About foreign aid to Finland during the Winter War

[Juha Tompuri]

a story he recounts in his wartime autobiography, “Sweet is War.” In his own words….

“… I was to instruct some Finns under a lieutenant, whose name was Antila, in our anti-tank devices. We went west to Rovanjemi, and for some days to Kemijarvi, and then onwards by sledge. We were near a lake, beyond which were the Russian lines. I never saw a battle while I was there. Antila spoke no English, but we conversed to the best of our ability in Finnish-Swedish. His ski patrol was to be used for special raids to harass the enemy lines.

We slept fourteen in the tent, a circular contraption strung up on a central stovepipe, which carried away the smoke from the wood-burning stove in the middle of the floor. Christmas-tree branches covered the ground; they gave out a delicious smell when the place grew hot. We lay, feet to the middle and heads to the tent wall, with the equipment and rucksack of each man next to his head. I was put between Antila and his second in command, who was a sergeant. It was a tight fit. As I roll around in my sleep, I used to fling out an arm and hit one or other of them, but luckily Antila was just as bad. When we woke at reveille the appalling muddle would have to be straightened out.

Antila was sturdy, with thick dark hair and a permanent grin on his face. I imagine he was only a little older than I and it soon became obvious they had orders to coddle me. I was never allowed to accompany them on raids and was generally protected from even the mildest dangers. I spent my time making “clams” to blow up tanks. “808″ or “plastic” was the explosive used for these charges, with a block of guncotton to hold the detonator and fuse. The whole was then wrapped in a piece of mackintosh, proof against damp, and fitted with magnets so as to make it cling, clam-like, to the tank. The tent was redolent with a smell of almonds and geraniums emanating from the explosives, and I got rather bored with sitting cross-legged on my blankets and gradually covering it with neat little rows of these samples of my handicraft. When I protested, Antila patted my hair and asked with a superior air, “Want to die young?”

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 5#p1687764

I would probably find a few more mistakes in that with some more digging, but unfortunately I don't have time at the moment, so I have leave that to others. I am now pretty much convinced that the information about English landmines was false.

Jarkko

Lieutenant Malcolm Munthe, Gordon Highlanders, was sent to Finland with some experimental mines and actually took part in a combat operation (ref. his memoirs). His official reason for being in Northern Finland was to oversee the arrival of British equipment and British volunteers.

In a meeting (8 January 1940) between Mannerheim and Brigadier-General Christopher George Ling, C.B., D.S.O., M.C., there was discussion of the supplies being sent from Britain and among them was "vibro-mines".

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Then I have a much fuzzier info on Munthe, according to the Swdish volunteers chaplain Munthe brought with him AT-mines that "looked like large cheeses" (Quoted in Fontanders de mörka åren)

Malcolm Munthe was actually SOE by the time he was sent to Finland, "after a hectic course in explosives" according to his obituary. That doesn't look like any of the WWII British "production" G.S. or E.P. antitank mines and fits none of the descriptions of the A.P. or A.P. Shrapnel mines (pics of British mines are few and far between); if its British and arrived with Munthe it's more likely one of the SOE munition types. I leant out my copy of MRD Foot's SOE ....and it never returned (maybe it was "turned" LOL), so I have no diagrams for those.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 7&start=45


Seems to be an Estonian at-mine:
http://lexpev.nl/minesandcharges/soviet ... /tm34.html
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 0#p1312362

Some similarity to the mentioned Estonian device from wikipedia:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Vandepeer_Clarke

Regards, Juha

[Mangrove]

According to T 19494/10, India donated 1,200,000 pcs of 60 x 30 cm jute sandbags during the Winter War. However, these were never used as sandbags but stored at a depot at Kuopio until the end of Continuation War.

[Juha Tompuri]

(Medical) Help from American Red Cross
Gum Camphor Powder etc
http://www.gettyimages.fi/search/photog ... &sort=best

[Juha Tompuri]

Calories from USA.
Photo perhaps from Continuation war but the boxes might have arrived earlier?

From local military HQ collection.