Medic's ramblings about Finland

[Medic]

And now, let us track a bit backwards (so yes, no Lauri Törni this time) for a musical edition of the thread: Medic's ramblings about Finland.

There are several pieces of composition that have had a great meaning to Finns as a nation and as people. They include the national anthem, Maamme by a German immigrant, Fredrik (Friedrich) Pacius with the words of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, performed the first time on May 13th, 1848. It is said, the melody is very close to the German drinking song Papst und Sultan, which is disliked by some Finns. It has full eleven stanzas as a poem, but only two of them are sung.

Another, very well thought of piece of music, probably the second most important to the Finns, is the Finlandia, composed by Jean Sibelius in 1899. The official lyrics were added by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi and the first official performance was on December 7th, 1940 in Helsinki. Though Sibelius never originally meant the hymn to be sung, but did not discourage this either. Every now and then, someone usually suggests, Finlandia should become the Finnish national anthem in stead of Maamme - it is more emotionally evocative, but also far more difficult to sing. I do have to say, I love this piece myself and well sung by all male choir, it is something that just sends shivers down my spine. Especially this version, sung as a flashmob at Helsinki Central Railway Station by a choir of men who supported the presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto, is something to just listen and be awestruck - also, pretty nice acoustics for a train station, isn't it?

Of course, there is the Porilaisten marssi (which refers to the Pori Regiment dating back to 1626 when the Regiment was founded by the Swedes), arranged for military band by Nicolai (Nikolaus) Conrad (Konrad) Peter Otto Greve, a German composer, violinist and conductor, who worked in Finland on several occasions, the latest being as the conductor of the Turku Grenadierbattalion (a Imperial Russian unit at the time) prior to his death in 1851. It is the honorary march of Finnish Defence Forces.

These three are only part of the Finnish musical heritage, but if I would write down all those I even partially consider important, it would take a very long time.

That's all for tonight. Thank you for reading.

[B.T.]

Hi Medic,
interesting read.
I did not know that much about Finland, but two facts are (from my POV) interesting:
When Applegate and Fairbairne were doing research work for their commando dagger (I think, it had been build in a very limited run for agents of OSS, but I don't know, if that's true.), they have been much impressed about stories of Finnish ski-troopers. They skied up on their enemy, camoflaged with white overalls, and stabbed them with their Puuko-knifes. That influenced the design of the Applegate-Fairbaine-dagger.
And another astonishing fact: During the time, Nazi-Germany supported the Finns, the Finns had a unit, made entirely of Jewish soldiers. This was, as far as I know, the only Jewish unit in WWII, that worked together with axis forces.
Hm ...
(And no, I don't want to discuss Nazi-Germany here. But I was amazed, when I've heard about that.)

[Medic]

Originally Posted by B.T.

Hi Medic,
interesting read.
I did not know that much about Finland, but two facts are (from my POV) interesting:
When Applegate and Fairbairne were doing research work for their commando dagger (I think, it had been build in a very limited run for agents of OSS, but I don't know, if that's true.), they have been much impressed about stories of Finnish ski-troopers. They skied up on their enemy, camoflaged with white overalls, and stabbed them with their Puuko-knifes. That influenced the design of the Applegate-Fairbaine-dagger.
And another astonishing fact: During the time, Nazi-Germany supported the Finns, the Finns had a unit, made entirely of Jewish soldiers. This was, as far as I know, the only Jewish unit in WWII, that worked together with axis forces.
Hm ...
(And no, I don't want to discuss Nazi-Germany here. But I was amazed, when I've heard about that.)

Puukko, the typical finnish knife, is well known abroad. It is a one-sided, straight blade with a sharp, tip and no crossguard (except in some utility knives, built after the original design). The other common knife in finland is the leuku, which is a lappish knife, less suited for wood carving, but better suited for cutting meat.

Puukko is a unique thing in finnish society. Most kids get theirs, when their parents deem them of suitable age (that is, depending on the kid from 3 years of age up). In the military it is considered equivalent to sidearm and though most non-issue items are prohibited within the military dress code, one may carry puukko with the service uniform (not with the dress uniform, though).

While knives in public are illegal, construction workers in work gear are usually overlooked in the matter, since puukko is also a tool, suitable for many things.

As for the Finnish jews in the WW2, there was an attempt by the Nazis to get the Finns to deliver the Finnish jews over to them, but it was stopped by Mannerheim - the train carrying jews towards the harbour was stopped by Finnish troops and the German guards were told to leave the train under gunpoint. Since then, no deportations of Finnish Jews were even planned.

