The Life of Karl Gustav Mannerhaim

On a street in Helsinki, Finland, stands a tall granite statue. A mighty soldier in uniform rode a big horse with bright eyes looking ahead. He is Karl Gustav Mannerhaim, a famous legend in Finnish history and the sixth president of Finland.

19 18 1, once chairman of the Finnish military commission and commander-in-chief of the self-defense forces, and 12 was the regent of Finland. 193 1 ~ 1939 became the chairman of the Finnish national defense commission, during which he built the "Mannheim defense line". 1933 was awarded the title of Marshal. 1942 was promoted to Marshal Finland. 1In August, 944, he was elected President of the Republic of China. 195 1 65438+ died on1October 28th in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the age of 84, and was buried in the Etanemi Martyrs Cemetery in Sinkich, Finland. His greatest achievement was that in the winter war of 1939, he beat the mighty Soviet Red Army to death with a disadvantage of 1:5, thus ensuring Finland's independence. If it weren't for him, the Soviet-backed regime of Otto Virge Movich Kuchinin would have ruled and turned Finland into a part of Russia.

1On June 4th, 867, Mannerhaim was born in Finland (then Russian) into a declining aristocratic family, ranking third among seven children. Mannerhaim's father is a poet, writer and businessman. Later, due to business bankruptcy, he abandoned his family and went to France to engage in artistic creation, and his mother died soon after. Thanks to my uncle's guardianship over Mannerhaim, he won't live on the streets. 1887, Mannerhaim was admitted to Nicholas cavalry school in St. Petersburg, which was a two-year school to train elite cavalry troops for the tsar. Mannerhaim was tall and handsome, and soon stood out in the school. After graduation, he entered the Knights Guards Corps in St. Petersburg as he wished, and took on the security work of Queen Fedoroff.

From 65438 to 0897, Mannerhaim was transferred to the "Royal Stables Management Office". He is good at training horses, and also undertakes the task of purchasing stallions and special horses for cavalry units. During this period, he was responsible for training the cavalry guard of honor. 1904 was sent to the 52nd dragoons regiment in Manzhouli, China as a lieutenant colonel. Later, he participated in the Russo-Japanese War, and was promoted to colonel in advance because of his bravery in the Battle of Fengtian (now Shenyang).

1906 in March, the general staff of the Russian army gave Mannerhaim a secret mission to infiltrate the expedition led by French scientist Paul Perri Ette and sneak into China for espionage. During the two-year investigation activities, Mannerhaim crossed 8 provinces in China, including Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Hebei, with a journey of 6,543,800+0.4 million kilometers, and collected a lot of important information. To conduct a comprehensive military and social investigation according to the will of the Russian General Staff, he should find out the best military route from Kashgar to Beijing via Lanzhou. Find out China's military strength, political status and the extent to which the New Deal of the Qing government was influenced by the Japanese. In short, it is preparing for further Russian aggression against China.

Since then, Mannerhaim's career has been smooth sailing. After returning to China, he was transferred to Warsaw as the head of the cavalry regiment. 19 10 was promoted to major general. In World War I, he fought fiercely with the Germans on the battlefield in Poland. He used to be commander and commander of cavalry, and was promoted to lieutenant general because of his outstanding exploits. 1917 Russian revolution broke out in February, and Mannerhaim, who hated the revolution, resigned and returned to Finland in September of that year.

19181kloc-0/0 In October, the newly independent Finnish parliament appointed Mannerhaim as the chairman of the country's military commission and commander-in-chief of the White Guards, responsible for suppressing the armed uprising launched by the working class. At that time, Germany and Russia were enemies, so Germany was quite supportive of Finland's independence, and German general Gortz Jr. also helped him suppress the Finnish revolution. Many Finns also think the Germans are nice and plan to mix with them. However, mannering believes that the outcome of World War I is undecided. If Germany is defeated in World War I, Finland will have no benefit. But the Finnish leader insisted on being pro-German, and mannering was very angry. In addition, in the civil war, he opposed the killing of innocent people by the White Guards and the mass detention of the Red Guards. He resigned as commander in chief. Soon the Germans were defeated in World War I, and the Finns felt that mannering was right. In the same year, 65438+February was elected Regent of Finland. After mannering came to power, he eliminated German influence in the army, restored relations with the allies, and made Finland's independence recognized by France. However, in the first presidential election in Finland in 19 19, Mannerhaim lost by a narrow margin. He retired to the countryside, which has nothing to do with hunting and growing flowers, but he is also very happy.

