Dritte
Nordland
The photo history of the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen SS 1941-43
"Dritte
Nordland Suomalainen SS-vapaaehtoispatalkoona uvissa"
PREFACE
There are numerous books dealing with the various units of the Waffen-SS. Finnish volunteers have, however, until recently been dealt with in only a limited number of books. The Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS was among the first of the separate volunteer units, already raised in early summer 1941. Another matter that makes the existence of the Battalion rather remarkable is that it was formed of volunteers coming from a country not occupied by German troops. Finland and its war against the Soviet Union in 1941-1944 in general has not received much attention abroad either.
The number of volunteers sent to Germany in 1941 was about 1200, of which some 400 were already in early summer divided among various units of SS-Division "Wiking" and then sent to the front. The history of these men has not been included in this book, which mainly concentrates on the history of the Finnisches Freiwilligen Batallion der Waffen-SS. Officer training at SS-Junkerschule Tölz has been excluded as well.
As a book of photos, the aim of this book has not been to study the history of thee Battalion at the deepest level. Each photo is, despite that, still equipped with captions as accurate as possible. Lack of information and the passing of 60 years must still be kept in mind when examining the photos. The photos published in this book were mainly taken by the volunteers themselves, and thus contain hardly any real action shots.
The author of this book has for many years interviewed Finnish volunteers and been fortunate to gain access to their souvenirs of the war including valuable documents and photographs. Much of this historically valuable material has already been lost due to the war in both German and Finnish sectors of the Eastern Front, as well as in the post-war years. A number of these have, however, been recovered, and a selection of them is now published as a photographic history of the Battalion.
This book follows the book "Wikingin suomalaiset", written by Kari Kuusela and the author in 1996. That book is sold out, and there are no plans to reprint it again. This totally new and more accurate book has thus been published in order to fill the gap left by the earlier title. Since 1996 a remarkable amount of new information and previously unpublished photos have surfaces and these now appear in printed form for the first time.
No book like this can be produced without the assistance and time of several people. My foremost thanks go to all the veterans and relatives, for access to their private photo albums and other material. I would also like to thank numerous fellow collectors and historians who have opened their collections for examination. Malcom Gray from London deserves special thanks for editing the English text. Finally, my thanks to Kari Kuusela, for the layout and the maps.
The author would like to hear from fellow historians and others, should they have any additions to the contents or possess material related to Finnish volunteers.
Helsinki 20 April 2001
Olli Wikberg
