Of the coast of Helsinki, on the island of Kuivasaari (“Dry Island”), the Kuivasaari Coastal Artillery Fortress stands. Until not to long ago, Kuivasaari was a working coastal artillery fortress guarding the approaches to the capital city of Finland but the guns have now been removed from active service and … Continue reading
Maximilian Maksolly (actually Feichter, the original spelling of his first name was Maksimilian) was an Estonian painter who is now possibly best remembered for his war art from the time of the Estonian War of Independence. I touch on him in this blog largely because of his series of war … Continue reading
The Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, was compiled by Elias Lönnrot in the 19th century from a huge collection of folk poetry and songs collected over many many years of study. In compiling the Kalevala, Lönnrot purposefully used only a carefully selected fraction of the material in his folk poetry archives to come … Continue reading
The Finnish Trilogy from Miku Games is an epic wargame trilogy about the Finnish struggle to remain a free and independent country during World War II. The game is being produced in three volumes: Volume I – Winter War 1939-1940 campaign; Volume II – Continuation War 1941-1944 campaign and Volume III … Continue reading
While there are many books on the Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940, there are very few available in English that cover the 2nd war that Finland fought against the USSR, the “Continuation War” of 1941-1944. While not neglected in Finnish-language studies, there is a dearth of historical works in English … Continue reading
Suomalainen sänky (The Finnish Bed), by ethnologist Leena Sammallahti and researcher Marja-Liisa Lehto (SKS 2006), is an illustrated history of Finnish sleeping arrangements, from simple benches along the wall, once common in many farmhouses, to elaborately carved and cushioned laps of luxury from upper-class homes. Sammallahti wanted to place the Finnish bed into … Continue reading
The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland, 1939-1940 by Eloise Engle and Lauri Paananen There are a number of books available on the now little-known Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union, which was fought from December 1939 to March during the Sitzkrieg, and just before the Nazi … Continue reading
Finnish Air Force 1939-45 by Kalevi Keskinen & Kari Stenman This is a short (64 page) book but with the large format, there is a lot of content. It’s short on verbage (a 1 page written introduction that’s a history of aircraft acquisitions – this book assumes that if you’re … Continue reading
Winter War Forgotten Images by Bair Irincheev “Winter War Forgotten Images” is a collection of unpublished images from the Soviet-Finnish Winter War of 1939-40. The book is 190 pages, hardcover and contains a unique collection of mostly unpublished photos many of them from the old Soviet archives, bunker blueprints and … Continue reading
Frozen Hell – The Legend and the Tragedy of Raate Road by Mika Kulju – the first book in English that covers the Battle of Raate Road in real detail If you’re interested in the Winter War that was fought between the Soviet Union and Finland starting in late November 1939, then … Continue reading
The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas) by Väinö Linna The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas), first published in 1954, was author Väinö Linna’s (1920-1992) first major novel and, whilst almost unknown in the English-speaking world, is, in Scandinavia, widely recognized as among the greatest novels of the twentieth century. In Finland, a … Continue reading
“Born a Soldier: The Times and Life of Larry Thorne” by J. Michael Cleverley Again, this is a book I read and reviewed on Amazon some years ago when it saw its first US publication. “Born A Soldier” is a truly enthralling biography of an outstanding Finnish-born special forces soldier who … Continue reading
