Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
A CROWD watches the Finnish movie, "Tali Inhantala," Sunday at Little Finland.
By RICHARD JENKINS
KIMBALL, Wis - A small crowd gathered at Little Finland Sunday for a showing of the World War II movie, "Tali Ihantala."
The film is also known by several other names in various countries, including "1944: The Final Defense."
While featuring little plot or characters, the movie - which was made in 2007 - portrays the Finnish victory in the battle of Tali Inhantala.
The battle, fought in the summer of 1944, was a Finnish attempt to stop the Russian offensive into Finland during World War II. The Finnish victory was a key part in the Russian decision to halt its invasion and the subsequent peace talks.
Before the start of the film, Ironwood Township resident John Jennings provided a brief overview of the history of the conflict between Finland and Russia - one of the lesser known areas of World War II.
He explained that the conflict began with what's known as the Winter War, which took place from November 1939 to March 1940. Following the end of the Winter War, Jennings said Russia diverted its attention to Nazi Germany. This left Finland relatively isolated on the international stage
"The western world wanted to partner with Russia to fight against Nazi Germany. Finland found itself ... with no-one to assist them, as a matter of fact, most of the western powers declared war on Finland," Jennings said. "The only country that would give (Finland) weapons, supplies and assistance was Nazi Germany ... (Finland) wanted nothing to do with nazism, so what Germany and Finland became was what was called co-belligerents."
He explained this means they fought a common enemy without allying politically or joining forces.
Following this agreement, Jennings explained the Finns helped the German invasion of Russia by recapturing land lost during the Winter War, but stopped short of invading Russia itself.
As the German invasion of Russia was unsuccessful, Jennings said Russia launched another attempt to capture Finland in the summer of 1944 - the invasion that is the subject of the film.
Following the film, attendees enjoyed refreshments.
In addition to an afternoon of entertainment, the film also provided some good as Little Finland collected donations of nonperishable food items for local food pantries in place of admission.