After Finland's independence, there appeared a Para Movement in China with anti-productism as its main appeal. Participants in this movement are active in major cities, sabotaging the Congress of the Producer Party, beating party member and even kidnapping the chairman. The para movement also attracted elites from all walks of life in Finland and tried to launch a coup, which was very powerful. Of course, Mannerhaim, as the commander-in-chief of Finland's three armed forces, is naturally the object of their netting. They offered Mannerhaim the condition that after the coup, you would become the military dictator of Finland. Although Mannerhaim has always been biased against productism, he also sympathized with the para movement. However, General Mannerhaim rejected the deal.

This decision is enough to make him go down in history and avoid possible bloodshed in Finnish history. Whether his behavior stems from hatred of dictatorship, belief in democracy or realistic political calculation. At the critical moment, Mannerhaim restrained his desire for power and avoided the retrogression of Finland's democratic process. This state is really worth studying by Cromwell and Yuan Shikai.

193 1 year, Mannerhaim came out of the mountain again and became the chairman of the Finnish national defense commission, taking charge of the command of the army. During his tenure, he reorganized the army and strengthened the defense, and built a defense line as long as 105 km in Karelia on the border between Finland and the Soviet Union, which was called "Mannheim Defense Line" in history. 1933 was awarded the title of Marshal. There is no doubt that Mannerhaim has outstanding military capabilities, which was demonstrated when he was still in the Russian army. His outstanding political and strategic vision is also beyond doubt. When the Soviet Union offered to exchange territory with Finland, Mannerhaim immediately proposed to the government to accept the Soviet Union's proposal. He believes that this is much milder than the suggestions received by the three Baltic countries, and it is an excellent opportunity to avoid bad relations with the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, the proud Finnish Parliament disagreed with his proposal. 1939165438+10 In October, the famous "winter war" broke out between the Soviet Union and Finland due to territorial issues. As the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, Mannerhaim visited the front line for many times to direct operations. He is 72 years old, and the Finnish army is less than 200,000 and poorly equipped. There are only 100 planes without tanks, while there are 500,000 invading Soviet Red Army, tanks 1500 planes 1500.

This war is a bit like a wolf bullying a white rabbit. What's the suspense between the Soviet Union and Finland? To the surprise of the world, the seemingly tough Soviet Red Army suffered heavy casualties from the Finnish army, which made Stalin lose face. Mannerhaim made full use of "the right time, the right place and the right people" to fight the Soviet Union. When the Soviets arrived in Finland, they found lakes and forests everywhere, and the easy road was blocked by the "mannering Defense Line". Mannering's Finnish soldiers are even better. They wore white clothes similar to the snow scene, held sledges, sniper rifles and incendiary bombs, and fought guerrilla warfare with the Soviet Union, beating the Soviet soldiers dizzy and complaining bitterly. In the defensive war in 65438+February, the Finnish army led by Marshal Mannerhaim won a brilliant victory, and wiped out two reorganization divisions of the vasily ivanovich chuikov Department of the Soviet Ninth Army in one fell swoop. The Soviet army was killed by 27500 people and captured 1300 people. The Finnish army lost only 900 people and 1700 people were injured. The Finnish army has set an example in the history of war, that is, winning more with less and winning the strong with weakness. However, Finland is a small country and cannot compete with the Soviet Union.

1940 At the beginning of February, under the command of Shemmie konstantinovitch timushinko, the Soviet army concentrated millions of troops and launched a well-prepared general attack in karelian isthmus, breaking through the defense of the Finnish army. On March 8, the Finnish delegation signed an unequal treaty in Moscow. Although Finland was finally defeated and forced to cede 10% of its territory, it also made the Soviet Union pay a heavy price in morality and strength. Voroshilov, the defense commissioner, lost his post and was expelled from the League of Nations. The Soviet Union was spurned by peace-loving and justice-upholding people all over the world.

1940 At the end of February, the outline of the "Barbarossa Plan" has been drawn up. Hitler has made up his mind to attack the Soviet Union. Germany wants to pull Finland into the Axis. On June 3rd, the German delegation found Marshal Mannerhaim, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Force, and put forward bluntly whether Finland was willing to take part in the war against the Soviet Union, and if so, what Finland wanted. Mannerhaim said he would defend himself. If it is involved in a Soviet-German war, Finland will not ask for anything, but it will be grateful if it gets assistance to recover the occupied land. 1941In the early morning of June 22nd, Germany launched a large-scale attack on the Soviet Union. In his radio address, Hitler declared that German soldiers were "allied with Finnish comrades" and "fighting along the coast of the Arctic Ocean", but in fact Finland has not yet allied with Germany. Although the Finnish government issued a statement that morning, denying Hitler's statement and declaring neutrality, Stalin regarded it as a fait accompli. Finland declared war on the Soviet Union only after the Soviet Air Force bombed the Finnish military base on June 25th. After the Finnish army regained the territory of karelian isthmus, it stopped its active military action. It must be repeatedly pointed out that Finland is strictly neutral in 1939. Finland is no less determined to remain neutral than Sweden. It was the Soviet aggression that washed Finland away from its neutral place.

