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Ski troops played a key role in the successes of the Finnish war effort against the Soviet Union during the Winter War in 1939. [6] Forested, rural terrain with no roads was used by Finnish ski troops with great success against the advancing mechanized Soviet troops.
Koivunen was a Finnish soldier, assigned to a ski patrol on 15 March 1944 along with several other Finnish soldiers. Three days into their mission on 18 March, the group was attacked and surrounded by Soviet forces, from whom they were able to escape. [3] Koivunen became fatigued after skiing for a long distance but could not stop.
The Soviet objective to cut Finland in half across the Oulu region, while appearing reasonable on a map, was inherently unrealistic, as the region was mostly forested marshland, with its road network consisting mainly of logging trails. Mechanized divisions had to rely on them and so became easy targets for the mobile Finnish ski troops.
Finnish forces continued their attack and saw the ski brigade's headquarters set on fire during the fighting. [6] The ski brigade's defense started to collapse and began to withdraw from their position. The fighting saw about 400 Soviet troops killed. [7] On the Finnish side were six Finnish troops killed and 22 injured. [6]
Soviet troops pushed the Finns up to the Kemijoki river, but were unable to break through the Finnish defences on the river. The Soviet supply lines were now 145 kilometers long. The Finns took advantage of the overstretched Soviet position by launching attacks with ski troops on the Soviet lines of communications.
On March 18, 1944, 27-year-old Aimo Koivunen and his Finnish ski unit were patrolling Lapland (northernmost region of Finland that is part of the Arctic Circle) when they came under attack by ...
Finland achieved full sovereignty in May 1918 after a four-month civil war in which the conservative Whites defeated the socialist Reds with the help of the Imperial German Army, pro-German Jägers, and some Swedish troops, in addition to the expulsion of Bolshevik troops. [46] Finland joined the League of Nations in 1920 and sought security ...
Levi in Finland stockpiled 200,000 cubic meters over the summer to keep slopes covered when ski season rolled around. - Oy Levi Ski Resort Ltd.