Finnische Waffenbrüder – Finnish Brothers-in-Arms

Finnish StuG III assault gun crew

Finnish Waffen-SS veterans

The top photograph shows the Finnish Waffen-SS veteran Staff Sergeant Börje Brotell (on the left) and his tank destroyer crew pictured on the East side of Ihantala on July 7 1944. He was born in Swedish-founded Åbo in Finland on February 3 1922 and volunteered for the Waffen-SS in 1941. He served with the Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS as part of SS-Division Wiking. Börje Brotell was wounded on August 15 1942 when he was shot in the right thigh by an explosive bullet. On several occasions, captured volunteers were found castrated by the Soviets and dead from loss of blood. Such brutality reinforced their determination to avoid being taken prisoner by the Red Army at all costs. The Waffen-SS-units spared almost no effort in liberating their comrades, dead or alive. Börje Brotell was transferred back to Finland to recuperate. He later returned to Germany and attended the Waffen-SS officer candidate school at Bad Tölz. In October 1943 he joined the Finnish tank forces where he commanded the pictured German Sturmgeschütz III. Börje Brotell and his Finnish gun crew destroyed 11 Soviet tanks during the hot summer of 1944. He passed away on the Finnish Independence Day on December 6 2009 at the age of 87. Bottom image: former Finnish SS volunteers incorporated in the Finnish Army. The Waffen-SS veterans proved their high quality in the summer of 1944 when Soviet Union's massive attack to Finland began. 282 former Waffen-SS volunteers later become Finnish Army officers. Note their German medals pinned on their Finnish uniforms. Both photos taken by Press photographer Sergeant Major Osvald Hedenström. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive. FU.