The Pudasjärvi Incident: A betrayal of Comrades?

If you head towards Kuusamo from Oulu you'll come across a lone M1938 152mm Howitzer just before you come into Pudasjärvi (about 70km from Oulu) For many people it is nothing more than just exactly that, an old piece of military equipment out on display for no particular reason. However for those interested in military history, the piece marks an important point in the Second World War and for Finnish-German relations.

Source:- Personal collection

The Finns started negotiating a separate peace with the Soviet Union from the end of 1943 to early 1944. Feeling the writing was on the wall for their cooperation, the Germans started to make plans for a withdrawal from Finland proper (with the exception of occupying the vital Petsamo nickel mines). However the negotiations broke down as the Soviets demanded too harsh a terms for the Finns to accept and so the Finnish-German military cooperation continued and in response the Soviet's launched a massive offensive on the Finnish positions in Karelia. From June the Finnish front started to collapse and a retreat through several defensive lines occurred in a short time. Soon the Finns found themselves in a precarious position, with the threat of their entire defence crumbling and allowing for a Soviet strike in the Finnish heartland. However, with the help of the Germans, they managed to stablelise the front by the end of July and reopened negotiations with the USSR.

A ceasefire was enacted by the Finns on September 4th (and curiously by the Soviets on the 5th). As part of the negotiations, the Finns were forced to demobilise their military to a peacetime footing within two and a half months and also expel all remaining German forces by the 15th September. The Finns had no desire to continue fighting, especially against their former brothers in arms, and so a period known as Syysmanööverit came into being. This basically was a secret agreement between the Finns and Germans for an orderly withdrawal, followed by Finns 'capturing' the lossed ground. The idea was to avoid any actual fighting and to save the kinship of the two nations. Coming into effect on the 14th September, the patomine helped save the city of Oulu from destruction (as it was evacuated on the 15th September and 'retaken' later in the same day by the 15th Brigade of the 6th Division). The Finns gathered their forces at Oulu (as well as other places like Kajaani and Suomussalmi) with the intention of slowly moving up behind the German retreat, however the soviet led Allied Control Commission arrived in Finland on the 22nd September and demanded that harsher and more rigorous action be used in the eviction of the Germans. Fearing 'help' from the Soviets in this task, Mannerheim assigned Lieutenant General Hjalmar Siilasvuo to the task and ordered that he take a more willing and prompt line.

Upon his arrival in Oulu, General Siilasvuo ordered the 5th Jaeger Battalion (of the Armoured Division) to advance to the town of Pudasjärvi to disarm the German contingent there and secure the bridge in the area. The Battalion's vanguard arrived, led by Major Veikko Lounila, at the crossroads just outside of the town and encountered a rearguard of the 7th Mountain Division. Major Lounila demanded their surrender but was refused and a firefight broke out. The short exchange of fire ended with no Finnish casualties but 2 dead Germans, 4 wounded and 2 prisoners. A ceasefire was called and Major Lounila again demanded the Germans in Pudasjärvi surrender. He was refused again but instead of launching an assault, he ordered his battalion to adopt defensive positions. Small exchanges of fire occurred for the next two days until the Germans withdrew across the Ii river and the 5th Jaeger Battalion occupied Pudasjärvi.

Source: Personal Collection

The incident was seen by the Germans as a betrayal of the secret withdrawal agreement. General Lothar Rendulic, commander of the 20th Mountain Army, gave permission to Lieutenant General August Krakau, commander of the 7th Mountain Division, to defend themselves from the Finns, by force is necessary. He also got in contact with General Siilasvuo and demanded that the agreement be held or that open hostilities would follow. This incident was soon followed up by similar in Kemi, Olhava and the Tornio landings.

The memorial stands as reminder of the price of forming alliances, of being forced to take actions that don't sit well in the moral consitution, of the first shots of the Lapland War, of the epilogue of Finland's Wars.

Weapons of War: De Bange 155 mm long cannon model 1877 - 155 K/77

When the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, the Finnish military was severely under equipped in many areas. Artillery was one of these areas and Finland set about buying and deploying any artillery piece it could get. This meant getting many old, outdated pieces from the armouries of European countries like France and Britain.

One of these older pieces was the French de Bange 155mm Long modèle 1877.

