CONTINUATION WAR Part 3 - Karelian Isthmus: Syväri (Svir) 1942 - 1943

Theater of War at Syväri (Svir), Karelian Isthmus

The Russian Spring Offensive in 1942

At the beginning of 1942, the Soviet 7th Army was facing the Finnish 17th Division in the Svir area. The 61st Regiment was located at the east, opposite the Soviet 114th Infantry Division. Towards the end of March, the Soviet Army concentrated their forces, and launched its Spring Offensive at the start of April 1942. The objective was to force the retreat of the Finnish Army across the Svir River and capture a bridgehead for continued advance towards the old frontier. The gravity point of the attack was in an 18 kilometer wide arch headed by the Soviet 21st Division and the Soviet 69th Marine Infantry Brigade, and supported in the flank by the Soviet 114th Infantry Division. The main Soviet advance soon encountered fierce resistance, requiring the Soviet 114th Division to be thrown into the main line of attack, after which the Soviet forces managed to break through the Finnish lines between Shemenski and Pertjärvi. As preparation for a Finnish counterattack, a major Finnish combat unit was formed on 17 April, of which the 61st Infantry Regiment was a key component. The Finnish counterattack was launched on 19 April and by 22 April all the Soviet forces that had advanced through the Finnish lines between Shemenski and Pertjärvi had been annihilated. The Finnish Army suffered losses of 2 165 men, while the Soviet 7th Army suffered losses of just under 12 800 men.

After crossing the Jandeba River, the 61st Regiment advanced towards the area of the village of Shemenski and city of Podporoze, where it entered into trench warfare and remained for a period of more than 2 years until May 1944. The city of Podporoze was occupied by the 61st Infantry Regiment from 12 December 1941 until 30 January 1942, when it was moved back to the Shemenski area to relieve the Finnish 34th Infantry Regiment.
Trench Warfare 1942-1944
Despite labeled as a period of "trench warfare", a state of continuous active warfare signified this period. Constant patrols into enemy territory, artillery barrage and readiness to counterattack, characterized this phase of the war. Specialized patrol troops were formed, some of which achieved almost legendary fame within the regiment. [Wikpedia]

1943

Syväri (Svir) - Järeä Patteristo 3, 5th Division

In the spring of ’43 we were ordered to Syväri (Svir). All of us were loaded on trains and we bumped along on them for a couple of days to Syväri. The first week or so we spent in the town on Syväri —called Podporoze by the Russians. There the Russians had built new log houses and that’s where we quartered to start with. I slept against the south wall, on the floor that is, and in the middle of the night I had to move more to the center of the room because it was rainy. There was a south wind blowing, and the water started coming in through the cracks in the wall and almost soaked me to the skin. Fortunately I had a poncho made out of tent canvas [acquired as spoils of war] around me and it was pretty rainproof. 

Cattle Car filled with Finnish troops on their way to Svir, Karelian Isthmus. 1943.

Svir Bunker - Spring 1943 

Our Sauna at the bunker - Svir, Spring 1943

Interior of our Bunker - Svir, 1943 (Antero Tolvanen second from right) 

Interior of our Bunker - Svir, 1943  

                               

Koskitsajoki - 1943 

Heating up the sauna - Koskitsajoki, Svir - 1943

Refreshing swim after our sauna -  Koskitsajoki, Svir - Summer 1943

Relaxing after sauna - Koskitsajoki, Svir - Summer 1943

Promotions in the Service

Very soon, however, we were thrown to the front lines where our number one tank gun had been stationed. By the way, I forgot to mention that the year before [1942] I had been made a munitions clerk. I started out as a reconnaissance patrol leader, then became a statistician and surveillance information leader, and then finally a munitions clerk. This meant that I had to thoroughly inspect and go through every piece of ordnance except for the gun itself. All the shells had to be weighed, each individually, since there were small differences in their weights. Our gun was a .202 mm. or an 8-incher, and the shells had to be tailored accordingly. Average weight for each shell was 91.5 kilos, but the weight could vary by a kilo each way. The weight was very important because a kilo made a difference of 20 meters in how far the shell would carry. If the shell was 93 kilos, for instance, the distance it could reach would be 30 meters less due to the weight, so we had to make a correction by lifting the barrel on the gun. And the other way around. Well, it was war and it was a new educational experience.

Heavy artillery - Arra Battery, 1942. Staff Sergeant Antero Tolvanen loading heavy gun with munition. 

