 For many of the encircled Soviet troops in a pocket ( called a motti in Finnish , meaning a bundle of wood ) , just staying alive was an ordeal comparable to combat . The men were freezing and starving and endured poor sanitary conditions . Historian William R. Trotter describes these conditions thus : " The Soviet soldier had no choice . If he refused to fight , he would be shot . If he tried to sneak through the forest , he would freeze to death . And surrender was no option for him ; Soviet propaganda had told him how the Finns would torture prisoners to death . " 
