Soviet Invasion of Finland: The Winter War 1939 – 1940

Finnish soldier during the Soviet invasion of Finland AKA the Winter War

Soviet POWs in the Parikkala collection camp during the Winter War

The Winter War was followed by the Continuation War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on Nov. 30 1939 after the Soviet and German invasion of Poland. The Soviet forces had more than three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. But with more than 30,000 of its army officers executed or imprisoned the Red Army had many inexperienced officers in 1939. The Finns isolated smaller portions of numerically superior Soviet forces. Divided into smaller pieces, the Finns could deal with them individually and attack from all sides. Soviet losses on the front were heavy. 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. After the Winter War ended on March 13 1940, the Soviet POWs were returned to the Soviet Union. The return was in many cases fatal for these people. They were transported under heavy guard by the NKVD to special camps as suspected traitors. Almost 10 percent of them were found guilty of high treason and executed, but the majority were sentenced to five to eight years in the Soviet forced-labour camp system known as the Gulag. This would lead to the later death of many of the POWs due to harsh camp conditions. In the aftermath of the Winter War, Finland found itself drawing ever closer to Nazi Germany. Top image: this well-known photo taken during the Winter War shows a soldier taking aim with a Swedish M/96 Mauser. The photo is often used to represent the world’s deadliest sniper: the then Corporal Simo Häyhä, commonly referred to as The White Death. With at least 505 confirmed kills during the Winter War, Häyhä has been labelled the deadliest sniper in history. One peculiar part that makes him an even more outstanding sniper was the fact that he never used a scope on his rifle. According to Finnish historians the photo was taken in Lapland far from where Häyhä's unit the 6th Co. of the IR 34 was stationed. Also, Häyhä did not use a Swedish M/96 Mauser rifle during the war, he used a Finnish bolt-action Mosin-Nagant M/28-30 rifle. Second Lieutenant Simo Häyhä died aged 96 on April 1 2002 in Fredrikshamn in Finland. Credit: Facundo Filipe. Middle image: Soviet POWs in the Parikkala collection camp on Dec. 1 1939. Credit: Anthony Malesys. Bottom image: Finnish soldiers at the shore of Lake Ladoga on March 7 1942 during the Continuation War. Credit: JHL. All photos: SA-kuva.

Swedish Intervention in the Winter War: Swedish Volunteer Corps

Swedish Volunteer Corps in the 17th century church of Torneå

Swedish fighter pilot with his J9 Seversky in Swedish service

4th Ranger Company of the Swedish Voluntary Corps

World opinion largely supported the Finnish cause, and the Soviet aggression was generally deemed unjustified. International help to Finland was planned, but very little actual help materialized, except from Sweden (Finland constituted the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden for centuries before 1809). Swedish support of Finland was near universal, under the slogan Finland's cause is ours! Volunteers arrived from America, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Norway and Italy. By far, the largest foreign contingent came from neighbouring Sweden. Sweden was officially non-belligerent, however not neutral. During the course of the war only volunteers could be used by Finland. 12,705 Swedes volunteered against the Soviet aggression in Finland. The Swedish Volunteer Corps fought on the northern front at Salla alongside Finnish soldiers. A Swedish unit of Gloster Gladiator, named the Flight Regiment 19 were responsible for the air defence of northern Finland and the city of Turku (Åbo). Hostilities ceased in March 13 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland lost one eleventh of its national territory and 30 percent of its economic assets to the Soviet Union. 12 percent of Finland's population, some 422,000 Karelians, were evacuated and lost their homes. However, Finland had avoided having the Soviet Union annex the whole country. The peace treaty thwarted the Franco-British plan to send troops to Finland through northern Scandinavia. One of the operation's major goals had been to take control of northern Sweden's iron ore and cut its deliveries to the German Reich. Top image: Swedish volunteers for Nordic independence take part for service of worship in Torneå in Finnish Lapland 1940. The Swedish Volunteer Corps were highly mobile in winter warfare and well equipped. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. The Finnish Wartime Photo Archive. Middle image: the Swedish Volunteer Air Wing F19 was equipped with Swedish planes marked with Finnish national swastika markings. The air wing's mission was to pursue reconnaissance and attacks on Soviet airbases and ground troops. Photo by Swedish press photographer Karl Werner Gullers 1940-41. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. The Nordic Museum in Stockholm. Bottom image: the former Swedish military attache to Moscow First Lieutenant Anders Grafström is presented a standard for the 4th Jäger Company of the Swedish Voluntary Corps in Finland 1940. The words translated as Honor, Duty and Will were spoken by Swedish General Carl Georg von Döbeln during the war against Russia in 1809. Credit: Jared Enos. The Military Archives of Sweden. Photos in the Public domain.

