The Winter Warriors by Olivier Norek, beautifully translated by Nick Caistor, is based on the conflict between Finland and the Soviet Union known as the Winter War. Norek draws on genuine battles and hardships which he researched in person by spending time on the ground, visiting the sites of key battles to get a very real feel for the distances, the extreme icy cold, the psychological stakes, the fear, and what the steely underdog resistance of the Finns was up against.
“There was no celebration of the Winter War when Komarov got back to Russia. All the military archives were transferred to the Kremlin and kept under lock and key so that they would be forgotten by Russian history. Komarov with them.
In Soviet school books, nothing in particular happened between November 30, 1939 and March 13, 1940.
However close to 400,000 men in the Red Army were wounded, or killed, or went missing although the official figure was 350. The rest were to be forgotten. The rest brought shame. The Finnish army lamented the loss of almost 70,000 men. It also took 6000 Russian prisoners who were repatriated the day after the Armistice.”
The focus of the story is Simo Häyhä, a Finnish farmer-hunter who was the deadliest and most prolific sniper of all, instilling terror in Stalin’s troops who called him ‘Belaya Smert’, ‘The White Death’. His legendary feats are well documented.
“The bullet that had left Simmo’s rifle had travelled the 490 metres in half a second. The [Russian] sniper’s skull was smashed by a few grams of burning metal, and he toppled backwards.”
Simo, Toivo, Pietari, Onni and Viktor are brothers in arms from the same village. Who will die, who will survive?
“Make a company of soldiers out of the sons of the same village, then on the battlefield there will be brothers, friends, husbands, neighbours, so that they will have what they must defend before their eyes. It will not be people they do not know dying next to them. It will not be strangers whose lives they will want to save. They will have no choice but to fight, because who would dare to desert when his brother is calling for help?”
Whereas Russian troops are drawn from across Russia’s vast territory and from outside its borders. They are a patchwork of conscripts, mercenaries, convicts, ethnic minorities and reservists.
David and Goliath: The Finnish-Soviet Winter War (1939-40)
The Winter Warriors shines a light on a forgotten chapter of World War Two and how a tiny country resisted a much larger, better-equipped power for many months in brutal, horrific conditions. For many outside Finland and Russia, the Winter War is hidden history. This novel reminds us that World War Two was not just Normandy, Britain and the European mainland, but that smaller nations fought in cruel conditions and deserve remembrance. Despite blurring fact and fiction, Norek achieves balance.
Given the current conflict in Ukraine up against a stronger power imposing itself, and border tensions — most recently with Russia releasing drones violating Polish and Romanian air space — there is a strong contemporary echo in the story. It shows how smaller nations can resist invasion in a bid to retain their independence by using unconventional tactics, and when power is imbalanced, what counts as courage alongside the cost of resistance. This is especially relevant with rising nationalism, the rise in wars involving opponents with unequal weapons and tactics, and the problem of refugees being treated as unwanted immigrants in the countries they hope will offer them safety. The Winter Warriors invites reflection on bravery, stamina, nationalism and what people are willing to endure when under invasive attack.
Over and beyond the superbly written descriptions of fighting, sniping, the mindset of military commanders and careless cruelty of political leaders, munitions and tanks, the reader also gets a very real feel of how war shatters friendships and the fabric of society, turning peaceful farming folk into ruthless fighters fuelled by grief and rage, surviving in subzero temperatures. The brutal, repugnant, dehumanising aspect of war is laid bare.
“Winter had December in its grip. If in its early days it had been content to sprinkle the trees with snow, now their branches drooped down almost to the ground under heavy drifts, like weary soldiers lowering their arms. Winter had frozen the heart of the forest, turned tree trunks to stone, pine needles to shards of glass.”
“A very fine writer,” Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
Former cop Olivier Norek has proved himself to be one of France’s master thriller writers, with several works adapted for Netflix. Now turning to historical fiction, he proves that his range is as formidable as his skill. The Winter Warriors has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in France, and earned him literary recognition by winning the Prix Jean Giono, the Prix Renaudot des lycéens and the Prix Le Mans-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was a finalist for the Prix Interallié and Prix Renaudot, longlisted for the Prix Goncourt, and shortlisted for the Prix André Malraux and the Prix Les Visionnaires.
Over and beyond the vivid visceral writing, character-driven narrative and a chillingly immersive atmosphere, The Winter Warriors is epic in scope. Both moving and thought-provoking, it is literary adrenaline which hooks you from page one.
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