Operation Schiffaren - a participant's personal story, part 1

[Lotvonen]

This is the story of the "civilian patrol" to the Stalin Canal.
The code name of the patrol seems to be questionable.
"Schiffaren" is mentioned in a website, but another name is quoted below. (Patrol no. 5, Codename Hämäläinen/Erich)

Pauli Savinainen told his story about 1946-1949 when residing in Sweden.

Source: "Sissisotaa kaukopartiossa.  Osasto Marttinan partiokertomukser 1941 - 1942" Ed. Jaana Janhila

Patrol no. 5
Codename Hämäläinen/Erich

Patrol leader Cavalry Lt Jorma Hämäläinen
Date 22 June to 11 July 1941
Official list of men and their grade:
Pvt. Kustaa Autio
Sgt. Eino Ehrukainen ( KIA)
Sec.Lt. Olavi Joentaus
Sec.Lt. Lauri Korhonen
Pvt. Antti Kälviäinen
Lance Cpl. Iivo Loskin
Sgt. Heikki Melentjeff
Pfc. Mikko Nekkonen
W/O Väinö Nyyssönen
Pvt. Ilmari Puisto
W/O Pekka Savinainen
Pvt. Pauli Savinainen (Son of W/O Savinainen)
Staff Sgt. Antti Tervonen
Sgt. Ville Triipponen
Sec. Lt. Joona Vasunta (MIA)

Patrol was carried out in Finnish-German co-operation.
The mission of the patrol was to blow up the locks of the Stalin Canal (Belomor kanal) at one spot (probably "Shlus 8", tr.rem.) in addition to recce.  The second main target was to cut the Murmansk railway.

The equipment of the patrol included 100 kg TNT, Neuhausen SMGs, two K98 rifles plus P08 pistols and a radio transmitter.  Their clothing was all civilian. The men were also to get a bounty of 5000 FIM after the completion of the mission. They called themselves "Sissi" as these special units usually were called.

Memoir of Pauli Savinainen follows:

Patrol to Stalin's canal

1. 22 June 1941
Maj. Marttina arrived at Rokanlammi near Kajaani (the base of Detachment Marttina) and gave a briefing to his crew. Germans had invaded Russia and they had asked the Finnish GHQ for a patrol because their men were more skilled in that job than theirs.  The patrol was subordinated to Germans, and German seaplanes take them from Paltaniemi (lake Oulunjärvi) to somewhere beyond the national border.

Provision and equipment was brought up.  The backpacks were packed, the others had packed theirs but young Pvt. Pauli Savinainen was not given any backpack nor any other equipment.

Pekka Savinainen came to his son :
- You are not coming along, you are too young  ! (19 years in age, Tr.rem)

Pauli was not amused.

-You can just as well send me out of here if I cannot join the patrol.  Is there any chance that you could take me along?  You could fix it if you only wanted! he said.

Savinainen Senior gave in and contacted the Major.
The Major had answered:
- If any of the men wants to give his slot to the boy, let him have it!

There was one Sergeant who agreed to stay home.  Pauli got his backpack fully packed and ready.  He was very pleased because he did not have to stay "home".

There were sixteen men for this mission.  Four officers, one of which was the leader - Lt. Jorma Hämäläinen.  Savinainen Senior was a W/O, an experienced main in this "business".  He had fought in the Great War, in Carelian uprisings and the Winter War.  He was nearly fifty years in age.  Most of the other men were NCOs except Pauli, the only plain private.  Most men were forest workers or farmers, some town dwellers were there, too.

One of the best men was Lce. Cpl. Iivo Loskin, a reliable and experienced man, who had seen storms as well as fair weather.  Another knowledgeable man was Pvt. Ilmari Puisto, who had a sense of humour, a joker like many other patrolmen.  A very serious man could not have withstood the rigours of patrol missions.

Ilmari Puisto was one of the men who did not take life too earnestly - sometimes he was all too relaxed.  

Every man had a two hundred gram bottle of spirit for the mission.  It was to prevent cold and fight diseases.

Eino Ehrukainen, a carefree fellow, brave and fast acting, slim, of medium height, hailing from Kitee, began to mix a grog from his spirit ration and he drank it before they were leaving.  
- I do not need it on the way back.  I am going to remain there,  Better to drink the good stuff as long as you can, - he explained.

As the men were preparing to leave he was drunk, such a quantity of alcohol does have effect on a man.

Soon a bus-truck hybrid came, they loaded their gear in the rear and climbed in. They left the base in high spirits, the thrill of the mission made us alert.  Eino specially was very lively whereas Ilmari appeared to be still a little wilted.

They arrived at Paltaniemi, Their transport stopped at the pier.  They unloaded their packs and shouldered them.  The loads were so heavy that just a little push would have made a man to loose his balance and keel over.  Pauli also pulled his backpack from the platform and tried to shoulder it.  There was a crackling noise and the actual pack fell down while the saddle part remained on his shoulders.  There was some delay before a replacement was found in Kajaani,

Two German floatplanes were anchored near the pier, biplanes (Heinkel He 59, Tr.rem.) the engines were placed between the wings on both sides of the fuselage.  The German crew consisted of a pilot, a navigator and two gunners.  There was a heavy MG in the nose and a MG in the rear.  One of the gunners was really behaving like Chaplin, he was looking forward and backward at the same time.  It seemed he did not know what sorrow meant, he was made up of humour.  It was too bad the Finns did not understand his speech!  Lt. Vasunta interpreted because he knew German.  Later the man scared everyone as he test fired his gun at takeoff.

The men and the equipment were loaded in the planes, eight in each.  That makes twelve per plane including the crew.

In the crowded plane Pauli wondered where they would be flown to.  There appeared to be a broadcasting receiver turned on in the plane and an evening service was on.  It may be the last service for their patrol, his thoughts were not very serene.  Pauli started thinking that it was a reckless thing to join the patrol.

His dad noticed his serious expression and consoled him:
- Take it easy son! This trip will be OK.

Dad had participated in several wars and Pauli trusted him, it felt safe to have him among us.

After the service there was cheerful music in the radio programme and their mood lifted a little.

2. Outbound

It was between ten or eleven hours PM on the 22 June 1941 as the planes took off.  

In the Finnish side of the border they flew low.  It was a fair summer night, They could see how people would run out to look at the planes.  Most of them appeared to be in their underwear.  

As they approached the border the pilots increased altitude and they climbed above the clouds, the weather had become cloudy in their path.  Seen from above the clouds resembled giant icebergs.  It was a grand sight that resembled an ocean.  

They began to feel cold.  The aircraft skin was made of fabric, they vibrated in the air stream like mere tarpaulin.  It must have been below zero (centigrade) because their wellies became stiff.

The gunners stood in their hatches in case fighters should appeara and there should be an aerial battle.  Pauli estimated that probably they could not have make any resistance to fighters, and they would be shot down.

The Germans wondered why the Finns had only heavy backpacks but no parachutes.  Every airman had a parachute.  They considered the patrolmen crazy and wild.

Lt. Vasunta interpreted the crew's words .  Lack of parachutes mattered little, landing would be certain and contact with the ground quick.

- P*e, if a Russian fighter finds us, we are goners,  - the men grumbled among themselves.  

The aircraft flew on side by side, slightly changing altitude in respect with each other.  The compass bearing was toward the White Sea, but their actual target was in a different direction.  The pilots wanted to deceive the enemy to believe they would be heading for the North and the potential trackers would seek us in the wrong direction.

Their actual target was a lake on the far side of the Stalin canal.  

They looked out of a window and saw a railroad between the clouds, Dad recognised it was the Murmansk railroad.  A train was on the tracks and it was just stopping on a station, emitting a column of smoke.

Their aircraft was fired at from the ground.  They were flying high and the weather cloudy which helped us avoid getting hit.  Undamaged planes buzzed on.

After they had crossed the rail line their pilot made a turn.  They had been in the air for hours and began to wonder how long the trip would be.  Pvt. Puisto suspected that they had been given a false address.

-If their commander pointed the Germans a wrong spot on the map?  Devil knows, he could have put his finger on the Black Sea and told the pilots to ship their gang there to hang squids!  They have been flying for hours and there is nothing to indicate landing any time soon.  This gadget must make at least three hundred kilometers per hour which means they were far from home, with a long way to hike back.

- It would be fun for you, boys, to see the Black Sea.  I was there as a young man and I know there are beautiful beaches and good life.  But to get back from there, there sure is some stretch of road to walk!

It was Savinainen Senior, the long walk ahead did not worry him, he consoled the others telling how good they would have it there.

- I don't care as long as this contraption does not land us in a place with no vodka and no plump matuschkas, - Pvt Puisto joked.

None of us but the leader and his second in command knew where they were going to.  They had to sit in the plane, shivering with cold waiting for landing.

Finally the aircraft decreased altitude.  There was a lake below, one kilometer wide but three km long. (Lake Konjärvi, Tr.rem.) There were two villages on the shore.

A wide raft of logs surrounded the beaches.  The pilot landed on the lake, disregarding the surroundings.  The second plane landed next to ours.  

Due to the logjam they were not able to approach the beach but had to disembark anyway.

One airman shoved in Pauli's hands a rubber dinghy and a pump to fill the dinghy.  He tried to pump frantically but the dinhgy did not get any plumper.  The German grabbed the pump from his hand and threw it in some corner of the airplane.  Then he pulled a hose from the wall of the airplane and turned a cock.  In a moment pressurized air filled the dinghy.

There was a hatch in the bottom of the airplane, the airman dropped the dinghy out and on the water, forgetting to secure it with the rope provided.  High waves were about to make the dinghy escape , the scared German fumbled for the rope and slipped in the lake head first.

They had to haul up the airman from the lake before anything else.  He swore with talent, he was unable to contribute much to his rescue.  It was a toil to pull him up, he was wearing a fur overall with electric heating, which was necessary in the open MG turret.

They threw a coil of rope in the dinghy, holding one end of it.  So they managed to save the runaway dinghy.  The men in the other airplane were occupied in the same task.

The dinghy was loaded with men with their gear.  Collapsible oars were taken into use and it was good to row with them.

There was a campfire on the beach and men around it, loggers probably.  They were speaking in a loud voice while drinking something.

- I wonder what the Vanyas are drinking since they are talking that loud?  Maybe they have some strong stuff, plain tea does not produce such loud talk?

It was Lce Cpl. Loskin (Iivo) - he was curious, maybe there was some spirits available ?

- We could find that out now, let us go and check.

The patrol leader at once forbade this operation.

- No, boys, They have something better to do now and after wards too, if They only could get ashore first.

Lce. Cpl. Loskin was bothered by this case, did they have spirits there or not?  Maybe they could have gate-crashed a Politruk party.

The dinghies could not get to the beach because of the logs, and to get around them was no option .  Two boats from the village approached.  One of the airplane gunners fired long bursts - did he try to hit the boats, scare them away or was he just testing his weapon?  Due to the long range they could not tell if the boaters were civilians or soldiers.

