Soviet diaries from the Winter War

[Mangrove]

"This diary was found at Loimala during the Finnish-Russian war of 1939-40. It was kept by Politruk Oreshin, who belonged to the 37th Infantry Regiment and later to a detached Ski battalion." - [1]

[...]

"28/9 (1939). We heard today that we are to cross the Estonian frontier on 30/9. We shall probably start printing leaflets. [...] Only a few of us know about crossing the frontier: those who don't know about it can't understand all the preparations before our departure. The troops have been marching towards the frontier all day. Is Estonia worth all this? Will there be room for all of us? The frontier will then be East of us and be a thing of the past.

[...]

26/10. They say that war is coming - let it come - I'm fed up with this slacking about. The Finns strut around, rattle their weapons and say threateningly, "the life of one Finn will cost ten Russians". Stupid fools - what do they really think?

27/10. T.A.S.S. reported provocation from the Finnish frontier yesterday. Seven shots were fired from the other side, and three Red Army men and one officer were killed, and seven Red Army men and two officers wounded. Molotov has sent a note and urged the Finnish Goverment to move the frontier 25 kms. back, in order to avoid such incidents in the future. I don't know how the matter will develope. I think that they, the swine, will refuse to.

[...]

(No date). We are a kilometre from the Russian frontier. We crossed it on December 3rd. Our artillery opened fire aty 8 a.m. on Nov. 30th. I was six kms. from the firing line. On the horizon we could see blood red flames. Hear noisy shouting interrupted with cheers.

Near the frontier barricade we found empty vodka bottles and a placard on which was drawn a bear, probably representing the Red Army. The Finns are retreating, burning everything. [...]

The butchers take full advantage of their great skill in skiing. They secretly approach our marching columns and with theri knifes stab to death all those leaving the road. That is how Lieutenant comrade Samushkin met his end. He only had time to scream "help". When we arrived at the place the butchers had already slunk off.

[...]

9/12 (1940). [...] For four days now we have tried in vain to take Loimola station. The men have lain in the snow for three days and didn't dare to lift their heads. Several of them are frostbitten. We are compelled to sleep with our clothes on, and can't even take our felt boots off. To hell with it...

For several days we have hung about in this same place, because of this damned Loimola. Our casualties are heavy..., more from frostbite than from enemy fire. The butchers are accustomed to fire carefully at our troops from the side of the road. We can't even put ouroses out of the trenches. Our men have launched several attacks but have always been beaten back.

The barbed wire is man-high. Tank obstacles are everywhere. The marshes and splendidly camouflaged posts around us make the Finns invulnerable."

[...]

[1] Oreshin. 1941. Politruk Oreshinin päiväkirja / Дневник Политрука Орешина / The Diary of Politruk Oreshin. Lord Carlow, Helsinki.

[Connaught Ranger]

27/10. T.A.S.S. reported provocation from the Finnish frontier yesterday. Seven shots were fired from the other side, and three Red Army men and one officer were killed, and seven Red Army men and two officers wounded. Molotov has sent a note and urged the Finnish Goverment to move the frontier 25 kms. back, in order to avoid such incidents in the future. I don't know how the matter will develope. I think that they, the swine, will refuse to.3+1+7+2 = 13 with seven shots, good shooting from the Finns!!

Connaught Ranger.

[Mangrove]

3+1+7+2 = 13 with seven shots, good shooting from the Finns!!

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

[Rynnäkkökivääri]

Sounds like it was real hell for them. It also sounds like they were hung on the word of their leaders.

[Britboy]

Sounds like a great act of Finnish military skill. I'm no expert on Winter War tactics or the geography there, but I'm imagining skiing and forests to be a good method and environment for hit-and-run, kommando/guerrilla type operations.

[Mangrove]

It also sounds like they were hung on the word of their leaders.

Well, after all the guy was a politruk. I'll try to get quotes from other Soviet diaries.

[Rynnäkkökivääri]

Well, that makes sense.

[JoeyCape1977]

What was the Soviet Army's attitude towards soldiers keeping a diary? Even if he was a commisar I would have thought it would have been dangerous to keep one after the Stalinist purges of the late 30's.

[Trenk]

diaries are always interesting, because they reflect the truth. Authors are also doers. Does anybody have some interesting links to war diaries? Thanks...

