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103-670: When the attack phase of the Continuation War started, Gerdt was serving as the runner of the chief of the machine gun unit. Gerdt had to maintain contact with the chief of his company in severe artillery fire during the Pääsiäisvaara battle on 1 July 1941. He was wounded in the head on the same day, but returned to his unit as a junior envoy officer in August. During the Mensuvaara battles in August 1941, Gerdt had to maintain contact with

206-486: A meta-analysis by Finnish historian Olli-Pekka Vehviläinen  [ fi ] . He likewise refuted the so-called "driftwood theory" that Finland had been merely a piece of driftwood that was swept uncontrollably in the rapids of great power politics. Even then, most historians conclude that Finland had no realistic alternative to co-operating with Germany. On 20 May, the Germans invited a number of Finnish officers to discuss

309-573: The Academic Karelia Society , supported a Greater Finland ideology. This ideology of a Greater Finland mostly composed of Soviet territories was augmented by anti-Russian sentiments. The details of the Finnish preparations for war are still somewhat opaque. Historian William R. Trotter stated that "it has so far proven impossible to pinpoint the exact date on which Finland was taken into confidence about Operation Barbarossa" and that "neither

412-589: The Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment , as well as numerous shore batteries, had been stationed on Lake Ladoga since August 1941. Finnish Lieutenant General Paavo Talvela proposed on 17 May 1942 to create a joint Finnish–German–Italian unit on the lake to disrupt Soviet supply convoys to Leningrad. The unit was named Naval Detachment K and comprised four Italian MAS torpedo motorboats of the XII Squadriglia MAS , four German KM-type minelayers and

515-718: The Intelligence Division 's Detached Battalion 4 and by local units, patrolled behind Soviet lines. Soviet partisans , both resistance fighters and regular long-range patrol detachments, conducted a number of operations in Finland and in Eastern Karelia from 1941 to 1944. In summer 1942, the USSR formed the 1st Partisan Brigade. The unit was 'partisan' in name only, as it was essentially 600 men and women on long-range patrol intended to disrupt Finnish operations. The 1st Partisan Brigade

618-523: The Interim Peace . By the terms of the treaty, Finland ceded 9% of its national territory and 13% of its economic capacity to the Soviet Union. Some 420,000 evacuees were resettled from the ceded territories. Finland avoided total conquest of the country by the Soviet Union and retained its sovereignty. Prior to the war, Finnish foreign policy had been based on multilateral guarantees of support from

721-722: The Leningrad Military District was commanded by Lieutenant General Markian Popov and numbered around 450,000 soldiers in 18 divisions and 40 independent battalions in the Finnish region. During the Interim Peace, the Soviet Military had relaid operational plans to conquer Finland, but with the German attack, Operation Barbarossa, begun on 22 June 1941, the Soviets required its best units and latest materiel to be deployed against

824-572: The Moscow Peace Treaty . Numerous reasons have been proposed for the Finnish decision to invade, with regaining territory lost during the Winter War regarded as the most common. Other justifications for the conflict include Finnish President Risto Ryti 's vision of a Greater Finland and Commander-in-Chief Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim 's desire to annex East Karelia . On 22 June 1941, the Axis invaded

927-965: The National veterans' day celebration on 27 April 2012 in Espoo as the only living Knight of the Mannerheim Cross. Gerdt died in a hospital in Helsinki on 1 November 2020, at age 98. At this time he had 4 great-grandchildren, the oldest of which (Christofer) will continue carrying on his legacy in the Mannerheim Foundation. On 28 November, a military funeral was held for him and Gerdt was buried in Lappeenranta . Continuation War Soviet victory Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups Finland Iceland Norway The Continuation War , also known as

1030-681: The Second Soviet-Finnish War , was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II . It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 September 1944 with the Moscow Armistice . The Soviet Union and Finland had previously fought the Winter War from 1939 to 1940, which ended with the Soviet failure to conquer Finland and

1133-525: The Vuoksi River to the east and encircled the Soviet forces defending Vyborg. Finnish forces captured Vyborg on 29 August. The Soviet order to withdraw from Vyborg came too late, resulting in significant losses in materiel, although most of the troops were later evacuated via the Koivisto Islands . After suffering severe losses, the Soviet 23rd Army was unable to halt the offensive, and by 2 September

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1236-629: The siege of Leningrad began on 8 September. The Finnish Army of Karelia started its attack in East Karelia towards Petrozavodsk , Lake Onega and the Svir River on 9 September. German Army Group North advanced from the south of Leningrad towards the Svir River and captured Tikhvin but were forced to retreat to the Volkhov River by Soviet counterattacks. Soviet forces repeatedly attempted to expel

1339-772: The "Finnish question" to which Molotov responded that it would mirror the events in Bessarabia and the Baltic states. Hitler rejected that course of action. During the Finnish presidential election in December 1940, Risto Ryti was elected to be president largely due to interference by Molotov in Ryti's favour since he had signed the Moscow Peace Treaty as prime minister. On 18 December 1940, Hitler officially approved Operation Barbarossa, paving