The Continuation War 1941 – 1944

Soviet bombardment of Helsinki

Soviet spy executed by a firing squad

Finnish sergeant armed with a Suomi KP/-31

The Finns had earned the respect of the world, and Germany now considered Finland a worthy ally for their planned invasion of the Soviet Union. The Finnish government was informed of plans for Operation Barbarossa during January 1941, and agreed to cooperate with Germany to recover its lost territory. They agreed upon the arrival of German troops, Finnish mobilization and general division of operations. The Germans took responsibility for a 500 km stretch of the front in the northern Finland. Acts of war between Finland and the Soviet Union started on June 22 1941, the day Germany launched Barbarossa. Open warfare started with a Soviet air offensive on June 25 1941. The Soviet air forces bombed Helsinki and other major Finnish cities. This offered the Finnish government a ground for claiming that the country had become the target of a new assault. Finnish government stressed that Finland was fighting as a co-belligerent of the German Reich only against the Soviet Union to protect itself. However, the United Kingdom had signed with the Soviet Union an agreement of joint action on July 12 1941. As a result, Britain declared war against Finland. Both Churchill and Roosevelt were assisting the Soviets in acts of territorial conquest through huge supplies of arms. Top image: mother and child after a Soviet bomb raid against the capital of Finland on July 9 1941. The Soviet Pravda newspaper stressed that no civilian targets in Finland had been struck, even accidentally. During World War II some 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated from Finland, chiefly to Sweden. Most were evacuated during the Continuation War. Ultimately, about 20 percent of the so-called war children stayed with their Swedish foster families after the war had ended. Middle image: Finnish execution of a Soviet saboteur named Victor Feigin on July 13 1941. When being arrested he was wearing black Finnish Navy uniform without ranks. Feigin was allegedly an Estonian national in Soviet service having been airdropped close to Hangö in south Finland. Credit: Jared Enos. Photo by Finnish author Laurin Zilliacus. Bottom image: Finnish sergeant posing with a Suomi KP/31 SMG in the South Karelia region on July 25 1941. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. Photos: SA-kuva.

Sweden during the Continuation War: Swedish Volunteer Battalion

Swedish Volunteer Battalion greeted by Field marshal Mannerheim

Swedish Volunteer Battalion following the liberation of Hanko

The Heavy Company of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion

Like in the Winter War, Swedish volunteers were again recruited in the Continuation War in 1941. Although far cooler in its attitude towards Finland than during the Winter War, the Swedish government nonetheless permitted pro-Finnish activities which were ipso facto also to the advantage of the German war effort. At the beginning of September 1941, the Swedish government made it clear that, apart from the Finnish forces on the eastern front, Swedes were not permitted to volunteer for a foreign force. About 25 percent of the men were Swedish officers on leave. The Volunteer Battalion succeeded the Swedish Volunteer Corps and preceded the Swedish Volunteer Company. Swedish neutrality during World War II has been much debated and challenged. Relations between Nazi Germany and Sweden remained co-operative during World War II. Sweden exported iron ore to supply Germany's war industry via the Norwegian port of Narvik. The Swedish Government gave the Wehrmacht access to the Swedish rail system. Sweden also allowed German naval transports to take shortcuts across Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. The most controversial transit of German troops through Sweden was that of a fully armed and equipped infantry division under the command of General Erwin Engelbrecht from Norway to Finland during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Responding to German appeals for volunteers Swedish citizens enlisted in the German Armed Forces and saw combat on the Eastern Front. This was a choice made by individual Swedish citizens, and not Swedish government policy (foreign recruitment of volunteers was banned in Sweden). Credit: Lecturter in European History Christian Leitz. Top image: Field marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim greeting members of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion in Hanko on December 14 1941. Photo by 2nd Lieutenant Pentti Ilmari Nikulainen. The Finnish Wartime Photo Archive. Middle image: Swedish Volunteer Battalion in Hanko 1941. Hangö Frontmuseum. Bottom image: soldier of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion in the trenches on the Hanko front with a Finnish 20 mm anti-tank rifle. The emblem on the Swedes' helmet was used by Captain Harald Bråkenhielm's Heavy Company. Photo by Finnish TK photographer Nils Helander on October 15 1941. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. The Finnish Wartime Photo Archive.