[Xaito]

3+1+7+2 = 13 with seven shots, good shooting from the Finns!!



Sounds like a great act of Finnish military skill.

sounds like a great act of Finnish fiction writing skill ;)

[Jurpula]

It's great to be a butcherhttp://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5973/iconyesyd0.gif

[103]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelling_of_Mainila
Claims were that artillery shells were fired.

[Mangrove]

19/12. [...] There are stories going about the examining of prisoners. They talk about the great losses caused by our artillery. It is not to be wondered at. Today for instance, our guns have been firing without ceasing. They say that our men found at Souvilahti, a picture of Lenin on the back of which was written "Greetings to our Russian comrades".

The prisoners report that they were not issued with greatcoats. Several of them are wearing the trousers they were wearing when they left home. "We should have come over to you long ago, but our officers keep and eye on us and shoot anyone who takes even a few careless steps towards your lines..." one prisoner said.

We are still unable to advance and are suffering heavy casualties. Yesterday the butchers became so cheeky that they began to attack our positions. They were warmly received and many of them given peae for eternity.

[Cyclonite]

sounds like a great act of Finnish fiction writing skill ;) Care to elaborate? No wait, of course it must be twisted evil Finnish propaganda if it even remotely refers to shortcomings of any kind on the Soviet side, regardless if the author happened to be Russian himself. Sigh. I don't mean this particular piece of information would necessarily be accurate, or if it's all that relevant in the first place, but it makes me sad to think how one can turn his back on the suffering that his countrymen had to go through there, just because it won't go well with the nationalistic pride.

[Xaito]

Care to elaborate? No wait, of course it must be twisted evil Finnish propaganda if it even remotely refers to shortcomings of any kind on the Soviet side, regardless if the author happened to be Russian himself. Sigh. I don't mean this particular piece of information would necessarily be accurate, or if it's all that relevant in the first place, but it makes me sad to think how one can turn his back on the suffering that his countrymen had to go through there, just because it won't go well with the nationalistic pride.


The Diary of Politruk Oreshin. Lord Carlow, Helsinki.

give me more info about the diary and I might change my mind - was it released by Finland or by Soviet Union? and in what year was it published for the first time?
I don't turn my back on the suffering of my countrymen but if something looks and smells like BS... it might be BS ;)
sorry if my doubts won't go well with your nationalistic pride.

[DRA]

You don't hear much about Russians keeping diaries in general, if ever, now diary by politruk (political commissar) especially during those years and in such tone.... I am very very very sceptical. Also the manner of speech/writing is rather unusual for a Russian.

[pacifist]

sounds like a great act of Finnish fiction writing skill ;)

Russian fiction writers. You guys made up these events to justify the war

[Xaito]

Russian fiction writers. You guys made up these events to justify the war

prove it p-)

[Mangrove]

Was it released by Finland or by Soviet Union? and in what year was it published for the first time?


Oreshin. 1941. Politruk Oreshinin päiväkirja / Дневник Политрука Орешина / The Diary of Politruk Oreshin. Lord Carlow, Helsinki.

This is the first and only edition. The edition was 150 books and so far I have located four books from various Finnish libraries.

[pacifist]

prove it p-)

Prove that it happened.

[Mangrove]

You don't hear much about Russians keeping diaries in general, if ever, now diary by politruk (political commissar) especially during those years and in such tone.... I am very very very sceptical. Also the manner of speech/writing is rather unusual for a Russian.

Many diaries were captured during the Winter War when the "Motti"s (encirclements) were captured. These diaries are now at the Finnish National Archive at Sörnäinen, Helsinki. Everyone who understand Finnish / Russian can go there and see the papers where it is said where the diary was found, when it was found and so on.

If these diaries aren't authentic there are two explanation. The other is the Soviet soldiers deliberately faked their diaries and waited the Finns to captured them. The other is that Finnish Military faked the diaries and faked many other papers from different units saying where the document (diary) was captured.

From must remember the English translation was made by an Englisman and the tone is an Englishman tone. The book also has the original writing in Russian. I can post some of the Russian text to prove the diary is authentic.

[Xaito]

Prove that it happened.
I asked first - you've made the claim - you have to prove it ;)



Oreshin. 1941. Politruk Oreshinin päiväkirja / Дневник Политрука Орешина / The Diary of Politruk Oreshin. Lord Carlow, Helsinki.

