However, it was the large-scale Russian air raid on the 25th of June, 1941, that started the war. The military purpose of the air raid was to destroy German aircraft which were believed to be kept on Finnish air fields.
As the war seemed inevitable, a decision was made that it should be waged effectively. The Finnish army advanced to the Karelian Isthmus and across the old frontier into eastern Karelia. On 6 December, 1941, the Finnish Parliament decided to incorporate the reoccupied territories back to Finland. There were also preparations made to annex eastern Karelia to Finland after the end of the war. To support the Soviet Union, Great Britain and her dominions declared war against Finland on the 6th of December, 1941, but there were no war operations.
In December 1941, Mannerheim gave the Finnish army an order to stop the advancement, after which began a period of static warfare, lasting two and a half years. The Finnish troops retained most of eastern Karelia under occupation.
In June 1944, the Red Army staged a large-scale offensive against Finland to clear the outskirts of Leningrad of Finnish troops.The Russians were not able to destroy the Finnish army, but the Finns were forced to withdraw from most of the reoccupied areas. When the Soviet army were advancing further and further (e.g. to Rumania) on their front against Germany, President Mannerheim decided to negotiate armistice on Soviet terms. The Finnish representatives signed the Moscow Truce on 19 September, 1944, and Finland was obliged to give up both the reoccupied territories and Petsamo.
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