The Russian boats were now at the other side of the log raft, Their way was blocked and now there was no option but wade to the beach over the logs.  They had great problems: every man was carrying a heavy burden .  It included provision for two weeks, at least six kilos TNT, two hand grenades, foyr hundred cartridges , pistol, SMG, and other gear.   A weak man would not have been able to lift it up from the ground.

They had to hurry up at top speed.  Only some of us had been loggers in civilian life.  They all got drenched to skin by cold water when they scrambled over the logs to the beach.  It was not a nice midsummer celebration.

As soon as the rest of us had embarked in the dinghies the Germans hastily  took off and left the dinghies behind.  They feared that there might be Russian soldiers somewhere around.  

One of us shot up the dinghies and pushed the remains under the logs. One dinghy that had made it to the beach was destroyed likewise and pushed among the logs.

Pvt. Puisto's hangover had been cured.  He was in good mood and his ability to observe was as good as ever.

- Goddamn Russki is bouncing over there !

He pointed out farther on the beach where he had seen something suspicious.
Dad and the patrol leader found that something was wrong with Lt. Vasunta, he stood on the beach looking very odd: pale and trembling.

- Look here sonny, what is the matter ? - Dad asked him.
- Nothing, he said

Obviously the Lieutenant was in a state of shock so Dad did not believe him

- Are you ill?  Can you walk ? - Dad kept asking him, worried
- I can walk all right, - the young man answered absent-mindedly.

The patrol leader ordered his men to get in the cover of the forest, he stayed there with Iivo and Pvt. Kälviäinen to secure us against eventual pursuers.  Again the saw the Russian peeking at us behind alder bushes.  He was too far to be shot at with SMG. Pvt. Kälviäinen's weapon was a rifle, he shot at the peeping Tom who spread his arms and dropped out of sight.

Soon the securing men followed us and caught up with the rest.  They had stopped to wait for them as it was suddenly found that Lt Vasunta was missing.  He had vanished from their gang in such an odd manner that nobody had seen how it had happened.  It appeared that he had on purpose left us, without informing anyone.  It was a light summer night, someone would have seen him go unless he furtively slipped in the forest.

They began to search for the disappeared man at once.  They soon found a pullover he had discarded.  I took it, I guessed it would be needed some day.  Their rations included compressed oatmeal grits, he had broken the packs and scattered the contents in the forest.

They followed his tracks hoping to find him.  Suddenly they heard intense shooting quite near, indicating a fire fight.  Then a strong explosion and shooting ended.

The men in the boats from the village had been soldiers.  Apparently they had caught up with their man in the forest.  Had a bullet hit the TNT he had carried in his backpack or had he blown himself up with a hand grenade, suffering from nervous breakdown?

It seemed useless to continue searching.  To avoid a needless fire fight the patrol leader ordered us to advance deeper in the forest.

3. Action

The wilderness protected the patrol.  They were advancing carefully, expecting to bump into pursuers any moment.  Nobody was seen and they continued their march.

They arrived at a line cut in the forest.  They marched along the line , then veered sharp to the right for one hundred meters.  To mislead trackers they retreated on their steps and paused near the line to make coffee.  

-Let's have some coffee here in Russian land once They are here, - Dad said while they set up the fire.

Pauli sat at the same fire with Dad, Iivo and Pfc. Nekkonen.  Their fire was closest to the line, the others had made theirs in the forest .  Coverage to the deforested line was good, Pauli kept looking there while holding his field kettle on a stick over the fire.

A big tree had been fallen across the line, something was moving there.  A Russian soldier climbed over the tree, he carried his rifle in his back and he was looking the other way.

Lacking in experience Pauli set down his field kettle and grabbed his SMG.  He was just about to shoot as Dad got hold of his weapon and said quietly:
-Don't shoot now, let him go since he did not spot us!

Every man had now their weapons ready in case they would be seen.  More soldiers came, nine or ten of them.  No one looked their way or indicated seeing us in any manner.   As soon as the last one was out of sight the patrol hurriedly put out the fires and marched quickly on, deciding to make coffee some time later.  

Fortunately the pursuers did not have tracker dogs.  So far they had left quite evident tracks but now they had to be more careful.  The patrol started to scatter their tracks.  They marched a little dispersed to avoid leaving a beaten track which would give away their march.  As to dogs they also had means to stun their noses and make them lose their tracks.

They made another six kilometers before a coffee pause.  They could eat and have coffee undisturbed .  The pursuers had lost their tracks so they decided to have a rest and  think of the situation.  They found that they had been landed in a wrong place by the Germans.  The lake they had landed on was at least one hundred, maybe even two hundred kilometers off the target.

This caused later great irritation in the Finnish GHQ.  Marshal Mannerheim was very annoyed at the German command for risking Finnish Sissis in such a stupid manner.  On top of everything they had been landed right in a potential snake pit without checking the security of the lake as a landing site.

Their assigned task was to blow up the gates of the Stalin canal (Belomorkanal)  The locks were three-fold and aerial photos had been analysed to determine where to place the explosive charges for best effect.  The gate top hinges were to be blown away after which the pressure of water would take care of the rest.

Each of uthe men was assigned his own task.  They were advised not to withdraw downstream after lighting the fuses because flooding water would cut off their return route.  It was hoped that the flood would hamper transports of war material to North where Germans were planning to attack.  The canal would become useless,  shipping would be cut off and rebuilding the gates would take a long time.  Transports would be hampered for a long period.

However they had been landed far from their target and it seemed hopeless to reach it.  Their map did not correspond with the terrain, because they were out of the map.  They found no points of reference, thus totally lost.

They had no idea about their location.  They had compasses, but compass points were not enough .  They had to define their location and find out how to get to the target.  

It was Savinainen Senior who was able to do this, he had been born here in Eastern Carelia and he had been moving about here in peace and in war. He wouild guide the patrol to the canal and then to the gates.  Now they could place ourselves on their map.

They discussed the plan and their tasks.  Patrol leader Hämäläinen and Savinainen Senior as the second in command went to find out how to approach the canal and the gates.  Others were ordered to wait for their return.

There was a river with a bridge that They had to cross to be able to approach their target.  They were biding their time and waiting for their scouts to return, ready for action.

Just a few minutes later the scouts ran back pursued by a big band of Russians.

- Let's go... no way...get in the forest, - they shouted, panting.  They grabbed their backpacks and ran in the forest.  They kept going at a fast rate into the wilderness.

Then they had a break to catch Their breath,  The patrol leader explained that it was impossible to approach the gates.  The place was completely occupied and soldiers were everywhere.  Although thei patrol scouts approached the gates with the utmost care, they were spotted.  A sentry made an alert and their men were pursued.

Their leader decided to continue their march to the next target.  They had been assigned other tasks, too.  The canal sabotage attempt was abandoned as totally unfeasible.  There was no way to get at the gates, they had to admit that.  The patrol leaders were calm and brave men, who were not easily scared but they did not want to commit stupidities.

They had to flee inland.  They were in trouble, They were still on the wrong side of the canal.  The enemy was assembling more men to man the forest terrain around the canal gates.  Merciless search for us had been started.  They could expect only death from the enemy - only there were many ways of dying available.

They marched double quick for ten kilometers before they dared to stop.  They decided to stay in a dense spot of spruce forest next to flat land cleared of trees.  The place seemed to be safe.

They lit fires.  Some wanted to cook food but the patrol leader, Iivo, Mikko and Pauli, sharing one fire, wanted first some coffee.  There was little firewood among the spruces. Savinainen Senior said  :
- Let's go, Pauli, and get some dry birch from that pile on the clearing.  Mikko makes coffee for all of us.  We'll stay here for a while since Russians are not around, we'll get some rest.

They went to the firewood pile and took dry light pieces of wood as much as they could carry in their arms.  They had no idea that Russians were stalking us behind the same piles.  Because there were only two of us they let us return.  Having seen where they go they could deduce where the entire patrol was, then they could surround us and finish us off.

They got back to the other men and I put some pieces of wood in the fire.  They were big hunks of birch that would burn for a long time.  They planned to have a good rest because there was no sign of pursuers. The men believed they had a good lead.

Mikko had made the coffee and told us to have some. Tey were just pouring their mugs as Iivo yelled:
- Russkies are coming!

The same moment his SMG buzzed.  The spruces around us were branchless up to chest height and they could see the legs of running Russians between the tree trunks.  One chain of men was running to the left and another to the right.  The enemy were going to surround the patrol at Their fires.

The boys who were a little way off were frightened by Iivos yell and shooting.  One of them spilled his coffee in a fire - or he tried to extinguish it - but the result was hot steam and ashes in their eyes.  They panicked and tried to run deeper in the forest.

- Do not abandon your provision! - Savinainen Senior shouted.

Their backpack contents - mugs, field kettles, butter boxes and crispbread was were scattered all around.  Although Lt, Hämäläinen was the leader it was Savinainen Senior who took over now and began to advise what to do next.  He was more experienced in a situation like this.  Having fought in the Great War in the Eastern Front against the Germans - in battles where thousands were killed within one hour - this case was for him like play.  He was able to control himself and decide what to do.

- They are not going to get in their faces just like that ! This may be the first battle for these young Russian men.  They are testing themselves, Savinainen Senior explained .  

He ordered the patrol leader, Iivo, Mikko and Pauli to shoot so that the others would get a chance to pack their stuff  in the backpacks and the others would do the same.  

There was a fallen old tree with a thick trunk, Jorma and Pauli crept behind it and opened fire with their SMGs.  Iivo had been shooting brief bursts all the time.  

The Russians were not moving.  They were prone on the ground and everyone fired as fast as they could.  Bullets whined and cracked on the spruce trunks.  

It was Pauli's first fire fight.  He stayed flat as a bedbug behind the tree trunk, keeping his head down and firing at the direction of the enemy fire.  He saw nobody but kept shooting.   He did feel a bit odd.

Soon he found that branches were falling down from the spruces high above his head.  The Russians were not particularly aiming their shots but kept firing at treetops.  This encouraged Pauli to put up his head to see the enemy.  I began to peek over the tree trunk and aim better.

Savinainen Senior announced that their stuff was packed.  Now to disengage from the enemy  and get rid of them.

Russians shouted at the Finns in Russian and advised them to surrender.  They claimed that they had surrounded the Finns so well that they had no chance to break through.  Savinainen Senior answered them in Russian and challenged them to come and get them where they were.  A long shouting match in Russian ensued, all kinds of profanities were exchanged.

The Russians did not budge but shot faster than before.  The patrol slipped out unnoticed, their encirclement was not complete.

They found the rest of their  patrol at once.  They had not gone any farther and every one had his  backpack on his shoulders, nobody had abandoned his.  It would have been a serious error, because they had several hundreds of kilometers to march home and the men were totally depending on the provision they were carrying.  

The patrol marched double quick back to the direction of the canal.  They were kilometers away but the Russians kept shooting as they thought the Finns were still in their camp.  Maybe they were trying to surround each other having nothing else to do!

Having got away from the trouble the patrol marched a long stretch, hungry and tired.  They finally stopped to rest and to cook some food.

Pvt. Kälviäinen, the radio operator, sent a message home.  The message informed about their failure to get to the first target and report on their present status and location.