This is the first and only edition. The edition was 150 books and so far I have located four books from various Finnish libraries.
then I stand by my opinion that its fiction or at least edited :)
at that time and it that place there was an agenda (even nowadays there is ;) ) and the propability that its a piece of propaganda is high.

[pacifist]

I asked first - you've made the claim - you have to prove it ;)





You said first that it was a work of a finnish fiction writers. Does this mean that you are denying that there ever was provocation from the finnish side? If you do, then i agree with you.

[Mangrove]

Then I stand by my opinion that its fiction or at least edited. At that time and it that place there was an agenda (even nowadays there is and the propability that its a piece of propaganda is high.

This can be easily proved right or wrong by comparing the original text (from the archive) to the printed book. Probably it isn't propaganda as there are papers at the archive which prove the original diary really exist.

Of course the book may have been edited (sections cut from place to another) but being a propaganda book, I don't think so.

[pacifist]

Notice the date Susumu: 27.10.1939

That was one of those supposed provocation committed by finns before the war started.

[Xaito]

You said first that it was a work of a finnish fiction writers. Does this mean that you are denying that there ever was provocation from the finnish side? If you do, then i agree with you.

it would mean that if its written by finnish writers and not by the soviet kommisar it has no historic value (as it would be based on a lie - finish writer pretending to be soviet soldier)... it would mean it doesn't prove anything - neither that there were nor that there were no provocations.
I don't know if there were any... might have been might have been not - If you want to state your opinion about it go right ahead - if you want to claim your opinion to be the truth please prove it.


Of course the book may have been edited (sections cut from place to another).
thats exactly my point - it might have been written by finnish author from scratch or it might have been edited.
(I remember the scandal with "hitler's diary" which turned out to be fake but were thought to be real by some so called experts ;) )
Sorry but a story about finns who butcher soviets with 2 dead bodies per bullet (etc.. etc... etc...) sound like cheap propaganda to me ;)

[pacifist]

I don't really care about the diary or individual fire fights.

History is suppose to be a science that researches the past and human history. There is suppose to be just one truth, but too many times historians of different countries have different views of past events: like who strted the winter war etc.

[Basillicus]

Sorry but a story about finns who butcher soviets with 2 dead bodies per bullet (etc.. etc... etc...) sound like cheap propaganda to me ;)

You know, you should read it more carefully. In that part the guy is
a) describing something he heard in the news, not something he saw himself
b) and referring to (fabricated) incident where Finnish ARTILLERY was firing Soviet troops. You know you can kill more than one person per HE round and it doesn't make it propaganda.

But whatever, I'm sure it's all bloody lies by capitalistic fascist butchers, and no one here can proove otherwise. :roll:

[Xaito]

You know, you should read it more carefully. In that part the guy is
a) describing something he heard in the news, not something he saw himself
b) and referring to (fabricated) incident where Finnish ARTILLERY was firing Soviet troops. You know you can kill more than one person per HE round and it doesn't make it propaganda.

did he hear the part about the Ninja-Finns with knifes on ski also in the news? p-)

fabricated incident? well it kinda contradicts each other - please decide what is fabricated - finnish provocation attacks or the diary of the guy who supposedly witnessed them... :)


But whatever, I'm sure it's all bloody lies [...] and no one here can proove otherwise.
yes, I'd say that about sums the whole situation up (for both sides) p-)


History is suppose to be a science that researches the past and human history. There is suppose to be just one truth, but too many times historians of different countries have different views of past events: like who strted the winter war etc.
yes that's true... and most try to paint the history in their favour (exception germany etc who got the history written by the victors)

[Hollis]

Looks like this tread has gotten derailed.

Let's get back on topic, support what you post with documentation.

Journals and diaries do provide interesting insight. The insight of the big picture can be completely wrong, but it does show what the writer was thinking at the time.

[Rynnäkkökivääri]

thats exactly my point - it might have been written by finnish author from scratch or it might have been edited.
(I remember the scandal with "hitler's diary" which turned out to be fake but were thought to be real by some so called experts ;) )
Sorry but a story about finns who butcher soviets with 2 dead bodies per bullet (etc.. etc... etc...) sound like cheap propaganda to me ;)
It was arty that was supposedly fired. I don't think you even understand wtf he's talking about here.

