Editing Winter War (section)

===Finnish guerrilla tactics===
{{see also|Sissi (Finnish light infantry)}}
[[File:Soviet tracks during chase.jpg|thumb|upright|Soviet tracks at [[Kiantajärvi|Kianta Lake]], Suomussalmi during a Finnish pursuit in December 1939. Nordic combined skier [[Timo Murama]] is pictured.|alt=A Finnish soldier on skis, with a fur hat and a tobacco pipe in his mouth, points with a ski pole at the snowy ground where Soviet soldiers have left tracks. The Finnish troops are in pursuit.]]

In battles from Ladoga Karelia to the Arctic port of [[Battle of Petsamo (1939)|Petsamo]], the Finns used [[guerrilla tactics]]. The Red Army was superior in numbers and material, but Finns used the advantages of speed, [[manoeuvre warfare]] and [[economy of force]]. Particularly on the Ladoga Karelia front and during the [[Battle of Raate road|Battle of Raate Road]], the Finns isolated smaller portions of numerically superior Soviet forces. With Soviet forces divided into smaller groups, the Finns dealt with them individually and attacked from all sides.<ref name="Trotter_131-132">[[#Trotter2002|Trotter (2002)]], pp. 131–132</ref>

For many of the encircled Soviet troops in a [[Pocket (military)|pocket]] (called a ''[[Pocket (military)#Motti|motti]]'' in Finnish, originally meaning {{Convert|1|m3|cuft|abbr=on}} of firewood), staying alive was an ordeal comparable to combat. The men were freezing and starving and endured poor sanitary conditions. Historian William R. Trotter described these conditions as follows: "The Soviet soldier had no choice. If he refused to fight, he would be shot. If he tried to sneak through the forest, he would freeze to death. And surrender was no option for him; Soviet propaganda had told him how the Finns would torture prisoners to death."<ref name="Trotter_148-149">[[#Trotter2002|Trotter (2002)]], pp. 148–149</ref> The problem however was that the Finns were mostly too weak to fully exploit their success. Some of the pockets of encircled Soviet soldiers held out for weeks and even months, binding a huge number of Finnish forces.