The shelling of the Soviet town of Mainila, secretly carried out by Soviet forces, continued to cause problems for Finland on this day.
Mainila was shelled on 26 November 1939 by Soviet forces, in an attempt to create an international incident which would give the Soviets an excuse to attack Finland. Because nobody knew who carried out the shelling at the time, the Soviet Union was able to blame Finland. Finland, which obviously had no records of such an attack being order, has denied involvement, explaining all of its artillery had already been pulled back away from the border to avoid such an incident occurring. Finland suggested the shelling was an accident by Soviet forces and it recommended an independent investigation should be launched.
