Finland's War of Choice
The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in World War II
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Narrated by:
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Tom Parks
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By:
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Henrik Lunde
About this listen
This book describes the odd coalition between Germany and Finland in World War II, and their joint military operations from 1941 to 1945. This is a topic often missing in English, though in stark contrast to the numerous books on the shorter and less bloody Winter War. That conflict represented a gallant fight of a democratic “David” against a totalitarian “Goliath” that caught the imagination of the world. The story of Finland fighting alongside a “Goliath” of its own has not brought pride to that nation and was a period many Finns would rather forget.
The prologue of this book brings the listener up to speed by briefly examining the difficult history of Finland, from its separation from the Soviet Union in 1917 to its isolation after being bludgeoned in 1939-40. It then examines both Finnish and German motives for forming a coalition against the USSR, and how - as logical as a common enemy would seem - the lack of true planning and preparation would doom the alliance. This book posits that it was mind-boggling how the highly professional German General Staff allowed itself to accept the militarily unsound and shaky coalition that resulted. The war aims were not discussed or harmonized, there were no campaign plans with tasks and missions spelled out past the initial assault, no effective main effort established, inadequate force levels, and an unsound command structure with various headquarters. Practically every rule in the book was broken. The objective of linking up with the Finns in the Leningrad area was an important factor in Hitler opting for three main drives into the Soviet Union rather than an earlier OKH plan that called for only two.
After describing the operations during and after Barbarossa, this book describes how the Finnish theater became a blind ally for the Germans. Their strongest and best army was trapped both operationally and geographically in central and northern Finland, making virtually no contribution to the war effort. The Germans could not bring to bear enough forces to accomplish their objectives without substantial Finnish assistance, and that was not forthcoming.
The final chapters deal with the Soviet counteroffensive against the Finns in 1944. The Finns lost all their gains and quickly concluded a separate armistice. This left the German forces in Finland to simply vacate the territory, fighting between the Finns and Soviets alike as they tried to return to the main war. Jointly suffering 291,000 casualties, the only consolation was that the coalition had inflicted some 830,000 on the Soviets.
In this book, Henrik Lunde, a former US Special Operations colonel, and the renowned author of Hitler’s Pre-emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940, once again fills a profound gap in our understanding of World War II.
©2011 Henrik O. Lunde (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Not particularly new, insightful, or good.
- By William Simkiss on 08-17-21
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When Titans Clashed
- How the Red Army Stopped Hitler
- By: David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House
- Narrated by: James Romick
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Revised and updated to reflect recent Russian and Western scholarship on the subject, this new edition maintains the 1995 original's distinction as a crucial volume in the history of World War II and of the Soviet Union and the most informed and compelling perspective on one of the greatest military confrontations of all time.
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The largest conflict in human history
- By Eddie on 05-15-22
By: David M. Glantz, and others
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Blitzkrieg
- Myth, Reality, and Hitler's Lightning War: France 1940
- By: Lloyd Clark
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1940, the Germans launched a military offensive in France and the Low Countries that married superb intelligence, the latest military thinking, and new technology. It was a stunning victory, altering the balance of power in Europe in one stroke, and convincing the entire world that the Nazi war machine was unstoppable. But as Lloyd Clark, a leading British military historian and academic, argues, much of our understanding of this victory, and blitzkrieg itself, is based on myth.
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Very good and detailed about the Fall of France
- By Arthur on 03-15-17
By: Lloyd Clark
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Kiev 1941
- Hitler's Battle for Supremacy in the East
- By: David Stahel
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In just four weeks in the summer of 1941 the German Wehrmacht wrought unprecedented destruction on four Soviet armies, conquering central Ukraine and killing or capturing three quarters of a million men. This was the Battle of Kiev - one of the largest and most decisive battles of World War II and, for Hitler and Stalin, a battle of crucial importance. For the first time, David Stahel charts the battle's dramatic course and aftermath.
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The book you must read on Hitler's War with Russia
- By Kindle Customer on 05-28-19
By: David Stahel
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The Drive on Moscow, 1941
- Operation Taifun and Germany’s First Great Crisis of World War II
- By: Niklas Zetterling, Anders Frankson
- Narrated by: Dave Courvoisier
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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At the end of September 1941, more than a million German soldiers lined up along the frontline just 180 miles west of Moscow. They were well trained, confident, and had good reasons to hope that the war in the East would be over with one last offensive. Facing them was an equally large Soviet force, but whose soldiers were neither as well trained nor as confident. When the Germans struck, disaster soon befell the Soviet defenders.
