@Vaeltaja.
Thanks for moving us closer to the original text. However, the problem with literary translations is always to find the right balance between "direct translations" and "loose interpretation". At the moment we are on either side of that balance, so I have tried to create a compromise here between the two versions we have so far, bringing them closer together.
As anyone knows God is almighty, omniscient and farsighted in his wisdom. Thus he had once allowed a forest fire to burn down a few dozen acres of state forest in a sandy landscape near the town of Joensuu. As always people made great efforts to hinder his enterprise, yet he continued his steadfast scorching of the forest over an area befitting his future purposes.
@Jagala
The driver in a machine-gun squad is of course the driver of the horse (and cart, which will sooner or later follow the soldiers).
What made me wonder was that the guy doesn't seem to feature in the novel at all, and the men seem to be constantly carrying the machine-guns. Must be a result of literary necessity.
The two half-platoons of a machine-gun company lived quite separate lives: they slept in a different tent or dugout and they supported different infantry platoons.
I didn't know they would be that separated. Thanks.
Linna's main character is actually the half-platoon and the rest of the characters exist or appear only because or when interact with the life of the half-platoon (or because Linna needs them for the composition of the novel or as instruments of his "message").
Good point. There is almost basis for a thesis here: "the collective group as a main character". This is emphasised by the number of quotes not contributed to a single person but to the entire group.
However, Koskela is dealt with as a single character quite a lot, and it just feels a little bit strange that all we hear about his 2nd Half-Platoon is that it is practically reduced by some fifty pct. during a single confrontation with the enemy. It really feels as if Koskela is only commanding 1st Half-Platoon, or at least it did to me until I started sketching out the whole setup.
I don't see this as an error, on the contrary, just a small necessary compromise.