Also, the Finnish artillery positions were never in the area to strike the supposed shelled out areas at the time, and the unit that was supposedly shelled never reported any dead soldiers. Sounds like it was a Russian fabrication. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelling_of_Mainila

[Xaito]

Also, the Finnish artillery positions were never in the area to strike the supposed shelled out areas at the time
says who - the Finns?

seen the recent vid of a mig-29 shooting down a georgian drone?
russian aircraft supposedly aren't in the area at the time ;)

[Cyclonite]

says who - the Finns?

seen the recent vid of a mig-29 shooting down a georgian drone?
russian aircraft supposedly aren't in the area at the time ;) So you honestly believe, or consider it a valid possibility that Finland did indeed want to start the Winter War? I'm only asking you to think outside the box for once and use common sense. I believe this whole conversation is becoming a lost cause where everything and everyone can have ties to the west and therefore making it possible propaganda and nobody can prove otherwise. It would be interesting to know, though, how much of the whole war do you think is true? I mean, the whole idea of the small nation with the minimum of equipment having held back the Red Army of the Soviet Union must seem totally absurd and plain Western propaganda altogether as well.

[Rynnäkkökivääri]

says who - the Finns?

seen the recent vid of a mig-29 shooting down a georgian drone?
russian aircraft supposedly aren't in the area at the time ;)

Um, well the fact that SOVIET records show no casualties in that area on that date should be enough for you. What, now you don't trust your countrymen either?

And artillery doesn't just disappear and reappear like an airplane, it's a big honking mess of effort to move it. Just get over the fact you started a war based on false accusations and lost it.

[Lazarou]

says who - the Finns?

seen the recent vid of a mig-29 shooting down a georgian drone?
russian aircraft supposedly aren't in the area at the time ;)
Do us a favor: take of the tinfoil hat and bugger off.

Just get over the fact you started a war based on false accusations and lost it.
The Soviet Union was humiliated in front of the whole world, suffered massive losses and failed in its grand objective, but I think "lost it" is a bit of an overstatement. Especially when taking into account the fact that the Moscow Peace Treaty was pretty hard on Finland.

[Xaito]

So you honestly believe, or consider it a valid possibility that Finland did indeed want to start the Winter War?
yes I consider it a possibility that Finland could have provoked a war - willingly or accidentaly - I'm not saying that it has - nor that it hasn't.
But the argument that there was no artillery in the vicinity isn't very convincing to me - they can be moved after all.



And artillery doesn't just disappear and reappear like an airplane
if you can move an fighterjet unnoticed nowadays with radars everywhere and spy sattelites in the orbit where would be the big problem to move artillery back then?


It would be interesting to know, though, how much of the whole war do you think is true? I mean, the whole idea of the small nation with the minimum of equipment having held back the Red Army of the Soviet Union must seem totally absurd and plain Western propaganda altogether as well.
I just suspect that this particular diary might be fake - that's all.
I'm not saying the whole war is propaganda.
And I'll leave it at that - thread was derailed enough already. :)


Um, well the fact that SOVIET records show no casualties in that area on that date should be enough for you.
sorry I haven't seen them - but if you say so it must be true ;)

[Rynnäkkökivääri]

if you can move an fighterjet unnoticed nowadays with radars everywhere and spy sattelites in the orbit where would be the big problem to move artillery back then?
Finland's logistics weren't of the capability to move artillery batteries that fast at the time. Plus, Finnish records/diaries from the batteries show that they were move before hand.



sorry I haven't seen them - but if you say so it must be true ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelling_of_Mainila

Read again. And if you can read Russian I believe that this is about the shelling http://artofwar.ru/r/razzhiwin_a_e/text_0060.shtml

[Teme]

Oh dear, here we go again.

Finland had nothing to win with war with the SU. Stalin was the one who had plenty to gain.

It was an NKVD action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WipJrWm1Qk

[Lokos]

I don't think, at this point, it's really disputable that the Soviets were angling for military action, Susumu. No matter how much I disagree with the popular Finnish depiction of the war that followed, generally, it is difficult to believe that the scale of preparations were defensive in nature.

