Bristol Blenheim : color photo

Bristol Blenheim

In 1936, the Finnish Air Force ordered 18 Blenheim Mk Is from Britain and two years later, they obtained a manufacturing license for the aircraft. Before any aircraft could be manufactured at the Valtion lentokonetehdas (State Airplane Factory) in Finland, the Winter War broke out, forcing the Finns to order more aircraft from the UK. A further 24 British-manufactured Blenheims were ordered during the Winter War. After the Winter War, 55 Blenheims were constructed in Finland, bringing the total number to 97 aircraft (75 Mk Is and 22 Mk IVs).

The Finns also received 20 half-completed ex-Yugoslavian Mk IV Blenheims captured by Germany, together with manufacturing tools and production equipment, as well as a huge variety of spare parts. Yugoslavia had ceased production of the Mk I and commenced a production run of Mk IVs just prior to the April 1941 invasion.

The Finnish Blenheims flew 423 missions during the Winter War, and close to 3,000 missions during the Continuation War and Lapland War. Blenheim machine-gunners also shot down eight Soviet aircraft. Thirty-seven Blenheims were lost in combat during the wars.

After the war, Finland was prohibited from flying bomber aircraft by the Paris Peace Treaty, with Finland's Blenheims being placed into storage in 1948. However, in 1951, five Blenheims were re-activated for use as target tugs, with the last flight of a Finnish Blenheim taking place on 20 May 1958.

Finnish armoured division's soldiers

Finnish armoured division's soldiers waiting for attack

Junkers Ju 87 : Stuka 1944.06.28

Finland Immola's airfield 1944.06.28

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Battle of Vuosalmi

Battle of Vuosalmi

The Finnish positions were very unfavorably located in the ridge of Äyräpää, with the wide River Vuoksi behind. Though position was very unfavorable the Äyräpää ridge dominated the lower lands on the northern shore requiring the defensive lines to be placed on the ridge. The Red Army 98th Corps started heavier attacks on July 4 and heavy battles raged on the control of the ridge until July 9 when Finns finally withdrew to the northern shore. Soviet 115th Corps then continued the attack and crossed the Vuosalmi on July 9.

Soviet 115th Corps reinforced the bridgehead and had all its three divisions in the bridgehead on July 11. Finns also received reinforcements in form of the depleted Finnish Armored Division directly from Ihantala and on July 11 both sides were attempting to attack simultaneously. Attempts on both sides were halted when they ran into attacking enemy formations. Though Soviets now had access to the fields on the northern side, which were advantageous to the Soviet armor, the Finns were able to stop all further Soviet advances. The following Finnish counterattacks in Vuosalmi at this point amounted to not much success either, and thus both sides were on defensive here in mid-July, 1944.

The Finnish artillery fired altogether over 122,000 rounds of ordnance in Äyräpää and Vuosalmi, from June 20 to July 17, 1944 – same amount, as in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, which was fought during exactly the same time period in a near vicinity, on the relatively narrow Karelian Isthmus of Finland.

Äyräpää, Vitsaari 1944.08.28

SA-photo

Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 MT-220

Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 MT-220

T-34 : Petrozavodsk 1944.01.30

T-34 : Petrozavodsk 1944.01.30

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Brewster F2A in Lapland War

Lapland War

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Anti-tank guns

Drawings A.Lindeberg:  1941.

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Capture T-28 : Lappee 1941

Lappeen pitäjä 1941.07.08 

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Gloster Gladiator Mk. II

Gloster Gladiator Mk. II

The Finnish Winter War and Continuation War

During the Winter War, the Finnish Air Force (FAF) obtained 30 Mk II fighters from the UK. Ten of the aircraft were donated while the other 20 were bought by the FAF; all were delivered between 18 January and 16 February 1940, the first entering service on 2 February 1940. The Finnish Gladiators served until 1945, but they were outclassed by the more modern Soviet fighters during the Continuation War. The aircraft was mostly used for reconnaissance from 1941 onwards. The Finnish Air Force obtained 45 aerial victories by 22 pilots with the aircraft type during the Winter War and one victory during the Continuation War. Twelve Gladiators were lost in combat during the Winter War and three during the Continuation War.Two pilots became aces with this aircraft: Oiva Tuominen (6.5 victories with Gladiators) and Paavo Berg (five victories).