1442-566: The 1939 border. Finnish and German troops were a threat to the Kirov Railway and the northern supply line between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. On 25 October 1941, the US demanded that Finland cease all hostilities against the USSR and to withdraw behind the 1939 border. In public, President Ryti rejected the demands, but in private, he wrote to Mannerheim on 5 November and asked him to halt

1545-428: The 1960s ice hockey has been the main sport. In 1960s SaPKo played four seasons in the highest tier of Finnish ice hockey SM-sarja but was relegated to Suomi-sarja in 1971. In 1974 the new First Division was formed and SaPKo was one of the teams participating. SaPKo soon established itself as the team of I-divisioona expect few visits to Second Division. In 1968 SaPKo worked its way to the final of Finnish Cup, but lost

1648-450: The Allies that Finnish troops would halt their advance in the next few days. The reply did not satisfy London, which declared war on Finland on 6 December. The Commonwealth nations of Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand soon followed suit. In private, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had sent a letter to Mannerheim on 29 November in which Churchill was "deeply grieved" that

1751-633: The Axis powers. The Finnish plans for the offensive in Ladoga Karelia were finalised on 28 June 1941, and the first stages of the operation began on 10 July. By 16 July, the VI Corps had reached the northern shore of Lake Ladoga , dividing the Soviet 7th Army, which had been tasked with defending the area. The USSR struggled to contain the German assault, and soon the Soviet high command, Stavka (Russian: Ставка ), pulled all available units stationed along

1854-524: The British would have to declare war on Finland because of the British alliance with the Soviets. Mannerheim repatriated British volunteers under his command to the United Kingdom via Sweden. According to Clements, the declaration of war was mostly for appearance's sake. Unconventional warfare was fought in both the Finnish and Soviet wildernesses. Finnish long-range reconnaissance patrols , organised both by

1957-574: The Continuation War including Curtiss Hawk 75s , Fokker D.XXIs , Dornier Do 22 flying boats, Morane M.S. 406 bombers, and Focke-Wulf Fw 44 Stieglitz trainers; in total the Finnish Air Force had 550 aircraft by June 1941, approximately half being combat. By September 1944, despite considerable German supply of aircraft, the Finns only had 384 planes. Even with the increase in supplied aircraft,

2060-471: The Finnish torpedo-motorboat Sisu . The detachment began operations in August 1942 and sank numerous smaller Soviet watercraft and flatboats and assaulted enemy bases and beach fronts until it was dissolved in the winter of 1942–43. Twenty-three Siebel ferries and nine infantry transports of the German Einsatzstab Fähre Ost were also deployed to Lake Ladoga and unsuccessfully assaulted

2163-716: The Finnish Army had reached the old 1939 border . The advance by Finnish and German forces split the Soviet Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and the Karelian Front on 23 August. On 31 August, Finnish Headquarters ordered II and IV Corps, which had advanced the furthest, to halt their advance along a line that ran from the Gulf of Finland via Beloostrov – Sestra – Okhta – Lembolovo to Lake Ladoga. The line ran past

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2266-412: The Finnish border into the beleaguered front line. Additional reinforcements were drawn from the 237th Rifle Division and the Soviet 10th Mechanised Corps , excluding the 198th Motorised Division  [ ru ] , both of which were stationed in Ladoga Karelia, but this stripped much of the reserve strength of the Soviet units defending that area. The Finnish II Corps started its offensive in

2369-470: The Finnish forces lost no aircraft. Although the USSR claimed that the airstrikes were directed against German targets, particularly airfields in Finland, the Finnish Parliament used the attacks as justification for the approval of a "defensive war". According to historian David Kirby, the message was intended more for public opinion in Finland than abroad, where the country was viewed as an ally of

2472-526: The Finnish government of persecuting the communist Finland–Soviet Union Peace and Friendship Society and soon afterward publicly declared support for the group. The society organised demonstrations in Finland, some of which turned into riots. Russian-language sources from the post-Soviet era, such as the study Stalin's Missed Chance , maintain that Soviet policies leading up to the Continuation War were best explained as defensive measures by offensive means. The Soviet division of occupied Poland with Germany,

2575-569: The Finnish leadership wanted to preserve the spirit of unanimity that was felt throughout the country during the Winter War. The divisive White Guard tradition of the Finnish Civil War 's 16 May victory-day celebration was therefore discontinued. The Soviet Union had received the Hanko Naval Base , on Finland's southern coast near the capital Helsinki, where it deployed over 30,000 Soviet military personnel. Relations between Finland and

2678-519: The Finnish, as it was considered an ally of the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, the Finnish government sought to restore diplomatic relations with Germany, but also continued its Western-orientated policy and negotiated a war trade agreement with the United Kingdom. The agreement was renounced after the German invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940 resulted in the UK cutting all trade and traffic communications with