Lokos

[Mangrove]

That's exactly my point - it might have been written by Finnish author from scratch or it might have been edited.
(I remember the scandal with "hitler's diary" which turned out to be fake but were thought to be real by some so called experts ;) )


By editing I mean transforming a personal diary into a book. Hardly any diary can be straight printed into a book, there maybe a word or words which first must be explained to the reader etc. But it doesn't mean the author (Lord Carlow) will fake the diary.

The fake "Hitler Diaries" were made during the 1960s I my memory serves me correctly and were made for the money. These were found from the battlefield, only a small edition was printed (what's the propaganda value for that?) and no money was involved.


says who - the Finns?

The Finnish Unit diaries (sotapäiväkirja) of the units based at the border in 1939. The place of the artillery is all there, saying Finns couldn't shoot at the border.

[Xaito]

I don't think, at this point, it's really disputable that the Soviets were angling for military action, Susumu. No matter how much I disagree with the popular Finnish depiction of the war that followed, generally, it is difficult to believe that the scale of preparations were defensive in nature.

Lokos
I agree and its also known that like nowadays back then faking evidence to justify a war was not uncommon.
But do you think its impossible that the Finns might have had provoked the outbreak of the war themselves because they thought it was inevitable anyway and starting it when they are ready and not when the enemy is would be better?
Also I'd be interested in your opinion on this diary. :)

[Teme]

I agree and its also known that like nowadays back then faking evidence to justify a war was not uncommon.
But do you think its impossible that the Finns might have had provoked the outbreak of the war themselves because they thought it was inevitable anyway and starting it when they are ready and not when the enemy is would be better?

Why Finland did not wait until Operation Barbarossa before her artillery shot the Mainila shots?
:roll:

[Lokos]

But do you think its impossible that the Finns might have had provoked the outbreak of the war themselves because they thought it was inevitable anyway and starting it when they are ready and not when the enemy is would be better?

If I was a Finnish general of the time, honestly, I would not preempt the conflict with seven generally aimed artillery rounds. Consider: the Soviets believed that the conflict with the GGR was inevitable. This is evidenced by various speeches, wargames and pre-war preparations conducted by Stalin himself and his sub-ordinates. Yet, rather than preempt action, everything possible was done to stall the onset of the war, so as to achieve higher preparedness. Preemption is generally only a factor in situations wherein decisive action is possible at the time, but the likelihood decreases over a subsequent period.

The Finns, at no point, had the opportunity to decisively defeat the Soviet Union. Any preemptive action makes no sense.

Lokos

[Cyclonite]

Thank you for that, Lokos. p-)

[Mangrove]

[...]

[No date]. We have got through six barbed wire entanglements and four tank traps. All the roads are mined. The mines disappear during the day but during the night are back again in their places.

The Finnish officers put their machine guns nests in the trees, choosing solidary trees growing alongside the road. I saw how one of these "Forest Eagles" was brought down from a tree. He had no time even to fire a single round bere our snipers knocked him down.

Probably an artillery observer?

[...]

We often find large numbers of sound and broken bicycles in the road. I should just like to mention one example. A bicycle lying by the roadside. A new German bicycle with its gleaming nickel parts - looks very innocent, but it is connected up to a mine - no comments are needed.

One of our tanks drove over a mine which exploded and threw it four metres into the air: in spite of this it suffered little damage and went on its way.

I dream all the time of some way to get hold of a Finnish knife. We are now at the staion of Paperi.

Yesterday evening a plane appeared over our lines. It was fe on although it clearly bore our markings.

[Mangrove]

For the skeptics on this forum here is a piece of original text with translations.

RU
7 декабря
Находимся в 35 километрах от границы Советского Союза. Переехали границу 3-го декабря. 30 ноября в 8 часов утра открыта артиллерийская канонада. Мы находилисъ в 6 километрах от огневых позиций. На горизонте полыхали кроваво-красные блики, слышалисъ выстрелы, а потом ирокатилосъ грозное ура.
На кордоне, который был захвачен, нашли пустые бутылки из под вина и плакат, на котором был изображен медведъ, долженствующий изображатъ красноармейца. Финны отступают, сжигая на пути отступления все. Мы были свидетелями такого пожара. Поселок Сувилахти был, иовидимому, оживленным пунктом. При отстуилении финны подожгли его.

