Dedicated to the brave young Finnish men who fought against tyranny, and
the Karelian people who lost their land to the unprovoked attack by Soviet forces; and to the future return of land that belonged to over 420,000 Karelians evicted from their land. Photos are from the photo album of Antti Joronen. They were also found in Ambrosius Peiponen's collection, who most likely took many of them. Some of the photos had been distributed amongst the soldiers after the war.
The story begins in a far away land
called Karelia. The man's name is Antti, and the young woman's name is Meeri.
They wanted to settle down and make a home in Karelia, but one winter's day in
1939, strangers from a land not so far away came to take their land and dreams
away. Against all odds, like his forefathers have done for hundreds of years,
Antti went to drive them away. This is their story.
Tarina alkaa kaukaisessa satumaassa jonka nimi on Karjala. Miehen
nimi on Antti ja naisen nimi Meeri. Heillä oli haaveita tehdä Karjalaan kotinsa.
Mutta eräänä talvipäivänä vuonna 1939 tuli Karjalaan vieraita miehiä, ei kovin
kaukaa, ottamaan heidän maansa ja haaveensa pois. Ja kuten muinaiset esi-isät
satoja vuosia olivat tehneet, Antti meni ajamaan niitä pois. Tämä on heidän
tarinansa.
No explanation needed: Antti and Meeri in
Viipuri
Tähän ei tarvita selityksiä: Antti ja Meeri
Viipurissa
Viipuri (Vyborg) is the hometown of the writer's parents. It
was a wonderful Karelian city that Meeri and Antti loved, dearly. It
was like the Paris of the North - not far from Terijoki, the Finnish
Riviera. On the left the young couple is out for a stroll. Meeri on the
right as a lifeguard (swimming meister). Viipuri Fortress "Viipurin
Linna" can be seen in the background. But in a few months, their
carefree life in Viipuri would be over. The strangers were coming.
Viipuri on Antin ja Meerin kotinsa,
jonka he joutuivat jättämään. Viipurilaiset kyllä tuntee paikat. Se oli
kaunis laulujen ja satujen maan pääkaupunki jota äiti ja isä
rakastivat. Vasemmaisessa kuvassa on Meeri ja Antti kävelyllä
Viipurissa. Toisessa kuvassa on oikealla uimamaisteri Meeri, Kouvolan
Harmonikan (200 km piirin) edustajan, Viktor Saarnion tytär. Miehen
nimi on Jussi Kahlo. Kuva on otettu kymmenen metrin korkeudessa.
The Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939 and after the
Winter War, Finland lost most of Karelia. When the Soviets resumed hostilities
against Finland, the Finns continued the Winter War, which was called the
Continuation War. By the end of August 1941, all the territory lost in 1940 had
been reconquered, but the Finnish offensive was kept up until the beginning of
December, by which time the greater part of East Karelia
(pictures of Lottas, women's corps, at Karhumäki, Lake Onega) had been secured.
This area was considered to be possibly valuable as a bargaining counter in
peace negotiations. Securing the islands on lake Laatokka (Ladoga), Europe's
largest lake, continued into the fall of 1941 and was the job of the Laatokka
Defence forces and the Laatokka Navy.
Finland was in a position where it could not, for fear of allied
reprisals, cut the Leningrad supply line south of the river Svir, across the Laatokka ice. Lend-Lease war supplies from
the United States poured into Leningrad. While this helped save Leningrad, it
accelerated Finland's own fate.
In 1941 Antti was back in the army, this time as a sergeant. By September
of 1941 the Finnish army had taken all the territory north of Lake Laatokka
(Ladoga), Europe's largest lake that Finland shared with Russia prior to
1939. The army continued into Eastern Karelia (Äänisen aallot - a
wartime song about äänisjärvi = Onega). Antti's unit, which was part of
the Laatokka Naval forces, was given the task of taking back the islands in Lake
Laatokka that had been taken over by the Soviet Union. From the north end of
Lake Laatokka, at Lahdenpohja, they
commandeered a number of clinker-built wooden fishing boats and refitted them with
guns. Other boats were brought in from Finland by train. They were used to
remove the Red army from Ladoga, the ancient Karelian people's lake, the eastern
half of which was ceded to Russia in 16th and 17th century wars. So badly did
the Russians want this land, that they even moved the converted Karelians away
to Tver, near Moscow in the 17th century, "to protect them from the
Lutherans." But, the Finns are a difficult people to come and take
anything from. The tradition continues.