Patrolling was then in its initial stages and all gear accordingly.  Despite its large size their radio was just a transmitter, they could not receive anything.  Their base could neither inform us nor give us new tasks.  They had a small broadcasting receiver that could be used to get an important coded message that was sent after daily news transmission.  They had no other incoming communication.

They heard shots in every direction.  Russian searching patrols were moving and communicating with each other by shots in the air.

The patrol probably would not have found a better resting place even if they had tried, so They decided to stay there for the night. Savinainen Senior said:
- Let us sleep here, boys, the Russians seem to be in sentry duty and they are seeing to it that they get to sleep in peace.

The patrol did have their own sentries, though.

There were no surprises but they did sleep well for the night.  Early in the morning they continued their march to the canal.  The patrol leader told that their next target would be the railway line after they had crossed the canal.

They arrived at a beach and carefully sneaked at the waterfront.  The beach was growing long grass in patches.  The opposing beach was so far that they thought this had to be the canal.  It could not be a river according to the map.

They listened for any sounds of pursuers.  They heard nothing out  of ordinary, just some birds and a cuckoo .  A pair of ducks took off with indignant noises.

No narrow points could be seen and the water was deep.  They had to build a raft to get across.  They found a couple of dead pines, not too thick to be sawn through.  They made good light material for the raft when each trunk was cut in two.

They lashed the timbers together and started the crossing.  Most men were on the far side and Iivo with another man was just in the middle of the crossing as two Russian fighter planes appeared.  They were well out of sight but the two men out on the raft were helpless targets.

The men squatted on the raft without moving any.  They thought they were goners as  the fighters dived at them, but the planes just dipped a little and were gone.  They did not notice the men or took them for a rock in the lake.  The men reached the beach successfully.  

Then they found that one of us was missing.  It was Lt Joentaus who had been left behind by some misunderstanding due to the enemy fighters.  One man had to return to fetch him and finally the patrol was able to continue,

They were prepared for a longer march to the Murmansk railroad but suddenly they came to another beach. It was the canal, they had crossed a deep bay of a lake.

They decided to march direction North and look for a boat.  

Sgt. Triipponen and Staff Sgt. Tervonen searched the shoreline as they advanced.  They did find a boat that seemed to be in poor condition and missing oars.  They pushed it on the water hopefully but the boat was filled with water at once.  It was so bad and rotten that it would have sunk if they had tried to board it.  The boat had to be abandoned and the search continued.

They stopped every now and then to listen for any noises of pursuers.  Since nothing was heard they had a brief rest, made coffee and some kind of soup of their proviant.  It had decreased alarmingly.  They were moving so fast that they had no hope to get any supplies from the base.

Stalin's Canal had been dug (by convicts) from the White Sea to lake Onega over some lakes.  The lakes were at places kilometers wide, at other places as narrow as three to four hundred meters.  The patrrol had to get across somehow.

They arrived at a low terrain along the canal one day at small hours, it was a swamp.  It was foggy and they saw above the fog  roofs of houses.  Houses implied people and eventual presence of boats .

Carefully they advanced toward the houses.  They could not tell if there were civilians or soldiers, so they approached sneaking in a chain.

Pauli tiptoed to the corner of a house and saw that an old man was looking at him.  He was an ancient starik, a sheep fur hat pulled over his head and ears, in a warm summer night!  He was passing his water as I chanced to meet him.

They rushed to the yard and checked the house.  There were only the old man with his wife.  The other buildings were barns.  

The civilians began to ask who the men were and where they were going to.  They spoke Russian.  Dad, who was fluent in Russian, told them they had escaped from Siberia and on their way to somewhere that he did not describe in detail. He could not tell the truth but also he could not lie too much.

The oldsters seemed to be satisfied with the explanation but then there was a mishap.  Some men who had been at the tail of their procession came in. They had seen that there was no danger and they spoke with each other carelessly in Finnish,  To avoid detection they had strict orders not to use Finnish but the boys forgot all about it.

The stark was frightened, he understood that these men were no escapees from Siberia but something else.  Neither were their weapons and equipment something that men on the run would have.

The old man thought that he was in mortal danger.  He crossed himself, pulled a cross from under his shirt and explained that they had been deported from Ukraine. He had no reason to fear us, They had no intention of harming him.  

They were out of bread, all of us.  I figured that there must be some bread in every household, so I whispered to Dad:
- Ask that starik if he has any bread to sell to us.  - They do not want it for free.

They had been given Russian money to buy things if possible or to bribe people if there would be a chance.  Savinainen Senior talked with the old man, who then stood up on a bench and pulled out a loaf under the ceiling.  It was a heavy rye bread, a good Russian buhanka that was good to eat as it was.

Pauli gave some money to the old man.  He had no idea of the purchase power of the rouble, he may have given the old man too much because he started talking fast and obviously wanted to give some of it back. Pauli thought he had given too little and counted a couple of tservonets or whatever the banknotes were, on his palm.  This scared the starik totally, and the old woman was about to flip out from seeing such a lot of money !  They tried to explain that they cannot take so much of it especially banknotes of large denomination.  They were deportees, they were not expected to have any money at all.  They would sooner or later have to explain where and how they got the money.

Finally the matter was settled as Savinainen Senior interpreted, they gave the bread and returned some of the money.

The old couple had goats as their cattle.  They had some goat milk in bottles and they gave the Finns some.  Dad and some others drank it willingly but Pauli did not want even to taste it due to his prejudice.  It was some sinister stuff that they in Finland were not used to.

Iron wire had been strung between trees and dried fish was hanging on them.  The old couple told that they used to fish for themselves and also to sell their catch to the river ships sailing on the canal.  They had seen some of them when marching along the canal.  They transported all kinds of material just like the trains on the Murmansk railway.

There were two boats on the beach.  They asked the starik if he could borrow them for us to get across.

There was another house a couple of hundred meters farther, which could be seen now as the fog lifted.  The stark began to shout and wave. At first they believed he did not want to give the boats to us but then they realised he wanted to borrow us one more boat.

Dad told him:
- Now don't shout old man, let them sleep! These two boats are all we need, they are big enough.  

Boats were identified by painted letters and numbers in the prow because they were Government property as everything else in this country.

They boarded the boats and rowed across.  Pvt. Puisto sat in the prow of the boat.

- I don't think old man Stalin would like to see how we are using his boats as our own., - he said.

Approaching the beach the boat got stuck on a tall tree stump under the water, but they managed to shake the boat loose and landed.

They did not want to return any of the Russian boats but they holed the bottoms with axes, removed the plugs and pushed the boats adrift.

4. Rail line

Now the men were heading for the Murmansk railway.  They were marching homewards.

After the attempt to get at the canal gates the partrol had spent five days hiking beyond the canal, dodging pursuers all the time.

Fortunately they had evaded tracking dogs.  They had some brown foul smelling stuff that they applied on the soles of their boots.  That stunned the dog's sense of smell so that they were unable to trace us.  This must have saved the patrol many times from getting caught because the pursuers had to rely on their human abilities.  Maybe also the innocent dogs had to take the fault for not finding tracks.

Then there was a heavy rain.  They marched under it for a long stretch, waiting in one place would have felt miserable and besides, rain made their tracks disappear.  

Finally they stopped for coffee and food.  They found a resinous stump that was used to make a big fire and it was nice to dry their soaked clothes in its heat.

They had coffee and ate.  As the men sat around the burning stump the rain ended gradually and their clothes dried nicely.  But as they were half naked they faced a new problem.  The attack of East Careliang gnats made everyone to pull on their damp trousers without hesitation.

These gnats were bloodthirsty creatures.  In a moment they covered one's face and every exposed area of skin.  Pitch oil was the only way to protect oneself from their stings.  A man whose skin did not withstand the pitch oil was in hopeless trouble.  Usually the man who could not apply pitch oil was also allergic to gnats and had to suffer from itching swellings.

Many a man learned to smoke under gnat attack.  The worse tobacco one puffed the better it was to repel the bugs.  Being light the gnats are slow in flight, so staying in movement is a good way of getting rid of them.  So the patrol used to march at night as the gnats were less active and it was not so hot.  In the daytime they slept preferably in a dry, sunny, wind-swept location if safety allowed it.

They set out refreshed and continued their march to the rail line.  According to the map the distance was about thirty kilometers.  They strode at a brisk pace to get to their target without delay.  

Savinainen Senior became suspicious as the distance seemed to be longer than expected.

- The map distances and the distance they have marched do not match. What is the matter ?  I hope we do not find ourselves in another wrong place !

They marched on and soon heard a steam whistle.  There must be someone  here.  They cocked their weapons and advanced in a chain in the direction of the whistle.

They saw a railroad being built, it was a rail connection to the canal, an interesting fact to report.  The worksite was abandoned, the whistle had called the workers for lunch obviously.  Why else would they have left their work in the middle of the day ?  The Finns did not think it was necessary to observe how the workers were lodged but pressed on following the unfinished rail line.

Hot days followed.  It was easier to march at night carrying Their heavy backpacks than in daytime sweating under the glare of the sun.

Finally they reached the Murmansk railway.

- Now then, once we are on a sabotage mission, let us set a real chunk of TNT under the rails and derail a train, - the boys said.

They had been forced to dump some of the TNT as they were on the run under pursuit.  As the canal sabotage was abandoned they had too much of it to drag along.  They had saved some for the rail line.  

The men started setting up the mines.  Their equipment was at that stage deficient but they believed the mine would go off under the weight of a train.  

Most men were sitting  on the rail embankment as  the experts did their job.  There was a curve in the rail line at that spot, suddenly they saw a train coming, and quite close.

The patrol slipped in the forest, it was a swampy spot and they stopped at the edge of it to watch if the train would run over the mine.

The train stopped !

The train men must have seen the meb, certainly they were warned about an enemy patrol in the area, and they had been alert.  

Two men got out of the train to check the line.  Soon they found the mine and they started twiddling with it.

The mine went off in their faces!  The men were vaporised and the rails damaged, too, because the men had not been able to remove the mine before it went off.

There was a commotion as in a disturbed wasps' nest.  They had urgently to get a little farther off.  Patrol leaders had a counsel and then Lt Hämäläinen informed his men:

- We are going to make a very clear track for some distance and cheat the pursuers in an ambush in a good location.  That way we shall disrupt their plans and we can get some lead.

That is what they did.  The pursuers had no problems in following the patrol, so obvious was the trail they left in the forest.

They arrived at the edge of a wide swamp.  There was higher ground beyond it.

-Let's set here a trap for the too eager stalkers, Savinainen Senior said.

They tied hand grenades at knee height on trees next to their trail, and tied the trigger wires in the heather
bushes on the other side.  

- We'll move on and wait in a good spot.  I hope they keep following our tracks, - the patrol leader planned.

They went on along the edge of the swamp, still leaving a clear trail.

In a very wet spot they made a turn and crossed the swamp.  When they finally made it to the other side their boots were full of water and their trousers wet up to knees.  As they reached dry ground the men took off their boots , then wrung out their footwraps and spread  them to dry over the heather.