2781-516: The Finns from their bridgehead south of the Svir during October and December but were repulsed; Soviet units attacked the German 163rd Infantry Division in October 1941, which was operating under Finnish command across the Svir, but failed to dislodge it. Despite these failed attacks, the Finnish attack in East Karelia had been blunted and their advance had halted by 6 December. During the five-month campaign,

2884-471: The Finns nor the Germans were entirely candid with one another as to their national aims and methods. In any case, the step from contingency planning to actual operations, when it came, was little more than a formality". The inner circle of Finnish leadership, led by Ryti and Mannerheim, actively planned joint operations with Germany under a veil of ambiguous neutrality and without formal agreements after an alliance with Sweden had proved fruitless, according to

2987-475: The Finns regarding the lend-lease deliveries to Murmansk. The offensive and its three sub-operations failed to achieve their objectives. Both sides dug in and the arctic theatre remained stable, excluding minor skirmishes, until the Soviet Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive in October 1944. The crucial arctic lend-lease convoys from the US and the UK via Murmansk and Kirov Railway to the bulk of

3090-651: The Finns suffered 75,000 casualties, of whom 26,355 had died, while the Soviets had 230,000 casualties, of whom 50,000 became prisoners of war. The German objective in Finnish Lapland was to take Murmansk and cut the Kirov (Murmansk) Railway running from Murmansk to Leningrad by capturing Salla and Kandalaksha . Murmansk was the only year-round ice-free port in the north and a threat to the nickel mine at Petsamo. The joint Finnish–German Operation Silver Fox ( German : Unternehmen Silberfuchs ; Finnish: operaatio Hopeakettu )

3193-539: The German forces fighting in Lapland from the Army of Norway and create the Army of Lapland, commanded by Colonel General Eduard Dietl. In June 1942, the Army of Lapland was redesignated the 20th Mountain Army . In the early stages of the war, the Finnish Army overran the former 1939 border, but ceased their advance 30–32 km (19–20 mi) from the center of Leningrad. Multiple authors have stated that Finland participated in

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3296-568: The Germans and so abandoned plans for a renewed offensive against Finland. The 23rd Army was deployed in the Karelian Isthmus, the 7th Army to Ladoga Karelia and the 14th Army to the Murmansk – Salla area of Lapland. The Northern Front also commanded eight aviation divisions . As the initial German strike against the Soviet Air Forces had not affected air units located near Finland,

3399-467: The League of Nations and Nordic countries , but this policy was considered a failure. After the war, Finnish public opinion favored the reconquest of Finnish Karelia . The government declared national defence to be its first priority, and military expenditure rose to nearly half of public spending. Finland both received donations and purchased war materiel during and immediately after the Winter War. Likewise,

3502-578: The Mannerheim Cross to the Independence Day Celebration in 1994, and since then, the Knights have been the first to arrive to shake hands with the president. In the last few years, Gerdt has been the only Knight in the Celebration, because since 2006, fellow Knight Heikki Nykänen ( fi ; 1920–2011) could no longer attend the Celebration, because of health problems. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 Gerdt

3605-620: The Mannerheim Säätiö (Foundation) today. Gerdt worked as the office manager of Oy Kaukas Ab and Kymmene Oy in Lappeenranta from 1971 to 1987. Gerdt has served as chairman of the board of the Mannerheim Cross Knight Foundation since 1998. In the 1940s and 1950s, Gerdt played pesäpallo in Savonlinnan Pallokerho . President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari started the tradition of inviting all living Knights of

3708-502: The Nordic countries. With the fall of France , a Western orientation was no longer considered a viable option in Finnish foreign policy. On 15 and 16 June, the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states almost without any resistance and Soviet puppet regimes were installed. Within two months Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated into the USSR and by mid–1940, the two remaining northern democracies, Finland and Sweden, were encircled by

3811-617: The Red Army. The Wehrmacht rapidly advanced deep into Soviet territory early in the Operation Barbarossa campaign, leading the Finnish government to believe that Germany would defeat the Soviet Union quickly. President Ryti envisioned a Greater Finland, where Finns and other Finnic peoples would live inside a "natural defence borderline" by incorporating the Kola Peninsula , East Karelia and perhaps even northern Ingria . In public,

3914-510: The Soviet Union . Three days later, the Soviet Union conducted an air raid on Finnish cities which prompted Finland to declare war and allow German troops in Finland to begin offensive warfare. By September 1941, Finland had regained its post–Winter War concessions to the Soviet Union in Karelia . The Finnish Army continued its offensive past the 1939 border during the invasion of East Karelia and halted it only around 30–32 km (19–20 mi) from

4017-587: The Soviet Union attempted to negotiate with Finland to cede Finnish territory on the Karelian Isthmus and the islands of the Gulf of Finland , and to establish a Soviet military base near the Finnish capital of Helsinki . The Finnish government refused, and the Red Army invaded Finland on 30 November 1939. The same day, Field Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim , who was chairman of Finland's Defence Council at

