I am currently reading
När Finlands Sak blev Min by Winter War and Continuation War veteran Orvar Nilsson. Unfortunately for the rest of you lot available only in Swedish!
So far it is a great read, having dealt with the short battles of the Swedish vounteers in the Winter War, the unmoving positional war in the area of the river Svir (actually along the Jandeba) up until 1944, and now being thrown into the grueling combat on the Karelian Ishtmus at Näätälä, Tali-Ihantala and such places.
"Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union I have visited all the places where we fought. At the Jandeba river settlements had appeared and the vegetation changed. In the middle of my old position a field of potatoes grew. The trenches were still there, even if only a few decimeters deep, and the barbed wire also remained. But the strangest experience was to stand above ground and look over at the enemy side. We had not been able to do that in 1944. We were always below ground level and observed through trench mirrors.
Two times I have visited the Tali-Ihantala area. I was allowed to search for the remains of those of remained on the battlefield, even though this is a protected area along the border. The growth makes it very hard recognize oneself. But where you do, the memories sort of pours in over you. It is very surreal. It is much too quiet, no firing, no shellbursts, no screaming. The only thing that is the same are - the mosquitos. So you start thinking about what you did, if we did the right thing, why things turned out the way they did. You think alot about the fallen. We never found any of those we had to leave behind.
-- Orvar Nilsson (2000)
The Swedish volunteer company, August 1944. Lieutenant Orvar Nilsson on the far right (from his personal collection)