And now, with apologies for a long pause in my writings about the matter, I will go back a bit, since there is one thing I did actually omit when writing the pre-Winter War history here - the Fenno-Estonian co-operation in creating the coastal artillery blockade on the Gulf of Finland (so yes, sorry, no Lauri Törni for now).

In 1930, a secret agreement was written between Finnish and Estonian governments concerning a military pact against the increasing threat of Soviet Union. It had been born from the talks between Finnish and Swedish general staff and the Swedes, who had historical ties to Estonia suggested a blockade of the Gulf of Finland in the event of war. While Swedes could not officially participate due to their neutrality, they promised to provide both supplies and auxillary troops in case of a war.

Based on the coastal artillery forts and their 12" Obuhov guns of Peter the Great's naval fortifications, mine warfare, armored cruisers and submarines, the plan was to create a choke point in the gulf, through which the Soviets would have to sail - right under the guns from both sides of the gulf.

Construction begun in 1931. Finns had two twin 304.8mm (12") 52 length-caliber tower cannons, that had been made by the Russian Obuhov Steel Factory. The cannons were very accurate and powerful enough to reduce practically any ship of the Soviet Baltic Fleet in to scrap iron with a couple of hits. They were joined by four four-gun batteries of 254mm (10") 45 length-caliber cannons, two 203mm (8") 50 and 45 length-caliber cannons and 152mm (6") 45 length-caliber cannons, all positioned so that their fields of fire could overlap the fields of fire by the Estonian cannons.

Estonians had two twin 12", three 9.2" (234mm), eleven 6" and three 130mm cannons. On top of those, Finns had two Armored Cruisers, Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen, both armed with four 10" cannons that were supposed to be anchored close to Mäkiluoto (twin 12", and both 8" cannons) and connected to the undersea cable going from Finland to Estonia so the ships could benefit from the Estonian forward observers.

Had the artillery blockade been made operational, the coastal artillery should have been able to fire over 1000 rounds in 5-6 minutes across the gulf, making it very hard to sail through. Over 1000 naval mines were also planned to be deployed in protection of the artillery and an anti-submarine net was to be laid from coast to coast. Five Finnish and two Estonian coastal submarines with identical equipment were also to be deployed in support. Estonians planned to strengthen their side of the gulf and begun building one more 12" twin tower that was supposed to be completed in 1945.

While the plan was supposed to be secret, the Soviet Union was aware of it since the beginning. The Soviet Army was worried and after they staged three wargames, the worry only deepened. It was apparent, they would not be able to penetrate the Gulf of Finland without very heavy casualties.

The Soviets had a spy in the Finnish General Staff - lieutenant Vilho Pentikäinen. He delivered the Soviets with exact plans of the blockade and other matters relating to the defense of Finland between 1923 and 1933. He was caught by accident while photographing documents and he escaped to Soviet Union through Karelian Isthmus. He eventually became a colonel in the Soviet Military Intelligence taking part in the Spanish Civil War and as an interrogator and instructor during the both wars between Finland and Soviet Union. After the war, he was seen in Helsinki as a member of the Allied Control Commission, which provided him with diplomatic immunity - otherwise he would have been arrested and probably shot.

In 1939, the Estonians gave in to the demands of Soviet Union and signed a non-aggression assistance pact with the Soviets, practically becoming a Soviet satellite until the dismantling of the Soviet Union. The Soviets demanded Finns to hand over the Hanko peninsula, which they would have used for blocking potential attacks against Leningrad by sea.

When the Winter War broke out, the Coastal Artillery was probably the only Finnish arm of defense that was fully outfitted. The loss of Estonian forward observers, Finns eventually built an observation tower on Naissaari, which provided targetting and observation capability for the Finnish guns by the whole length of the gulf.

The Coastal Artillery proved essential in the two wars as Soviet Union never attempted to land troops behind the Finnish field army. Due to the Allied Control Commission being able to obtain practically any Finnish military documents, the copies of the plans were destroyed at the end of the war and knowledge of the plans resurfaced only after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Of the Finnish cannons, the other twin 12" tower is currently a museum and fires occasional 'blanks' on important festivities. It is said that on one of the occasions it was fired, the barracks in the island cracked in the middle and all of its windows shattered. It is also one of the very few surviving Obuhov cannons in the world.