4120-405: The Soviet Union remained strained after the signing of the one-sided peace treaty, and there were disputes regarding the implementation of the treaty. Finland sought security against further territorial depredations by the USSR and proposed mutual defence agreements with Norway and Sweden , but these initiatives were quashed by Moscow. After the Winter War, Germany was viewed with distrust by

4223-560: The Soviet Union. Outlines of the actual plan were revealed in January 1941 and regular contact between Finnish and German military leaders began in February. Additionally in January 1941, Moscow again demanded Finland relinquish control of the Petsamo mining area to the Soviets, but Finland, emboldened by a rebuilt defence force and German support, rejected the proposition. In the late spring of 1941,

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4326-547: The Soviet Union." In 2014, author Jeff Rutherford described the city as being "ensnared" between the German and Finnish armies. British historian John Barber described it as a "siege by the German and Finnish armies from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944 [...]" in his foreword in 2017. Likewise, in 2017, Alexis Peri wrote that the city was "completely cut off, save a heavily patrolled water passage over Lake Ladoga" by "Hitler's Army Group North and his Finnish allies." The 150 speedboats, two minelayers and four steamships of

4429-503: The Soviet forces continued throughout World War II. The US supplied almost $ 11 billion in materials: 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, which could equip some 20 US armoured divisions); 11,400 aircraft; and 1.59 million t (1.75 million short tons) of food. As a similar example, British shipments of Matilda, Valentine and Tetrarch tanks accounted for only 6% of total Soviet tank production, but over 25% of medium and heavy tanks produced for

4532-543: The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states and the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War are described as elements in the Soviet construction of a security zone or buffer region from the perceived threat from the capitalist powers of Western Europe. Other post-Soviet Russian-language sources consider establishment of Soviet satellite states in the Warsaw Pact countries and the Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 as

4635-614: The Soviet sphere. One week later, Germany invaded Poland , leading to the United Kingdom and France declaring war on Germany. The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on 17 September. The Soviet government turned its attention to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, demanding that they allow Soviet military bases to be established and troops stationed on their soil. The Baltic governments acquiesced to these demands and signed agreements in September and October. In October 1939,

4738-531: The Soviets could deploy around 700 aircraft supported by a number of Soviet Navy wings. The Red Banner Baltic Fleet , which outnumbered the navy of Germany ( Kriegsmarine ), comprised 2 battleships, 2 light cruisers, 47 destroyers or large torpedo boats, 75 submarines, over 200 smaller crafts, and 682 aircraft (of which 595 were operational). The Finnish Army ([Maavoimat] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |links= ( help ) ) mobilised between 475,000 and 500,000 soldiers in 14 divisions and 3 brigades for

4841-495: The USSR made a number of goodwill gestures to prevent Finland from completely falling under German influence. Ambassador Ivan Stepanovich Zotov  [ ru ] was replaced with the more conciliatory and passive Pavel Dmitrievich Orlov  [ ru ] . Furthermore, the Soviet government announced that it no longer opposed a rapprochement between Finland and Sweden. Those conciliatory measures, however, did not have any effect on Finnish policy. Finland wished to re-enter

4944-415: The Winter War. He further stated that the term 'Continuation War' was created at the start of the conflict by the Finnish government to justify the invasion to the population as a continuation of the defensive Winter War. The government also wished to emphasise that it was not an official ally of Germany, but a 'co-belligerent' fighting against a common enemy and with purely Finnish aims. Vehviläinen wrote that

5047-406: The air force was constantly outnumbered by the Soviets. The Army of Norway , or AOK Norwegen , comprising four divisions totaling 67,000 German soldiers, held the arctic front, which stretched approximately 500 km (310 mi) through Finnish Lapland. This army would also be tasked with striking Murmansk and the Kirov (Murmansk) Railway during Operation Silver Fox . The Army of Norway

5150-407: The attacks targeted civilians, killing 200 and injuring 50, including children and elderly. Between 1942 and 1943, military operations were limited, although the front did see some action. In January 1942, the Soviet Karelian Front attempted to retake Medvezhyegorsk (Finnish: Karhumäki ), which had been lost to the Finns in late 1941. With the arrival of spring in April, Soviet forces went on

5253-431: The authenticity of the government's claim changed when the Finnish Army crossed the old frontier of 1939 and began to annex Soviet territory. British author Jonathan Clements asserted that by December 1941, Finnish soldiers had started questioning whether they were fighting a war of national defence or foreign conquest. By the autumn of 1941, the Finnish military leadership started to doubt Germany's capability to finish

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5356-409: The balance of the 1940 treaty, though some historians consider that it had wider territorial goals under the slogan "shorter borders, longer peace" (Finnish: "lyhyet rajat, pitkä rauha" ). During the war, the Finnish leadership generally referred to the Germans as "brothers-in-arms" but also denied that they were allies of Germany – instead claiming to be "co-belligerents". For Hitler, the distinction