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Add the maps, lose the accents
- By Carrick on 07-03-14
By: Niklas Zetterling, and others
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Third Reich Victorious
- Alternate Histories of World War II
- By: Peter G. Tsouras
- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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This book is a stimulating and entirely plausible insight into how Hitler and his generals might have defeated the Allies, and a convincing sideways look at the Third Reich's bid at world domination in World War II. What would have happened if, for example, the Germans captured the whole of the BEF at Dunkirk? Or if the RAF had been defeated in the Battle of Britain?
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A fresh look at WW2 - false but makes one wonder.
- By Eggert Eggertsson on 09-05-15
By: Peter G. Tsouras
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Case Red
- The Collapse of France
- By: Robert Forczyk
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Even after the legendary evacuation from Dunkirk in June 1940 there were still large British formations fighting the Germans alongside their French allies. After mounting a vigorous counterattack at Abbeville and then engaging a tough defense along the Somme, the British were forced to conduct a second evacuation from the ports of Le Havre, Cherbourg, Brest, and St. Nazaire. Case Red captures the drama of the final three weeks of military operations in France in June 1940.
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Not Forczyk's best offering
- By S.C. James on 01-30-18
By: Robert Forczyk
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When Britain Saved the West
- The Story of 1940
- By: Robin Prior
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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From the comfortable distance of seven decades, it is quite easy to view the victory of the Allies over Hitler's Germany as inevitable. But in 1940 Great Britain's defeat loomed perilously close, and no other nation stepped up to confront the Nazi threat. In this cogently argued book, Robin Prior delves into the documents of the time - war diaries, combat reports, Home Security's daily files, and much more - to uncover how Britain endured a year of menacing crises.
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Very detailed; a bit dry in spots
- By No on 09-07-15
By: Robin Prior
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Haig's Enemy
- Crown Prince Rupprecht and Germany's War on the Western Front
- By: Jonathan Boff
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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During the First World War, the British army's most consistent German opponent was Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. Commanding more than a million men as a General, and then Field Marshal, in the Imperial German Army, he held off the attacks of the British Expeditionary Force under Sir John French and then Sir Douglas Haig for four long years. But Rupprecht was to lose not only the war, but his son and his throne. In Haig's Enemy, Jonathan Boff explores the tragic tale of Rupprecht's war - the story of a man caught under the wheels of modern industrial warfare.
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Insightful look inside dysfunctional WW1 Germany
- By J.Brock on 11-04-19
By: Jonathan Boff
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Hitler's Soldiers
- The German Army in the Third Reich
- By: Ben H. Shepherd
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 26 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades after 1945, it was generally believed that the German army, professional and morally decent, had largely stood apart from the SS, Gestapo, and other corps of the Nazi machine. Ben Shepherd draws on a wealth of primary sources and recent scholarship to convey a much darker, more complex picture. For the first time, the German army is examined throughout the Second World War, across all combat theaters and occupied regions, and from multiple perspectives: its battle performance, social composition, relationship with the Nazi state, and involvement in war crimes and occupation.
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Thorough and scholarly
- By Mary A. on 03-23-18
By: Ben H. Shepherd
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Hell to Pay
- Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947
- By: D. M. Giangreco
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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U.S. planning for the invasion and military occupation of Imperial Japan began two years before the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hell to Pay brings to light the political and military ramifications of the enormous casualties and loss of material projected by both sides in the climatic struggle to bring the Pacific War to a conclusion through a brutal series of battles on Japanese soil.
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This is a good piece of history.
- By David on 08-09-14
By: D. M. Giangreco
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Sun Tzu at Gettysburg
- Ancient Military Wisdom in the Modern World
- By: Bevin Alexander
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine the impact on world history if Robert E. Lee had listened to General Longstreet at Gettysburg and withdrawn to higher ground instead of sending Pickett uphill against the entrenched Union line. Or if Napolon, at Waterloo, had avoided mistakes he'd never made before. The advice that would have changed the outcome of these crucial battles is found in a book on strategy written centuries before Christ was born.
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How Different History Could Be
- By Lifeisshort on 09-13-14
By: Bevin Alexander
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The Grand Design
- Strategy and the U.S. Civil War
- By: Donald Stoker
- Narrated by: Thomas Dunn
- Length: 17 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Despite the abundance of books on the Civil War, not one has focused exclusively on what was in fact the determining factor in the outcome of the conflict: differences in union and southern strategy. In The Grand Design, Stoker examines how Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis identified their political goals and worked with their generals to craft the military means to achieve them - or how they often failed to do so.
