Milsurp After Hours

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c98/b ... urtola.jpg[/pic]

I hope this succeed but this at leas is a picture of Turtola among his men during a fight.

Mosu,

You always have the best pics to post,when it comes to the Baltic conficts and such.

He has an interesting story about his death and what took place in the events leading to his death. His commander Lieutenant General Siilasvuo was a tough man who was loved and hated in Finland. Some referred to him as Siilasvuo 'Jalmari Verinen' which I think translates to “the bloody”. Turtola’s attacks had stalled in the areas near Murmansk and he was called a coward by Siilasvuo, which was incorrect as Turtola was far from a coward. He was just bogged down facing much larger and stronger Soviet forces. Later in this same area of battle Turtola was killed. He was promoted after his death to the rank of full colonel. Today the Finns call him a hero and that is how he should be known.

Siilasvuo is most known for command in the Winter War at The Battle of Suomussalmi and being the commander of Finnish operations in the Lapland War – including the BOLD move of the landing at Tornio. He was a good commander in many ways but had his bad side.

BTW – I was incorrect in that Martti Turtola is not the son but the nephew.

TaosBob

Thanks. This picture is from Continuation War from Lapland.

Tuco

Yes, it means bloody. Turtola and his many men were buried in the fighting place or near. The Soviet did not allow Finns to get them and so they were there for decades without proper burial which is here a habit for fallen soldiers.

In this way are the fallen Finns treated, proper. Not in pile. The front soldiers' gallows humor was sometimes "back home for Christmas".http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c98/b ... pioita.jpg[/pic]

Sad Mosu - Very sad. It is still not uncommon to see bones and such on some of the battlefields - Soldiers still where they fell so many years ago. It is a sad sight to see.

Search

Soldiers’ remains have been searched for in Russia’s area according a treaty and the found remains have been brought to Finland for burial. Russians make this too and the teams report each other if they find other side’s remains.

http://www.sotavainajat.net/perussivut/ ... nglish.htm

What is more sad is the invasion of these battlefields by people today who think they can disturb these grave sites by doing souvenir hunting. Several sites on the internet show the pillaging by some people who do not know that these are fields of honor. People who have done this should be ashamed of themselves.

During my last trip to Finland this was discussed in length with some Finns I met at the Turkku Gun Show.

The only right deed is to announce to authorities about the find.

Would you go to graveyard and begin to shovel somebody’s grave open.

souvenir hunting..

Most of it is for resale - Just check out Ebay and the "dug" relics. When you go to many battle sites now there is nothing left but for fresh areas of digging.

At the Summa base in Russia the areas where the dead fell are a part of a modern tank and artillery range. So the modern Russian gunners were shelling the areas that held their own war dead. They let us tour an area that was to be shelled and there were bones and such all over the place. There was an old Maxim shield that I located with a bullet hole still in place and I asked if I could have it. The Russians said it was fine as the entire area was to be blown up in two weeks - bones and all -so the shield was going to be destroyed. Amazing. I guess it is just a different view of life there.

Rib bones at the site of the battle of Egg Hill

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