Finis Finland

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Soviet Twenty-third Army attempts to break through at a perceived weak point in the Finnish VT-line at Siiranmäki. This is the first instance where Finnish troops are able to use Panzerfausts and Panzerschrecks imported from Germany. Though Finnish troops manage to contain the Soviet breakthrough at Siiranmäki it is not enough to keep the VT-line as Kuuterselkä had already been breached.

 

Knocked out IS-2 tank in Karelia.

 

- Finnish GHQ issues instructions to prepare a withdrawal to the third line of defence, the VKT-line. It runs from Viipuri (Vyborg) west through Kuparsaari to Taipale on the southern shore of Lake Ladoga. At the same time, civilians are ordered to once again evacuate the whole Karelian Isthmus.

 

Soviet soldiers and a KV-1S tank during the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk Offensive Operation."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• A detachment of seventy Luftwaffe aircraft arrives in Finland to support the hard pressed Ilmavoimat, which at this point has about two hundred effective aircraft.

 

Finnish Bf-109Gs

 

 

Stukas in Finland - June 1944"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Finnish Ambassador to the United States, Hjalmar Procopé, and his staff are handed their passports and told to leave the country. This is due to continued refusal of Finland to accept Soviet terms and the deal the Finns struck with von Ribbentrop which seemed to place Finland firmly in the German camp.

 

• German fleet torpedo boats T-8, T-10, T-30, and T-31 are carrying Finnish troops bound for Narvi Island in the Gulf of Finland. During the night they encounter scattered Soviet patrol craft that engage in several waves as additional units arrive, totaling four motor gunboats, ten submarine chasers, and fourteen torpedo cutters. A confused action results with the Germans damaging gunboats MBK-503 and MBK-505, cutters TK-53, TK-63, TK-101, TK-103, and TK-153, and submarine chaser MO-106. Torpedo cutters TK-37 and TK-60 conduct a pincer attack, torpedoing and sinking flottentorpedoboot T-31 with 76 killed. T-30 is lightly damaged by Soviet gunfire. The German force aborts the mission.

 

• While sailing to her patrol area at Kiuskeri, Finnish submarine Vesikko crash dives to evade a Soviet air attack. In shallow, low-salinity water the boat hits bottom and must return to base. She will never be operational again, sitting disarmed until 1959 when the Type II prototype is sold to the Finnish Military Museum.

 

Vessiko in modern times

 

• Soviet troops have reached the outskirts of Vyborg (Viipuri) with Finnish defenses falling apart before the Soviet Twenty-Third Army.

 

Soviet SU-76s in the Vyborg region of Finland June 1944"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Soviet Karelian Front begins a new offensive against the Finns on both sides of Lake Onega. They immediately break through the defenses and advance up to ten miles into the Finnish positions.

 

Knocked out Finnish BT-42 assault gun in Karelia, June 1944.

 

• Soviet Naval Infantry land at Piisaari Island. Finnish and German small craft are sent to attack Soviet units in Koivisto Sound. These are engaged by Soviet aircraft. German gunboat AF-32, mine transport Otter, minesweeper M-538, and Finnish motor torpedo boat Tarno are sunk. Escort ship Nettlebeck, minesweepers M-29, R-119, R-120, and Finnish gunboat Aunus and MTB Tuuli are damaged."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop arrives in Finland to negotiate about military aid to be given Finns to keep them in the war.

 

• At Tienhaara the Soviet 90th Rifle Division supported by 260th Tank Regiment and 1238th Self-propelled Gun Regiment overrun the Finnish 20th Brigade, completely destroying Infanteriregemente 61, which is composed mostly of Swedish volunteers. The stand of the Swedes allows reinforcements to arrive and they hold Tienhaara until the armistice."

[GasTeddy]

Those were hard times. My grandfather was there, infantryman. He never talked about war, but what I heard from other veterans of village, he had made some scrap metal of Russian tanks.

 

His daughters (my aunt) husband was there as a gunner in war booty T34/85. He was willing to discuss tanks when visiting my cousins, but never went to any combat details.

 

Thanks to them and those other guys in gray uniforms, Finland was never occupied and my first obligatory foreign language at school was not Russian.