5459-399: The border of the German and Soviet spheres of influence, in violation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In response to that new situation, Molotov visited Berlin on 12–13 November 1940. He requested for Germany to withdraw its troops from Finland and to stop enabling Finnish anti-Soviet sentiments. He also reminded the Germans of the 1939 pact. Hitler inquired how the Soviets planned to settle

5562-421: The centre of Leningrad . It participated in besieging the city by cutting the northern supply routes and by digging in until 1944. In Lapland , joint German-Finnish forces failed to capture Murmansk or cut the Kirov (Murmansk) Railway. The Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive in June and August 1944 drove the Finns from most of the territories that they had gained during the war, but the Finnish Army halted

5665-429: The chief of the machine gun unit and the chief of the rifle company in severe conditions and repeatedly had to act independently. Gerdt's exemplary action allowed the rifle company to proceed across a plain that was being heavily bombarded by the enemy. When the enemy made a surprise attack, Gerdt voluntarily went to seek help from the artillery . During the trip, Gerdt was forced to cross a difficult spot of terrain, which

5768-614: The city. However, in 2009 British historian Michael Jones disputed Baryshnikov's claim and asserted that the Finnish Army cut off the city's northern supply routes but did not take further military action. In 2006, American author Lisa Kirschenbaum wrote that the siege started "when German and Finnish troops severed all land routes in and out of Leningrad." According to Clements, Mannerheim personally refused Hitler's request of assaulting Leningrad during their meeting on 4 June 1942 . Mannerheim explained to Hitler that "Finland had every reason to wish to stay out of any further provocation of

5871-411: The coordination of Operation Barbarossa. The participants met on 25–28 May in Salzburg and Berlin and continued their meeting in Helsinki from 3 to 6 June. They agreed upon Finnish mobilisation and a general division of operations. They also agreed that the Finnish Army would start mobilisation on 15 June, but the Germans did not reveal the actual date of the assault. The Finnish decisions were made by

5974-400: The counter-attack. Armed with a submachine gun, he opened a route at the front of the attack, killing several enemies. Gerdt again proceeded at the front when the platoon received a new direction of action. His actions influenced the conquest of the tip of the base. During the battle, Gerdt also took five prisoners . Gerdt participated in reclaiming the Sevastopol base from the enemy. During

6077-550: The culmination of the Soviet defence plan. Western historians, such as Norman Davies and John Lukacs , dispute this view and describe pre-war Soviet policy as an attempt to stay out of the war and regain the land lost due to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk after the fall of the Russian Empire . On 31 July 1940, Adolf Hitler gave the order to plan an assault on the Soviet Union, meaning Germany had to reassess its position regarding both Finland and Romania. Until then, Germany had rejected Finnish requests to purchase arms, but with

6180-404: The day, the Sword Scabbard Declaration , in which he pledged to liberate Karelia; in December 1941 in private letters, he made known his doubts of the need to push beyond the previous borders. The Finnish government assured the United States that it was unaware of the order. According to Vehviläinen, most Finns thought that the scope of the new offensive was only to regain what had been taken in

6283-442: The deployment was a deliberate violation of the treaty, according to Finnish historian Mauno Jokipii . On the morning of 22 June, Hitler's proclamation read: "Together with their Finnish comrades in arms the heroes from Narvik stand at the edge of the Arctic Ocean. German troops under command of the conqueror of Norway , and the Finnish freedom fighters under their Marshal's command, are protecting Finnish territory." Following

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6386-425: The deposit had already been granted to a British-Canadian company and so the demand was rejected by Finland. The following month, the Soviets demanded that Finland destroy the fortifications on the Åland Islands and to grant the Soviets the right to use Finnish railways to transport Soviet troops to the newly acquired Soviet base at Hanko. The Finns very reluctantly agreed to those demands. On 24 July, Molotov accused

6489-408: The exiled Norwegian government and more than once criticised German occupation policy in Norway. Relations between Finland and the United States were more complex since the American public was sympathetic to the "brave little democracy" and had anticommunist sentiments. At first, the United States sympathised with the Finnish cause, but the situation became problematic after the Finnish Army had crossed

6592-407: The face by a bullet the size of a fingertip. In military hospital , Gerdt received news that he had been promoted to Sergeant and awarded the Mannerheim Cross. Gerdt was sent to Reserve Officer School in Niinisalo after lying in hospital for four months. Gerdt participated in heavy battles in Siiranmäki in June 1944, where he was wounded for a third time. Before being wounded, Gerdt, now having

6695-451: The final to KooVee 10–2. Later bigger success came in the season 1994/1995 when SaPKo had very good regular season with players like Team Canada captain Brian Tutt and was close to promotion to the SM-liiga . It played tight promotion playoffs against Ilves but failed to promote. After the success started downtrend which culminated to relegation to Suomi-sarja . At the end of the 2005/2006 season SaPKo finally gained promotion back to

