Finnish propaganda during the Winter War

I was compelled to write something about war propaganda, so here goes.

In 1937 Finland established Propaganda Union and Finlandia News Service-news agency which was responsible for publicizing about the Winter War. Two years later, just before the war, Finnish army raised their state of readiness and founded headquarters propaganda division which sent newspapers to the soldiers on the boarder. Soldiers were also provided a possibility to listen radio to keep in touch of the situation. In the beginning of the war Finland had 60 propagandists, mostly civilians.

The Red Army attack against Finland was launched in November 30^th 6.50 a.m. with artillery fire, although the Soviet air force had already bombed Finish towns few day’s earlier. The attack was a major win for Finn’s in propaganda sense. Western press turned their attention to Finland and visions of a gigantic Soviet Union mangling small but resilient Finland started to spread in people's mind. At this point Finnish propaganda system wasn't organized well enough but because of the Olympics that were supposed to be in Helsinki 1940, many foreign reporters were already in Finland. They became war reporters instead of sport journalists.

According to Juhani Kaskeala, the former commander of the Finnish army, well planned propaganda operations played a part not until in the end of the Winter War and in the Continuation War (25^th of June 1941 - 19^th of September 1944) when eleven publicizing companies (TK-company) were established. People working in these companies were mainly civilians: journalists, writers, artists, radio reporters and advertisers. During the war they worked as front correspondents, reporters, photographers, front guides and film makers. The focus of the Finnish propaganda was especially in the welfare of the troops. Entertaining, newsletters and pictures were the most important ways of propaganda in the home front because they had the most positive influence on the soldiers mind.

When Soviet Union had attacked Finland, the Finn's starter radio propaganda towards the Soviet troops. Also flyers and loudspeakers were used to tell the enemy that it is useless for them to fight and how they would only face death in the cold conditions and snow filled woods. In it's entirety Finnish propaganda didn't gained such magnitude as in other countries during the Second World War, mostly because of the order of C.G.E Mannerheim, the Marshall of Finland, and the censorship, which was already in effect during the war. Despite this, newspapers reflected the hatred and hostility towards the Soviet Union.

Propaganda was used in four different ways: against Soviet troops, moral boost for own troops, propaganda for the civilians at home and propaganda towards others countries. This was done by sending newsletters to foreign press, mostly to Scandinavian countries, but also to the USA, Great Britain, Germany and Italy. This was suppose to enhance positive thinking towards Finland and it's efforts in fighting the invading Soviet troops.

Jani