At the beginning of the Winter War, the Finnish field artillery consisted of nine field artillery regiments and four heavy batteries. Only about 500 guns were in front-line service.
Much of the equipment purchased during the war did not arrive in Finland until after the war. Light guns accounted for a large proportion of the total equipment: up to 89% of the guns were light cannons and howitzers.
The shortage of ammunition meant that munitions had to be conserved. During the whole war, the Finnish field artillery fired about 486 000 rounds, while the Red Army artillery fired an average of 230 000 rounds per day.
For the artillery, problems were caused by a lack of communications equipment. Sometimes fire commands even had to be transmitted by messenger due to the lack of telephone cables, field telephones and radios.
152 mm heavy cannon model 1904 in Impilahti 1st of February 1940. The cannon had no recoil system.
The disadvantage of guns with no recoil system was the low rate of fire, as the gun had to be reoriented after each shot. The lack of flexible structures meant that when fired, the grenade left the position in one direction and the gun in the other.