6798-461: The foreigners who joined Finnish ranks. Infantry Regiment 200 , called soomepoisid ("Finnish boys"), mostly Estonians, and the Swedes mustered the Swedish Volunteer Battalion . The Finnish government stressed that Finland was fighting as a co-belligerent with Germany against the USSR only to protect itself and that it was still the same democratic country as it had been in the Winter War. For example, Finland maintained diplomatic relations with

6901-402: The former 1939 border, and approximately 30–32 km (19–20 mi) from Leningrad; a defensive position was established along this line. On 30 August, the IV Corps fought the Soviet 23rd Army in the Battle of Porlampi and defeated them on 1 September. Sporadic fighting continued around Beloostrov until the Soviets evicted the Finns on 5 September. The front on the Isthmus stabilised and

7004-420: The front in Finland, a total of 149 divisions and 3,050,000 soldiers were deployed for the rest of Operation Barbarossa. In the evening of 21 June 1941, German mine-layers hiding in the Archipelago Sea deployed two large minefields across the Gulf of Finland. Later that night, German bombers flew along the gulf to Leningrad, mining the harbour and the river Neva , making a refueling stop at Utti , Finland, on

7107-438: The front lines were generally stalemated. In September 1942, the USSR attacked again at Medvezhyegorsk, but despite five days of fighting, the Soviets only managed to push the Finnish lines back 500 m (550 yd) on a roughly 1 km (0.62 mi) long stretch of the front. Later that month, a Soviet landing with two battalions in Petsamo was defeated by a German counterattack. In November 1941, Hitler decided to separate

7210-428: The hostile states of Germany and the Soviet Union. On 23 June, shortly after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states began, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov contacted the Finnish government to demand that a mining licence be issued to the Soviet Union for the nickel mines in Petsamo or, alternatively, permission for the establishment of a joint Soviet-Finnish company to operate there. A licence to mine

7313-408: The inner circle of political and military leaders, without the knowledge of the rest of the government. Due to tensions between Germany and the Soviet Union, the government was not informed until 9 June that mobilisation of reservists would be required. Finland never signed the Tripartite Pact . The Finnish leadership stated they would fight against the Soviets only to the extent needed to redress

7416-500: The invasion, commanded by Field Marshal ( sotamarsalkka ) Mannerheim. The army was organised as follows: Although initially deployed for a static defence, the Finnish Army was to later launch an attack to the south, on both sides of Lake Ladoga, putting pressure on Leningrad and thus supporting the advance of the German Army Group North through the Baltic states towards Leningrad. Finnish intelligence had overestimated

7519-539: The island of Sukho , which protected the main supply route to Leningrad, in October 1942. Savonlinnan Pallokerho Savonlinnan Pallokerho ( SaPKo ) is an ice hockey team from Savonlinna , Finland , they currently play in the Suomi-sarja . It plays its home matches at the Talvisalo ice rink . The sports club Savonlinnan Pallokerho was founded in 1929. First it consisted football and bandy sections, but since

7622-616: The launch of Operation Barbarossa at around 3:15 a.m. on 22 June 1941, the Soviet Union sent seven bombers on a retaliatory airstrike into Finland, hitting targets at 6:06 a.m. Helsinki time as reported by the Finnish coastal defence ship Väinämöinen . On the morning of 25 June, the Soviet Union launched another air offensive, with 460 fighters and bombers targeting 19 airfields in Finland; however, inaccurate intelligence and poor bombing accuracy resulted in several raids hitting Finnish cities, or municipalities, causing considerable damage. 23 Soviet bombers were lost in this strike while

7725-522: The north of the Karelian Isthmus on 31 July. Other Finnish forces reached the shores of Lake Ladoga on 9 August, encircling most of the three defending Soviet divisions on the northwestern coast of the lake in a pocket (Finnish: motti ); these divisions were later evacuated across the lake. On 22 August, the Finnish IV Corps began its offensive south of II Corps and advanced towards Vyborg (Finnish: Viipuri ). By 23 August, II Corps had reached

7828-527: The offensive in August 1944. Hostilities between Finland and the USSR ceased in September 1944 with the signing of the Moscow Armistice in which Finland restored its borders per the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty and additionally ceded Petsamo and leased the Porkkala Peninsula to the Soviets. Furthermore, Finland was required to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union , accept partial responsibility for

7931-613: The offensive on the Svir River front, in the Kestenga (Finnish: Kiestinki ) region further north in Lapland as well as in the far north at Petsamo with the 14th Rifle Division 's amphibious landings supported by the Northern Fleet . All Soviet offensives started promisingly, but due either to the Soviets overextending their lines or stubborn defensive resistance, the offensives were repulsed. After Finnish and German counterattacks in Kestenga,