They had been sitting there just a little while as they heard a bang from the direction they had come from.  The traps had worked, some pursuers may have copped it.  

Someone said that the trap might have gone off by itself, maybe the trigger wire was too taut.  When wind swayed the tree the safety pin could have been pulled by the wire.  Others did not agree, the wires and the grenades were so low on the trees that wind could not sway them.

They kept waiting.  Soon enough they detected movement beyond the swamp.  Their footwraps were not much dried yet, but they had to wrap them on and then pull on their boots in a hurry.

Now they saw a file of men emerge from the forest. The leading soldier was leading a dog in a long leash.  The file proceeded on the edge of the swamp, following their tracks.  

They were lying behind a rocky slope in a depression behind it, providing good cover.  They took positions, spreading a little on both flanks and watched if the pursuers would cross the swamp following their track.  Most of them did, some ducked down in the forest.

- Now boys, we are not going to shoot until the first men are right in front of us.  We'll let them squarely cross the swamp! - The patrol leaders instructed his men..

They waited in tension.

Lce. Cpl. Loski  was on Pauli's right side and Dad Savinainen on his left.  Pauli felt safe between them.   He knew that he would do the right things if heonly watched what the older men did.  The dog and the first men had crossed the swamp and were approaching.

Iivo gave the first burst at the dog.  It was moving agitatedly, seeking their scent, and Iivo did not hit it well.  It howled furiously, rushed at us as Iivo gave him another burst. It dropped.

The other Sissis had opened fire.  The pursuers were totally surprised, they were not able to return fire but panicked and rushed back to the swamp.  Several of them threw away their guns to be able to flee faster.  They flopped in the swamp which was so wet that a man could not lie on it for any long time.  Water seeped over them, drowning them. The enemies had to get up and try to retreat on dry land.  It was easy for the Finns to shoot them on the swamp as soon as they put up their heads from the moss.

Pauli kept watching what Dad and Iivo did.  He was so young and inexperienced in this kind of situation that he felt he needed advice.  He admired the old Sissis and tried to emulate them in every respect.

Suddenly Pauli spotted a Russian soldier who had managed to slip near Iivo.  He was lifting his rifle in the cover of a juniper bush and aiming at Iivo.

Pauli managed to act in a blink of an eye.  He swung the muzzle of his SMG at the bush and pulled the trigger, spraying the bush with all the bullets left in the magazine, then observed the result. The rifle barrel had disappeared.  Iivo was still next to him, he had not noticed the incident.  Pauli kept watching the bush  every now and then , but I saw nothing more.

Just a small part of the pursuit group may have succeeded in crossing the swamp.  Their attempt had been beyond their chances.  Fire of thirteen SMGs and two rifles at such a short range is devastating.  

They could not shoot without absolute necessity.  They had only the ammo they were carrying and replenishment was not available.  They had to shoot as sparingly as possible.  Patrol leader ordered to move on.  They believed the pursuers had been discouraged by the reception .

After a few hours' march over dry ground They arrived at another swamp, just like the previous one.  After crossing they decided to have some rest and dry their boots with better luck..
- The Russki is not hot on our heels, they believed.

They set a sentry and lied down.  It was a hot day, sun was shining from cloudless sky, nicely warming their feet that had been soaked in cold swamp water.  They had taken off their boots and spread the footwraps on the heathers  They fell asleep on the dry warm forest soil in a moment.  Their sentry was sitting downhill, closer to the edge of the swamp.  The hot weather dulled his attentiveness and he, too,  had fallen asleep.

Suddenly Pauli woke up as if someone had told him to, and glanced at the swamp.

By G-d, what was it that he saw ! Russians were coming across the swamp, the first one had almost reached the edge of their side!  Why did the sentry not alert, the thought flashed in his mind briefly.

- Russkies coming !- Pauli shouted and opened fire with his SMG at the direction of the swamp.

The sentry woke up and the others joined in.  It was the repeat of the encounter on the previous swamp.  The enemies had not become any wiser, just threw their weapons away and rushed back across the swamp.

The Finns managed to pull their boots on, then stayed in their positions and observed the situation.

A wounded enemy moaned on the swamp.  Then Sgt. Ehrukainen, who usually was more courageous than was good for him and apparently did not value his life much, ran to the edge of the swamp with his SMG.  

- Don't stand up , don't!  Do not expose yourself! - somebody shouted him.

Regardless, he stood up and ran to a pine growing at the edge of the swamp, supported his SMG on the trunk and started shooting.

- I'll just shoot that Russki dog so that he quits howling, he won't be at our heels any more - he shouted to us.

He fired standing up without any cover.  I saw how he was hit.  Their pursuers had placed a sniper on the opposite side of the swamp and his bullet hit the target.  Eino swayed but emptied his magazine , then threw the weapon at the enemy that was far out of his reach.  After a few steps he fell down with his face up and he moaned:
- Now I am hit, boys!

They crept to him, some of us started shooting, others began to bandage the wounded man.  The bullet had entered his chest from the front and exited in the back.  At every breath a bloody bubble rose from the wound.  His lung was punctured.

They covered both bullet holes with gauze and tried to bandage them in place but they had but a few packets of gauze, a chest wound called for more bandages.  They applied on their towels, which were extremely soiled but better than nothing.  Somehow they managed to bandage him and finally put a blouse on him.  The bandage was neither nice to look at neither air proof but they could not do more.

They pulled the wounded man in the rear, the enemy was not in sight.  Having him in security they began to consider the transport problem.  Eino could not walk, They had seen that as they tried to make him walk between two men from the edge of the swamp.  His legs did not hold.  They made an emergency stretcher out of poles and pieces of clothing, Their plan was to carry him to Lake Segozero and try to contact the base to get him airlifted home.  

The enemy had retreated behind the swamp, probably planning how to get the patrol next time.  They also had dead and wounded to delay them.

After a couple of kilometers Eino asked for a stop.
- Boys, leave me here and go.  I am not going to live long and it is not worthwhile...anymore...

They did as he asked and set the miserable stretcher  on the ground.  After breathing for a while undisturbed by the swaying of the stretcher  Eino was able to speak a little longer.

- Listen boys, now the dream I had the other night came true.  Do you remember how I told you about it when we were sitting at the campfire?...In the dream we were all there, and we approached a big church, a white one.  The church doors were wide open.  You stayed outside while I entered the church alone.  None of you followed me in.  It is his death that the dream foretold me.  All of you are going to get back home from this trip, do not worry about it.  This dream is true, I tell you.

Pauli listened to this with extreme bad feeling.  Eino was his good pal.  Before the war he had been living in their house on weekends as he was working somewhere during the weekdays.  He had become very close to Pauli.
They moved Eino a little under a thick spruce from the sun.  After a while he began to talk with trouble, asking us to contact his next of kin and tell them his last regards.

He died there and then.  They watched him carefully to be sure he was dead.  They would not have abandoned him in the forest if he had shown the slightest sign of life, but they would have carried him  to his last breath.

The men uncovered their heads and had a moment of silence.  They took Eino's empty wallet and watch to send them to his home.

They could not stay there one moment longer, sounds of pursuit could be heard in the direction they had come.  

- It is the Vanyas coming already.- the boys said morosely.

They covered Eino with spruce boughs.  They had no time to bury him decently, because they had to continue immediately.  They felt bad having to leave him like that but they were forced to do it.

The pursuers approached, the patrol had to go on.  They tried to deceive the enemy by walking separately, dispersing in the forest and jumping from one bare rock to another.

It was difficult to shake the enemy off because they had trained dogs.  The dogs were able to track one single man in the forest and soon they were chasing their entire group.  The men could not scatter too far from each other.  They were out of the substance that they had used to throw the dogs off their trail.  They had to stick together to be able to defend themselves against the enemy.  

The Russians pursuing the patrol tried to encircle them by  sending men in their presumed route ahead, but the patrol dodged them and the ambushes by changing their marching direction constantly.

End of part 1/2

[Lotvonen]

5. Inbound

Finally the Finns found ourselves at the shore of Lake Seesjärvi (Segozero).   Savinainen Senior said it was a large lake and he knew its shores and waters from the days of his young days.  

They discussed how to go around the lake, from the South or from the North.   Savinainen Senior favoured the Northern route.. Southern side of the lake would be guarded by the Russians as the enemy believed that the patrol would take the shorter and easier Southern route.

A passenger ship passed their hiding place, quite near.  They could hear loud laughter and talking in Russian.  
- Damn it, how nice it would be to be in that ship and get a ride over the lake, - Ilmari sighed.
- We would be there but our timetable is from the last year, - Staff Sgt. Tervonen said defensively.
- It would not have been a voyage for us, we are tourists of another variety. - the others said.

The ship passed and the sound of talk die down.  The patrrol headed to the North near the shoreline.  There was a large island with dense tall spruce forest growing on it.  

- See that, son, it is the cemetry island of Paatene people.  Your mother was born on the far side of the lake, - Savinainen Senior told Pauli beckoning with his arm.  Then he turned at the others and said:
- We can pack up our maps, we don't need them here.  This district is so familiar to me that I can find my way without any maps.

Of course he was familiar with the district.  As a young man, in the days of the last Russian Empire, he had roved around Lake Seesjärvi as a logger floating timber and in other jobs,  Without being harassed by anybody they marched to the Northern shore of the lake and its outlet river Sekehenjoki (Segeza).

Dad Savinainen knew these shores trough and trough.  He told us:
- We better cross the river here near the lake.  There are more narrow spots downstream, there is a rapid and a bridge but the Russians surely guard it so well that it does not make sense to use it.  If we slip across here, they won't be spying on us and do not know where we are.

The Finns saw nobody.  They made log rafts at their leisure and crossed the river without mishap.

Once there they had a nasty surprise.  They found quite fresh tracks of men and dogs on the sand of the river bank!  A reception committee had passed quite recently.

- Just look at that, they have been waiting for us.  The bridge where the Vanyas are longing us to come for us is not very far.  Let them wait as long as they wish.

Dad Savinanen was not worried at all.  His attitude encouraged the other men.

They hid the raft timbers and covered their tracks on the sand, then they headed westward along the lakeshore.  Next they had a break and made some coffee.  They sought in their backpacks any food they had left.  They had been three weeks in this trip with supplies for two weeks and had not received any supplements.

Hunger gnawed Pauli as it can gnaw a young man.  His Mom was not here to put a sandwich in his hand.  Pauli tried to relax and put the thought out of his mind but his thoughts kept returning to food.  He remembered how the patrol had arrived in a village of grey log houses. They were hoping to get something to eat there. But it was an abandoned village in the middle of the forest, a logging camp.  They did not find one edible crumb there.

A bad cart road started from their campsite.  They followed it to another poor little village.  There were clothes drying on lines between trees.

A horse was tethered next to a house.  It was a straggly nag with lumpy legs.  It was trying to gnaw grass that already was grazed short.

- Look at that horse, his strength has retreated in that one spot in one of his legs, it is easy for him to retrieve it tomorrow morning!  These Russian horses are really wise, I can see that. - Ilmari admired earnestly.

