No they werent. Because the finns were never occupied in the same way as so many other such as Norway, Danemark, France etc.
even if there was german troops in finland.
The finns are still a young nation not even a hundred years old, And they have fought even an civil war the red against the white. The reds wanted to join russia. ( Luckely the whites won ).
Finland has been part of Sweden most of its time and a russian satellite state for a little while. When the revolution occured in russia, the finns proclaimed their independence. ( Lenin ). era. It was kind of a sneaky thing they did. They figured the russians are busy with the revolution going on. And took advantage of that simple fact.
Later when the russian started to pressure finland with their demands for territory in and around the finnish bay before the actual war.( Stalin era ).
The finns looked for help and advice in how to construct and army ( Remember they were quite poorly equipted and with almost no army. And the finnish airforce was almost non existent.
but they were innovative, i.e The Molotov Coctail invented and named by the finns in honour of the russian foreign minister who wanted to celebrate the new year in Helsinki, that never happened as you might guess already ).
So therefore there was a german precense in finland ( Later driven out ) due to russian demands, when they were driven out they used the scorched earth tactics on their way home to germany from northern finland.
The only official state visit done by Hitler during ww2 was when Mannerheim celebrated his 75:th-birthday 4.6 1942 ( He had not been invited, so it was a surprise visit to the finns ). they sat in an trainwagon, and Hitler didn't like smokers, if I dont remember wrong he was an vegeterian to.
During that visit in the trainwagon sat opposite of Hitler and smoked a big cigarr. Hitler admired and respected Mannerheim as a commander and soldier. I guess he wanted the finns to join in on the Operation barbarossa. ( Which they didn't ). But they fought the russians. So there were no alliance between the finland and germany.
There are so many interesting things to find out for those who have the interest. Ironic Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was expelled from the finnish war academy in his youth due to insubordination.
after a while as a twenty year old ha joined the tsars Nikolajevska cavalleryschool in Sankt Petersburg were he advanced greatly and got highly decorated and honoured. He fought in the russian japanese war, met Dalai Lama, was a guard in the procession in the first row when the tsar married etc. And that is just on the russian side.
when the revolution occured he was much was in great danger stuck in the middle of europe as an officer in the russian army ( Much hated by the Boljshevics ). He managed to flee to finland. and later Became the commander of the entire finnish army that fought against the reds. And did very well against an overwhelming opponent. The red army had a much higher casualty rate than the finns.
Additional information of some of the men that came from Karelia and fought in the war against the red army.
One of the truly remarkable men that came out from around the area around Viipuri is Lauri Allan Torni or mayby better know to the americans as Larry A Thorne
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_T%C3%B6rniHe and his parents lost their home in Karelia. He joined the finnish army to fight the russians, And later when there was a temporary peace he joined the waffen ss to fight the red army, eventually went back to the finnish army again to continue fight the red army.
When the temporary peace was broken. When peace finally came he fled finland after the war due to russian demands that he should be put to trial etc. And went abroad with a boat to venezuela, Came to US and joined the US army.
There was also price on his head during the ww2 set by the red army.
Because his effectiveness. ( with his commando raids behind enemy lines and against russians ).
He was not the only remarkable soldier and leader to later join the US army. where they teached tactics and performed in various highly secret operations in the middle east etc. they were highly appreciated and respected among their american collegues these men.
Larry Thorne was later buried in Arlington cemetery after his remains were found in 1999 in Vietnam according to the official information.
when in fact it was in Laos on 18th of october in 1965 that he seemed to have died in an helicopter accident.
And as we all know Laos was not part of the vietnam war.
( so maybe after all he was found in vietnam ). You be the judge.
He at the time was part of the then new US Special forces created by JFK I.E the green berets ).
I know I got a little of the topic, but it is worth mentioning truly remarkable men like these...
there were others as well such as the finnish sniper Simo Hayha
( read Simo Hayha). Allegedly know as "Belaja Smert" "the white death") by red army soldiers 500+ kills in 105 days with his rifle without a scope. A legend in sniper history.
Cruel facts of the war I know.
And even more kills with the smg or small machine gun to add to the list
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4Due to the suspicion on the finns collaboration with germany, they didn't recieve much help from any one. Remember russia was one of the allies. Also the aggressor against finland.
Mannerheim eventually even became president for finland. as well as Mauno Koivisto who served under Torni aka Larry A Thorne in ww2.
There are people who strongly believe that the red army gained and learned a lot from their experiences in Karelia.
And that it later helped them later in ww2
Notably the finns were the only country to pay their war depth to the victor to the fullest of all the nations defeated.
It took years, but they did.
worth mentioning is also the fact that these postal / money orders are written in both Swedish and Finnish two languages that are very different from each other and not even the slightly related to each other. i.e the finnish language is more related to the hungarian language than the swedish. they originate from two separate language trees. The reason are historical, for a long time they were the one and the same country i.e Sweden. Luckily for me I speak them both
Posted 02/26/2012 3:34 pm
Daniel