Finland's co-belligerence with Nazi Germany: ϟϟ-Kampfgruppe „Nord“

Waffenbrüderschaft

Finnish FM Gustaf Mannerheim and German Gen. Erwin Engelbrecht

German dictator Adolf Hitler and Finnish marshal Gustaf Mannerheim

Co-belligerence was the term used by the wartime government of Finland for its military co-operation with the German Reich. Finland, like Italy and Japan, as well as a number of countries including neutral Spain, belonged to Adolf Hitler's anti-Communist pact. Germany was also allowed to recruit Finnish volunteers to the Waffen-SS which served under direct German command in operations away from Finnish-Soviet border. The German troops in Finland were not the representatives of foreign despotism but helpers who the Finns called their brothers-in-arms. The SS-Kampfgruppe Nord was the only SS unit to fight inside the Arctic Circle when it was stationed in Finland and in the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Its manpower strength was 10,373 officers and men in June 1941. The formation was not made up of regular Waffen-SS troops, but from German, Hungarian and Romanian SS men used for garrison duties in Norway who lacked proper training and leadership. Due to lack of training the Nord suffered heavy losses at the Soviet fortress at Salla in July 1941. In September 1941 Nord was attached to the Finnish III Corps operating in the Kiestinki area of North Karelia under Finnish General Hjalmar Siilasvuo. Over the winter of 1941-1942 it received replacements from the general elite pool of Waffen-SS recruits and was redesignated as an Waffen-SS mountain division in June 1942. Top image: the German Reichskriegsfahne designed personally by Adolf Hitler and the Finnish triple-tailed war flag waving above a newly built bridge across the river Sohjana in the Kiestinki area in May 1942. Middle image: German 163.Infanterie-Division on route march inspected by Finnish Field marshal Gustaf Mannerheim and German General Erwin Engelbrecht on July 18 1941 in Finnish Kaurila. Sweden had allowed the fully armed Engelbrecht division safe transit through Swedish territory to join Finnish forces in East Karelia. It was a decision that raised many challenging questions about Sweden's neutrality during WWII. Credit: Sami Toivonen. Photo by Aarne Pietinen. Bottom image: on June 4 1942, Hitler made a surprise visit to Finland in honour of Field marshal Gustaf Mannerheim's 75th birthday. Dining in the train wagon: Adolf Hitler, Finnish PM Jukka Rangell, President Risto Ryti and Gustaf Mannerheim. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. All photos: Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive.

Finnish advance in Finnish and Russian Karelia

Lieutenant Olli Remes of Infantry Regiment 54 in Northern Karelia

Finland-Swedes of Finnish Infantry Regiment 61 in Eastern Karelia

German tankers of Panzer-Abteilung 40 in Northern Karelia

Although initially deployed for a static defence, the Finnish Army launch an attack to the south, on both sides of Lake Ladoga, putting pressure on Leningrad and thus supporting the advance of the German Heeresgruppe Nord. The Finns created a military administration in occupied East Karelia with the goal of preparing the region for eventual incorporation into Finland. Finland's participation in the war brought major benefits to Germany. First, the Soviet fleet was blockaded in the Gulf of Finland, so that the Baltic was freed for training German submarine crews as well as for German shipping activities, especially the shipping of vital iron ore from northern Sweden and nickel from the Petsamo area. Second, the sixteen Finnish divisions tied down Soviet troops, put pressure on Leningrad, and cut one branch of the Murmansk Railroad. Third, Sweden was further isolated. Despite Finland's contributions to the German cause, the Western Allies had ambivalent feelings, torn between their residual goodwill for Finland and the need to support their vital ally, the Soviet Union. As a sop to the Soviet Union, Britain declared war on Finland, but the United States did not. At first, the U.S. empathised with the Finnish cause; however, the situation became problematic after Finnish troops crossed the 1939 border. Finnish and German troops were a threat to the Murmansk Railway and northern communication supply line between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Source: U.S. Library of Congress. Top image: Knight of the Mannerheim Cross holder Finnish Lieutenant and company commander of Infantry Regiment 54 (JR54) Olli Remes on the northern front. He had won a bronze medal in the 50 kilometers of the 1934 World Ski Championships in Sweden and a silver medal for military patrol skiing in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. For bravery and promptness, Remes was promoted to Captain on December 29 1942 but fell two days later in the Kriv forests. Credit: Jussi Luostarinen. Middle image: men of the Finnish Infantry Regiment 61 (JR61) in a trench near the village of Shemenski on April 28 1942. The regiment consisted almost exclusively of Swedish speaking Finns. It has been the subject of several books, as well as a feature film Framom främsta linjen. Photo by Lieutenant T. Räisänen. Bottom image: German Panzertruppen from Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V. 40 with two Finnish officers in northern Karelia on October 15 1941. Its 2.Panzer-Kompanie were subordinated to SS-Kampfgruppe Nord for the attack to Alakurtti-Kantalahti direction. It was later subordinated to the Finnish III Corps. In April and May 1942 the Panzer battalion faced one of its toughest challenges near Kiestinki. During a period of three weeks, the 14th Soviet Army attacked, trying to destroy the whole corps in northern Karelia. Photo by Press photog. Sergeant Major Osvald Hedenström. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. Photos: The Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive.