Antti's Laatokka Naval unit "Lähde" which was put under the authority of
the Laatokka Defence Forces, commandeered boats in Lahdenpohja. These were made
into gunboats and transport motorboats, and some of the smaller rowboats were
towed by powered craft as transports and as mobile gun platforms. The boats were
fitted with 3pdr/47mm and similar naval guns and machineguns.
18.6.1941, Antti joutui takaisin armeijaan 2.
armeijakunnan esikunnassa ja toimi radistina. Hän oli jo 26.6.1940 reservin
alikersanntti ja nyt Laatokalla kersantti - vaikka virallisesti vasta
21.10.1944. Syyskuuhun menneessä Suomi oli jo ottanut takaisin alueet jotka
Venäjä oli ryästänyt vuonna 1940, ja pojat jatkoivat matkaa Itä-Karjalaan.
(Lotta kuvia Karhumäeltä, äänisjärvi) (Kuuntele Äänisen aallot)
Antin (Laatokan Puolustus) Laatokan Laivastojoukkuelle annettiin tehtävä poistaa Ryssä Laatokan
saaristosta. Lahdenpohjasta ja Läskelästä Antin joukkue valitsi veneitä,
asetutti 3pdr/47mm tykit niihin, ja lähtivät Laatokalle, esim. Sortavalaan,
Valamoon, Rahmansaareen jne. Laatokan kartta Monia
saaria venäläiset eivät olleet miehittäneet, mutta yhtä saarta - Rahmasaarta,
(elikä Rahmansaari) venäläiset halusivat puolustaa erittäin lujasti. Monet
veneet, joista Antti otti kuvia paikanpäällä, ovat myäs Suomalaisissa
Rahmasaaren taistelun aikakirjoissa. Kun kirjoittaja luki niistä viime aikoina,
hän meni katsomaan onko Antilla kuvia niistä. Onneksi sielä näky olevan monta:
esim. mv. 14, 1, 37, Kukkapää, tyk.v. Haapaniemi, tyk.v. Mantsi,
ym.
Veneet saapuivat Rahmasaareen aamulla aikaseen,
syyskuun 6/7 päivä. Antti kertoi että hänen "Lähde" osaston ryhmässä oli
kahdeksan venettä joissa oli jokaisessa yksitoista miestä. Kauempana Laatokalla
olevien tykkiveneiden sekä muissa saareissa olevien patterien esim. Maunun
tulituksen jälkeen veneet alkoi hyäkätä saareen eri puolilta. Hyäkkäyksessä oli
kaksi porrasta joilla oli puolen tunnin väli, ankarassa saaresta tulevassa
tulituksessa. Korpraali Antin veneessä haavoittui niskaan. Sen jälkeen, vene
hajosi, ja Antti käski kaikki miehet veteen, vaikka ei ollut paljon vaihtoehtoa.
Sen jälkeen, kaksi Antin miestä pääsi rantaan heittämään muutaman kranaatin, ja
ryssät antautuivat. Kolmen vuorokauden taistelun jälkee 103 Ryssää oli saanut
surmansa ja loput otettiin vangiksi. Taistelu ei ole ihan niin yksinkertainen
kun Antin muisti julkaisee. Olavi Väliahon kirja, Laatokan Puolustajat
Karjalaan,
kertoo monesta Laatokan taistelusta, josta oli mukava lukea
Rahmasaaresta. Antti puhui paljon vangeista. Hän jutteli heidän kanssa
ja tarjosi tupakkaakin. Hänen mielestä nämäkin oli ihmisiä, ja hän
kohteli heitä sen mukaan. Aikakirjojen mukaan on
hieman erillainen, monimutkaisempi kertomus. Antti kertoi että hänestä ei ole
jäljellä paljon tietoja valtiolla - ehkä tuhoutunut. Nämä seloistukset eivät
täydellisesti kerro mitä tapahtui; ei ole esimerkiksi löydetty kun vasta nytten
(Valpas) mitään hänen osallistumisesta Rahmasaaren taisteluun, ja ei
mitään hänen haavoittumisesta.