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "

• Finnish (ex-Imperial Russian) minesweepers Vippula and Mercurius are sunk by a single torpedo from an A-20 of Soviet Naval Aviation as the ships were berthed together at Porkkala. Five crewmen are killed.

 

• Marshal Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim informs the political leadership that German help is not enough to prevent the Soviets from overrunning Finland. Measures must be taken to free Finland from the obligations of the Ribbentrop-pact. In practice this would mean that the President Risto Ryti should resign. There has already been a tacit agreement between the military and political leadership that when the time comes to make peace with Soviet Union, Ryti should resign as he is *personally* bound by the pact."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Finnish Presidentti Risto Ryti resigns, and on August 4th, new President and Marshal of Finland Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim will declare that Finland is no longer bound by the Ryti–Ribbentrop Agreement.

 

- Under heavy British and Soviet pressure post-war, Ryti will be convicted of “being responsible for the war” and sentenced to ten years in prison. Presidentti Juho Paasikivi will pardon him in 1949."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "

• In the Gulf of Finland a major battle is fought when Germans launch Operation Tanne Ost to capture the Finnish island of Suursaari (modern Russian Gogland) in the middle of the Gulf of Finland. After midnight some 2,000 Germans begin landing on the island from small craft, expecting no resistance from the 1,600 strong Finnish garrison. Instead, Överstelöjtnant Martti Miettinen commanding the 12. Rannikkorykmentti (Coastal Artillery Regiment) refuses to surrender his post and opens fire. Finnish light naval units respond and small sized surface actions rage around the island while the Germans are unable to take the Finnish defensive positions.

 

- The Germans lose a tug, Marinefährprahms F-173, F-175, and F-177, minesweepers R-29 and R-76, and patrol boats B-1, B-31, and B-35, and Siebelgefäß landing craft I-O-102 while Finns lose patrol boats VMV-10 and VMV-14.

 

- The next day Soviet Il-2 and Tupolev SB bombers attack the German vessels while fighters strafe the Germans who are pinned down on the beach. The Germans attempt a desperate retreat to Tallinn and evacuate some 600 men. 153 Germans are killed and 1,231 surrender to the Finns, later being turned over to the Soviets along with the island. The Finns have lost 36 killed and 67 wounded.

 

- This operation marks the beginning of hostility between German and Finnish troops, known as the Lapland War. Finland benefits from the operation since it demonstrates to the Soviet Union that Finns are prepared to use force against the Germans. It also hampers German efforts elsewhere since Finland orders all shipping, including that leased to Germans, to immediately sail for Finnish or Swedish ports.

 

- Finnish operations are hampered by having to simultaneously force the Germans from Finland and demobilize most of the army. A good number of right-wing Finns travel to Germany and join the Waffen SS where some receive training on how to overthrow the Finnish government at a later time. One of these is Kapteeni Lauri Törni who receives Hauptsturmführer rank. After the war he will be arrested and repatriated to Finland where he will be arrested again. Released under an amnesty, he will emigate the United States and enter the US Army Special Forces, taking the name Larry Thorne. Captain Thorne will die in a helicopter crash in Vietnam and become the only member of the Waffen SS to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2011 he will be inducted into the US Special Forces Command Hall of Honor.

 

Finnish VMV patrol boats

 

German Siebelgefäß optimized for flak support

 

Finnish AA gun on Suursaari [can anyone identify the type of gun this is? Maybe Russian or Austrian?]

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Finland signs the Moscow Armistice. The Soviet-Finnish boundary of 1940 is restored, but Finland also yields Petsamo to USSR (denying Finland an Arctic port) and leases Porkkala headland to USSR as a military base. The Soviets yield rights to Hangö. Reparations are to be paid by Finland, the Finns are required to drive German forces out of Finland, and the Allies are to have the use of Finnish ships and airfields.

 

Soviet and Finnish soldiers in September 1944 after the armistice is signed."

[Calos_01]

On 9/15/2024 at 4:31 PM, cardboard_killer said:

Finnish AA gun on Suursaari [can anyone identify the type of gun this is? Maybe Russian or Austrian?]

It could be French gun 75 ItK/97-14 P, Puteaux

FINNISH ARMY 1918 - 1945: ANTIAIRCRAFT GUNS PART 3 (jaegerplatoon.net)

 

Canon de 75 modèle 1897 - Wikipedia

 

Edited September 23, 2024 by Calos_01