ϟϟ-Freiw.Schikompanie „Norwegen“ subordinated to ϟϟ-Division „Nord“

SS-Freiwilligen-Schikompanie Norwegen

SS-Skijäger of the Norwegen

The Norwegian SS-Freiwilligen-Schikompanie Norwegen or SS-Skijegerkompani Norge was formed in February 1942 and attached to the SS-Division Nord. The elite Norwegen mainly consisted of volunteers from Norway and a share of expert skiers from Denmark and Sweden, although the company was formally a Norwegian police unit. Most officers and non-commissioned officers were Norwegian. The company was inspected by Nord's commander SS-Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp, who even accompanied the first ski-patrol out in the wilderness. It fought alongside the Finnish Army and the Wehrmacht in Finnish Lapland and North Karelia during the Continuation War. By the winter of 1943 the company was designated as a combat battalion, the SS-Schijäger-Bataillon Norwegen, with three full infantry companies and a staff company. Another 3,400 Estonian volunteers took part. Volunteers from Soviet occupied Eastern Karelia formed the Kinship Battalion. At the end of the war the USSR requested members of the Kinship Battalion to be handed over. Some managed to escape before or during transport, but most of them were either sent to labor camps or executed. Left image: Norwegian Waffen-SS volunteers Sødermann and Brøbe of the Norwegen on ski-patrol in Karelia. They were both killed in action before wars end. Right image: a Norwegian SS-Untersturmführer of the Norwegen in Karelia. Photos in the Public domain.

ϟϟ-Gebirgs-Division „Nord“

SS-Uscharf. Felix Benesch of the Nord

SS-Geb.Div. Nord in North Karelia

The rebuilt SS-Division Nord was called into action against the Soviet spring offensive in 1942 and this time managed to hold its lines. The Soviets made little progress in the rugged terrain and the attack soon stalled. For the remainder of 1942 and 1943 there were no large-scale operations conducted and the Kestenga front settled down to relative quiet. The long frontier, forests and lack of roads all combined to make trench lines impractical in the North. Borders were patrolled regularly and there were many small-scale skirmishes. Soviet attacks on village populations caused deep resentment among the Finns. A number of small scale raids captured strategic features. Several small bases changed hands frequently during this time. Soviet and Finno-German patrols continued to probe the lines in eastern Karelia, where the earthworks gave way to expanses of wooded wilderness. In Sept. 1942, the unit was remnamed SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord and in Oct. 1943 became the 6.SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord. The division's manpower strength was 20,129 officers and men in Dec. 1943. Nord was stationed in the Arctic Circle and fought in Karelia until the Finnish armistice in Sept. 1944. Credit: Battlefront and the Nord veteran Johann Voss, a pseudonym; Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS. Top image: Austrian veteran of the SS-Infanterie-Regiment 7 of the SS-Kampfgruppe Nord SS-Unterscharführer Felix Benesch in North Karelia. Benesch ended the war as a SS-Untersturmführer having been awarded the Finnish Medal of Liberty First Class, the Iron Cross First Class, the Close Combat Clasp in Bronze and the Infantry Assault Badge in Silver. Felix Benesch died aged 91 on Dec. 2 2013 in Wien in Austria. Priv.coll. FU. Bottom image: soldiers of the Nord in winter gear. The camouflage Zeltbahn in the background is constructed from several tent panels tied together. The Zeltbahn was a multipurpose piece of equipment that could be used either as a rain cape, as a means of personal camouflage, for camouflaging equipment, and as the means to construct multi-person pyramid tent. They were made in a such a way that literally any number could be combined to make larger and larger tents. Source: Edition Zeitgeschichte.

Seeking information on photos of Volunteers believed taken in Finland

Swedish Rangers with an unidentified SS-Unterscharführer

Unidentified SS Volunteers most likely in Karelia

Any information about the SS volunteers and units in these photographs would be greatly appreciated. The top photo is taken in September 1941 at the Finnish island Järnö. It shows the Swedes Captain Anders Grafström and Lieutenant Carl Gustaf Hellberg in conversation with a presumably German SS-Unterscharführer of an unidentified unit. Both Nordic and German war correspondents are known to have visited the island at the same time the photo was taken. Company Leader Captain Grafström and Lieutenant Hellberg from the Swedish Volunteer Battalion fought the Soviets in both the Winter War and the Continuation War. Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive. FU. The bottom photo is also believed to have been taken somewhere in Finland during the Continuation War. It shows a group of German or Nordic SS soldiers, possibly in the Karelia region. The front covered the sector north of Lake Ladoga and the Svir River to the Arctic Coast near Murmansk. It remained in existence until the hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union ended with a ceasefire on September 5 1944. The photo has a handwritten caption: Uscha Kromer? Stur. Scharmer? Stur. König. Paper: Leonar © COPYRIGHT NOTICE: If you want to publish this photo in any form, please let us know by dropping us a note here. Thanks! Source: Jacob Westberg. Private Collection. Copyright © 2008 • All rights reserved • stabswache-de-euros.blogspot.com.