Finland publishes collection of 170,000 World War II photos

The Finnish Defense Forces have uploaded about 170,000 photos taken in Finland during World War II.

It is not very common for someone to upload a gallery of 170,000 photos on the internet. However, the Finnish Defense Forces have decided to break the ice and reveal its impressive “Wartime Photograph Archive”, which features tens of thousands of images taken in Finland during the second World War.

Finnish Defense Forces put massive collection of 170,000 World War II photos on the web

Finland has been an important part of World War II, as it did its best to fight against the Soviet Union. The Winter War is seen as an extension of the nation’s battle to gain its independence from the Soviet Union.

The icy country gained its independence in 1917, but the Soviet Union attacked Finland in late November 1939 for alleged security reasons. As one would imagine, the country did not surrender and started fighting.

War brings destruction and does not do any good to anyone. However, someone needs to tell the story of the people fighting these ruthless battles. Finland’s SA-kuva has done everyone a favor and has revealed an impressive gallery of photos, taken by the people who tell stories in pictures: photojournalists.

The images have been captured in black and white, but they are simply astonishing. It is hard to comprehend what those men were going through and there is no point in denying that the people behind the cameras did their part, too.

Images were captured during World War II, but Finland views it as the war for the continuation of its independence

The SA-kuva gallery consists of images captured during World War II, but this does not mean that they are directly linked to the massive battle, as Finland had to face its own demons. High-resolution images are available, but the captions are written in the Finnish language.

The Winter War brought a lot of losses to both sides. However, the Soviet Union had more casualties, despite its superior numbers. It is easy to understand why, just by looking at the collection of 170,000 World War II photos.

It appears that the USSR had a strength of about one million men, 6,500 tanks, and 3,800 aircrafts, while Finland had 346,000 men, merely 32 tanks, and 114 aircrafts. Even so, more than 126,000 Russians died or went missing, while more than 188,000 had been wounded. Finland’s casualties were a lot fewer.

The Nordic nation has always been a tough country and it is worth saying that anybody can get a history lesson just by checking the impressive collection of photos at the official SA-kuva website.