THE SUOJELUSKUNTA : 

A History Of The Finnish Civil Guard

From JTV - Finland For Mosin Nagant Dot Net

Edited By Charlie Bowles

Weaponry and equipment of Sk-organization in WW2:

In mobilization, Sk-organization transferred the majority of its useful weaponry to the Finnish Army, which used them to arm part of its mobilized units:

(Source: Suojeluskuntain historia, part 3).

The weapons transferred in mobilization included not only weaponry received from the Finnish State, but also those purchased with private financing. Sk members who belonged to the Army Reserve and owned personal rifles took their rifles with them in mobilization. Basically all serviceable and not extremely non-standard heavier weaponry was transferred to the Army. Even 1,200 M/28-30 rifles ordered by Sk.Y from Sako and manufactured during the war were transferred to the Army, which re-issued them to arm new Divisions. Only rifles, Bergmann SMGs, and mixed heavier weaponry reserved for securing defense at home front remained in use at Sk organization. This proved problematic to Suojeluskuntas when large number of volunteers wanted to join it during the Winter War and the organization had no weapons for arming them. In effort to remedy the situation Suojeluskuntas gathered all possible rifles and ammunition, no matter how non-standard they were, the resulting added weaponry included:

Mosin-Nagant rifle    915

Japanese rifle           576

German rifle               70

Swedish rifle              47

Berdan rifle                  3

Total                     1,611

(Source: Suojeluskuntain historia, part 3).

The weapons purchases from foreign countries had more of an effect. Sk organization got 17,415 of the Swedish Mauser M/96 rifles, while another 5,865 went to training centers. Another newly acquired weapon issued for use of Suojeluskuntas in large numbers was the ill-reputed Chauchat M/1915 light machinegun. Sk Districts got 473 Chauchat LMGs while training centers received 845.

After the Winter War only a small part of the former Suojeluskunta rifles were returned. The Finnish Army increased its wartime strength so fast that it still had a shortage of rifles, while M/28 and M/28-30 rifles it had received from Sk-organization were among the best ones it had. In this situation Sk organization needed more Mosin-Nagant rifles, so new orders were made to Sako. When it came to financing purchase of submachine guns ,Sk organization introduced special arrangements for private SMGs: Private individuals could finance purchases of Suomi M/31 SMG for Suojeluskuntas. The SMG purchased this way would be marked as Sk weaponry, but even during war it would not be taken outside local Suojeluskunta. During peace the SMG would be used for training in local Suojeluskunta and during war it would still be used locally. When the Continuation War started these private SMGs were issued to home front training centers. More private SMGs were acquired during the Continuation War.

When the Continuation War started, a large part of Sk organizations weaponry was again transferred to the Field Army and military training centers. Sk organization received some Swedish Mauser M/96 and Italian Mannlicher-Carcano M/38 rifles as their replacements. During the Continuation War, the HQs of Home Front troops also managed to acquire pistols (mostly Beretta M/34) for Suojeluskuntas. However the most important weaponry purchases for Sk organization during the Continuation War were purchases of domestic Mosin-Nagant M/39 rifles.

Weaponry was not the only thing transferred by Sk-organization to the Army. Sk members serving in the Field Army (about 65,000 men) took their Sk uniforms with them, but also all other clothing material purchased with State funding and clothing acquired by Sk District HQs, local Suojeluskuntas and their members were given to theFinnish Army. These Sk uniforms and other equipment allowed equipping of 15,000 men. The Amounts of equipment gathered and supplied by Sk-organization to the Finnish Army were also huge on a Finnish scale. A few examples : 72,000 horses, 45,000 horse-towed sledges, 120,000 pairs of skis, 29,000 axes, 15,000 saws and  7,630 tons of barbwire.

The Interim Peace (1940 - 1941):

During the Interim Peace, the Finnish Army went through reorganization. The position of Sk-organization in Armed Forces, however remained pretty much the same. The mobilization system was changed so that the mobilization task of a separate Area Mobilization System (in which Sk-organization had an important part) was now transferred totally to Sk-organization. Because the mobilization for the Winter War had succeeded so well, now Sk-organization would handle the mobilization work for the next war. The new Finnish wartime Army was to have 16 divisions, with 48 infantry regiments (JR) and 48 field artillery battalions. The 13 peacetime brigades left behind from demobilization after the Winter War would each form one infantry regiment and
one field artillery battalion. Mobilization handled by Sk-organization would mobilize 35 infantry regiments, a similar number of field artillery battalions, and a large number of other units. Sk-district system was changed again. The new Sk District system had 34 districts and 33 of them were to form one infantry regiment and one field artillery battalion. The Helsinki Sk district was the exception, as it would form two infantry regiments and field artillery battalions. Two or three Sk-districts would form a Military County.