8034-616: The offensive. Mannerheim agreed and secretly instructed General Hjalmar Siilasvuo and his III Corps to end the assault on the Kirov Railway. Nevertheless, the United States never declared war on Finland during the entire conflict. On 12 July 1941, the United Kingdom signed an agreement of joint action with the Soviet Union. Under German pressure, Finland closed the British legation in Helsinki and cut diplomatic relations with Britain on 1 August. On 2 August 1941, Britain declared that Finland

8137-621: The proposed frontier was introduced with the slogan "short border, long peace". Some members of the Finnish Parliament, such as members of the Social Democratic Party and the Swedish People's Party , opposed the idea, arguing that maintaining the 1939 frontier would be enough. Mannerheim often called the war an anti-Communist crusade, hoping to defeat " Bolshevism once and for all". On 10 July, Mannerheim drafted his order of

8240-402: The prospect of an invasion of Russia, that policy was reversed, and in August, the secret sale of weapons to Finland was permitted. Military authorities signed an agreement on 12 September, and an official exchange of diplomatic notes was sent on 22 September. Meanwhile, German troops were allowed to transit through Sweden and Finland. This change in policy meant Germany had effectively redrawn

8343-462: The rank of a Second Lieutenant, commanded a stub-sized platoon, which made successful counter-attacks to drive off the enemy. Gerdt became well in hospital and could return to his regiment after the Äyräpää-Vuosalmi battles. He was sent home on 13 November 1944. A proposal to award Gerdt the Mannerheim Cross, signed by the chief of the Kannas Group, Lieutenant General Harald Öhquist on 24 July 1942,

8446-494: The request, but Hitler himself agreed. Annual grain deliveries of 180,000 t (200,000 short tons) equaled almost half of the Finnish domestic crop. On 25 November 1941, Finland signed the Anti-Comintern Pact , a less formal alliance, which the German leadership saw as a "litmus test of loyalty". Finland maintained good relations with a number of other Western powers. Foreign volunteers from Sweden and Estonia were among

8549-419: The return leg. In the early hours of 22 June, Finnish forces launched Operation Kilpapurjehdus ("Regatta"), deploying troops in the demilitarised Åland Islands. Although the 1921 Åland convention had clauses allowing Finland to defend the islands in the event of an attack, the coordination of this operation with the German invasion and the arrest of the Soviet consulate staff stationed on the islands meant that

8652-447: The second tier, Mestis . In 2022, the club filed for bankruptcy after acquiring a debt of 227,000 euros. However, fifteen entrepreneurs helped fund and re-establish the club for the 2023-24 season and they were approved to play in the Suomi-sarja , where they placed fourth that season. This European ice hockey team-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about sports in Finland

8755-460: The siege of Leningrad (Russian: Блокада Ленинграда ), but the full extent and nature of their participation is debated and a clear consensus has yet to emerge. American historian David Glantz writes that the Finnish Army generally maintained their lines and contributed little to the siege from 1941 to 1944, whereas Russian historian Nikolai Baryshnikov  [ ru ] stated in 2002 that Finland tacitly supported Hitler's starvation policy for

8858-478: The strength of the Red Army, when in fact it was numerically inferior to Finnish forces at various points along the border. The army, especially its artillery, was stronger than it had been during the Winter War but included only one armoured battalion and had a general lack of motorised transportation; the army possessed 1,829 artillery pieces at the beginning of the invasion. The Finnish Air Force ( Ilmavoimat ) had received large donations from Germany prior to

8961-465: The third conflict on 21 July, Gerdt found his superior officer, Captain Caj Toffer , lying severely wounded on a spot of terrain that had been bombarded with grenades. Gerdt carried the mortally wounded Toffer to safety, ignoring the severe and continuous artillery fire. Finnish Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim appointed Gerdt as one of his knights on the same day. Gerdt returned to battle, but was wounded in

9064-520: The time, assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces . The USSR was expelled from the League of Nations and was condemned by the international community for the illegal attack. Foreign support for Finland was promised, but very little actual help materialised, except from Sweden. The Moscow Peace Treaty concluded the 105-day Winter War on 13 March 1940 and started

9167-446: The war mainly because of the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War, which the League of Nations and Nordic neutrality had failed to prevent due to lack of outside support. Finland primarily aimed to reverse its territorial losses from the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty and, depending on the success of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, to possibly expand its borders, especially into East Karelia . Some right-wing groups, such as

9270-516: The war quickly. The Finnish Defence Forces suffered relatively severe losses during their advance and, overall, German victory became uncertain as German troops were halted near Moscow . German troops in northern Finland faced circumstances they were unprepared for and failed to reach their targets. As the front lines stabilised, Finland attempted to start peace negotiations with the USSR. Mannerheim refused to assault Leningrad, which would inextricably tie Finland to Germany; he regarded his objectives for