Jandebad and Memories from a Tsasouna

    After we had situated our guns at Jandebad it was time for us to work on building dugouts once again. Until then we had lived in our tents. The spring was a glorious time once again —it was great to ski around on the crusty snow, and then later on to tramp around in the forest which was a pleasant mixture of conifers and broad leaved trees. I hunted quail and Erkamaa, who was a courier, even shot a grouse one day in the fall. He came from Reposaari, and we became pretty good friends because he was a right-wing conservative in his politics, the same as I was. And he also belonged to the Home Guard since he was the son of a prosperous land owner. Every once in a while we would have occasion to visit the Battery Office in Syväri. Sometimes we were asked to help around the office since we really didn’t have any pressing duties at the artillery station. There the gunners were mainly from Tampere and leftists, so I really didn’t have many friends among them. So this gave us an opportunity to look around the area.

Tsasouna. Karelian Isthmus. SA Photo. 

Russian Power Plant built with slave labor. Svir, Karelian Isthmus

Finnish troops in front of Russian Power Plant built with slave labor. Svir, Karelian Isthmus. 1943

View of the town of Svir. Russian Power Plant in the distance. Karelian Isthmus. 1943.

That’s how for instance the tsasouna was located, of which I have a photo — a beautiful little church that had been used as the living quarters for a concentration camp. There a power plant had been built with slave labor. The unusual thing about the church, aside from the fact that it was in a square entirely surrounded by a tall barbwire fence with guard towers on all four corners, was that when we tried to go inside it was quite  impossible because of the human excrement that covered the floor, and also because one could only enter the place by crawling through a small hole cut over the top of the door. There were three rows of bunks and they were stacked four high. We didn’t go in, but this was a place where people had been inhumanely treated like animals —and even worse —probably for many years.  How that country has suffered at the hands of the top command of the saviors of the “oppressed.”

On Leave and a Barrel of Mushrooms

In the fall of ’43 I then went on leave. With that in mind I located a wooden barrel in an abandoned house and started cooking mushrooms and salting them. I was able to use the regiment’s field kitchen and soon had a barrelful. It probably weighed about 30 kilos altogether, and I assume they probably were excellent —they were the edible agrarian variety of mushrooms [a typical Finnish variety of forest mushroom]. It was quite a job dragging that barrel to the train station, but once I got there the rest of the trip on the train was very pleasant. 

On the train I saw one fellow I knew from before, but he didn’t recognize me anymore, or pretended he didn’t. He owed me money, you see, for an article that I had written on his behalf for a publication called Suomen Vapaussota [Finland’s War of Independence] while we worked for the Asemies [Combat Soldier] newspaper. It centered around President Svinhufvud. I seem to have forgotten most of the details about this incident.

More memories from the  Syväri (Sver) Front 1942-1943

Major  Erik Lagerlöf and wife.  Järeä Patteristo 3. Svir, 1942.

Mascot. Järeä Patteristo 3. Svir. 1942. Staff Sergeant Antero Tolvanen far right in front of packs.

"Hands up. Surrender!" Some buddies goofing off. Svir. 1942.  

Timonen and Ohman. Svir, 1942.

One of the guys in our group. Järeä Patteristo 3. Svir. 1942.

Captain Pesonen. Järeä Patteristo 3. Svir. 1942.

 Transport Truck. Winter. Svir. 1942.

Staff Sergeant Antero Tolvanen stirring a pot of pea soup. Svir, 1942

Two members of the Finnish women's Lotta Svärd volunteer paramilitary organization. They were known as "Lottas."

Field Commanders meeting. Svir. 1942.

A buddy in front of one of our field tents. Järeä Patteristo 3. Svir, 1942.

Translated from the original Finnish by Marja-Leena Tolvanen Rogers. 

CONTINUATION WAR Part 2: Karelian Isthmus - Sirkiänsaari 1942-1943

1942-1943

The Isthmus Army
(Lieutenant General H.Österman)

Field Artillery Second Battalion (II), 5th Division, Jär.Psto. 3

During the Continuation War, the Finnish Army's Light Artillery Unit [Patteristo, P:sto] consisted of three or sometimes only two batteries. Two batteries were to be equipped with light cannons and the third battery usually had light howitzers, but in fact - due to the lack of artillery pieces - many of them were were improperly equipped, equipped with any available mixed pieces or initially completely without weapons.

