Was Finland part of the Axis?

Ancient Grudge

Ancient Grudge

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Did you bother to read any of the site?

Finnish air forces as well Finnish tank troops used Swastika 1918-1944. Why since 1918? Because in that time (During Finnish Civil War) Swedish Count Von Rosen donated to Finnish legal government (White troops) a plane where Von Rosen have painted a symbol of his family, Blue Swastika. After The Civil War Finland´s newborn Army used that blue swastika as symbol of Finnish Air Forces. Also Tank troops adopted that new symbol. Tank troops Swastika´s color is black.
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They weren't part of the axis.
 
PantheraTigris2 said:
Btw, here is the page of Finnish WWII flying aces.

...notice the planes have Swastikas on them. And who was trying to tell me a little while back that Finland was most certainly NOT in the Axis.... :rolleyes:

uh-huh... ;)
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The swedish used the Swastika too, and they still did after WW2, perhaps they even still do :)
 
I could believe every set of encyclopedias I've ever seen (under the 'WWII' section), or I could believe random EU citizens on CFC...

:hmm:
 
Ancient Grudge said:
Did you bother to read any of the site?



They weren't part of the axis.
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Well, technically, Finland wasn'T part of the Axis, but the UK did however declare war on them (but took no action) as a result of the Winter War.
 
From the same site as above:

"Finland fought with Germany against the Soviet Union but did not sign the Tripartite Pact and was not technically part of the Axis alliance."
 
'Continuation war' being the public name for 'Operation: fight alongside with Germany, but make everyone THINK we're totally not involved with the Axis"

Ever heard the German military march "Von Finnland bis zum Schwarzen Meer", btw? You Europeans naturally know what that translates to. It was (a fairly catchy tune, btw) the 'theme song' of Barbarossa, basically. I have it on my harddisk, with all the other WWII German military marches.
 
You would do good to believe random EU citizens on CFC

During World War II, the Axis came to include Slovakia (November 1940), Hungary (November 1940), Romania (November 1940), and Bulgaria (March 1941). Finland fought with Germany against the Soviet Union but did not sign the Tripartite Pact and was not technically part of the Axis alliance. Yugoslavia joined the Axis alliance on March 25, 1941, but withdrew two days later after an anti-German coup.
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If you can find me a site syaing that Finland signed the Tripartite Pact i will believe you when you say Finland was part of the axis.
 
nonconformist said:
From the same site as above:

"Finland fought with Germany against the Soviet Union but did not sign the Tripartite Pact and was not technically part of the Axis alliance."
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Funny they would put it on their map as in the 'Axis Alliance' then. Well, whatever. Come over to America, go to the library, go to the encyclopedias, and look up "World War II"... and plain as day, it will list Finland as in the Axis, along with Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Italy, Japan, etc. What they say in Europe, may be different. But, the Allies looked at it - that Finland was a member of the Axis. Hence the UK declaration of war.

From a Swedish point of view (for example), you may have different ideas.
 
Ancient Grudge said:
You would do good to believe random EU citizens on CFC



If you can find me a site syaing that Finland signed the Tripartite Pact i will believe you when you say Finland was part of the axis.
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Finland wasn't an Axis ally, everyone says? Well, Ok... tell it to the map:


Relative strengths of Finnish, German and Soviet troops at the start of the Continuation War in June 1941.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation_War

Yeah.. SS and Wehrmacht divisions in Finland on the eve of Barbarossa. No WAY they were in the Axis... nu-uh... :shakehead
 
That quote was from the same site as your damn map!
They were an ally of the axis yes, but not part of the axis because they didn't sign the Tripartite Pact thus they weren't part of the axis.

And what does your map prove? That Finland allowed military access for its allies? Wow.
 
Ancient Grudge said:
That quote was from the same site as your damn map!
They were an ally of the axis yes, but not part of the axis because they didn't sign the Tripartite Pact thus they weren't part of the axis.

And what does your map prove? That Finland allowed military access for its allies? Wow.
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It's ALLIES you say?? What's that?? Speak a little louder please?!

Hey, from now on, I don't want to hear anything about the USA being 'in the Allies'. Sure, we were (mostly) at war against the same nations, and fought along side the Allies, sent/recieved (sent mostly in our case -LOL) war materiel and supplies, and everything else that goes along with behaving like an 'ally' in war time, but NO.... no... we were NOT in the Allies' alliance. Nope.
 
PantheraTigris2 said:
Finland wasn't an Axis ally, everyone says?
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Can't stand to just lurk this anymore... ;)

You're confusing something here, though you say it yourself:

Finland was an ALLY of the Axis, not a MEMBER. They never joined the Axis and were specifically only an ally against Russia.

As an ally of the Axis against Russia, of course they allowed German units to operate from their territory!
Declarations of war by the Allies against Finland also don't mean anything in this context - those were in support of Russia; note that, AFAIR, those declarations were made only after the attack on Russia, while the state of war with the AXIS states existed prior to that.

Edit: Sorry for the redundant post - Ancient Grudge beat me to it :D

BTW, American history books aren't always totally accurate on European matters, are they now? PantheraTigris' point of view seems to be: "We Americans consider them part of the Axis, so they were - whether they (the Finns) themselves thought so is irrelevant."
 
As a Finnish i am really sad someone confused Finland to be in the Axis, sure they fought along side Germans, but never signed any alliance pact with Germany. (What can you expect for a Nation clusterd beatween two agressive super powers)

Germany was intrested in Finland only because of the fact that we had Nikkel and because maybe they could persuade us to fight the Russians wich they did, but NO official alliance pact was signed beatween Finland and Germany. Ever. PERIOD.
 
About the Sweden/swastika bit.

The swastika is extremely old symbol and spread pretty much all over the world (the sun cross; there are several variations of it like the three-legs symbol of the Isle of Man).

BUT in the late 19th c. it was picked up and used by aggressive, antisemitical German nationalists. ("Völkisch")
AND these had sympathaisers in Scandinavia, including count von Rosen. (Who was a real charmer; a sadistic, racist Africa traveller who used to flog his son for no apparent reason with the "kiboko", the hippo rawhide whip he had brought home from his travells.) Von Rosen was also a good friend of Göring and his Swedish wife Karin.
SO the reason von Rosen picked the swastika was that he was fishing in the same murky depths as the nazis already, and one the nazis came along he became a follower.

And no, Sweden doesn't use the swastika, and never have. They make do with the yellow cross on blue and the three crowns coat of arms for national symbolism.
 
IMO, Finland really didn't do much wrong, they were invaded by Russia at the start of 1940 ( and kicked some Russian butt ;))
Then, after the invasion of Russia by Germany, they agreed to let troops on their soil so they could retake the grounds they had lost to Russia earlier. Hitler wanted them to actively help in the attack on Leningrad, but the Finnish were happy after they had their lands back :)

(Unknown to many, the Swedish airforce keeps the swastika as an emblem on its flags and shoulder straps to this very day).
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this emblem had been given to the Finnish airforce by a Finnish nobleman who had donated the first Swedish airforce aircraft (with the traditional Indo-European good luck emblem painted on it)
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