Profile image

Finland and it's might

41.5k MrVaultech  5.9 years ago

This post is for this and this.
Why I'm partaking in this? I dunno.
Anyways, this'll just be a bit of a list of random stuffs, so yay.


The Finnish combined arm, while consisting mainly of foreign weapons (when counting ground and air vehicles), is still respectably large for the weak economy and industry base compared to larger neighboring countries.
Most handheld weapons, like rifles and handguns, are natively built by Aimo Lahti, bolstering confidence in native equipment with their effectiveness and reliability.
But with this out of the way, lets talk of Finnish equipment in three categories;

Ground Vehicles
Historically by 1940, a number of Finnish armored vehicles were bolstered by the Soviet Union after the Winter War, mainly captured vehicles.
But considering that never happened apparently, Finland's armored forces are a bit lacking.
A majority of the tanks Finland owned were exported Vickers 6 Ton tanks (32 in total), supplemented with two Vickers-Carden-Lloyd tanks (Model 1933 and Mk VI respectively), and 34 units of the French Renault FT and one unit of the French Saint-Charmond Modèle 1921.
Here's them in a list:
Vickers 6 Ton (32)
Vickers-Carden-Lloyd (2)
Renault FT (34)
Saint-Charmond Modèle 1921 (1)

Alongside the tanks, the Finnish has a small handful of armored cars (that would of been bolstered by captured Soviet tanks).
The Landsverk 182 being the most modern armored car the Finnish had, although only 1 was available for the army.
There were also WW1 armored cars available to the Fins, the Fiat Armored car and the Austin Model 1917, but they were grossly outdated by 1920 when they were retired from service.
And just for a sakes of convenience, 20 units of the German Raupenschlepper Ost (exported to Finland 1943) are available as transport vehicles.
Here's the list:
Landsverk 183 (1)
Raupenschlepper Ost (20)

This sums up the ground forces for the Finnish, without diving into the slightly confusing mess that is the artillery pieces.

Air Force
Much like the armored ground vehicles of the Finnish army, the Finnish air force was bolstered by capturing Soviet equipment during the Winter War.
But without it, basically all of Finland's aircraft are exports, and in very small numbers.

The Gloster Gamecock is a common fighter aircraft for the Finnish, totalling in 17 with two variants (a single Mk. I and 16 Mk. II).
Supplementing them are 19 Bristol Bulldogs (2 Mk. IIA and 17 Mk. IVA), excellent biplane fighter aircraft for smaller nations such as Finland.
The most common aircraft Finland owns is the Fokker D.XXI, a total of 97 imported from the Netherlands, very modern monoplane aircraft with enclosed cockpits.
A number of British aircraft were imported by 1940, but likely because of their war against the Soviet Union.
Here's a list:
Gloster Gamecock Mk. I (1)
Gloster Gamecock Mk. II (16)
Bristol Bulldog Mk. IIA (2)
Bristol Bulldog Mk. IIIA (17)
Fokker D.XXI (97)

The bombers the Finnish had suffer the same drawback as the other sections; bolstered numbers by the Soviet Union.
Half of all bombers offered to Finland were either Soviet-captured, or offered by other countries during their fight against the Soviet Union.
Regardless, the Finnish did have native-built bombers, the VL Kotka (both versions I and II). While their numbers were sparse (6 total, 1 of Kotka I and 5 of Kotka II).
These small numbers of native bombers were supplemented by Bristol's Brlenheim (Mk. I and Mk. IV). These bombers were in a significantly higher number than the Kotka, with 75 of the Mk. I Blenheim's available to the Fins, and 22 of the Mk. II available.
Here's a list:
VL Kotka I (1)
VL Kotka II (5)
Bristol Blenheim Mk. I (75)
Bristol Blenheim Mk. IV (22)

A majority of the reconnaissance aircraft used by the Finnish were either the Fokker D.XXI mentioned above in fighters, or the German-built Junkers W 34fa, the Junkers K 43fa, and the Junkers W 34hi.
Other aircraft existed, but are significantly too outdated for use (even though they still served as recon aircraft during the Continuation War).
Here's a list:
Fokker D.XXI (97)
Junkers W 34fa (1)
Junkers K 43fa (6)
Junkers W 34hi (5)

Transport aircraft were very scarce, consisting almost exclusively of the British Avro Anson and Junkers F 13kä until 1940, upon the introduction of the Fokker F.VIII. Although, the above mentioned Junkers W and K variants also served as transport aircraft, all in the same numbers.
Here's the list:
Avro Anson I (3)

Maritime aircraft for the Finnish were sparse and outdated for the most part, the only modern aircraft available being the Junkers F 13fe. Other aircraft were available, but are in small number and outdated (save for the Blackburn Ripon IIF, with 26 units available).

Navy
The Finnish Navy is suprisingly very large for a country of this size, and is mostly made of native-built warships that did provide some challenge to the Soviet fleets during the Winter War.

The coast defense ships the Finnish had can be considered their pride of the navy. The largest ships the Finnish ever launched, the Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen being the two ships for costal defense.
Here's a list:
Ilmarinen (1)
Väinämöinen (1)

The Finnish also employed a small number of submarines in four classes.
The Vetehinen was the most common of Finnish submarines, containing 3 submarines.
The number is supplemented by the Vesikko class (1), the Saukko class (1), and AG-class, (2) all but the last having one submarine.
Here's a list:
Vetehinen Class (3)
-Vetehinen
-Vesihiisi
-Iku-Turso
Vesikko class (1)
-Vesikko
Saukko class (1)
-Saukko
AG-class
-AG 12
-AG 16

Icebreakers were also a major part of the Finnish navy, for obvious reason.
A total of 9 ships of various classes exist, all having served during the Winter War at least.

Minelayers and minesweepers are the second most common type of ship in the navy, a total of 33 ships of various classes.
Here's a list of all the classes:
•Minelayer
Minelayer class (1)
Ruotsinsalmi-class (2)
Teplokhod/T class (5)
Pukkio-class (3)
Various requisitioned minelayers (4)
•Minesweepers
Minesweeper class (6)
Rautu-class (2)
SM-class (4)
Ahven-class (6)

Patrol boats
Finland had a respectable number of patrol boats, all of various classes that mostly consists of WW1 Tsarist Russian and Finnish ships.
A total of 12 patrol boats were built and used.

Finland has a small number of escort vessels, primarily of modified private and civillian vessels pressed into service during or right before the Winter War.
A total of 6 vessels were built and used.

Finland also had a large number of torpedo and motor boats, mainly WW1 Russian boats taken upon gaining independence.
A total of 25 vessels were built and used of various classes.


This sums up all of Finland's military power leading up to 1940. While I had to leave out a number of vehicles for the sake of brevity (mainly the crapload of gunboats Finland had, probably reaching over 50 total per class), this list hopefully completes the picture of Finland's goal of defending itself from foreign powers.
cough cough Soviet Union cough cough