The laughter he had provoked woke up a dog that made quite a noise.  The boys knew how to make friends with him so he stopped barking.  

They sneaked to the house wall.  I peeked in through the window, to see if anybody was there.  I saw an iron bedstead and someone sleeping on it.  The sleeper just rolled and went on sleeping.

There was a bread loaf on the table next to the window.  They were totally out of bread and short of all other foodstuffs.

-Those sleepers would not hear if I sneaked in the house and took that bread, Pauli whispered to his Dad.  
- They are soundly asleep and nobody would hear if I went in for that loaf.

The enticing bread was in the middle of the table and the door of the house was visibly ajar.

- No, son,  let that bread alone!.  A Finnish soldier is never in such misery as to steal a child's bread.  Look , there are children's clothes drying on the line.  They probably have several kids and it is not sure if they have bread to eat every day, - Dad Savinanen pitied them.

The bread remained on the table and the sleeping people never guessed they had had visitors that night.

Their break was peaceful, there was no sign of pursuers.

- How long a distance is it from here to Finland? - Pauli asked his Dad
- It is not very long, I should say a bit over two hundred kilometers, that is not so much.

Yes, for Dad Savinainen it was not a great distance, just a small sliver of the wide Russian state.

They donned their backpacks and went on.

The patrol leaders were occupied during breaks. In a long mission like this one there is a lot to see and note up.  Lots of data was logged but few acts of destruction.  Certainly the enemy suffered casualties when chasing the patrol.  Afterward they learned that according to intercepted enemy messages they reported having one hundred casualties.  Maybe it was true, they had ambushed the enemy successfully twice.

They had lost two men. It was not easy for the patrol to advance for every village in the area had been alerted and guarded tightly.  With good luck the Finns managed to march on and they arrived at the road from Särkijärvi and Paatene to village Pölkkylä.

The Finns were totally out of food.  They had only salt left.

- Can you guess what I am going to make? - Staff Sgt. Tervonen asked.

They were sitting on the rim of a sand pit next to the road.  Mentioning food made most of the men curious.
- Er, moss or lichens? - guessed Ilmari.
- No, but salt water, real food for men.  I am not a woodland reindeer although I am roaming in the forest.

- Yes, salt water!  Good idea, specially if They get some real brown swamp water down there, real muddy
just add salt and there you have  soup!  - the others chimed in.

- Just make a fire in the pit and we'll get the soup ingredients ! - They ran to the swamp with the field kettles.

They made fires and heated the delicious coloured water.  Then they added salt to taste and drank with gusto.  It would still their hunger so far.

They heard clanking and crashing from the direction of Pölkkylä.  The noise increased and they thought a company of Russkies was coming.  They had no time to get into good positions. Each man placed himself at the sand pit rim behind a stone or a tree.  Their SMGs were ready and they were prepared to engage any number of enemies and fight to the last man.

The noise implied horse drawn vehicles, unknown whether civilian or military, but several of them.

Patrol leader Hämäläinen said:
- We shall take from these travellers whatever they have, they may have foodstuffs in their loads.

They waited, ready to pull the trigger.

Beyond the road bend emerged a horse vehicle, a horse harnessed in front of their wheeled wagons, then another.  The wagons approached - but nothing else.  The road was rocky and uneven, the wooden wheels with iron rims made a tremendous noise.

The drivers were civilians.  The first wagon was driven by an old man, his beard shook as the wagon proceeded on the rough road.  The other wagon driver was an old woman with a big scarf around her head.  They jumped on the road and stopped the horses.  They enquired the civilians (in Finnish) where they were going.

- Ah, we are from Pölkkylä village and we are taking fish to Särkijärvi over there.

They guessed that they were going to take their fish to the Russian border guard training camp.  According to the map it was eight kilometers from Pölkkylä. They had quietly passed this base in an old Carelian house.  They did not know their strength and they had no means to cut the telephone lines, so they carefully avoided stirring this wasps' nest.  The patrol would have been the less strong side and very tired and hungry.

There were wooden little barrels on the wagons.  Pauli opened one and found it was full of salted big pikes.  He took one and the others helped themselves, too.

Their fires were still burning and the men started roasting the pikes they had found.  The fish were well salted and in roasting a white fluffy salt layer emerged on top of it.

The old Carelian man was sitting next to Dad Savinainen, the woman between Pauli and his Dad.  The woman took a long look at Dad Savinainen.

- Ah, I guess you are son of Heikki Savinainen? she said after a while.

She spoke Carelian Finnish.  They used to identify a man by his father, as somebody's son or daughter, just as this woman did.

- I am his son, that is right, - Dad Savinainen admitted.

- Ah, war should have killed you a long time ago, that's what people are saying? - the woman asked.

- I would not be sitting here if the war had killed me, - Dad Savinainen informed her.

The old woman looked at all of the men in turn, then turned to Pauli.  Then she looked at Dad, curious.

-You could be a son of this Pekka Simanainen, and travelling with him? - she asked Pauli.

- Ah, I am his son, that is right. But as far as I know a sister of mine is living here in Carelia, somewhere in these parts.  Do you know about her ?

- Oh yes, I know her, she is a shop manager in a village on the shore of Seesjärvi.

As the grammy knew his sister and where she lived, I asked her to give the greetings from her Dad and brother next time she would see her.

The Patrol Leader now began to talk with the old people.  He inquired about matters of interest to us Sissis.  Specially he wanted to learn if Russian soldiers had been moving about.  The old man explained that no outsiders were in the village as they had left.

It was still early morning.  The horses were turned around on the road.  The Finns told the old man that the fish transport had to wait for another day.  They would pay a visit to their village.  Some boys loaded their backpacks on the wagon to walk at ease.  Others did not drop their backpacks but marched with full gear.  It was reckless to walk on an open road in enemy territory.  Some were marching ahead of the wagons, others behind.  Some of us were carrying their boots under their arms because marching in wet boots wearing sweaty and dirty footwraps had made their heels and toes sore.

The distance to the village was about five kilometers.  A chequered crowd was travelling on the village road.

Pauli became terribly thirsty.  First he had drunk salt water and eaten a salted pike on top of it.  Others were equally plagued.  They needed water, and badly.

- I am thirsty as hell, - Ilmari complained.
- Why did you drink that muddy water, lichen would have been better!

Pauli was carrying a two liter milk pail that had contained butter.  Butter had been eaten long time ago but still he had kept the pail.  Now it was needed.  He drank water out of it every little while.

They carried on but did not forget to be careful.  Iivo and Staff Sgt. Tervonen secured the tail end of their procession, they liked to be there.  Antti would say us that as long as They took care of the point he would see to the tail end.

6. Village fete

At six o'clock they arrived at Pölkkylä village.  It was Sunday but the women were milking their cows, and everybody else was awake.  A woman in the window of the nearest house seemed to be surprised at the arrival of a big band of men.  The old woman with us warned her to shut up.

Their arrival was noted, people started running  at the houses.  The patrol also sprang in action, They sent men in every direction to make sure that nobody would leave the place and betray them.  They had the village blockaded.  

The Patrol leaders ordered the people of the village to come together in one place.  They had them assembled at the wall of one house.  Milking was interrupted and morning tea was left to get cold.

There were mostly old men and women, and young boys and girls.  Grannies began. whining and complaining about their ailments, some had stomach pains and others headache.  Of course they were terrified by us, a band of strange men, who could do anything to them.  One can get headaches for anxiety like that.

They had packets of medicaments with pills and powders for pains and fever.  Boys distributed them to the ailing ones.  They put pills in their mouths but I don't know if they swallowed any for fear of poisoning.  But they calmed down as they saw nothing bad was going to happen.

Dad Savinainen chatted with the villagers and enquired about all possible matters. Since it was Sunday Dad turned the talk to spiritual matters.

- Do you go to church anymore or did you abandon God altogether?

The older people quickly crossed themselves.

- They did not yet abandon God, but there is no muzhik who would dare to open the church door.

All others answered the questions and chatted freely, only the chairman of the kolkhoz stayed quiet.  They did not pay heed but the Patrol leader and Dad took him in his home.  Pauli followed them.

- Now boys, there is no other chance to get any provision than this village. - Dad Savinainen said as they were walking behind the Russian.

The granary of the kolkhoz was locked with a heavy bar across the door.  This granary was also some kind of shop although without windows.  They requisitioned flour that that the village woman would bake into bread for the patrol to take along.  In that way the villagers could keep their meager stores and the Soviet Union was obliged to provide the supplies.  The chairman was clearly hostile, his wife even more, she grumbled like an angry dog as Dad Savinainen demanded government flour.

The women were overjoyed when let home unscathed from the assembly spot.

- Eh, They shall bake you pirogi (pasties) and put milk in the oven to be baked ! (Carelian delicacy) Other Carelian dishes, too!
- You better start with bread, pirogi only after that – Dad Savinainen advised them.

Soon big doughs were in process and the Finns were treated like favourite guests.  They put milk in the oven and prepared many other Eastern Carelian dishes.  They cooked fish and fed the patrol like relatives that had been missing for a long time.

They had sentries next to the road on two sides of the village.  They had to make sure that no one would come or leave without their permission.  This village was almost next to Dad and Mom Savinainen's ancient homestead .  Some of the people may have been their distant relatives.

An elderly man came out and began to carve oars . Pauli went to chat with him and gave him a pullover.  It was the one he had found after Lt. Vasunta had abandoned it in the forest.  It was a standard Army issue dark grey pullover with a blue band  across the chest and back, and this band made the old man apprehensive.

- This is a good and warm pullover, made of real wool.  But how dare I wear this because of this blue band?

He obviously knew what was the purpose of the band.

- Keep it under your coat so nobody can see it ! - I suggested ,

I also had a big "Professor" fishing lure that I gave him.  Others donated any trinkets they had, but the patrol did not have much to give the villagers.

This sixty year old man knew Savinainen Senior and it was a happy meeting.  They had known each other before the Great War as Dad Savinainen was living in Carelia.  They had also fought against Germans in the Eastern front of the Great War in the same outfit.  Now the brothers in arms had met! The starik was overjoyed, it was time for a party!  Three spirits bottles were left, mine, Dad's and Lt Hämäläinen's.  There they had a drink to begin with.

- Do bring us some tea, will you, let us make a grog,  - Dad Savinainen said to his comrade.

The man came with a half full big cup of tea, which was filled with spirits.  The veterans took a drink, then Pfc. Nekkonen and Hämäläinen, and Iivo Loskin who never passed a chance to get a drink.  After the second cup the drink began to creep into their heads.  More was needed but their bottles were empty now.

- Perkele, one does not meet with a friend like you every day, we must get some vodka to celebrate! - the old man decided.

And vodka was found because the kolkhoz shop included everything people needed.  Then a wild party started!  Vodka was drunk and more of it was found.  Soon music was called for.
- They must find a balalaika player, the drunken old man decided.

A musician was found.  He sat on the stairs and played his balalaika so well that two village men began to dance a folk dance on the yard.  Dad and his friend the stark sat on the stairs with an arm over each other's neck talking lividly in Russian.  Pauli was worried.

