Finnish Government cripples Finnish Defense Force with cost cut´s.

[PanzerJaeger]

Finland yet again retained its independency and was not occupied again thanks to Finnish Army.

Well, that and a significant shift toward the Soviet Union, known in the West as Finlandization. For all intents and purposes, Finland had to become a Soviet satellite in its foreign policy.

To what Kage says, I will add this:

You are a Serb, you live in the Balkans, you have no idea what it is to fight a war in Northern Europe. Fighting the Fins is like fighting the Bedoin in the Sahara, just going there can get you killed - even if you're a Russian.

I don't think that's fair. Sarmation knows his military history, and he's right. The Soviets could have defeated Finland in '45. In fact, the Soviets could have beaten the Finns in '40. The Finnish military certainly presented a speedbump to Soviet plans, but the real reason Finland remained independent in both instances was because it gave Stalin what he wanted at the same time that he had more pressing priorites.