30 000 FDF photographs to be digitized

[Mangrove]

Some of the more widely printed war photographs from sa-kuva.fi

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[John Hilly]

Rare color photographs of the Continuation War was published in the SA-kuva.fi

The Finnish Defence Forces has released today on the national veterans' day more than 800 rare color photographs of the Second World War period. Among them are, for example, pictures of the coquest parade in Vyborg .

http://yle.fi/uutiset/harvinaiset_varik ... te/7209574

With best,
J-P

[John Hilly]

Bitter fighting and fires at Poventsa on 2nd of July 1942.

Original source SA-kuva.fi

With best,
J-P

[Panssari Salama]

I skimmed over the 800 photographs. Navy and Air force was represented quite nicely, as was anti-aircraft units and artillery to some extent. I was a bit disappointed to find out no tanks or other armored fighting vehicles were pictured at all.

For the long on-going discussion whether the Finnish Army tri-colour camo was i) Sand-Brown-Green or ii) Grey-Brown-Green,


(c) Andreas Lärka website

there seems to be a colourful hint here


(c) SA-Kuva.fi

So that particular assault gun at least seems to be in proper colours!

Then again, that is just a painted boat... Again, too bad no tanks, assault guns or anti-tank guns pictured in colour. At least I did not immediately spot one.

But let us be thankful, there's lots of great images there

[Esa Muikku]

It has been a well-known fact that not a single official colour photo of Finnish armoured vehicles exists in the SA-kuva collection. This is written in the book The Finnish Armoured Vehicles 1918-1997 on page 5.

However, it is a very clear and undeniable fact that in spring 1943 Finnish armoured vehicles were ordered to be painted for the summertime in a three-tone camouflage using these standard colours
- N:o 1 Grey
- N:o 2 Moss Green
- N:o 3 Sand Brown
which were used also in painting other army equipment.

The interesting point here is that the boat in the background seems to be painted with some other colours than the official ones.

The StuG III Ps 531-6 in the photo above is not either painted with correct colours. Only the T-34 Ps 231-1 at Parola Armour Museum carries correct colours.

[Panssari Salama]

Thank you Esa, I am happy to tell you I own your book I had forgotten the paragraph where you state there are no colour pictures available...

Regarding the three-colour camo painting, I had assumed the coloured drawings in the book were drawn using the Sand-Brown-Green paint, but now that I looked at the drawings again I assume the third colour there could be grey as well. Did the print come out right while publishing the book as you wished, are the colours there the ones you are talking about?

I've been to Parola a few times but next time I go there I need to look up the Ps 231-1 again. Last time I was there I missed it. I always thought personally that the Grey-Brown-Green would make sense in Finnish landscape, given how for an example the Stu-40 outside there blends into landscape... Even if it is not using proper shades of the paints.

By the way, can you point to a source where the three-colour camo "directive" is available, are there documents in the on-line National Archive for an example that talk about how to properly apply the camo pattern?

[Mangrove]

By the way, can you point to a source where the three-colour camo "directive" is available, are there documents in the on-line National Archive for an example that talk about how to properly apply the camo pattern?

From "Naamioituminen ilmavalokuvausta silmälläpitäen" (1944), pg 12:

[Panssari Salama]

Thank you!

[Juha Tompuri]

Bitter fighting and fires at Poventsa on 2nd of July 1942.

Poventsa 2.7.42 värikuvat.jpg

The original photo caption being:
Poventsan paloa ja katutaisteluita. Poventsa 2.7.1942.
Fire at Poventsa and street fighting on 2nd of July 1942.

Street fighting during summer 1942?

Regards, Juha

[John Hilly]

On July 2 1942 Soviets fired fosfor granedes with mortars and artillery fire was heavy. Poventsa caught fire and by the next day almost the whole city was burned down.
Small Soviet infantry units crossed the river to the town, but street fighting was an overstatement IMO.

Poventsan katutaisteluita.jpg (39.22 KiB) Viewed 3210 times

SA-kuva.

http://www.nautelankoski.net/sota/jatko ... _1942.html

With best,
J-P

[Juha Tompuri]

Thanks for the clarification J-P.

Regards, Juha

[Panssari Salama]

By the way, can you point to a source where the three-colour camo "directive" is available, are there documents in the on-line National Archive for an example that talk about how to properly apply the camo pattern?

From "Naamioituminen ilmavalokuvausta silmälläpitäen" (1944), pg 12:

From SA-kuva.fi color archives:


2. Er.It.Psto: 43. Kev.It.jaos: Tykki (Bofors) tuliasemassa Nokian kauppalan liepeillä. Nokia 1944.04.25
2nd Separate AA Btry: 43rd Light AA section: AA gun (Bofors) in firing position near Nokia.


76 mm:n ilmatorjuntatykki Suursaaren turvana. Suursaari, Majakallio 1943.06.19
76mm AA Gun securing Suursaari.


76 mm:n ilmatorjuntatykki Suursaaren turvana. Suursaari, Majakallio 1943.06.19
76mm AA Gun securing Suursaari.


76 mm:n ilmatorjuntatykki Suursaaren turvana. Suursaari, Majakallio 1943.06.19
76mm AA Gun securing Suursaari.

[John Hilly]

2nd Separate AA Btry: 43rd Light AA section: AA gun (Bofors) in firing position near Nokia.

Again the gun crew wears artillery's collar patches instead of correct blue and black patches of the air force.
There was another pic earlier in this forum with the same irregularity. I just wonder how usual this was...

With best, J-P

Edit, P.S. These color photos are great because we've been used to see the WW II black and white!

[Vaeltaja]

I always thought AA troops had red collar patches.

[Aleksander P]

To my understanding AA troops wore red/black collar tabs.