ArtilleryBefore the warAs the other parts of the finnish defence forces, the artillery was hampered by obsolete equipment and lack of supplies. Guns were mostly obsolete and of many different types and calibres, which made re-supplying difficult. And there were simply too few guns. The oldest were from the 19th century and their value can be questioned. On the other hand, thanks to the dedicated and skilled artillery general Vilho Petteri Nenonen, father and founder of the finnish artillery, it consisted of well trained and motivated men who despite the obvious disadvantages material-wise soon were respected by the enemy. Another advantage was that the artillery had a training area in Perkjärvi on the Karelian Isthmus, so they already had a feel for the terrain in which they would soon have to fight for real.
Winter warIt soon became clear, that the lack of proper anti-tank weapons would prove to be a problem. When there were no anti-tank guns, improvised weapons such as the Molotov cocktail and explosive charges were used. Another problem was the lack of ammunition for the guns. The Finnish military industry could not produce as much as would have been needed and ammo had to be rationed and bought from abroad, although sellers were few as everybody feared that they would need it themselves. Some grenades bought from France were useless as they would not detonate in our cold climate. Later during the war England and Sweden delivered some at-guns and Finnish manufacturer Tampella also produced the first 37mm at-guns under license from Swedish Bofors. Guns and ammo taken as war booty from the Soviets was also extensively used. The Finnish artillery proved very efficient despite all problems with the equipment, a fact that proves the high standard of the training.
Continuation warThe artillery was considerably better equipped in the continuation war, this can also be seen in the results which improved further. The war began with the biggest concentration of artillery fire in Finnish history. Anti-tank equipment bought from Germany helped the situation at least in the beginning of the war and also the anti-aircraft units were considerably better equipped now, this helped protect Helsinki during the large bombing raids of 1944. The stronger field artillery with the Finnish fire concentration tactics stopped the Soviet offence in 1944, as the enemy forces were literally crushed in their positions.
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