- Pipe down a little with your singing and shouting, you can be heard kilometers !  Soon the Vanyas will be here and they are going to evict us double quick, - Pauli warned his Dad.

- Be quiet son, nobody's coming here!  And if anybody comes, you have got guns, shoot with them.  Listen son, I have been with this man in such a spot where thousands of men were killed in one hour.  If a few hundred Ruskies have been chasing us, never mind about it.  It is so seldom that you meet a friend like this one and now that I met him, we are celebrating! - Dad Savinainen told his son.

- I admit that but anyway Russians are chasing us, and  now that we are on the beach of this lake they can surround us here, and we shall have no escape, - Pauli tried to reason with him.

- Just shut up son,  - Dad Savinainen said
- All right, we have got our radio transmitter, let's inform the commanders that we have taken Pölkkylä village.  If they only send reinforcements we could keep this village that was taken without battle. - Pauli suggested.

Pauli left the old men alone and joined the others.  Who knows, soon they may have decided to send the message he suggested !

Some men had worn out shoe soles in the long march in the wilderness.

- Do you have a shoemaker in this village who could fix our boots ? - they asked the village women.

- Yes my good man, there is a shoemaker, the women admitted and went to get him there.

The boys had their boots fixed and in the meanwhile they loitered on the yard barefoot.  Pauli thought to himself: How long is it possible to be this reckless ?  They might have to leave double quick soon !

Pauli had already been as sentry one time that day.  They did not trust the dancing would guarantee peace but kept careful vigil.

As it was again his turn Pauli lied down on the roof of the potato pit. Coverage was good to every direction over the fields. The road to Särkijärvi was a little farther away and no movement could be seen.  There were vegetables growing on the field next to me and a young woman was working at it, a really plump one with big tits.  She did not see me but went on with her work, bending over with her bum at Pauli.  She did not wear knickers, Pauli could freely peek under her skirt.  

Another man came to take his turn.  Back in the village Pauli told Ilmari that he had seen a nice looking girl in the vegetable patch.

Pauli had also the next sentry duty shift and the girl was no more there. There was nearby a barn or some such building, and it was Ilmari who came out with the girl!  She adjusted her skirt as she came.  Ilmari was a man of the world!

Later on the yard Pauli confidentially asked Ilmari:
- I believe you did something in that barn ?
- Nothing at all. I just went in to have a smoke when passing by.
- Smoking, eh? I hope you did not ignite the haystack?

He did not respond but Pauli had seen enough.

It was afternoon.  No Russians had been seen so far.  The noise of celebration began to die down .  Savinainen Senior and his friend sat still arm over each other's neck, reminiscing the days of their youth.  They even cried every now and then.

The patrol had to get ready and get out of the village. They could not settle there.  They had not received any news from the outside because their radio was just a transmitter.  The villagers were equally ignorant about Finland's role in the war.  They just knew that "Germani" had invaded Russia.  

The villagers wanted the Finns to stay.  They promised to heat their saunas for us and keep us overnight.  Obviously they could not stay there overnight.  There could be Russian soldiers on the road through the village and then there would be a bloody encounter .  The civilians would then suffer because of the partrol.

- They never intended to risk civilians with their actions.  They had been given strict orders not to hurt any civilians.  Their task was to reconnoitre and do sabotage on rail lines, Their interest confined to military objects.  Enemy soldiers were their fair game, else it would not have been war.  Killing in open battle was OK but it was forbidden to kill civilians.

Russian partisans attacked military targets likewise when in Finnish territory, but they also often killed civilians. Pauli was later a witness himself, he had carried dead old women and three month old babies left behind by partisans.  He could never himself have committed such acts.

In different circumstances Pauli would like to have stayed longer in the village.  He met a local girl, a pretty 16 year old.  They discussed in her dialect.  She told Pauli that her mother had died and her father had been deported to Siberia.  She was taken care of by her relatives.  Instantly Pauli was infatuated by her. She prepared him oven baked milk, an Eastern Carelian delicacy.  Pauli told her that I could take her to his home if she wanted to,   She promised to come since Pauli was willing to take her.  Pauli was pleased as he went to talk with his Dad to get his permission to take her along.

But Dad Savinainen did not want to as much as hear about his plan.

- My dear son, don't even dream of doing anything like that. We have a long and dangerous road ahead of us.  We may get pursued and we may have to fight.  It is too dangerous for her.  Let the matter drop now.  Maybe Finns are going to take all of Carelia and then she will be in our territory.  Then you can find her again, - Dad told Pauli earnestly.

Pauli had to admit that Dad was right.  He had to leave the girl there. Although she so much would have liked to take her home.  His Mom was a Carelian and the girl would have had a good life with her

Now the loaves of bread were baked.  They packed them into their backpacks.  There was enough of it for us to get to Finland unless they were delayed.  It was not likely that their pursuers had given up.

They left the village marching in the direction of Särkijärvi.  They had to make a detour because the villagers kept asking where they were going.  They told them that they were going inland and they had recently arrived from Finland.  The Finns knew that the kolkhoz chairman would have a message sent to Russian soldiers about their visit as soon as they have left.

They found a fat young pig at the edge of the village.  
- Iivo, take that piggy along on top of your backpack, - Lt. Korhonen said.
- It is a long way to Finland and we'll have something to roast.

They continued some kilometers to the direction of Särkijärvi and then they bounced into the forest.  After a short diversion they headed for Finland.  They spent the night on a riverside next to the village.

Later they heard that a messenger had been sent at once to inform the soldiers.  Soon came a rider, a Carelian born Russian soldier or politruk maybe, who had remained mounted and with a drawn pistol interrogated the villagers about the direction the patrol had gone.  They answered truthfully, of course.  Then this boss rode on as if trying to catch us and to prove his courage to the villagers.  He may as well have pretended, at least the patrol never saw him chasing us.

There was a bridge across the river next to their camp.  They fished from the bridge and caught perches and pikes that they cooked in their campsite.  They saw nobody on the road.

7. Wilderness march

They set out early in the morning.  Their only task was now to try to get home and find some more provision en route.  

By accident they found a clearing with some log buildings in the wilderness.  Without command they spread into a chain and approached the camp carefully, expecting to find soldiers.  Soldiers had been there, but they were gone.  There was a coffee kettle on the stove, and they had cooked and dined there recently.  There were lumps of block sugar on the table and mahorka tobacco.  They found a bag of millet grain in the porch.  They packed it all in their backpacks, including Russian pea soup packages, dried vegetables and buckwheat which makes good dark porridge.

They loitered about the camp for a while but no one came.  After this minor resupply it felt better to start the passage that they knew would be heavy.  The largest wilderness of Europe was ahead of us: the Pieninkä wilderness.

The terrain in Pieninkä wilderness is mostly very difficult.  It resembles Lapland in many respects, and it is said that woodland reindeer live there.  They did not meet any although they hoped to.  Once they had to climb a high fell because going around it in difficult terrain would have been no easier.  Climbing took on their strength.  The entire journey had been constant strain on the men.  Their food had been insufficient which was taxing their strength.  Lack of rest under the strain of being pursued took its toll also mentally.  Some of the men became prickly and impatient, others indifferent.  The men did not want to chat and did not appreciate jokes any more.

The worst of all was lack of tobacco.  Wise was the man, Pauli thought, who has said: it is a joke when you are out of bread, but an agony when you are out of tobacco.

- If only they could get a smoke, food does not matter, the Sissis grumbled.

The Savinainens were not smokers, but Dad Savinainen appreciated the misery of tobacco penury.

Dad Savinainen confided Pauli a secret:
- I took with me two packs of Saimaa (cigarettes).  If the men seem to be totally losing their nerves, then the smokes are called for and I shall give them to the boys.  But do not tell anybody yet!

Their outfit included some older men.  Dad was almost fifty as was Pfc. Nekkonen, whose strength began to diminish in the Pieninkä wilderness.  Dad also was unwell, he had fever and he lost his appetite.  He did not want to delay the patrol and suggested to remain there.  

- You boys just go home and leave me here to have some rest.  You can leave me some provision, I shall be alright.  I shall then follow you alone.

Pauli did not agree.
- You others may continue but I shall stay with Dad.  I cannot leave him here alone and sick.

- The old man is not going to be left in the wilderness, neither are you, - the patrol leader said with emphasis.
- They all are going to stop here for a while to have a rest, we shall continue not until everyone is able to hang on.

They arrived at an old farm.  Dad Savinainen told it was the only homestead in the Pieninkä wilderness.  The house had been abandoned long time ago.  Savinainen said that the Bolsheviks had shot half of the people while the rest had managed to escape .  The floor had collapsed, it was uninhabitable in every respect.  But there was a small storage house with some roof left which was their refuge for a few days.  

Pauli did his best to take care of his Dad. He cooked buckwheat porridge in the milk pail that he hung over a campfire, and gave it to his Dad.

- Do try to eat something.  You know it for yourself, a world wise and experienced man, that it is food that gives you strength.  

Dad Savinainen did eat a respectable portion of the porridge and began to recover.  Pfc. Nekkonen also regained his strength and they were able to continue.  Marching was difficult.  Their feet were chafed bloody and many of the men had minor injuries.  Sometimes they had to support each other by the arm but they kept going homewards step by step.  The provision from the village was eaten, hunger and tiredness strained their nerves.  There were some squabbles even.  Nobody had any strength to tell jokes, and nobody would have tolerated any .

They arrived at a large pond.  Patrol leader Hämäläinen told us:
- Let us wash up a little there.  Let us fish and rest, then we'll cook the catch.
- Yes, and after that when you are going to light up, that is really the best, - Dad Savinainen hinted.
- Where the hell are you able to conjure any smokes here? - the boys were suspicious.
- You can dream of it, can't you.  Just wash yourselves and get some fish.

Washing refreshed the men as salty sweat no more smarted their skin.  They fished with lures and got enough fish to cook it.  Their bellies would be filled for a moment but fish was weak food for men hiking in a difficult terrain, if one did not get it daily.  They cooked and ate.  The boys remembered that Dad Savinainen had talked about "Saimaa" cigarettes and pined for them, imagining tasty smokes.

Then Dad produced a pack from his backpack.
- Here is for you !

Their joy was indescribable.  The boys put the cigs between their lips with glimmering eyes and greedily inhaled.  It tasted good !

-Good but too little of it, - someone said

- Never mind, I have one more pack but we shall use it more sparingly.  We shall cut each one in three so that you can enjoy more than once. - Dad promised them.

Home in Finland their commanders were nervous about the final leg of their journey.  They had sent messages every now and then to inform their location.  From their landing to Pölkkylä was a period when they had been under constant risk and trouble of pursuit.  Now they were wondering where the patrol had gone as they did not hear anything of them.  It was unknown to the patrol that Finland had joined the war at full force and the enemies had more to think of than tracking them.  The front line was at Repola then and the enemy had given up chasing the patrol, believing that it had already slipped in their own territory.

The patrol, however, believed that the Russians were at their heels.  They kept vigilance and set sentries every time they had some rest.  They expected the enemy to find them any moment and to give them a hard time.