The amount of officers at Sk Area HQs and Sk District HQs was increased considerably. The amount of training personnel was increased dramatically (for example: the amount of junior training instructors increased over 10 fold). The mobilization system became even more decentralized than earlier. To improve chances of defense against sudden Soviet attack, positions for fortification artillery were made at suitable places, guns placed in them and crews for the guns already picked from local Suojeluskuntas. One small detail bringing together Army and Sk-organization was introducing the (Army) uniform M/36 for Sk use (previously Sk-organization had used M/22 and M/27 uniforms).

The Continuation War (1941 - 1944):

Mobilization for the Continuation War was as successful as the one for the Winter War had been. If stories are to be believed, some foreign embassies didn't even notice this Finnish mobilization for some time. YH-orders (YH =Ylimääräiset harjoitukset = Extra Rehearsals) were again the method used. The mobilization started on the 16th of June 1941 with mobilization orders for units formed at Pohjois-Pohjanmaa, Peräpohja and Karjaa Military Counties. At the same time one infantry regiment and one field artillery battalion were transported to the demilitarized Ahvenanmaa islands to secure them against possible Soviet attack. The second stage of mobilization in which all units were mobilized, started two days later (18th of June). The mobilization was made in 10 days. The Sk organization was ready as it could be and this time no large changes were needed. The earlier Sk District and Military Country system was kept intact. Home Front troops included Sk organization, war schools of the home front, and training centers.

The missions the Home Front troops got for the Continuation War were pretty much the same as during Winter War:

1) Training new soldiers for replacements and creating new military units.
2) Training home front troops to such a level that they could also be used for frontline troops.
3) Securing home front areas against enemy attacks (guard duty, hunting spiesand saboteurs, also anti-partisan duty in some areas during this war).
4) Air surveillance and air defense (including searching downed aircraft and crews).
5) Organizing traffic and transport (railways not included)
6) Organizing the civilian workforce for the Defense Department and also to some other jobs, in which the State was the employer (over 68,000 persons during the war).
7) Guarding, supplying, and organizing work for prisoners of war located at the home front. This was later transferred to the Finnish Army in 1942 as in the Winter of 1941 - 1942, the mortality among Soviet POWs became unacceptably high  partly so because their food rations were too small. The whole of Finland was suffering from food shortage that Winter and people locked up in other places (prisons, mental hospitals) were also dying from starvation, but still it didn't excuse this. Once the food situation improved and Army took over the POW camps, for the rest of the war the mortality among Soviet POWs dropped to the same level as among the Finnish civilian population.

Training centers were possibly the most active parts of the Home Front troops during Continuation War. In 1941 all extra reserves were called and trained in them. During the war those of an age born 1921 - 1926 were called to service and trained. In 1943 those men of a age born 1909- 1921, who had been earlier had been exempt from peacetime military duty, were conscripted. In the Summer of 1944 those of an age born 1902 - 1908 who returned home earlier during the war were called back, trained and used as replacements to fill the ranks of the Field Army for the losses it had suffered. The HQs of Home Front troops (previous peacetime Sk.Y) lead forming the bulk (Field Army training centers also formed some units) of new units for the Field Army. Most of the soldiers who had been wounded or become seriously ill were also returned from their treatment to their units through Home Front troops. The total amount of replacement soldiers sent by Home Front troops to the Field Army during the Continuation War reached almost 390,000 men and almost 126,000 of these had been wounded. In addition some 25,750 soldiers formed new military units.

Finnish Military training centers during the Continuation War:

Training centre type:                               Number:

- Infantry training centre                                    35

- Artillery training centre                                       5

- Signal troops training centre                              2

- Engineer training centre                                     1 

- Antitank training centre                                      1

- Cavalry training centre                                       1

- Supplies training centre                                      1

- Veterinarian training centre                                1

- Anti-chemical weapons training centre               1

Total         48

(Source: Suojeluskuntain historia, part 3).