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Shoddy
- By Glenn on 12-26-13
By: Donald Stoker
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The First World War
- By: Hew Strachan
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A century has passed since the outbreak of World War I, yet as military historian Hew Strachan argues in this brilliant and authoritative new book, the legacy of the "war to end all wars" is with us still. The First World War was a truly global conflict from the start, with many of the most decisive battles fought in or directly affecting the Balkans, Africa, and the Ottoman Empire. Even more than World War II, the First World War continues to shape the politics and international relations of our world.
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Outstanding narrative of the military action
- By Tad Davis on 04-30-17
By: Hew Strachan
What listeners say about Finland's War of Choice
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- E S
- 03-17-21
Great Book
Best recap of the action in the Nordics during WWII that I've seen. Author does a great job linking the tactical actions to the operational, strategic and political levels.
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- Christopher Daniels
- 06-14-19
learn about a hidden part of WW 2 history
an interesting look into a hidden part of world war 2 history.
the only thing I can say against it is the reader really doesn't know how to pronounce a lot of Finnish names and Cities. other then that it is a good book.
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- michael olinger
- 08-01-18
The Swedish Chef lives!
Good book , but the narration lets it down because of the unfortunate "Swedish Chef" pronunciations of Finnish personal and place names. Swedish and Finnish are NOT related or within the same language group. Wikipedia could have provided proper pronunciations.
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- Mr. A. Fenn
- 03-19-17
I gave up
I gave up, I wish the narrator had too. So badly read, terrible pronunciation, he must have said "Murmanks" about 300 times, it is Murmansk. Likewise there is apparently a town in Sweden called "Torino", when this should be Tornio. The delivery was so poor and emotionless the book which is of great interest to me becomes nothing more than a catalogue of military movements in places which make no sense due to poor pronunciation.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Daniel D.
- 06-20-19
informative, detailed.
Movements of units on battlefield are very hard to follow in an audiobook.
otherwise veri indormative, easy to follow the story. valid analysis points.
For a short version just listen last chapter 15mins.
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- J. Walker
- 01-01-18
Boring
What did you like best about Finland's War of Choice? What did you like least?
This is simply a boring book.
Would you be willing to try another one of Tom Parks’s performances?
No
Was Finland's War of Choice worth the listening time?
No
Any additional comments?
Fighting this "continuation war" was horrific with the cold and horrible weather. The author simply writes that regiments were reduced to battalion strength. Not very gritty. No understanding of what the combatants Russian, German and Finns had to struggle through.
The book had no energy. A wasted purchase.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Juergen Reimers
- 08-11-15
Missing Maps
Would you try another book from Henrik Lunde and/or Tom Parks?
Yes
Any additional comments?
With all the unknown localities and no maps it is sometimes difficult to follow/understand the story.
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- Rick
- 10-21-22
This book highlights a troubled history of Finland
A well researched history of the WW2 period that involved Finland. The audible version of this book is probably easier to digest if the listener has a detailed knowledge of the areas described or accompanied the audio with maps as visuals. The story is relevant today given Russias ambitions to understand the importance strong defense in the region.
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- Keith
- 10-17-19
Awful presentation, incomplete analysis
Having spent a couple of years in Finland I found the mispronunciation of city, area, and peoples names so annoying that I found it nearly impossible to follow the dialogue. The narrator could have spent 15 or 20 minutes preparing for the narration and avoided all pronunciation problems as the Finnish language uses Latin pronunciations for every letter, no silent letters, and the emphasis is always on the first syllable. By the time I figured out who he was talking about, or which city or area he was talking about he was off onto something else.
Having only listened to 1/4 of the book, I am shocked that the presentation talks in depth about Finnish and German troop deployment and what "may" have been the German and Finnish negotiators intents and glosses over the previous Russian/Finnish wars, Winter War and it's after-war, the failure of the west to provide aid as promised during the Winter War, as if Finnish/Russian history, the failure of the west, and the current Russian troop movements were virtually irrelevant to the Fin's political positioning in the early years of WWII.
Having many Finnish friends I was hoping to find an unbiased book about the Finnish role in WWII. After listening to 1/4 of the book, this wasn't it. What I found was a sanitized Russian history and continual speculation about Finnish and German intent, after-all, we all know that all diplomacy was handled out in the open by every other country involved.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Hector X. G.
- 05-31-20
Could not finish
I am in World War II history buff, I’ve read everything on the subject and I teach history at a community college level. This is the first World War II book I could not finish. The content was just too dry and the narrator was equally dry
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1 person found this helpful