Strength of Light Artillery Regiment:

• 1813 men
• 36 guns (75 - 84mm)
• 636 horses
• 40 motor vehicles
• 615 bicycles

Sergeant Valto Antero Tolvanen. 1942.

1941. The last Finnish Army Corps yet to engage in battle, the 4th, started their attack towards Viipuri on the Karelian Isthmus, by the Gulf of Finland, on August 22. Viipuri was the second biggest city in Finland prior to the Winter War and had been ceded to the Soviets in the 1940 Moscow peace treaty.  The 8th Division crossed the Viipuri Bay and cut the road leading south of the city on the coast. The Soviet troops defending Viipuri left the town too late and were later surrounded in a large pocket south of the city. The Finns got a lot of booty and prisoners, including one division commander. The 4th Army Corps took the deserted Viipuri on August 29. This was a mental boost for all Finnish troops – the liberation of a major Finnish town. Word of the capture of Viipuri was quickly passed on to soldiers everywhere and civilians celebrated in Finland. 

The majority of the 1st Army Corps was moved to Karelian isthmus from Sortavala and the attack towards the 1939 border on the isthmus was continued with three Army Corps, the 1st on the eastern side of the isthmus by Lake Laatokka, 2nd in the middle and 4th in the west near the Gulf of Finland. These troops had altogether seven divisions. Parts of the 4th Army Corps continued chasing the Red Army towards Koivisto without stopping in Viipuri. The 1st Army Corps grouped north of Vuoksi and prepared to attack the enemy on the south bank of the river. Troops from the 12th Division (4th Army Corps) and the 18th Division (2nd Army Corps) reached the level of Vammelsuu – Kivennapa on August 30. 

By the first days of September the 1939 border was reached and crossed in the center to make a straighter line from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Laatokka. By September 9 the liberation of Karelian isthmus was over and the troops grouped for defense with the front line going from the mouth of River Rajajoki - Valkeasaari - Lempaala to Tappari by Lake Laatokka. The Finns had arrived in front of the Karelian Fortified Region and advance would have required significant artillery power and brought increasing casualties. The front line stayed here until June 1944. In September and October two divisions and some other troops were moved to East Karelia.  [Wikipedia]

1941. Autumn. Finnish Army movements, battles, and positions.

Valto Antero Tolvanen. Finnish Military Passport. 1941-1944.

 Lempaala

       We were given some leave every three months. In the fall of ’42 all of the young men, those born after 1912, were transferred to the Arra Battery. It had been planned that our group was going to be sent home, but nothing came of it because the Germans didn’t capture Leningrad. Mannerheim didn’t want to give the Germans any assistance, but instead decided to keep us where we were stationed so our troops wouldn’t get out of hand and destroy the Winter Palace. Well – that would have been quite an undertaking because the Russian fortifications were in front of us at Lempaala, and they were always shooting at us from their trenches if we moved about too boldly. That fortification line had been dug very deep, of course, because they had started building it during the First World War and kept adding to it. The “White Danger” was of course always threatening the Russians, you see, from the Finnish side! So it was a good thing that we didn’t have to try and break through that line.

                                                                

Sirkiänsaari Campaign 1942-1943

Sirkiänsaari on the Karelian Isthmus.

Photos of Building a Dugout for Our Unit at Sirkiänsaari.

Antero Tolvanen (front row right in full uniform) with his unit at Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Building the dugout. Antero Tolvanen back row in middle. Sirkiänsaari. 1942

Building the dugout. Sirkiänsaari. 1942

Men from Fire Control Unit on a coffee break in front of Women’s Army Corps tent. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

"ARRA Battery"Artillery Station being constructed and readied

Artillery station being finished. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Fire Control Unit. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Artillery station. Antero Tolvanen front row center without cap. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Antero Tolvanen, back row second from right. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

"Arra" Artillery station. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Commanding Officers visiting the "Arra" Artillery Station at Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

"Arra" Artillery. Medals ceremony. Commendations, medals, rank advancements.
Antero Tolvanen (front left) just received a promotion to Sergeant.

Major Arra (left) visiting the "Arra" Artillery Station at Sirkiänsaari. 1942

Antero Tolvanen (left) with company commanders. Promoted to Sergeant.  "Arra" Artillery. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Dugout now ready to move into. "Arra" Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Unit members standing outside their Dugout. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Dugout at "Arra" Battery. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

        There was snow on the ground by now and we were using the old front line bunkers – I have no idea who had originally built them. Then one night the roof caught on fire – I guess we had been too enthusiastic in our efforts to heat the bunker. There was nothing else to do but withdraw a little way off. There we located another dugout that had been used to quarter the horses, but it turned out to be adequate enough after we covered it with our tent.

