The third gold coin of the Czech Mint from the four-part miniseries War Year 1939 commemorates the unequal conflict between Finland and the Soviet Union - the so-called Winter War.

A non-aggression pact was signed between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union on the eve of the outbreak of the Second World War in August 1939. This agreement included secret amendments in which Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin partitioned Europe. The Soviet sphere of influence included, among other things, Finland, which the Russians had set on for centuries. Stalin needed an excuse to seize the sovereign state, so he staged a fictitious Finnish attack on his border troops. In retaliation, he sent an invading army of one million men on November 30, 1939. He expected a lightning victory, however, he grossly underestimated his prey. Although the Finns stood against triple the odds, they were able to use the terrain much better and withstand the freezing temperatures that paralyzed the poorly equipped and Communist-weakened Red Army. The perfectly camouflaged northerners employed guerrilla tactics. Skis allowed them to move quickly and stealthily. They used Molotov cocktails - incendiary bottles named after the hated Soviet foreign minister - against enemy tanks. Experienced woodland game hunters became great snipers, the best of whom - Simo Häyhä, nicknamed the White Death - shot five hundred Soviets. The Finnish airmen also achieved success, facing thirty times the odds... But the overwhelming Soviet superiority was revealed in the end. To preserve its sovereignty, after three months of fighting, Finland ceded to the Soviet Union one tenth of its territory, which accounted for a full one-third of the country's economic output. While Stalin gained what he wanted, he also lost a lot. The Soviet Union lost two hundred thousand men and its international reputation. It was expelled from the League of Nations, and its poor military performance convinced Hitler that he could easily defeat it…

The coin is the work of the medal maker Mgr. Art. Miroslav Hric, Art.D. The reverse side presents Finnish soldiers in white camouflage uniforms, assisted by draught reindeer. As the licence to issue commemorative coins of the Czech Mint is granted by the Pacific island of Niue, the obverse side bears its necessary attributes - the name and portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, the nominal value of 5 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of issue 2021.

The complete collection of four war coins can be stored in a thematic tin etui that can also be found in the offer of the Czech Mint.