9373-507: The war to be achieved, a decision that angered the Germans. Due to the war effort, the Finnish economy suffered from a lack of labour, as well as food shortages and increased prices. To combat this, the Finnish government demobilised part of the army to prevent industrial and agricultural production from collapsing. In October, Finland informed Germany that it would need 159,000  t (175,000 short tons ) of grain to manage until next year's harvest. The German authorities would have rejected

9476-603: The war, and acknowledge that it had been a German ally. Finland was also required by the agreement to expel German troops from Finnish territory, which led to the Lapland War between Finland and Germany. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in which both parties agreed to divide the independent countries of Finland, Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , and Romania into spheres of interest , with Finland falling within

9579-452: The way for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, in which he expected both Finland and Romania to participate. Meanwhile, Finnish Major General Paavo Talvela met with German Colonel General Franz Halder and Reich Marshal Hermann Göring in Berlin, the first time that the Germans had advised the Finnish government, in carefully-couched diplomatic terms, that they were preparing for war with

9682-539: Was able to infiltrate beyond Finnish patrol lines, but was intercepted, and rendered ineffective, in August 1942 at Lake Segozero . Irregular partisans distributed propaganda newspapers, such as Finnish translations of the official Communist Party paper Pravda (Russian: Правда ). Notable Soviet politician Yuri Andropov took part in these partisan guerrilla actions. Finnish sources state that, although Soviet partisan activity in East Karelia disrupted Finnish military supply and communication assets, almost two thirds of

9785-531: Was intended to demonstrate British support for its Soviet ally. From September to October in 1941, a total of 39 Hawker Hurricanes of No. 151 Wing RAF , based at Murmansk, reinforced and provided pilot-training to the Soviet Air Forces during Operation Benedict to protect arctic convoys. On 28 November, the British government presented Finland with an ultimatum demanding for the Finns to cease military operations by 3 December. Unofficially, Finland informed

9888-485: Was irrelevant since he saw Finland as an ally. The 1947 Paris Peace Treaty signed by Finland described Finland as having been "an ally of Hitlerite Germany" during the Continuation War. In a 2008 poll of 28 Finnish historians carried out by Helsingin Sanomat , 16 said that Finland had been an ally of Nazi Germany, six said it had not been and six did not take a position. The Northern Front (Russian: Северный фронт ) of

9991-412: Was sent to the military headquarters as a Creed message. A written proposal, signed by the chief of the 2nd Division, Major General Armas-Eino Martola and confirmed by the chief of the division staff , Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Ehrnrooth , was registered at the military headquarters on 27 July 1942. During the presentation given by the chief of staff, Öhquist's proposal to award Gerdt the Mannerheim Cross

10094-469: Was started on 29 June 1941 by the German Army of Norway, which had the Finnish 3rd and 6th Divisions under its command, against the defending Soviet 14th Army and 54th Rifle Division . By November, the operation had stalled 30 km (19 mi) from the Kirov Railway due to unacclimatised German troops, heavy Soviet resistance, poor terrain, arctic weather and diplomatic pressure by the United States on

10197-429: Was supported. Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim awarded Gerdt the Mannerheim Cross, appointing him as Knight of the Mannerheim Cross #95, on 8 September 1942. During the Continuation War, Gerdt was promoted from junior sergeant to second lieutenant. He was finally promoted to captain in 1968, serving in the reserve. Gerdt married Lea Marjatta Kosonen (1925–2013) on 9 June 1946. They had two children one of which are still in

10300-558: Was the only Knight to attend the Independence Day Celebration. Gerdt and his wife Lea were the first to shake hands with President Tarja Halonen . In 2010, Gerdt attended the Celebration without his wife, who was suffering from back pain. Gerdt intended to attend the Celebration as the only Knight of the Mannerheim Cross also in 2011, but he had to cancel his attendance one day before the event, on 5 December, because his wife had suffered an accident. Gerdt also participated in

10403-513: Was under enemy fire from 10 machine guns, over 10 light machine guns and a submachine gun , while at the same time being bombarded by heavy mortars . With this action, Gerdt saved his company from heavy losses. During the Sevastopol base battles on Karelian isthmus in July 1942, Gerdt served as the runner of the chief of the 12th company of the infantry regiment 7, but also voluntarily participated in

10506-445: Was under enemy occupation, which ended all economic transactions between Britain and Finland and led to a blockade of Finnish trade. The most sizable British action on Finnish soil was the Raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo , an aircraft-carrier strike on German and Finnish ships on 31 July 1941. The attack accomplished little except the loss of one Norwegian ship and three British aircraft, but it

10609-702: Was under the direct command of the German Army High Command ( OKH ) and was organised into Mountain Corps Norway and XXXVI Mountain Corps with the Finnish III Corps and 14th Division attached to it. The German Air Force High Command ( OKL ) assigned 60 aircraft from Luftflotte 5 (Air Fleet 5) to provide air support to the Army of Norway and the Finnish Army, in addition to its main responsibility of defending Norwegian air space. In contrast to

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