Besides the FAF Gladiators, the Swedish Voluntary Air Force, responsible for the air defence of northernmost Finland during the later part of the Winter War, was also equipped with Gladiator fighters, designated as J8s (Mk Is) and J8As (Mk IIs) by the Swedes. The Flying Regiment F 19 arrived in Finnish Lapland on 10 January 1940, and remained there until the end of the hostilities. It fielded 12 Gladiator Mk II fighters, two of which were lost during the fighting, and five Hawker Hart dive bombers, plus a Raab-Katzenstein RK-26 liaison aircraft and a Junkers F.13 transport aircraft. The aircraft belonged to and were crewed by the Swedish Air Force, but flew with Finnish nationality markings. The Swedish Gladiators scored eight aerial victories and destroyed a further four aircraft on the ground. One concern was expressed when F 19's executive officer Captain Björn Bjuggren wrote in his memoirs that the tracer rounds of the Gladiator's machine guns would not ignite the gasoline when penetrating the fuel tanks of Soviet bombers.

Anti-tank guns in Korpijärvi

1941.07.07

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Panzerschreck

Panzerschreck was the popular name for the Raketenpanzerbüchse, an 88 mm calibre reusable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by Nazi Germany in World War II. Another popular nickname was Ofenrohr .

The Panzerschreck was designed as a lightweight infantry anti-tank weapon. 

The weapon was shoulder-launched and fired a fin-stabilized rocket with a shaped charge warhead. It was made in smaller numbers than the Panzerfaust, which was a disposable recoilless rifle firing an anti-tank warhead. It was an enlarged copy of the American bazooka.

The improved Raketenpanzerbüchse 54 with blast shield

Leppäsyrjä 1944.07.14

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Junkers 88 :1941

1941.07.21
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Finnish BA-10

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Fokker D XXI Tiiksjärvi 1941

Tiikslake's airfield 1941.10.03
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Painting summer comoflage

Painting summer comoflage 

Lake Onega 1942.05.29

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Aaro Pajari :Survived the grenade attacks

Aaro Pajari 

Aaro Olavi Pajari  was a Major General in the Finnish Army. During the World War II, he received the Mannerheim Cross of Liberty twice.

Aaro Pajari is regarded as one of the bravest and most courageous men of the Finnish army in the World War II. His tactical greatness, as well as his manner of leading from the front made him a great leader and led to great devotion and motivation from the troops under his command. His greatest achievement was the Finnish victory at the Battle of Tolvajarvi in the winter of 1939 – 1940, where his small Finnish force smashed a far larger Soviet army. Pajari went on to serve brilliantly throughout the Winter, Continuation, and Lapland wars, becoming famous for his success in leading small unit, and guerrilla style operations.

Yläkuunu 1941.08.07

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Detachment Kuhlmey

Detachment Kuhlmey

The unit participated in large battles of summer 1944, during the Finnish-Soviet Continuation War. When the Soviet Red Army launched its fourth strategic offensive on 9 June 1944 C. G. E. Mannerheim asked Germany for help. Among the help that arrived was a Luftwaffe unit that arrived to Finland on 12 June. The aircraft landed at the Immola Airfield on 17 June. The unit used the whole airfield from there on. The unit flew some 2,700 missions against the enemy and dropped 770 tonnes of bombs on the enemy. It destroyed over 150 Soviet aircraft, about 200 tanks, dozens of bridges and transport vessels. 23 of the pilots died and 24 were wounded in battle. The unit lost 41 of its aircraft.

