Editing Winter War (section)

===Foreign volunteers===
[[File:Norwegian Winter War Volunteers.jpg|thumb|Norwegian volunteers somewhere in Northern Finland]]

World opinion largely supported the Finnish cause, and the Soviet aggression was generally deemed unjustified. World War II had not yet directly affected France, the United Kingdom or the United States; the Winter War was practically the only conflict in Europe at that time and thus held major world interest. Several foreign organisations sent material aid, and many countries granted credit and military materiel to Finland. Nazi Germany allowed arms to pass through its territory to Finland, but after a Swedish newspaper made this public, Adolf Hitler initiated a policy of silence towards Finland, as part of improved German–Soviet relations following the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.<ref name="Trotter_194-202">[[#Trotter2002|Trotter (2002)]], pp. 194–202</ref>

The largest foreign contingent came from neighboring Sweden, which provided nearly 8,760 volunteers during the war. The [[Swedish Volunteer Corps (Winter War)|Volunteer Corps]] was formed of predominantly Swedes, as well as 1,010 Danes and 727 Norwegians. They fought on the northern front at Salla during the last days of the war. A Swedish unit of [[Gloster Gladiator]] fighters, named "the Flight Regiment 19" also participated. Swedish anti-air batteries with [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|Bofors {{convert|40|mm|abbr=on}} guns]] were responsible for air defence in northern Finland and the city of Turku.<ref name="JS2006_21-22">[[#Jow&Snod2006|Jowett & Snodgrass (2006)]], pp. 21–22</ref> Volunteers arrived from [[Hungarian Volunteers in the Winter War|Hungary]], Italy and Estonia. 350 [[Finnish American|American nationals of Finnish background]] volunteered, and 210 volunteers of other nationalities arrived in Finland before the war ended.<ref name="JS2006_21-22"/> [[Max Manus]], a [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]], fought in the Winter War before returning to [[Norway]] and later achieved fame as a resistance fighter during the [[German occupation of Norway]]. In total, Finland received 12,000 volunteers, 50 of whom died during the war.<ref name="Juuti1999b_776">[[#Juuti1999b|Juutilainen (1999b)]], p. 776</ref> The British actor [[Christopher Lee]] volunteered in the war for two weeks, but did not face combat.{{Sfnp|Rigby|2003|pp=59–60}}

==== White émigrés and Russian prisoners-of-war ====
Finland officially refused overtures from the anti-Soviet [[Russian All-Military Union]] (ROVS) for aid. Nevertheless, Mannerheim eventually agreed to establish a small Russian detachment (''Russkaya narodnaya armiya'', RNA) of 200 men after being introduced to [[Boris Bazhanov]], a high-ranking ROVS member, in person in January 1940. The project was deemed top secret, and was under the auspices of the intelligence division of the Finnish army headquarters.<ref name="Yle_Jormanainen">{{Cite web | url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11254603 | title=Venäläisemigranttien talvisota – Mannerheim hyväksyi huippusalaisen suunnitelman bolševikkien vastaisen sotavankiarmeijan perustamisesta | publisher=[[Yle]] | author=Jormanainen, Heli | date=15 March 2020 | accessdate=8 June 2022 | archive-date=17 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217145822/https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11254603 | url-status=live }}</ref>

The ranks of RNA were to be filled by prisoners-of-war, but it would be commanded by White émigrés instead of captured Soviet Army officers, who were deemed unreliable. Bazhanov's Finnish assistant Feodor Schulgin chose Captain Vladimir Kiseleff, Lieutenant Vladimir Lugovskoy, Anatoly Budyansky and brothers Nikolay and Vladimir Bastamov as officers for the unit. Of the five, the Bastamovs were not Finnish citizens, but had [[Nansen passport]]s. The prisoners-of-war were trained in [[Huittinen]], although it is possible that some were also trained in [[Lempäälä]].<ref name="Yle_Jormanainen"/>

RNA never participated in battle, despite Boris Bazhanov's later claims to the contrary in his memoirs. About 35 to 40 members of it were present during a battle in [[:fi:Ruskeala|Ruskeala]] in early March 1940, where they spread flyers and broadcast propaganda to encircled Soviet troops, but did not carry weapons. The men were subsequently detained by Finnish forces, who mistook them for Soviet infiltrators. After the war's end, Bazhanov was immediately asked to leave Finland, which he did. Finnish military historian [[:fi:Carl-Fredrik Geust|Carl Geust]] presumes that most members of the RNA were executed after they were returned to the Soviet Union after the war. Additionally, Vladimir Bastamov was later extradited into the Soviet Union as one of the [[:fi:Leinon vangit|Leino prisoners]] in 1945, and was sentenced to 20 years of hard labour. He was released after Stalin's death and returned to Finland in 1956.<ref name="Yle_Jormanainen"/>