Photos WW2 Finnish armed forces

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Here we see Torpedo NCO Vihtori Mäkinen (shirtless) and sea gunner Olavi Kröger maintaining the 20 mm Madsen deck gun of the Vesikko submarine on July 29 1941.

As the sole survivor of the five-boat fleet she’s nowadays on display at the Suomenlinna Fortress, Helsinki, painted with the 1943 camo.

SA-kuva

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During the Continuation War practically all Finnish males were fighting the Soviets, meaning that the POWs were sometimes issued to the farms.

The pic shows some of them in the outskirts of the Helsinki city.

A less known fact is that some Soviets had love affairs with Finnish females, some of them even got a child. The book tells their stories.

When the war ended many Finns tried to aid the former POWs to stay in Finland using official methods, but all attempts failed. On the other hand, many of them just bailed out from the trains and managed to reach e.g. Sweden.
SA-kuva

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Hans Henrik "Hasse" Wind (30 July 1919, Ekenäs - 24 July 1995, Tampere) was a Finnish fighter pilot and flying ace in World War II with 75 confirmed air combat victories.
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Lauri Törni (center, depicted after a battle at Haukalahti) had a remarkable career.

Lauri Allan Törni (28 May 1919 – 18 October 1965), later known as Larry Alan Thorne, was a Finnish soldier who fought under three flags: as a Finnish Army second lieutenant of the Fourth Independent Jäger Infantry Battalion against the Red Army in the Winter War and the Soviet-Finnish sub-theater of World War II known as the Continuation War; as a German Army captain (under the alias Larry Lane) of the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS when he fought the Red Army on the Eastern Front in World War II; and as a United States Army Captain (under the alias "Larry Thorne") when he served in the U.S. Army Special Forces in the Vietnam War.

Törni died in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War and he was promoted to the rank of major posthumously. His remains were located three decades later and then buried in Arlington National Cemetery; he is the only former member of the Waffen-SS to be interred there.

from

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Mannerheim Cross Knight # 83, Sgt. Kaarlo Kullervo Laitinen, born April 15 1920 in the Nilsiä municipality.

During the fierce Battle of Gora, Svir front, in Jan 1942 he found himself being in a tricky situation. An enemy squad engaged him in a bushy terrain. Having a Suomi-kp SMG he pulled the trigger - but the mag was empty. Keeping calm he then just strictly ordered the Soviets to surrender. Fortunately, Kaarlo's squad was close enough to spot the danger and he survived. (since the story doesn't tell more it's quite ok to assume that the enemy soldiers fell)

In 1942-1944 he led several recon-destroy patrols, causing severe casualties and damages to the enemy. E.g. once they attacked an MG bunker which was manned by some 20 soldiers having four MGs. Laitinen then cautiously approached the enemy, and using his SMG and a satchel charge stormed the bunker.

When the Lapland War broke out on Oct 1 1944 Laitinen served the 1st Company of the Infantry Regiment 8 at the rank of Staff Sgt. On Oct 16 he was leading a two-squad strong recon patrol in the Juoksenki village, Turtola municipality. While Kaarlo was inspecting the buildings with two of his men the Germans engaged. After a short fight the enemy retreated. This brave warrior was found fallen having MG-fire caused stomach wounds.

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Mannerheim Cross Knight # 114 Sgt. Arvi Liikkanen.

In August 1941 he served the 2nd Company of the Infantry Regiment 25. During the Ykspää Battle his Company was stopped by fierce infantry fire, being unable to advance. Liikkanen gathered all hand grenades available and assaulted alone. He managed to storm some MG nests using the grenades and his Suomi-kp SMG.

By doing so he managed to get his squad to follow, that re-launching the assault. When cleaning the battlefield the Finns found around 300 fallen Soviets and 23 MGs.

In September his unit was, again, in somewhat critical situation somewhere in the East-Karelia. Soviets had counterattacked, almost being about to repel the Finnish offensive in the area. This brave man did the same as he did before, took as much hand grenades and extra mags for his SMG as possible and crawled towards the enemy using his weapons, forcing them to stop advancing.

After the war he worked e.g. as a farmer and a lumberjack in the Sippola municipality. Sgt. Maj. Arvi Anton Liikkanen deceased at the age of 67 on Jan 8 1980. He rests in peace at the Sippola's Hirvelä cemetary, nowadays Kouvola city.

SA-kuva pic # 57256


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