Siinä taistelussa Antti haavoittui räjähtävästä
luodista. Lisäksi kylmä vesi vahingoitti Antin verisuonia jaloissa ja hän sai
kärsiä loppuelämänsä jalkavaivoista.
Island-Hopping on Lake Laatokka
They went in to Sortavala, and then on to Lahdenpohja. From there they
went out into Lake Laatokka, Rahmasaari (Rahmansaari) and the island of Valamo
(Valaam), and then back to Lahdenpohja. Many of the islands that they checked
off Jaakkima, such as the Kilpisaari group of islands, had been secured from
Russian control by the beginning of September and were therefore undefended, but
for reasons that we do not know, the Soviet Union chose to strongly defend the
small island of Rahmasaari.
An invasion plan was drafted and implemented. They approached the island
at daybreak on September 6/7, 1941. Antti's group was in eight fishing boats
with eleven men to a boat. The assault was preceded by shelling by heavy guns,
and covered by gunboat Kukkapää under Chief Petty Officer Lauri Tolvanen and
several other gunboats. As they approached they came under heavy machine-gun
fire so they backed off and came in from another direction. His orders were to
go straight in (Antti said as his hand made a slicing motion, showing how he was
ordered to go in) dispite the fire.
Once again they came under heavy machine-gun fire and the corporal manning
the forward machine gun in Antti's boat was hit in the neck and fell back into
the boat. The water around the boats boiled with machine gun fire. Antti's boat
started to break up, so he ordered all his men overboard. The water was not deep
and they did not have much trouble making it to the shore, but they were pinned
down at the waters edge. Antti spent several hours in the cold waters of Lake
Laatokka. At one point he came into a snipers gunsight.
Fortunately, the bullet struck a branch of a tree just in front of his
face. The bullet exploded on impact and sent tiny fragments of shrapnel into his
face and into the backs of his hands. His hands were close to his face because
he was holding his rifle in the "ready" position.
He was in a bad situation. They were pinned down and his corporal was
wounded. He also lost another man to machine-gun fire. Antti's feet were
freezing in the water, and he was bleeding from the face and hands. Two of his
men eventually managed to work their way around to the side of the Soviet
position and threw a couple of hand-grenades. For reasons that Antti does not
understand, his life was saved by a Russian lieutenant who decided to surrender.
To the best of Antti's recollection, this is how the events folded. The Finnish
chronicles on the Rahmasaari Battle, are a lot more definitive regarding
timeline. There were several other detachments involved in the battle which
lasted three days, with attacks from various sides of the island. Rahmasaari Battle
Chronicles.
It took the Finns several days to dislodge the remainder of the Soviet
troops. They fought very fiercely and many of them died. The Captain looked
after Antti's wounds until they could get him back to the Kyysaari.
Russians have always wanted more land, that is their nature. None of the land they occupy is their own; it is borrowed from the original owners; in the north it means the Finns. This is
not the first time the Finns have had to defend their land.
Other Finnish soldiers took East Karelia all the way to Syäri (Svir).
War on Lake
Laatokka - Antti Hänninen's Russian Karelian page supplied information about
the Rahmasaari and other Laatokka battles based on Russian journals. Antti has now emigrated to Finland, where he was planning to move for at least ten years.
Lottas (Women's Corps, nurses etc.) in äänisjärvi (Onega). Antti Hänninen
gets a surprise: a Lotta in Australia says she has some pictures for him.
Sotatoimet
Laatokalla - Antti Hännisen Karjala sivu äänisjärvellä. Hänellä on tietoja
Rahmansaaren taistelusta. äänisjärvi: entinen lotta lähetti Hänniselle
The story begins in a far away land
called Karelia. The man's name is Antti, and the young woman's name is Meeri.
They wanted to settle down and make a home in Karelia, but one winter's day in
1939, strangers from a land not so far away came to take their land and dreams
away. Against all odds, like his forefathers have done for hundreds of years,
Antti went to drive them away. This is their story.
