20 Lesser Known Battles of World War II That Really Mattered

1. Defining the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, the Battle of Suomussalmi saw 11,500 Finns defeat approximately 50,000 Soviets in a prime example of how a smaller and better-organized force can surpass a numerically superior enemy

Beginning on November 30, 1939, three months after the formal beginnings of World War Two, the Winter War saw the Soviet Union declare war and attempt to seize Finnish territory with a mind towards establishing a puppet communist government. Advancing on Suomussalmi on December 7, the Finns withdrew without contest to the opposite shores of Lakes Niskanselkä and Haukiperä to await the Soviet offensive. Failing to cross the lakes the following day, the Soviets subsequently sought to circumvent the obstacles and attack the Finnish positions from the northwest. Similarly failing, the encouraged Finns were reinforced on December 9 by additional soldiers and initiated a counter-offensive to retake Suomussalmi.

Continually failing in their attacks against the outnumbered Finnish, on December 27 the Finns triumphed and broke the Soviet lines to retake the village. Retreating in panic, the Finns pursued and rolled up supporting regiments of Soviets, pushing them all the way back to the Russian border. Providing a decisive morale boost for the outgunned Finnish army, capturing a huge quantity of valuable equipment in the process, the Soviet Union was forced to reorganize and commit far greater resources than they had originally planned to the campaign. Losing less than two thousand of their own, the Finns had successfully killed almost thirty thousand Soviets and captured more than two thousand more.

Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

“The Bloody Forest: Battle for Huertgen September 1944-January 1945”, Gerald Astor, Presidio Press (2000)

“Hell in Hurtgen Forest: The Ordeal and Triumph of an American Infantry Regiment”, Robert Sterling Rush, University Press of Kansas (2001)

“Crete 1941: Germany’s lightning airborne assault”, Peter D. Antill, Osprey Publishing (2005)

“Greece and Crete 1941: Second World War, 1939-1945 – a popular history”, Christopher Buckley, HMSO (1952)

“Guadalcanal: Decision At Sea: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, November 13-15, 1942”, Eric Hammel, Pacifica Press (1988)

“The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943: Volume 5 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II”, Samuel Eliot Morison, Little, Brown, and Company (1949)

“The Battle for The Hague”, E.H. Brongers, Aspekt BV Publishing (2004)

“The Battle Off Samar: Taffy III at Leyte Gulf”, Robert Jon Cox, Agogeebic Press (2010)

“Choices Under Fire: Moral Dimensions of World War II”, Michael Bess, Alfred A. Knopf (2008)

“Operation Dragoon: The Allied Invasion of the South of France”, William Breuer, Presidio Press (1996)

“Operation Dragon: The Liberation of Southern France”, Anthony Tucker-Jones, Pen and Sword Publishing (2010)