Just as during the Winter War training inside Suojeluskunta was almost non-existent during the Continuation War and for much the same reasons: Sk-members who could have been trained and had been ordered to duties at the home front were busy and there weren't free training personnel around either. Suojeluskunta Boy Units gained new importance as their numbers were basically the only part of Sk members still at the home front and available for training. Suojeluskunta Boy Units became very popular among boys who had not yet quite reached the required age for military service and the number of members in Boy Units increased considerably during the war: In 1938 they had only about 30,000 members, in 1941 about 50,000, and in 1942 already over 70,000. In fact, during WW2 Suojeluskunta Boy Units become the largest youth organization in Finland. To recognize this, in 1941 the title reserved for members of these units was changed from "Suojeluskunta-pojat" (Suojeluskunta boys) to Sotilaspojat" ("Soldier Boys"). During the Continuation War the Finnish military allowed 17-year old volunteers, who had received military training, to volunteer for frontline service. Those volunteers, who had received training in Sk Boy Units got through training given at training centers faster and got to frontline service faster. Activities of Sk Navy had been halted for the duration of the Winter War. In1941 Sk-Navy was considered unnecessary and its officers and equipment transferred to the Finnish Navy.

Two shots of a "Soldier Boy" as would have been seen in messenger duty 1941-44.  Top right is the patch worn on their tunics.  Bottom right is a handbook for the organization - 1941.

The HQs of Home Front troops also took part in demobilization after the Continuation War. Only conscripts (privates & corporals born in 1925 and reserve NCOs & reserve officers born in 1924), those who had not yet served 350 days and permanent staff remained in the Army and fought the Lapland War against the Germans. All other Finnish troops (almost 430,000 men) were demobilized between the 30th of September - 4th of December 1944. The Home Front troops were demobilized between the 20th of November - 30th of November 1944.

The End:

On the 19th of September 1944, Finland and Soviet Union signed a truce agreement which ended the Continuation War. According to the 21st article of the truce agreement Finland committed itself to: ".abolishing all Hitlerian-minded (fascist-natured) political, military- like and military-natured, and other  organizations which practiced propaganda that was against the United Nations and especially hostile to the Soviet Union".

When the truce agreement was signed, early on the Finnish Parliament and Finnish military didn't think that Sk-organization would be counted as such an organization. During the last days of September 1944 the Finns started that to suspect that Soviet leadership was about to demand abolishment of Suojeluskuntas and started their own preparations. The Finnish plan basically was to establish a new "Aluejärjestö" (Area-organization), which would have been under command of the Commander of Defense Forces. The Area organization would have been part of the Armed Forces with tasks quite similar as what home front troops had handled during the war. Its member would have had uniforms, but weaponry would have been in warehouses of the organization. The new Aluejärjestö would have basically replaced the old Sk organization, which would have been abolished. Part of the plan was to hide the State-wide reservist organization for defending the country voluntarily inside the new Area organization. In this way the new Area organization would have continued the work of Sk organization.

But the Soviets acted too fast, on the 30th of October Andrei Zdanov, who was the Soviet leader of the Allied Control Commission (which officially controlled Finns following the truce agreement) in Helsinki wrote a letter to Finnish Defense Minister Walden with strict demands. The Zdanov's letter made clear that the Soviets considered Sk organization as one of the organizations mentioned in the 21st article of the truce agreement and demanded abolishing the Sk organization by the 7th of November 1944. Another reason given in this particular Zdanov's demand was based on maximum size limitation of the Finnish Armed Forces set in the truce agreement. The truce agreement set the maximum allowed size of Finnish Armed Forces at 37,000 men and Soviets claimed to fear that the Finns would be able leave a large number of extra armed troops in Suojeluskuntas. The Soviet reasons for the demand can be quite a contradiction: They claimed that Sk Organization was a separate "Hitlerian" (fascist) organization, but at the same time they wanted to counts its members as soldiers and a part of the Finnish Armed Forces. Part of the demand also made clear that Finns were forbidden to establish similar organization in the future.

