku ja Neuvostoliitto |language=fi |isbn=951-710-050-7 |publisher=Hakapaino Oy |location=Helsinki}}

Seven shots were fired, and three Finnish observation posts detected their fall. These witnesses estimated that the shells detonated approximately {{convert|800|m|sp=us}} inside Soviet territory.{{Cite book|title = A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939–1940|last = Trotter|first = William R.|publisher = Algonquin Books|year = 2000|isbn = 978-1565122499|pages = 21}} Finland proposed a neutral investigation of the incident, but the Soviet Union refused and broke diplomatic relations with Finland on November 29.Heikkonen, Esko – Ojakoski, Matti: Muutosten maailma 4, {{ISBN|978-951-0-33919-0}}, WSOY, 2004 p. 125

Materials in the private archives of Soviet party leader Andrei Zhdanov show that the incident was orchestrated to paint Finland as an aggressor and launch an offensive.Manninen, Ohto: Molotovin cocktail-Hitlerin sateenvarjo, 1995 The Finnish side denied responsibility for the attacks and identified Soviet artillery as their source—indeed, the war diaries of nearby Finnish artillery batteries show that Mainila was out of range of all of them, as they had been withdrawn to prevent such incidents.Leskinen, Jari – Juutilainen, Antti (edit.): Talvisodan pikkujättiläinen, {{ISBN|978-951-0-23536-2}}, WSOY, 2006

The Soviet Union then renounced the non-aggression pact with Finland and, on 30 November 1939, launched the first offensives of the Winter War.

File:Foreign journalists in Mainila 1939-11-29.jpg

John Gunther, an American journalist and author wrote in December 1939 that the incident "was as clumsy and obviously fabricated as all such 'incidents' have been since Mukden in 1931".{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.149663/2015.149663.Inside-Europe#page/n17/mode/2up | title=Inside Europe | publisher=Harper & Brothers | author=Gunther, John |location=New York|author-link=John Gunther| year=1940 | page=xx}} The Finns conducted an immediate investigation, which concluded that no Finnish artillery or mortars could have reached the village of Mainila. Field Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim had ordered all Finnish guns drawn back out of range. Finnish border guards testified they had heard the sound of artillery fire from the Soviet side of the border.

Russian historian Pavel Aptekar analyzed declassified Soviet military documents and found that the daily reports from troops in the area did not report any losses in personnel during the time period in question, leading him to conclude that the shelling of Soviet troops was staged.Pavel Aptekar in article [http://www.rkka.ru/analys/mainila/mainila.htm Casus Belli] using casualty reports as sources (Там же Оп.10 Д.1095 Л.37,42,106.130,142) {{in lang|ru}}

In his 1970 memoir, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote on the start of the Winter War: "We had fired our salvo, and the Finns had replied with artillery fire of their own. De facto, the war had begun. There is, of course, another version of the facts: it's said that the Finns started shooting first and that we were compelled to shoot back. It's always like that when people start a war. They say, "You fired the first shot," or "You slapped me first, and I'm only hitting back."{{Cite book|last=Khrushchev|first=Nikita Sergeevich|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/203242|title=Khrushchev remembers|date=1971|publisher=Deutsch|others=Edward Crankshaw, Strobe Talbott|isbn=0-233-96338-3|location=London|pages=161|oclc=203242}}

On 18 May 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin denounced the Winter War, saying it had been a war of aggression.Yeltsin's joint press conference with President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari at the Kremlin on 18 May 1994; [https://web.archive.org/web/20090202164646/http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=25907 Many Karelias] Virtual Finland, November 2001, archived 2 February 2009 from [http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=25907 the original] {{in lang|fi}}

File:Shells addressed to Mainila.jpgs on 31 August 1941 before the 1941 shelling of Mainila]]

During the Continuation War, the 18th Division of the Finnish Army reached Rajajoki on 31 August 1941 and started preparations for taking the village of Mainila. Their division commander Colonel Pajari recognized the propaganda value and arranged for an artillery strike on the village to be witnessed by combat camera personnel,{{Cite book|title= Suomi suursodassa|page = 137|year = 1988|author = Antila, Olavi|publisher = Gummerus|isbn = 951-99836-4-3}} and the village was taken a couple of days later. In his report to HQ in Mikkeli, Pajari stated that "on 31st August 1941 the 18th division conducted the Shelling of Mainila."

• Background of the Winter War
• Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
• Operation Himmler
• Gleiwitz incident
• Mukden Incident – Another false flag attack

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=Robert|title=White Death: Russia's War on Finland 1939–40|year=2006|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|location=London, UK|isbn=978-0-297-84630-7|ref=Edwards2006}}
• {{cite book|editor1-first=Jari|editor1-last=Leskinen|editor2-first=Antti|editor2-last=Juutilainen|title=Talvisodan pikkujättiläinen|edition=1st|publisher=Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö|year=1999 |pages=976|language=fi|isbn=951-0-23536-9}}
• {{cite book|last1=Trotter|first1=William R.|author-link1=William R. Trotter|title=The Winter war: The Russo-Finnish War of 1939–40|edition=5th|year=2002|orig-year=1991|publisher=Workman Publishing Company (Great Britain: Aurum Press)|location=New York/London|isbn=1-85410-881-6|quote=First published in the United States under the title A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939–40|ref=Trotter2002}}

• [http://www.around.spb.ru/finnish/docs/dir0note.php Diplomatic correspondence between Finnish and Russian Governments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070316031633/http://www.around.spb.ru/finnish/docs/dir0note.php |date=2007-03-16 }} {{in lang|ru}}

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Category:1939 in Finland

Category:1939 in the Soviet Union

Category:Political history of Finland

Category:Finland–Soviet Union relations

Category:Military history of the Soviet Union during World War II

Category:False flag operations

Category:Propaganda in the Soviet Union

Category:Winter War

Category:World War II deception operations

Category:November 1939 in Europe

Category:Kurortny District