Very cool. One question though: how was the Mosin-Nagant the mainstay weapon of the Finnish Army during the Winter War? I though the Mosin was a Russian weapon, and if I remember correctly Finland was sort of at war with them. And they only fell into the Soviet shere after WW2. Was Finalnd friendly with Imperial Russia, and maybe that's how they got it?
Anyway, this goes a ways towards improving my stereotype of Finns as bland, polite, peaceful people.
edit:note to self, check Wikipedia before asking questions.
Yeah... They purchaced loads and loads of them before the war, some were remnants of Russian Army, and some were manufactured by us ourselves. Actually, the M28-30 was probably not
the most common, that was my mistake; that honour I think falls to other Mosin-Nagant, namely a 1891 model called
Lotta. M28-30 was, however, common throughout the wars.
Prior to 1917, Finland was part of the Russian Empire, and military units were equipped with the various models of the Russian-made M1891 Mosin-Nagant bolt-action service rifle. After gaining independence, Finland purchased many more Mosin rifles abroad, primarily Austrian- and German-captured Russian rifles from World War I. These older rifles were usually refurbished; this process could be as minimal as a Finnish Army property stamp and a new sling or as drastic as a complete redesign, with new stocks, fittings, sights, triggers, and more accurate barrels. The Finnish army and Civil Guard designed and manufactured several new models of Mosin-Nagants, using original French, Russian, and American receivers. Finland never manufactured receivers, relying instead on existing receivers from its stockpiles of purchased and captured Soviet rifles. During the Winter War of 1939-40, and the Continuation War of 1941-44, Finland captured additional Mosin-Nagant rifles from the Soviets in huge quantities. Finland also purchased these rifles from Spain, left over from the Spanish Civil War, and from Nazi Germany's stockpile of captured arms. Many of these rifles were simply reissued for use.
The Finnish army continued refurbishing and reissuing Mosin-Nagants well after its wars with the USSR were over. There are Finnish M1939s with barrel dating into the early 1970s, when they were issued as officer training rifles. Finland still issues the 7.62 TaK 85, a substantially modified and modernized sniper rifle built on the Mosin-Nagant action.
Models of Finnish Mosin-Nagant rifles were identified by numbers: M/91-M24 Lotta rifle, M27, M28 and M28-30 Pystykorva, and M39 Ukko-Pekka. It is worth noting that Finnish rifles M27, 28, 28-30, and 39 were issued with knife bayonets instead of the standard Soviet quadangular socket bayonet.
Finnish Mosin-Nagants are known for their accuracy and dependability. The famous Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä is widely considered to be the most successful in history, and used the M28 Pystykorva rifle.
So there were both old originally Russian M-N's in the country as well as weapons that were kind of "reverse-engineered", made in Finnish weapon factories by slightly modified designs. By the time of Winter War, I think the newer M27's, M28's and M28-30's were phasing out the older M91 models, but I don't know the proportions of them in the troops in 1939. It is certain, though, that as the war cought us partially with our pants down I suppose almost all the weapons they could muster were sent to the frontlines, including the older rifles.
Another one, not quite as badass as Häyhä but almost:
Ilmari Juutilainen.
Finnish WW2 fighter pilot. Generally considered higest-scoring non-German fighter pilot ever. Whopping 437 sorties, 94 confirmed kills,
not a single hit from enemy guns. Once he had to return to base after being hit by friendly AAA. He also never lost his wingman in battle.
I don't think theres any chance in hell that it was mere luck... I mean, 437 sorties and nearly hundred kills without ever being hit by enemy.
If you don't think this qualifies as badassery, try doing the samy in IL-2 Sturmovik FB, preferably by the same planes Juutilainen flew - unfortunatley Fokker DXXI is not available, but Brewster B-239 and Messerschmitt Bf-109 G-6 and G-10 are. Try it. With all realism settings on. You wont manage it even with easier realism settings.
