"Finnish Army (Winter Dress) 1942-1944 Review" Topic

"After being bullied into conceding territory to the Soviet Union in 1940 following the Winter War, Finland looked for allies who could give significant support in its attempt to recover what had been stolen, and found one in Nazi Germany. Never a comfortable alliance, it nonetheless meant that in 1941 the Finns could recommence hostilities with the USSR and regain the lost territory, though they refused to go much beyond their borders, to the great frustration of the Germans. The following years (the ‘Continuation War') were relatively quiet as the Finns held on to their gains and the Soviets concentrated on the far bigger threat – the German invasion. While events elsewhere meant this was often a fairly quiet front between 1942 and 1944, the Finnish Army continued to show remarkable tenacity and professionalism, and their reward was to be the retention of their territory and their independence when a treaty was agreed in late 1944.

The harsh winter weather at this northerly latitude had always been a major factor in military actions, and naturally the Finns were expert at operating in such conditions. While it was not always winter, the popular image of the Finnish infantryman generally places him in such a harsh environment, so this set of soldiers clothed for winter seems a natural choice. Many of the poses are no different to any other infantry set of the era, with men moving or firing their weapons, and on the whole they are well done here. The crawling man about to throw a grenade was not one we liked, mainly because the very straight arm does not at all convince as actually throwing the grenade. The two poses wearing skis are of course much further from the norm, but in essence they are just both firing weapons and so perfectly normal. However the skis do make these more interesting, and we liked both poses. The last figure in the second row is just standing and not apparently doing anything. While such a pose is perfectly valid, in a set with only eight it is a luxury figure that the set cannot afford, and we would have preferred another battle figure instead. This figure may possibly be based on a famous photograph of Simo Häyhä, who was a sniper credited with more kills than anyone else. This gentleman was badly wounded in 1940 and took no part in any fighting during the years for this set, so it cannot actually be him, but this may have been the inspiration, and would perhaps also explain only having one of this pose…"

Full Review here
link

Amicalement
Armand

I do respect this site for the quality of the reviews. These guys are such experts on outfits and kit of any nation from any era.

I do think they have been very generous here, based on the figures I see. I am reminded of the earliest Airfix figures..and I do mean mid 60s

I doubt the panzerschrecks saw much action in winter dress.
In Finnish army they were top secret wunderwaffe that entered service only after Russian launched their Strategig Offensive on June 9th 1844. and the was ended on September 18th.

In Lappland War against the Germans they theoretically might've seen some very minor use.

The mention latter….

"We just wanted to say a big thank you to all the people who contacted us about the recent review of Finnish Army (Winter Dress) 1942-1944 from Mars. As a result, we have amended our comments with regard to the Panzerschreck, ski length and Simo Häyhä. Such comments and ideas are always welcome on anything on this site, old or new!"

Amicalement
Armand