The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) (Finnish: Puolustusvoimat, Swedish: Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy, and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime, the Finnish Border Guard becomes part of the Finnish Defence Forces.
Finnish soldier equipped with Lahti-Saloranta M-26 during the Winter War.
Finnish troops equipped with Panzerfaust antitank weapons walk past a destroyed Soviet T-34 tank during the Battle of Tali-Ihantala. The lead soldier is also armed with a Suomi KP/-31.
Finnish soldiers taking the Finnish Defence Forces military oath.
The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its organization.
A Finnish Maxim M/09-21 machine gun crew during the Winter War
The Soviet–Finnish Non-Aggression Pact was signed by Aarno Yrjö-Koskinen and Maxim Litvinov in Moscow 1932.
Finnish soldiers gather breakfast from a field kitchen during "additional refresher training" at the Karelian Isthmus, on 10 October 1939.
29 November 1939, foreign journalists at Mainila, where a border incident between Finland and the Soviet Union escalated into the Winter War.