The Finnish politicians didn't have any options. The only choice was to abolish Sk-organization and fast. The Finnish government gave its proposal concerning abolishing of Sk Organization to the Finnish Parliament the same day. It took just nine minutes for the Finnish Parliament to forward the matter to the Board of Defense. The next day Parliament took only 5 minutes to forward the matter to the next Parliamentary Board, whose decision was also needed. The matter came back to Parliament less than an hour later and the final vote about the matter was taken at the Parliament on the 1st of November. During the process the matter had been addressed only twice in Parliament. The first speech (given by one of the establishing members of Suojeluskuntas) thanked Sk-members from their hard work and sacrifices, while the other speech (given byan ex -Red Guard member of the 1918 Civil War) welcomed abolishing of Sk-organization.

Finnish President Mannerheim reinforced the law by signing it on the 3rd of October 1944. The law about abolishing Sk-organization was published on the 4th of October making it valid right away. The same day, Sk Districts become military districts. Two days later Sk Districts of the lost areas (Viipuri, Käkisalmi and Sortavala Sk-districts) and the previously demilitarized Ahvenanmaa Sk District were abolished. A special clearing organ handled the unfinished businesses of Sk Organization. The property of Sk Organization and organizations supporting it was given in part or donated to the State and municipalities. The other part was donated to charity (for giving financial aid mainly to war invalids, war orphans and supporting family members of those who had died in battle).

Even if Sk Organization had been abolished, large number of its previous members continued fighting a war against the Germans in Lapland. After WW2 the attitudes towards Suojeluskuntas and their former members were not too positive and the left-wing radicalism of the 1960s further spread old Soviet propaganda in Finland. Some parts of that Communist and Soviet propaganda were  so widely spread that they hampered objective research of Suojeluskuntas in Finland. Since the 1980s more objective research about the subject has started to surface.

Writers note:

This article was written from a request. I took the mission of writing after noticing that at the moment there doesn't seem to be any extensive articles about Finnish Suojeluskuntas on the net and there are really no books about the subject in English either. A list of books used as sources for this article is listed, unfortunately for non-Finnish readers all are only in Finnish. Among those not listed are a large number of books about Suojeluskunta and the Civil War, which either didn't have real effect on this article or didn't have anything to offer. As an exception to the rule, I would like to mention "Tie Tampereelle" by Heikki Ylikangas, which is an excellent book about Finnish Civil War, and in many ways contain fresh views of matters which earlier books had left uncharted. "Suojeluskuntain historia" series is the best source when it comes to history of Suojeluskuntas for those who have stamina for reading all three volumes, as the books have a huge amount of detailed information. "Sarkatakkien maa" is recommended for getting a good view about the political side of Suojeluskuntas and their relationship with the Finnish State. Like the name says, the recent National Defense Collage publication "Suojeluskuntalaiset - keitä he olivat?" is an excellent study about distribution of social classes and professions among Sk members. "Tuli and liike" gave perspective to sports in Suojeluskuntas while information from "Suomen Puolustuslaitos 1918 - 1939" helped mostly with descriptions of mobilization systems. "Raja railona, näkökulmia suojeluskuntiin" is valid book, but when compared to earlier mentioned books it is pretty much light reading about the subject. "The Russian Army and Navy in Finland 1808 - 1918" gave a good second view to the sequence of events leading to Finnish independence and the Civil War. Both the Finnish Civil War and Suojeluskuntas are still very much subjects of heated debate in Finland, so I don't expect all my countrymen to agree with this article. I tried to handle the most debatable subjects in such way that the reader can form his own opinions. Reading with thought and willingness to question motives is recommended with all books dealing about these two subjects.

SOURCES:

Suojeluskuntain historia (= History of Suojeluskuntas) book-series, volumes 1 - 3

Kari Selén: Sarkatakkien maa, Suojeluskuntajärjestö ja yhteiskunta 1918 -1944 (= Land of coarse cloth jackets, Suojeluskunta-organization and community 1918 - 1944).

Ali Pylkkänen: Suojeluskuntalaiset, keitä he olivat? (= Suojeluskunta members, who were they?)

Esko Lammi: Tuli ja liike. Urheilu maanpuolustuksen ja maanpuolustus urheilun tukena. (= Fire and movement. Sports as support of national defense and national defense as support of sports).

Suomen Puolustuslaitos 1918 - 1939 (= Finnish defense department 1918 -1939).

Risto Alapuro (editor): Raja railona, näkökulmia suojeluskuntiin (= Border as crevasse, viewpoints to the Suojeluskuntas).

Pentti Luutinen: The Imperial Russian Army and Navy in Finland 1808 - 1918.

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