A Finnish patrol had been sent to look for the Patrol Hämäläinen, with provision for them.  In the base they believed that their patrol was about to starve to death.  They had not told about the replenishment at Pölkkylä.  The supply patrol did not find them and the returning patrol did not know there was one to seek them.

They crossed the road from Repola to Porajärvi.  Finnish border was not far away.  The boys were totally out of food.  Pauli found pieces of bread in his pocket, small Russian rusks that he had found in a house.  Everyone got a piece the size of a man's thumb.  They sucked them to stave off the worst of the hunger.  

A little later they arrived at the Finnish border.  The men wanted to march on the road but Dad did not let them.

- Let us be careful to the end!  Maybe they did not stop the chase at the borderline, but they may have set  up an ambush in the Finnish territory.  If we are careless now, we may be trapped.  It has happened before.

They were standing on the deforested border line.

Pauli looked at the Sissi outfit.  It was a miserable looking one.  Their clothing was scorched and torn.  Some wore one leg of trousers on the boot, the other one in the boot shaft.  Others, with bloody feet, carried their boots under their arms.  Backpacks were empty and skewed on the shoulders.  Their gaze of the eyes was dull and exhausted .  It was as if the men had spent ten years in a prison camp.

Pauli looked behind, to Russia, and thought how long their journey had been .  How was it possible that they had made it with so few casualties ?  Pauli thought this would be his last patrol.

- Oh God, I wish I never have to make another mission. - Pauli thought.  He did not want to renew the experience.

Pauli could not know that this was just the beginning and more patrol missions would follow.  The war had only just started and patrols were needed for recce .

Dad Savinainen said it would be seven kilometers to the border guard base of Inari in Lieksa.  They marched near the road on a bad path .  Soon they saw ammunition boxes abandoned in the forest, also coats.  What the hell had happened ?  Maybe the Russians had invaded Finland.  Where would the front line be in that case?

Maybe they would have to march all the way to Lieksa until they would be among their own.

They found some tins and other foodstuff Russians had abandoned.  It seems they had had to hurry and leave their rations in the field.  They did not touch the opened tins but used the unopened ones, eating with gusto.  Now they would be able to march until the border guard base or even to Lieksa.  There had been but a little food when shared among fourteen men, but it was better than nothing.  They found some mahorka which seemed to be good enough for the boys.  They appreciated its fragrance and puffed thick smokes with great enjoyment.  

They went on and soon heard artillery fire and sounds of aircraft on both sides.  They climbed up a small hill and found Russian made three inch field guns aimed at Russia.  They deduced that those were Finnish guns because they were pointing East.  There was a grey Finnish greatcoat on one gun carriage but no sentry to be seen. The border guard base would be only one kilometer from there.

The border guard house was surrounded by thick birch thicket.  They stayed there and observed before showing us.  There were cars and one lorry on the yard, also Lottas among Finnish soldiers.  They guessed they were there to receive us.

8. Homecoming

The patrol arrived at the yard.  One of the officers came to meet us.  He was surprised by their unexpected return.  Their last message home had been sent days ago.  Pvt. Kälviäinen, the radio operator, had been working at the Morse key as one of the antennas dropped from the tree interrupting his transmission.  He pulled the other antenna down also and did not care to send his message completely.  The incomplete message did not enable anybody to come to meet us at the right time.  But as they knew when they would be home approximately, there were people were waiting for us.

They were given right there on the yard tinned meat and every brand of tobacco: Työmies, Nortti (North State), any brand of smokes.  The smokers grabbed the fags first, but Pauli was interested in food only.  Again he was very hungry.  Soon a huge copper coffee kettle was carried to the yard and the men got all the coffee they could drink.  After eating, coffee and some rest they would be going to Kajaani.

Newspaper reporters were there just to photograph and interview us.  They photographed us from every direction and they did have something to photograph.  The patrol had struggled in the wilderness twenty and one half days and nights.  They were ragged and dirty.  Pauli was so young that he did not have any problem with his facial hair but the others sprouted long shaggy beards.  They said that I had slept in a windswept place where a gust of wind had shaved me.  Weak growth of beard had been useful for me, it was easier to keep clean and not so hot in hot days.

One with the rank of Captain - a front reporter maybe - asked us questions about their patrol mission.  He did not get us to talk much, the boys were so exhausted that they were not very willing to tell about their journey in the wilderness.  This publicity stunt annoyed them, all they wanted was to get a lodging and sleep as soon as possible.

Finally they got rid of the circus as they were ordered to board a lorry.  

The journey from Inari border guard base to Lieksa took them through rough and nice wilderness.  There were ridges covered by tall pine forest and swamps growing wild rosemary in white blossom, it would have been worth looking at.  But their eyes were soon shut even though the car swayed and shook on the uneven road.

They arrived in Lieksa.  The lorry stopped in the center of the small town and they got off.  There was a restaurant nearby.  

- If we had some money we would go and have some coffee there ! the boys dreamed.

They did not need any Finnish money in the patrol, so they did not take any with us.  Pauli had forgotten some in his wallet and now he found two hundred Finnmark, mouldy banknotes.  The wallet had got wet by sweat, by marsh water and by rain during the journey.  I handed the money to the boys.  

Here is for you, maybe they will accept them in the restaurant.  I do not need them, - Pauli said.

His home was in Lieksa, he did not need any cash.  There was no time to spend any money because they were granted only a few hours to visit their homes.  The Patrol Leader and two other Lieutenants hailed from Lieksa.  Each of them went to see their homes.  The Savinainens got a ride in a lorry to their home in Vehkakangas village.

They were home at noon.  Dad stayed back to tell  the driver when he would fetch us, but Pauli ran to the home yard. His brother saw him from the window and Pauli heard how he shouted in the house:
- It's Pauli !

As soon as Pauli got in Mom threw herself at him, shouting and crying of joy.  Dad Savinainen came in too.  Their unexpected return made Mom nearly flip with joy.  She had believed they had been killed in their journey.  Their return had such an impact that she fainted on the floor in front of us.  They picked her up and carried her on her bed, where she soon came to, and everything was fine.

After a few hours the lorry came to pick them up.  They had to leave and they climbed on the lorry bed already packed with the other men of their patrol.  They headed for Nurmes and the driver stopped in front of Restaurant Jukola in the center of the town.  They were soon surrounded by a crowd of boys aged six to ten.  Boys are by nature curious and inquisitive, so the patrol caught their attention , being dirty, ragged and bearded.  At the first glance they decided who they were.

- Where are you taking those prisoners of war ? - the boys asked the lorry drivers.

They waited for the answer of the drivers, but the boys did not get a definite answer.  They kept looking at us and deducting.  Now they spotted their SMGs that the men held upright between their knees.

- Why  did you not take their guns away ? - the boys asked indignated

The drivers refused to provide a clear answer.  The situation was amusing.  The boys obviously would have continued their questioning but the laughter of the patrolmen made them think again, and they asked no more question.

They had a break in Nurmes and had a look around.  They had taken their boots off to ventilate their chafed feet.  Pvt. Kälviäinen went in a shop barefoot.  He was hungry again and he wanted to try if a broke man could get a bread.  The shopkeeper was a good hearted old lady.  He pitied the miserable poor man.  Wondering how it was possible to be in such a poor state in their parish she gave him some bread, butter and Danish pastries.  Pvt. Kälviäinen returned to the lorry satisfied, with a food parcel under his arm.

9. Grande finale!

It was evening as they arrived in Kajaani.  A homecoming party was organised for their honour in hotel Maakunta. (Still today the top restaurant of the town. Tr.rem.)  There was no time to clean up or change clothing, They were already expected in the hotel.  They were photographed once more before they went in.

They must have been a "photogenic" gang since they were photographed so often.  It made Pauli wonder, all his life he had seen only photographs of people sitting or standing in their best clothes, washed and slightly smiling.

Patrol Hämäläinen, however, were something else indeed.  The boys suffered chafed bloody feet so they carried their boots under their arms, standing barefoot ,  Their clothes were scorched, torn into shreds.  Some were showing their shoulder, others presented their undies through torn trousers.  Pitch oil had blackened Their mugs into shades of black and brown together with soot and smoke sticking on it.  Beards were like bushes, black and scraggled.

At first glance they may have looked like a band that had escaped from Siberia all the way to Finland.  They had forgotten about their pistols, they still had them on.  Fewn of the men had a holster, they just dangled on the strap around their neck  and they had stuck the guns in their pockets or mostly under their belts.  They were so accustomed to wearing their pistols that they did not remember to remove them.

The men marched in file to the restaurant cabinet.  They had to cross the main hall of the restaurant.  The hall was full of both officers and civilians.  There were big rosettes on the collars, clean stripes on shoulder patches and fine black suits.  The women were well dressed and made up.

The audience was scared as the patrolmen entered.  They were a glaring opposite to the fine patrons of the hotel.  Everybody stared at the men with surprise and the doorman forgot that they were  not wearing ties.  Despite their recent outdoor life they were sadly lacking freshness.  Their soiled clothing and the ingrained smells of smoke, sweat and dirt must have stung bystanders' noses.

- Which damn band of brigands is that ? - some officers were heard to wonder.

The men went in the cabinet with their bare foot slapping on the floor, where officers were sitting at a table and the doors were slammed shut.  The table was horseshoe shaped.  The "bottom" of the table was occupied by high officers.  There was a one armed Jaeger Colonel (Nordström, Tr, rem.) and other Finnish and German big brass.  The table was loaded, bottles of spirits one for each half a meter.  Glasses gleamed next to plates and there was as much food as the table held.  

The waiters entered.  They had been told that the visitors are important men from the GHQ.  The hotel personnell was nervous due to the arrival of eminent guests , they had trained their procedure.  There was no room for bungling, everything had to proceed as it should according to the dignity of the guests.

Later I hear that the first waiter was about to stumble with his platter upon seeing the "eminent guests"- he  had seen at first only a band of men.  He wondered why criminal looking men had been allowed to enter.  Having taken a second look he had seen the officers who were sitting in the middle of the U shaped table.

Pauli was sitting next to Iivo Loskin and opposite to Ilmari.  He felt pangs of hunger.  At first they were served all kinds of soup and grasses.  Roasted beef or some other kind of meat course followed, it was served with potatoes and some kind of vegetables,.  It tasted good, anyway, and they ate with gusto.

Ilmari kept glancing at the spirits bottle in front of us.  He would have loved to have a little swig before the meal.  But they could not start drinking before the officers would allow us.  It was unlikely that the bottles would be just props?

Many of us would like to have started with a drink but the expected order "let's have a drink boys" was not given by the officers.  They had to contain ourselves and eat.

They ate for some time.

A Finnish colonel stood up and made a speech.  He welcomed the patrol home and gave them thanks for successful mission.  He told they were a head taller than ordinary men, he thanked and praised them.  Then a German colonel stood up and spoke in German.  They heard a word that sounded in their ears like "schnaps", at once Ilmari grabbed a glass believing it was finally the H hour. Pauli kicked him in the shin under the table to make him understand that it was not yet the moment for the drink, he had to suffer a little longer.  

