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German Forces in Finland

Discussion in 'Winter and Continuation Wars' started by Kai-Petri, Feb 2, 2008.

  1. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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  2. C.Evans

    C.Evans Expert

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    Thanks for this Kai, this has always been of great interest to me. BTW, I think that HH PK Pic I sent you was taken in Finland or I may be mistaken ;-))
     
  3. Erich

    Erich Alte Hase

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    some surprises guys from a close KM former artillery personell gone Infantrie in 43-45 one of the last to leave Hela as his detachment tried to blow up the docks as the last ship sailed away to Copenhagen, Otto served in the very intense bloody fighting off the isles of Finland in 1944 and he was on the scene and very close to his Leutnant who called in the off-shore bombardments by the Prinz Eugen. anyway hoping to get his full story next week between jobs plus 3 great pics to share of him in Uniform both in the KM blues and field grey KM Infantrie

    headin out ........... alles gut !
     
  4. C.Evans

    C.Evans Expert

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    Lookin forward to the KM guys story and pics. I wonder if he also wore the blue belt buckle when in the KM Inf unit?
     
  5. Erich

    Erich Alte Hase

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    Carl he wrote a small private book which included 3 very nice pics I need to have him show me his labum whih there are very few pics of the war but ........

    one view of him with Helmet grey uni. and the coastal artillery badge worn proudly in 1943 dark belt cannot ell what color it is C. Anoater pic quite blurrey on his wedding day with his babe and Ursula was a gorgeous young woman, December of 44 he wears his EK II medal and ribbon out from his tunic. He looks aged terribly. From 1940 through 1943 until serving In Finland and the outskirts he was in a Flak Batterie protecting Kiel.

    a little side addition looking through his privately published book softbound, on page 57 a very small photo of the graveyard in Finland in September 44, Otto lays a wreath in remembrance, 3 shots are fired and his comments " in the following 3 months we lost 80% of our unit, it was hell on earth."
     
  6. C.Evans

    C.Evans Expert

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    Hi E, thanks for the explanation. It's very probable that he did have the blue buckle on his belt-but it's possible he had the green-grey one too.
     
  7. C.Evans

    C.Evans Expert

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    It appears that the guy who started this site must have become bored with working on it. I'd love to see something about that elevated Corduroy Log Highway that the Germans used. Also would love to be able to read more about the German withdrawell from Finland.

    Anyone have any updates on this?
     
  8. Kevin Kenneally

    Kevin Kenneally Member

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    The US Army published a book many years ago called, "German Forces in the Northern Theater of Operations".

    Covers from start to finish the Germans as they invade Norway Apr 1940 through the withdrawal of Finland. There are also US Army Pamphlets that discuss the corduroy highway and other issues with fighting in the Artic region.

    The US Army Center for Military History has these books. I'm not sure if they are out of stock.
     
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  9. Kevin Kenneally

    Kevin Kenneally Member

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    Does anyone have an Order of Battle for the Finnish forces and their smaller nation Allies?

    I've seen a Yahoo Group about Order of Battles, but need new and fresh info.

    Thanks.
     
  10. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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  11. C.Evans

    C.Evans Expert

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    Hi Kevin--sorry for the belate reply-I had not seen this till tooday. Thank you for this info-which will be something I will be looking into. I've always had a sort of "fascination" for the Winter War.

    A couple of mind-staggering casualty numbers concerning that war-as metioned on the Stalin behind closed doors doc.

    Estimated Russian losses were appx 1 million. Estimated Finnish losses at appx 50,000. If my math isn't as bad as it was in school-that's 20-to-1!! Pretty darn good for a tiny nation being bullied by a huge one. I've always had and always will have-vast amounts of respect for the Finns.
     
  12. C.Evans

    C.Evans Expert

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    There are several new books out giving rare or non-existant OrBats that are out. I don' have time to repost the titles but-they can be found in the Eastern Front books thread I started a few months ago in the books forum on this site. Also-there is another OrBat site which I THINK is called: Orders of Battle - Orbat.com News (America Goes to War) I'll check and post it when next possible-if I gave the wrong url? I THINK this site was started or at least-helped out in it's info by two authors-who did and are currently working on a 19 part series called: Armies of the Bear: Soviet Rifle Divisions 1-75-with 25 divisions profiled in each book-and takes place from 1917-1957.
     
  13. Kevin Kenneally

    Kevin Kenneally Member

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    Try this link:

    Online Bookshelves - Out of Print Section

    It is a beginning. Eventually, all the topics should be available.

    I also have the book: "German Small unit actions on the Eastern Front" that is also available in digits (5 parts at 6Mbs each) at another US Army site.

    Kevin
     
  14. C.Evans

    C.Evans Expert

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    Hi Kevin, thanks for the link and it sounds great. I will be looking into them especially for the small unit actions on the E/Front. That OOP book site is s great one. I'v been to it befor ebut never ordered yet. One book though not out of print but is hard to get that I badly need-is Klaus Patzwalls and Veit Scherzers book listing as complete a list as possible of all the some 27,000 to 33,000 German Cross in Gold Recipients. Reason the number is so vague is that is what I hear the totals were from two different sources.
     
  15. Kevin Kenneally

    Kevin Kenneally Member

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  16. C.Evans

    C.Evans Expert

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    Thank you Kevin, I grealy appreciate these links. I will be ordering something from them come November ;-))
     
  17. Totenkopf

    Totenkopf אוּרִיאֵל

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    Same story here, its no wonder that they are legends in war stories.
     
  18. LJAd

    LJAd Well-Known Member

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    I don't know what the sources of Evans are, but from Axis History Factbook the following
    Soviet Losses:
    KIA 71214
    Died in hospital 16292
    MIA 39369
    Total of dead :126875
    Wounded 264908
    Finnish Losses :
    Died (from all causes ) 26662
    Wounded 43557
    Source for the Russian losses :Krivosheev
    Source for the Finnish losses :Finnish ones ,but don't expect from me to write them :cool::p ,any body ever wrot something in Finnish ?:D:D
     
  19. STURMTRUPPEN

    STURMTRUPPEN Member

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    i am also interested in finlands contribution to ww2
     
  20. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Checked the book by Krivosheev and would not buy it after reading the comments section to be honest.

    Amazon.com: Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century (9781853672804): Colonel-General G.F. Krivosheev, Prof. John Erickson: Books

    And usually there´s the 1:5 dead vs wounded law. Seems to work pretty well for warfare, so check the values with this "law".

    Don´t have the actual numbers here with me but it is considered that the Red Army lost 200,000 dead, and losses incl wounded was 1 million. The Finns lost some 27,000, plus the 1:5 law wounded leading to total losses of some 100,000.
     

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