WW2 - Finland

PowerPoint Show by Andrew

The images record the war years from 1939 to 1945, spanning three conflicts the Finns recognize as the Winter War (against an invading Soviet Union),

the Continuation War (striking against the Soviets alongside the Germans)

and the Lapland War (against the Germans for control of Lapland).

The bombing of Helsinki, on November 30, 1939. On this day, the Soviet Union invaded Finland with 21 divisions, totaling some 450,000 troops.

A wounded man is carried away after bombardment of a civilian area.

Anti-aircraft fire over Suomenlinna, Helsinki.

Helsinki University, on Senate Square, burns during the night.

A street scene after enemy bomb attacks.

Icicles hang inside a bombed-out building in Viipuri, Finland (now Vyborg, Russia).

A Finnish soldier with a pack Reindeer, on slippery ice, near the tiny village of Nautsi, in northern Lapland, Finland, on October 26, 1941.

62-year-old Finnish-American volunteer soldier Hyvönen going to the front, in Mikkeli, Finland, on September 4, 1941.

Finnish tank crew, July 8, 1941.

Evacuation of civilians, on July 1, 1941

Flamethrower in action in the woods near the village of Niinisalo, on July 1, 1942.

Propeller-driven snowmobile near Haapasaari, Finland. The swastika was used as the official national marking of the Finnish Air Force and Tank Corps between 1918 and 1945.

An experiment in troop transportation in cold weather.

At the Hämeenlinna war dog school.

Finnish soldiers looking out toward approaching aircraft with binoculars and listening with a huge acoustic locator.

A downed Russian plane.

Adolf Hitler made a brief visit to Finland in June of 1942.

A Finnish armored train.

Street fighting in Medvezhyegorsk, Russia. The town was occupied by Finland for three years.

Some of an estimated 400 Russian soldiers killed in a battle.

A dead Russian soldier, his body frozen.

A Finnish soldier shows off his gas attack equipment.

After 1940, Finnish forces were able to buy arms and equipment from Germany, eventually cooperating to battle the Soviets together.

A downed Russian plane.

Destroyed by bombing, tram lines are repaired in February of 1944.

Two young girls, in ruins near Martin's Church in Turku, Finland.

Russian prisoners of war.

The hospital's bomb shelter in Mikkeli.

Aftermath of a bombing attack.

The body of a dead German soldier.

Vyborg Cathedral, after the bombing.

13-year-old Veikko Rantala lies wounded in Lieksanjoki Military hospital.

Stuka dive-bombers fly over, Immola, July 2, 1944.

Nurmoila village, shortly after Russian bombers attacked.

Finnish soldiers pose for a photograph.