"Arra" Artillery Station Dugout and sauna. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Interior of the dugout. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Interior of the dugout. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

      Once we had completed our dugout we got to spend the rest of our time at the Artillery Station stringing barbed wire. Every once in a while we exchanged some fire with the enemy – and a few mortar shells even landed close to our gun positions. But nothing more serious than that occurred because the Russians were concentrating all their efforts on another front.

Antero Tolvanen on leave in Helsinki. Winter. 1942.

      Already that first fall, but especially during ’42, I gathered mushrooms which were plentiful in the forest and then took them to Aune in Helsinki. These were a wonderful substitute for meat. When you have salted [preserved] mushrooms you don’t have any need for meat – they are absolutely delicious.

Aune Mäkinen at her mother's grave. Hietaniemi. Helsinki. May 1942.

       So, as I’m looking at Aune’s picture at her mother’s graveside in the spring of ’42, it’s easy to tell that little girl’s cheeks look pretty hollow. And it was the same for everybody else. It’s a good thing that I was able to pick at least some mushrooms for them.  These apparently eased the food situation quite a bit.                                      

                                     

More photos from "Arra" Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

"Arra" Artillery Station dugout's sauna. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Chopping and hauling some firewood for our sauna. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

Christmas Eve and a time to pause and reflect. "Arra" Artillery Station.
Antero Tolvanen, back row right. Sirkiänsaari. 1942.

 

Dugout at the “Arra” Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

Unit Command. Staff Sergeant Antero Tolvanen, second from right. "Arra" Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

"Arra" Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

Chopping firewood. Arra Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

Staff Sergeant Antero Tolvanen. “Arra” Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

 

View east from “Arra” Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

1942 - Ski Patrol along the Front Lines
Sirkiänsaari

     As winter (1942) began to turn into spring, we received our skis and white camouflage snowsuits. It was fun to be on cross-country skis, to ski behind enemy lines, and do some sunbathing along the way.

Sergeant Antero Tolvanen. Ski patrol on the front lines. Fire Control Tower.
Sirkiänsaari. Winter-Spring 1942

Fire Control Unit's Ski Patrol. (Antero Tolvanen, third from left.) Front lines. Sirkiänsaari. Winter-Spring 1942

Artillery pit. Front lines. Sirkiänsaari. Winter-Spring 1942

Ski Patrol Team. Sergeant Antero Tolvanen far right. Front lines. Sirkiänsaari. Winter-Spring 1942

Sergeant Antero Tolvanen. Fire Control Unit's Ski Patrol Team. Sirkiänsaari. Winter-Spring 1942

Fire Control Unit's Ski Patrol Team. Antero Tolvanen far right. Sirkiänsaari. Winter-Spring 1942

Fire Control Units's Ski Patrol Commanders. Sergeant Antero Tolvanen on the right.
Front lines. Sirkiänsaari. Winter-Spring 1942

       By the way, the first structure we built was a dugout sauna out of logs from the virgin pine forest on the banks of Sirkiäjoki. The steam baths we took in it were marvelous. We bathed every night and twice on Sunday. I guess that was our worship service. We did actually have a field worship service once a month and it took place behind the Artillery Station.

Artillery Station Sauna. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

        So it was like one long holiday, and everything would have been great if we hadn’t felt so hungry all the time. We mainly lived on rutabagas. Our early morning tea was some sort of tea substitute – raspberry leaves or some such thing. For lunch we had porridge – all sorts of variations of it – but then in the spring we were treated to the now infamous “sawdust mush” which in this country we call Bran. Aune and I had some of that on our cupboard shelf which we opened about two years ago. I think we made some once and that was the end of it. — On the other hand, things seemed to be much worse on the home front. If you wanted a pork chop that used up your whole month’s meat ration on your card. So it wasn’t that great at home either.

Artillery Commander, Major Tawast. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

“Arra” Artillery Station. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

Unit on break in the dugout. Sirkiänsaari. 1942

Wintery view across the front lines. Sirkiänsaari. Winter 1942

Translated from the original Finnish: Marja-Leena Tolvanen-Rogers