The 155 L de Bange was a result of a French artillery committee meeting held in the aftermath on the Franco-Prussian War. The committee discussed new Fortress and Seige artillery models and on the 16 April 1874 settled upon the 15.5cm caliber as the new standard piece. In 1876 three competing prototypes were tested at Calais but it was the design by French Artillery Colonel Charles Ragon de Bange that won the day (it probably helped that he was Director of the "Atelier-de-précision" (Paris arsenal's precision workshop) in the Central Depot in Paris.

Like with all De Bange’s cannons, it used the De Bange breech obturator system, which basically used the force of the firing charge to push back an asbestos pad that sealed the rear breech and thus directing all the pressure forward, increasing velocity and reducing danger. It was inspired by the rubber o-rings in use on the Chassepot rifle.

(The de Bange system and how it works)

The French Government placed an initial order in 1877 for 300 pieces and by the turn of the 20th Century about 1,400 were produced. The vast majority were posted to the fortresses of the Séré de Rivières system but 200 were reserved as offensive siege artillery.

The biggest downside to the 155 L de Bange, and by extension all de Bange guns, was they had no recoil system and as such needed to be realigned after every shot. The gun could jump back a metre or two after firing and thus presented a problem in terms of accuracy and rate of fire. While obsolete, the French military used them throughout the First World War and even in the early stages of the Second World War (France still had 305 pieces at various locations, including the Maginot Line).

The Finnish overlooked the downsides of recoil issues due to the desperateness of the situation they now found themselves in. French was unwilling to sell large amounts of modern artillery (the number amount to less than 30 field guns with a modern recoil system) but happily parted with older, more obsolete models such as the 155 L de Bange. The Finns preferred the French 19th century guns over the similar Russian models as they were of better quality and had more reliable ammunition.

These guns developed an exaggerated reputation within the Finnish military. Due to their ability to ‘jump’ and need to be realigned after every shot, the earned the nicknames "Hyppyheikki" ("Jumping Henry") and "Hyppyjaakko" ("Jumping Jack") and jokes such as, "Why does "hyppyheikki" need two observers?…The first observer will keep track of where the projectile lands while the second observer will check where the gun goes". While not totally undeserving, they are exaggerated. With proper preparation of positions, the use of earth slopes and wedges, the guns recoil could be reduced greatly and the need to realign is not as great. Luckily for the Finns, they were on the defensive and thus having prepared positions was something they could do.

48 155 L de Bange and 48,000 shots were sent to Finland, taking a route from France to Narvik, Norway by ship, then the guns were transported by rail to the Swedish/Finnish border town of Tornio. They would then need to be offloaded and reloaded onto Finnish trains as Finland used a narrower gauge. Then they would go from Tornio to various depots in the South for inspection and issue. Due to the long, arduous journey, none of the guns reached front lines during the Winter War. However they were still issued.

They were given the designation 155 K/77 and 44 were assigned to Fortification Artillery Battalions of the heavily fortified Salpa-line and the other 4 were were given to the Coastal Artillery, where they were fitted with special mounts and designated 155/27 BaMk. They were assigned to Fort Herrö in Ahvenanmaa (Åland) Islands until end of the Continuation War. Due to their good range (12.3 km), high degree of accuracy (produced by the gain-twist rifling) and reliability, the Finns used them mainly in a counter-battery role. The first use of these heavy pieces in action was at the Siege of Hanko (an area leased to the Soviet Union as part of the Winter War Peace terms, designated as a Naval Base, it had a contingent of mainly Red Army troops numbering abour 26,000). They saw most use in the Svir River area, with 36 guns assigned there. When the Soviets pushed their grand offensive in 1944, the Finnish forces started to withdraw, as the 155 K/77 were old and heavy, they were lower on the priority list for pulling back and eventually 24 guns were destroyed to prevent the Soviets from gaining them.

With the remaining 12 guns, they were assigned to the newly established Syväri Fortification Battalion 1 and were used in the defence of Koirinoja, firing their last shots on the 13th July 1944. It is quite possible that these were the last shots fired from 19th century canons with no recoil systems anywhere in the world.