Under these specific conditions of Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union, it is hard to imagine that Finland could not be involved in the war from 194 1 944. Under such circumstances, Finland fought for its lost territory, and its justice was beyond reproach. It just happened at an unfortunate time, but it was not because of Finland's own choice, nor did it conspire with Germany in advance. For these situations, the Soviet Union must bear the main responsibility.

At the end of 194 1, Hitler also offered to let him command all German troops in Finland, but Mannerhaim knew that if he accepted this proposal, he would definitely obey Hitler in the future, so he refused again. During World War II, Mannerhaim repeatedly refused to assist the Germans in attacking the Soviet Union, and limited the war to defending sovereignty and independence and recovering the land occupied by the Soviet Union. This move did not lead to the great hatred of the Soviet Union, and also avoided the direct conflict with Germany (objectively Finland helped Germany by fighting the Soviet Union, leaving Hitler speechless). This policy left room for the Sufen peace talks, which started at 1944. Imagine that if Finland is a staunch supporter of Nazi Germany, it will definitely not win the opportunity of peace talks after the war; However, it was difficult for Finland to resist Soviet aggression without accepting German aid.

1942 On June 4th, Mannerhaim celebrated his 75th birthday. On this day, he received two generous gifts: first, the Finnish government awarded him the rank of "Finnish Marshal", which was unprecedented in Finnish history; Second, Hitler came to celebrate his birthday in person. Mannerhaim was disgusted with Hitler's sudden visit, so he deliberately chose a remote railway line to meet Hitler.

When Hitler saw Mannerhaim, he ran to him excitedly. Mannerhaim said to the officers around Hitler: "Officers should not run away, which is detrimental to their dignity. Only soldiers will do this! " After Hitler gave a warm birthday speech, Mannerhaim invited him to eat a meal. I don't know if it was specially arranged, but the quality of the food is quite poor. After dinner, Mannerhaim lit another huge cigar, and everyone knew that Hitler could not stand the smell of smoke. As a result, Hitler only stayed in Finland for five hours and then hurried back to China. He had intended to ask Finland to strengthen its military action against the Soviet Union, but this unpleasant meeting obviously disheartened him, and he went home angrily without asking anything. After the Battle of Stalingrad, Mannerhaim privately asserted that the Germans were doomed to failure. Although he hates imperialism and has always been closely related to Germany in diplomacy, Finland's interests are paramount to him. So he began to try to make peace with the Soviet Union. At the same time, he also knew the serious consequences of making peace with the Soviet Union alone, because there were still a large number of German troops stationed in northern Finland, but he understood that Finland could no longer associate with the Axis countries.

It is said that Hitler trusted and respected only three foreign heads of state, and Mannerhaim was one of them. Whether this is true or not cannot be verified. However, from the fact that Hitler personally went to Finland to attend Mannerhaim's 75th birthday party in July 1942, we can see that the above statement is not groundless. When Hitler realized that Finland was beginning to waver in 1944, he did not take the same action as Holti, but awarded the Iron Cross to the Knight of Silver Oak in Mannerhaim, hoping that it would firmly urge Finland to stand on his side. He even awarded Mannerhaim's beloved Heinrich Sith Knight Cross, but these were superfluous. As a patriot, Mannerhaim was more concerned about the fate of Finland than maintaining his friendship with Hitler.

1944, Finnish President Ritti resigned due to illness, and 77-year-old Mannerhaim took over as president. After taking office, he quickly reached an armistice agreement with Stalin. After Finland signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union, the Germans were unwilling to leave on their own. Mannerhaim then directed the troops to turn their guns and drove the Germans out of northern Finland.

1946 In March, under the pressure of the Soviet Union and for the benefit of Finland, the aged Marshal Mannerhaim resolutely left the motherland he loved all his life and went into exile in Switzerland. 195 1 year 65438+1October 28th, Mannerhaim died in Lausanne, Switzerland. At the age of 84. When his coffin returned to Finland, the grieving Finnish people spontaneously took to the streets to greet the defender of the Finnish nation and the most loyal son of the motherland with the most solemn etiquette. Today, the Finnish people are still proud of having such a great patriot as Marshal Mannerhaim in World War II. Buried in the Etanemi Martyrs Cemetery in Sinkish, Finland. Author of the memoirs of Marshal Mannerhaim.