which concluded that no Finnish artillery or mortars could have reached the village of Mainila. Field Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim had ordered all Finnish guns drawn back out of range. Finnish border guards testified they had heard the sound of artillery fire from the Soviet side of the border. Russian historian Pavel Aptekar analyzed declassified Soviet military documents and found that the daily reports from troops in the area did not report any losses in personnel during the time period in question, leading him to conclude that the shelling of Soviet troops was staged. In his 1970 memoir, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote on the start of the Winter War: "We had fired our salvo, and the Finns had replied with artillery fire of their own. De facto, the war had begun. There is, of course, another version of the facts: it's said that the Finns started shooting first and that we were compelled to shoot back. It's always like that when people start a war. They say, "You fired the first shot," or "You slapped me first, and I'm only hitting back." On 18 May 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin denounced the Winter War, agreeing it had been a war of aggression. 1941 Finnish shelling of Mainila During the Continuation War, the 18th Division of the Finnish Army reached Rajajoki on 31 August 1941 and started preparations for taking the village of Mainila. Their division commander Colonel Pajari recognized the propaganda value and arranged for an artillery strike on the village to be witnessed by combat camera personnel, and the village was taken a couple of days later. In his report to HQ in Mikkeli, Pajari stated that "on 31st August 1941 the 18th division conducted the Shelling of Mainila." See also Background of the Winter War Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact Operation Himmler Gleiwitz incident Mukden Incident – Another false flag attack References Citations Bibliography External links Diplomatic correspondence between Finnish and Russian Governments 1939 in Finland 1939 in the Soviet Union Political history of Finland Finland–Soviet Union relations Military history of the Soviet Union during World War II False flag operations Propaganda in the Soviet Union Winter War World War II deception operations November 1939 events