The First Shots of War

On November the 26^th 1939, tensions were high with all the negotiations between the Soviet Union and Finland and the mobilisation of the military on both sides. Near the Village of Mainila, on the boarder between the two countries, three Finnish Observation posts and several other Boarder Guards on patrol heard and witnessed 7 shells, and there subsequent denotations, within Soviet territory. Within hours of this incident, the Finnish delegation was informed by Soviet Authorities that due to Finnish Aggression that the Non-aggression pact that was signed in 1932 and also in 1934 were null and void and all diplomatic avenues between the countries were to cease. The incident was possible inspired by the Gleiwitz incident that had taken place earlier that year, this was used by the Third Reich as an excuse for it to withdraw from its non-aggression pact with Poland.

Why did this False Flag incident happen?

The Soviet Union had been negotiating with Finland for several bits of territory in an attempt to expand its influence. It had succeeded in incorporating several other Baltic states using a similar tactic and thought Finland would be its next victim. However Finland refused the Soviet Union in its demands for the Finnish Border to be pulled back 25 miles from its current position which would mean it would lose its defences on the Karelian Isthmus, the lensing of the peninsula of Hanko which would be the site of a Naval Base for the Baltic Fleet and in conjunction with Coastal Artillery in Estonian would effectively seal of the Gulf of Finland, as well as other demands. In return Finland would receive 3,450 square miles of Soviet Karelia but the exchange was not advantageous to Finland. Finland gave two counter offers, respectively on 23 October and 3 November and would mean the cedeing of only Terijoki to the USSR. These were flatly refused and the Finnish delegation in Moscow returned to Finland on the 13^th November, hoping the negotiations would continue.

The Set-up

It was a Sunday afternoon and Finnish Border Guards did what they normally did, patrolled the border, played cards, listened to the radio, chatted about things back home mainly of the female variety and maintained their weapons. All knew about the recent negotiations and how high the tension was (from the 9^th of October the Finnish Army had been slowly mobilised under the guise of refresher training), they also knew they were be the first line of defence against the tidal wave of the Red Army. At about 1440 the Border Guards heard 7 successive artillery shots being fired, soon it was worked out that the shots hand landed 800 meters behind the border and that the weapon used was a high trajectory Trench Mortar. The Guards thought it was training exercise and recorded a smoke screen going up soon after the shots, which thus blocked all observation. Three Guards saw a officer on Horseback approach their Russian counterparts who were standing about the nearest building in Mainila, soon all 12 men marched off in an easterly direction and within ten minutes 7 shells landed on that very same spot. The guards also reported six men coming back to inspect the damage and saw no sign of dead or injured people.

At 2100 Moscow Time (2200 in Helsinki) Baron Yrjö-Koskinen received a call asking him to report to the Kremlin. He was informed by Molotov that Soviet Border Guards stationed at Mainila had been fired upon resulting in the deaths of three privates and one NCO, two officers and seven privates were also wounded. The Finnish Government attempted to deal with this incident in the diplomatic way and drafted a letter which stated that the shots had come from the Russian side of the border and that to put in place protocols relating to border incidents that were part of the 1932 non-aggression Pact (which was extended in 1934) and that both sides should withdraw their forces to the same distances. It was impossible for Finnish Artillery to have fired the shots because on the orders of Field Marshal Mannerheim, all Finnish guns were withdrawn from range of the border for several weeks before the shots were fired.

The Soviet government was unwilling to accept such an answer stating that “the deep hostility of the Finnish government towards the Soviet Union” was forcing the tensions to boiling point and “The fact that the Finnish government denies that Finnish forces fired upon Soviet forces with artillery and inflicted casualties, can only be explained as a device to mislead public opinion”, and so Molotov informed the small Republic of Finland that the Soviet government was no longer bound by the non-aggression pact. Within four days of this announcement Helsinki was on fire from Soviet Bombs and troops had crossed the border in several locations.

Repercussion

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 hundreds of documents were declassified and Russian Historian Pavel Aptekar analysed the dairies and reports of the units who were posted in the area and found no record of any losses on the day of the 26^th or in the immediate dates surrounding it. Nikita Khrushchev (who at the time was a Commissar and served as an intermediary between Stalin and the Generals of the Red Army) claimed in his memoirs that the incident was set up by Marshal of Artillery Grigory Kulik, an infamous NKVD General who would contribute to the failure of the Soviet defence during the first weeks of the German invasion. However he very coy about who fired the first shots and is quoted as saying “It's always like that when people start a war. They say, 'You fired the first shot,' or 'You slapped me first and I'm only hitting back.' There was once a ritual which you sometimes see in opera: someone throws down a glove to challenge someone else to a duel; if the glove is picked up, that means the challenge is accepted. Perhaps that's how it was done in the old days, but in our time it's not always so clear who starts a war.” Boris Yeltsin, the First President of the Russian Federation (which followed the Soviet Union) made a statement in 1994 denouncing the Winter War as a War of Aggression.