Fortunately the German officer did mean the right thing, because he grabbed his glass and may have mentioned "Heil Hitler" in the passing.  So the boys downed a shot.  Most Sissis were hard drinkers, and anyway a few drinks never hurt anybody.  Then they had another to the honour of some commander and finally a third to honour the success of their patrol.  Bottles were getting emptier and many an inexperienced man was quite pissed. They began to talk louder and the room was full of loud noise.  

Their starved and suffering guts could not process the sudden strong and plentiful dinner.  Pauli and some others were afflicted by diarrhoea right there and then.

Can't tell you how urgent was their need to find the toilet !

They had to cross the restaurant hall , They had some problems in navigating but they found the WC door on the other side of the hall.  They got seated in the latest possible moment, fortunately there were unoccupied seats.  

Pauli looked at the mirror in the toilet room.  He had at that time used very seldom any alcohol and he was curious to know what he would look like in a state of drunkenness.  He found his cheeks were a little flushed under the crust of pitch oil, nothing else.

They had to run in the toilet several times with their stomachs rumbling.  The hotel personnell were annoyed, the hurried dashes in the direction of the toilets attracted attention.  It was too unaesthetic in this high class catering establishment, and they disturbed the other patrons.

Finally their Major saw that it was best to call it a day and he ordered his men to get up and leave for their base in Rokanlammi.  He came with his men to see that everything went OK.  Iivo was the last one to leave, and on the stairs an outsider said him something unpleasant.  Iivo flew into a rage.
- Perkele, old man, if I give you a good blow in the face, it'll be only a wet spot that remains!

His adversary was also willing to escalate ,but they pulled Iivo's sleeve and forced him to come with us.  It was the moment to get out because there were other hot headed among us just waiting for a fight to join. The quarrelsome man might have been hurt and a larger brawl was possible.

The Sissis did not care for the worries of everyday life.  They used to live one day at a time and had a relaxed attitude with everything.  The wildest one among them was probably Ilmari Puisto, an old lumberjack of the best kind.  Often he got in trouble with the law and order, Their Major had to save him from the police jail every now and then.

Their lodgings in Rokanlammi were in a summer house built by one of their own men, an old Carelian W/O.  He had also built the sauna that was well heated when they arrived.  There was a bag full of spirits bottles, but Maj. Marttina warned against boozing too much.

- It would be better for you not to celebrate any more before you have had some rest and decent meals for some days.  You are too exhausted tonight.

As they had bathed in the sauna and the Major had left for Kajaani, the Sissis could not resist the temptation but uncorked some bottles.

- Hey boys, anybody who wants a drink says  "hep"!  Let us now have some of this now that we do not have to run away from the Vanya tonight.  We did finish that trip, finally!

One hour later none of would have been able to run from anybody.  They were asleep, drunk or just plain tired.

For three days they rested eating, drinking, replenishing their strength.  Then in the evening Maj. Marttina came to the base and assembled us.
- Now put on clean and decent uniforms. We are going to have another party in the hotel tonight.

The party was just as lavish as the homecoming party had been.  Now they did not attract any attention in the restaurant because they were decently clad and groomed.

The mood in the party was in their opinion not the same as it was the first time.  Germans appeared to praise us and they patted their shoulders.  They made speeches in German that the Finns listened without understanding one word. The highlights were interpreted but the men were not in an appreciative mood.  In Their opinion the speakers admired themselves and did not really care about the Finns, the Sissi gang.  They ate, they drank and they listened without enthusiasm.  They were still vexed about the extra journey beyond the Stalin canal that the German airmen had caused us by their bungling.

[The Sissis were decorated with an Iron Cross II each,  which Simanainen Jr. failed to appreciate since he does not mention it. Tr.rem.]

After the party they returned to their base, one more night and they would be going home.

The next day the men were in Maj. Marttinen's office in Kajaani.  They were given their furlough documents and They finally were able to get home for a while.

The patrol was finally over.

(18189 words)

[Rene385273]

Hi,

Thank you for your tremendous work. It helps foreigners as my self to understand the wars through personal experiences.
Lotvonen you wrote:
"Also I made it a separate topic, it is easier to discuss about the name of the operation for example.
The second part will be submitted in a couple of days."
I hope it is okay that I ask some questions in this thread. Otherwise please let me know, and I will recorrect it.
_____

My question is both based upon the patrol described but also any other possible missions conducted by Er.P 4, Sissi-units or similar.

- Is it known, if similar missions existed and was completed before 22. June 1941 by the Finnish forces, (maybe during the Interim Peace)? – the patrol was referred to as “patrol no. 5”. Did other patrols exist from the same day: patrol no. 1-4? or was this number out of chronology matters, and 4 similar missions were, and was prior to this mission already completed?

- If similar missions existed and was completed before 22. June 1941; was it done with a military or reconnaissance target as perspective? (This mission had a clear military purpose and target: sabotage. Sabotage the locks of the Stalin Canal, and secondary sabotage the Murmansk railway.) Was sabotage done in Soviet before the 22. June 1941?

- Did these units’ practise parachute, and did Finnish soldiers ever parachute behind “enemy lines”?

- Did Russian use the same tactic and operated in Finland before the 22. June 1941 in small or larger groups/units?
(Like patrol no. 5: Small units of 15+ men, operating in civilian cloth with weapons, etc)

/ thanks in advance'

[Lotvonen]

Pekka Savinainen was born in Russian Carelia in the 1890s. His life was almost constant warfare: he participated in the Great War as officer in the Imperial Russian army, in the Carelian Liberation wars; Winter War and Continuation War in Finnish Army.

As the Finnish GHQ organized long distance patrolling during the Winter War, Pekka Savinainen was among the most experienced men. He also had his 17 year old son Pauli transferred in Sissi trainining during the Winter War. As the Continuation War broke out dad and son made together Pauli's first patrol. Pekka and Pauli Savinainen participated in the patrols in the ranks of Detachment Marttina until the end of the war, together and separated.

Dad vas Pauli's most important trainer. His war experience and skills plus familiarity with the local conditions made Pauli feel so safe that in the beginning he had no idea what might happen during a patrol mission. Pauli Savinainen marched about 4000km during his patrols, experiencing many a painful incidents. (Ref. Isä ja poika kaukopartiossa: Pekka ja Pauli Savinaisen sotamuistelmat, ed. Irja Kortelainen, published 2015)
Dad and son were brothers in arms but the war tore the family apart. Pauli's sister Pola (mentioned in Pauli's story) was enlisted by the Soviets to spy for them; she was found out, court-martialled and given a death sentence. Due to appeal for mercy and her father's military achievements Pola was spared. Marshal Mannerheim had her death sentence commuted to lifetime in jail. After the war she had to be returned to Soviet Union where she was sentenced for two years of hard labour in a logging camp having surrendered to the enemy.

After the weapons cache case was revealed “Sissis” or long distance patrolmen were hunted. Pekka Savinainen was arrested by the police and interrogated, also Pauli Savinainen was a wanted man. Pekka, Pauli and the rest of the family escaped to Sweden. Pauli and his family returned 13 years later. Pekka (with his antisoviet record) stayed in Sweden to his death.

[Lotvonen]

Some answers to Rene:

1. Statistics office of Foreign Department of Finnish GHQ sent maybe 50 secret patrols, mostly two men, over the border by June 1941. (Estimate, documents were destroyed in Sept. 1944). At least seven men were killed and one taken prisoner by Soviets.
The purpose was to find out whether Soviet Union was preparing for an invasion. Data about road and railway traffic, building of roads and fortifications,transport of roads and war material, resettling of civilians and their number was needed.
Sabotage was prepared for not until 20 June 1941.

2. Parachute training courses were organized but seldom used in practice. Never by June 1941.

Source:
"Vihollisen selustassa, Päämajan tiedustelu Neuvosto-Karjalassa 1939-1944", Keuruu 2000 ISBN 978-951-1-22154-8

[Lotvonen]

More answer

- Is it known, if similar missions existed and was completed before 22. June 1941 by the Finnish forces, (maybe during the Interim Peace)? – the patrol was referred to as “patrol no. 5”. Did other patrols exist from the same day: patrol no. 1-4? or was this number out of chronology matters, and 4 similar missions were, and was prior to this mission already completed?

- Did Russian use the same tactic and operated in Finland before the 22. June 1941 in small or larger groups/units?
(Like patrol no. 5: Small units of 15+ men, operating in civilian cloth with weapons, etc)
'

1. Each GHQ long range patrol unit (in 1941 Tied.1/V, /S, /K, /P) appears to have their own mission list . Os. Marttina (=/S) operation theatre were Repola and Uhtua. The task of patrols 1 to 4 was to get recce data for the planned attack to Rukajärvi which was then launched 3 to 4 July 1941. They were dressed in civilian clothing.

-Patrol no.1 15.to 20.Jun 1941 comprised three men marching 63 km in enemy rear. No documents have remained.
-Patrol no.2 16. to 29 Jun 1941 comprised four men, including a radio opertor, marching 180 km in enemy rear. Their task was to find out about the roads on the planned attack direction and count traffic on the Repola-Rukajärvi road. Their radio broke down. Enemy spotted them and gave them a chase, but no casualties on either side.
-Patrol no. 3 17. to 26. Jun 1941 comprised three men, marching 138 km. Their task was to recce the planned attack routes in the directions of Rukajärvi and Uhtua. Two men returned on the second day of the Continuation war but the patrol commander Cpl. Antti Vorho remained in the enemy rear until July 4 as patrol no. 4
-Patrol no. 4 17. Jun to 4. July was this one man patrol. Cpl. Vorho, an eccentric man and a "lone wolf" returned unwounded. No documents have remained on patrols 3 and 4.

[Lotvonen]

2. SU with their huge resources had a large and efficient organization for secret warfare, including at least NKVD of Carelo-Finnish Soviet Republic, Border Guard, Baltic Red Flag Fleet. They employed patrolmen, spies, agents, double agents and various infiltrators (eg. Finland-Soviet Union friendship society). These operators mostly did not do sabotage during the Interim peace. (However there is a famous case of "firewood saboteurs" alias "pinonpolttajat" who torched a firewood storage in Helsinki during a Communist demonstration.)

[Lotvonen]

One more detail: The bounty, 5000FIM, corresponds no more than 1197€ in 2015.

It seems money was not the issue for these Sissis.

[Seppo Koivisto]

Buying power could be low, but according to the Statistical Yearbook 1942 a farmworker's yearly wage in 1941/42 was 7500 FIM, if they got housing and meals from the farm. A foreman would earn 13000 FIM. Total yearly compensation including housing and food was 14000/24000. Inflation was high, wages rose in one year 20-30%. (page 313)

[Seppo Koivisto]

The buying power of 5000 FIM of 1941 is 1256 € in 2015.
http://www.stat.fi/til/khi/2015/khi_201 ... u_001.html

However, same time worker's real wages have risen over 7 fold.
http://www.globelicsacademy.org/2011_pd ... inland.pdf

I think one can sum, that to be as attractive as 5000 FIM was in 1941, the bounty should be around 9000 € today.