Immola @SA-photo

Panzer III Kiestinki 1941.08.08

German Panzer III Kiestinki 1941.08.08

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Finnish attack

Finnish attack to Käppäselkä 1941.10.27

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Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 MT-207

Finnish Air Force ordered 162 aircraft (48 G-2s, 111 G-6s and three G-8s) from Germany, but 3 were destroyed during transit, leaving the FAF with 159 Bf109s.

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Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 MT-207

Junkers 88 : Onttola 1943

Finnish Air Force

In April 1943, as Finland was fighting its Continuation War against the USSR, the Finnish Air Force bought 24 Ju 88s from Germany. The aircraft were used to equip No. 44 Sqn which had previously operated Bristol Blenheims, but these were instead transferred to No. 42 Sqn. Due to the complexity of the Ju 88, most of 1943 was used for training the crews on the aircraft, and only a handful of bombing missions were undertaken. The most notable was a raid on the Lehto partisan village on 20 August 1943 (in which the whole squadron participated), and a raid on the Lavansaari air field (leaving seven Ju 88 damaged from forced landing in inclement weather). In the summer of 1943, the Finns noted stress damage on the wings. This had occurred when the aircraft were used in dive bombing. Restrictions followed: the dive brakes were removed and it was only allowed to dive at a 45-degree angle (compared to 60-80 degrees previously). In this way, they tried to spare the aircraft from unnecessary wear.

One of the more remarkable missions was a bombing raid on 9 March 1944 against Soviet Long Range Aviation bases near Leningrad, when the Finnish aircraft, including Ju 88s, followed Soviet bombers returning from a night raid on Tallinn, catching the Soviets unprepared and destroying many Soviet bombers and their fuel reserves, and a raid against the Aerosan base at Petsnajoki on 22 March 1944.[43] The whole bomber regiment took part in the defence against the Soviets during the fourth strategic offensive. All aircraft flew several missions per day, day and night, when the weather permitted.

No. 44 Sqn was subordinated Lentoryhmä Sarko during the Lapland War (now against Germany), and the Ju 88s were used both for reconnaissance and bombing. The targets were mostly vehicle columns. Reconnaissance flights were also made over northern Norway. The last war mission was flown on 4 April 1945.

After the wars, Finland was prohibited from using bomber aircraft with internal bomb stores. Consequently, the Finnish Ju 88s were used for training until 1948. The aircraft were then scrapped over the following years.[45] No Finnish Ju 88s have survived, but an engine is on display at the Central Finland Aviation Museum, and the frame structure of a German Ju 88 cockpit hood is preserved at the Finnish Aviation Museum in Vantaa.

Text wikipedia

Onttola's airfield  1943.07.08
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StuG III with mascot

The Sturmgeschütz III 

StuG III assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank. Initially intended as a mobile, armoured light gun for infantry support, the StuG was continually modified and was widely employed as a tank destroyer.

Vyborg Nort side. 1944.07.02

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Railway gun

1938 Railway gun TM-3-12

Finland : Hanko 1943.09.21

Demining

Looks very dangerous.

Finland Hanko 1942.08.02

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Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 MT-213

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BA-10

The BA-10 was an armored car developed in the Soviet Union in 1938 and produced till 1941. It was the most produced Soviet pre-1941 heavy armored car – 3311 were built in three versions. These versions were the BA-10, the BA-10M (improved version with new radio), and the BA-10ZhD (equipped for dual railway/road use). The basic BA-10 design was developed from the BA-3 and BA-6 heavy armored cars. It had an improved GAZ-AAA chassis and improved armor (up to 15mm at front and turret). It was intended that the BA-10 would be replaced in 1941 by the BA-11 with diesel engine and more sophisticated armor design, but the outbreak of war prevented BA-11 production. The BA-10 was in Red Army service till 1945. Significant numbers of captured BA-10s were used by Finland (at least 24), Germany and other Axis powers in Europe.

Finnis BA-10

Kyyrölä 1941.08.26 @SA-photo

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Brewster F2A

Tiiksi airbase 1942.02.14 @SA-photo

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