Comparison of Typical Finnish Infantry Division to Typical Soviet Rifle Division

Below is a simple comparison between a standard Finnish Infantry division and a typical Soviet Rifle Division. They are not exact figures but only paper strength at the time of the outset of the Winter War. Both division use the same basic 'triangular' structure, meaning they both have three Infantry regiments which had three infantry battalions.  

It is very hard to exact the exact composition of a Soviet Division during the Winter war because changes to the organisation had been made in 1938 but not all changes had taken place. Also many sources differ greatly on the subject. As such I have tried to make my list as average as possible given the available information.

These are only 'official' paper strengths and do not represent actual numbers. An example is the Finnish army rarely ever had 4 AT guns let alone the full paper strength of 18. 

We can see that a Soviet Division had about twice as many automatic weapons than its Finnish counterpart. A Soviet Division also had three times the amount of artillery with, what seemed like, an unceasing supply of shells. Another advantage the Soviet Division had was it could call upon numerous support units like tank brigades, artillery batteries and air power. However all this strength was the Achilles heal for the Soviet units, they were designed to fight in the open fields of Europe and with such a high degree of motorisation were restricted to the poorly constructed roads of the Finnish countryside. 

The Moscow Armistice

Today, 19^th September, is the 68th anniversary of the signing of the Moscow armistice between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other. This marked the official end of the Continuation War (Jatkosota).

The war started on 25 June 1941 and lasted 3 years, 2 months, 3 weeks and 4 days and resulted in the loss of over 1 million people. The reason it was named such was because the Finns wanted to make it clear that it perceived the action as continuing from the preceding Winter War (Talvisota). The Soviets saw it as an addition to its fight against the Third Reich and its allies, called the Great Patriotic War.

Finland only wanted to retake the areas which they lost as a result of the Winter War; which they had regained by September 1941. The advanced on the Karelian Isthmus stopped at the pre-winter war boarder which was 30km from Leningrad and as such did not participate in the Siege of Leningrad. Much to the annoyance of Third Reich Commanders and Hitler. They held all pre-Winter War land and secured their boarder for nearly two years, it was not till the Soviet Vyborg-Petrozavodsk Offensive which started in the summer of 1944; that Finland started to struggle in its defence. Even though Finland scored some major victories against the Soviets at the likes of Tali-Ihantala and Ilomantsi, the hardy Finns knew they could not hold of the massed ranks of Russian Soldiers. A cease fire was declared on the 5^th September with the Moscow Armistice being signed on the 19^th September.

Areas ceded by Finland to Russia
(Taken from Wikipedia)

The Armistice essentially restored the same conditions as the Peace Treaty of 1940 at the end of the Winter War but with a few changes. The 1940 treaty forced Finland to cede parts of Karelia (The entire Isthmus including the ancient fortress city of Vyborg) and Salla and some of the islands within the Gulf of Finland. The Soviets renounced their lease agreement on the port of Hanko (gained from the Finns after the Winter War but lost during the Continuation War) but demanded the Porkkala peninsular instead; for 50 years (it was given back to Finland in 1956 and soon became one of the main Finnish naval bases). In addition to the 1940 Treaty Finland had to hand over all of Petsamo and thus lose its access to the Barents Sea.

Finland was also made to pay $300,000,000 (around $4 billion today) in compensation which came in various forms of commodities over a period of six years. The Communist Party of Finland was also legalised, it had been banned in the 1930's, and to ban parties that the Soviets considered Fascist like the Patriotic People's Movement (Isänmaallinen Kansanliike). Further more to the already harsh conditions, individuals that had been responsible for the war, in the Soviets eyes, were arrested and put on trail. The armistice also forced Finland to remove German troops from its soil, this became know as the Lapland War (Lapin Sota).