ENG
We are a kilometre from the Russian frontier. We crossed it on December 3rd. Our artillery opened fire at 8 a.m. on Nov. 30th. I was six kms. from the firing line. On the horizon we could see blood red flames. Near noisy shouting interrupted with cheers. Near the frontier barricade we found empty vodka bottles and a placard on which was drawn a bear, probably representing the Red Army.
The Finns are retreating, burning everything. We came across one of these fires. Suvalehto (?) had probably been a lovely centre. The Finns set fire to it as they retreated.

FIN
Olemme kilometrin päässä Neuvostoliiton rajasta. Ylitimme rajan joulukuun 3 p:nä. Marraskuun 30 pnä klo 8.00 aamulla avasimme tykkitulen. Olin kuuden kilometrin päässä tulilinjoilta. Taivaanrannalla näkyi veripunaisia liekkejä, kuului äänekästä melua ja sen seasta hurraa-huutoja. Rajasulun läheisyydestä löydettiin tyhjiä viinapulloja ja plakaatti, johon oli piiretty karhu, nähtävästi kuvaamaan puna-armeijalaista.
Suomalaiset perääntyvät polttaen kaikki. Näimme erään sellaisen tulipalon. Suvalehto (?) oli ollut luultavasti vilkas asutuskeskus. Suomalaiset sytyttivät sen tuleen lähtiessään perääntymään.

[Trenk]

man, geat diary, keep that coming please... thanks

[JRT]

Winter War in the Russian view (audio, Russian. Text, Finnish):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WipJrWm1Qk part 1/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpEGM1pWGds 2/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT_7TEJMaEw 3/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-wiPgmrSo 4/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKSnJWLtXsY 5/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfRyQRjAnPc 6/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVb7pt8DPAw 7/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBJk-h2DfRs 8/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWw7_lILVH 9/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOmRg1U-7LQ 10/10

[Mangrove]

I went to the National Archive and dug out few of the original diaries. Here's a part of one found from a officer at Salla (in Lapland) in 1939. Maybe one of our Russian members can translate it for us?

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4236/2stpagerussiandiary.jpg

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3226/3rdpagerussiandiary.jpg

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/204/4thpagerussiandiary.jpg

[Hollis]

This is a great thread for the contents of the Diary. Let's really try to stay on topic and accept the diaries for what they are. A notation in history by a single person at that time.

[Abyr]

Thank you for the scans. I tried to read them but there are a lot words that I can't figure out what are they. That would be probably me, I never was an expert of reading others' hand-writings..
From what I could gather, he talks that the enemy fights back hard, later it says that they are hungry, that the moral is low and, as I understood it, people started to surrender (?)

If you want I could try to translate it, but be aware, there will be a lot of empty spaces, because this hand-writings isn't clear for me.

[Mangrove]

If you want I could try to translate it, but be aware, there will be a lot of empty spaces, because this hand-writings isn't clear for me.

No worries! Do as you like. In the meantime here are few pages from another, at least I think it's a diary. No information where it was found on when, although it ends on February 7th 1940.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1460/img4174h.jpg

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/481/img4175o.jpg

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/550/img4176n.jpg

[asch]

No worries! Do as you like. In the meantime here are few pages from another, at least I think it's a diary. No information where it was found on when, although it ends on February 7th 1940.
that's some flight crew diary.

rough translation:

1/12/1939
got orders to do reconnaissance today (two planes).
checked our machineguins.
recon was aborted.
at 2 pm was meeting in remembrance of Kirov.
in morning, 5 pm, helped my crew commander to move to quarters.
2/12/1939
time spent at airdrome.
got our tasks but not fly off.
3/12/1939
all the same
4/12/1939
all the same. today 6th company got task to fly to *some non-comprehensible name*
at night some supplies and part of crew was moved there.
5/12/1939
today got task to bomb finns at Arknhangelsk direction, but weather was very bad so flight was cancelled. 6th company the same.
of 4th squadron - six flights was performed.
of 209th Fighters all returned safely.
at 2 pm was meeting about Stalin's parting words.

[Mangrove]

Thanks for the translation! While not from the Winter War, here we have a possibly diary from the beginning of the Continuation War.

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4089/1941sovietdiary1stpage.jpg