The First Dogfight

The first encounter between Soviet and Finnish aircraft took place on the 1^st December 1939 (the day after hostilities began). At around 1145 six Polikarpov I-16s of the 7.IAP (Fighter Aviation Regiment) got the jump on two Bristol Bulldog Mk.IVAs from LLv26 (Squadron). Both bulldogs were separated and Ylikersantti (Staff Sergeant) Toivo Uuttu soon found himself alone against the Soviet planes. He engaged one I-16 ( nicknamed 'Siipiorava' Flying Squirrel by the Finns) and scored several hits before he himself was shot down. He crashed near Muolaanjärvi (A lake now known as Glubokoje since the area was ceded to Russia) and suffered injuries as a result. The I-16 Uuttu had engaged was also reported to have crashed and so became the first aerial victory for the Finns over Finnish Soil, and indeed it was the first aerial engagement over Finland in history. The kill was recorded as probably as it wasn't witnessed. 

A Bristol Bulldog of the type used by Ylikersantti Uuttu 

Uuttu reported:-

"I flew southeast of Muolaanjärvi but I did not see any movements so I descended lower. Suddenly I saw tracers flying all around me. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw three I-16s attacking me. I pulled up and left and as they overtook me, I was able to fire a short burst on passing I-16. I hit his engine and saw black smoke coming out of the engine. It started sliding downward smoking. Tracers were flying all around my plane. Suddenly my plane shuddered and when I pulled on stick, it did not move. I considered jumping, but in fear that they might shoot me on parachute I decided to fight it out to the last. I continued evading my attackers using only rudder and aerlions. We had descended to altitude of 200m and when I looked behind, I saw one still shooting. I shut off my engine and tried to make a forced landing to forest. When landing, I pulled with all of my strength on the stick and it moved back a little bit, but then the Bulldog hit the woods and I passed away."

The 7.IAP reported that day one Reconnaissance Aircraft was shot down between 1230 and 1315 at Muolaa. It was claimed by three pilots, Starshiy Leytenant (Senior Lieutenant) Fedor Shinkarenko (Eskadrilya/Flight leader), Starshiy Politruk (Senior Political Commissar) Gabriel Didenko and B. A. Grigoryev. The I-16 that was reported to have crashed appears to belong to Leytenant Petr Pokryshev who was forced to land at Kerrola, Muolaa after suffering engine failure, possibly due to the engagement with Ylikersantti Uuttu.

Introduction to Finnish Military History

The military history of Finland can be divided into four distinct periods. The first period being 'Pre-Swedish Era', the Second 'The Swedish Empire Era', Third 'Grand Duchy of Finland/Russian Empire Era' and the fourth being the 'Independent Republic of Finland/Modern Era'.

The Pre-Swedish Era consists of poorly documented battles, most coming from Nordic Sagas, Germanic/Russian Chronicles and Swedish Legends. Archaeological evidence shows Bronze Age (1500-500BC) Finns specialising in weapons such as the battle axe and swords, there are also indications of hill forts. Viking attacks from Sweden and Norway have been found with runic inscriptions as well as unhistorical sources.

The Swedish Empire Era which began officially ran from 1352 till 1808 in which Finnish soldiers fought in at least 38 wars of note for Sweden. Whether they be during the power struggles of the Swedish Royals or in wars between Sweden and other nations.

During the period in which Finland was known as the Grand Duchy of Finland; we see Finland changing hands from Swedish to Russian rule as a result of the 1808-1809 Finnish War. Fighting on its on soil against the British and French during the Crimean conflict and on the Eastern Front during the First World War.

From when Finland declared its independence in 1917 to present day it has been involved in a civil war, which saw the country torn apart by two opposing factors, the Reds (Communists) and the Whites (Right wing groups, Liberals and centralists, all allied and against Communist beliefs). The Kinship Wars in which Finland helped other Baltic states, the most notable being the Estonian War of Independence. There was also the Soviet Invasion of 1939-'40 which is known as the Winter War, this was soon followed by the joint Finnish and Nazi Germany attack on Soviet Russia (The Continuation War). When the Finns signed a peace treaty in 1944 with the Soviet Union they fought against their former German Allies in the Lapland war. Since the foundation of the United Nations in 1945, Finnish Troops have served in various peacekeeping operations.