MILITARY KIT ISSUED TO FINNISH INFANTRY SOLDIER 1918 - 1945

The purpose of this page is to delve with matter of piece of military kit issued to Finnish infantry soldier with-in time frame from Finnish Civil War in year 1918 to end of World War 2. The weapons and uniforms of various kind issued to Finnish soldiers of the era are already explained elsewhere on this website, hence the purpose of this page is to mainly focus to all sorts of other items they received and also set some light in the matter how they used items of the military kit issued for them. This means for example what sort of clothing items soldiers were wearing under their uniforms and how they carried necessary items - such as ammunition, drinking water and food. The intend for this page is not just to widen the understanding of what the issued kit contained, but provide some historical perspective, since when this is written in year 2023 some of the issued items included are still very much in use. At the same time, I wish to make the information available for those with interest of re-enacting Finnish soldiers of the era.

Few words about markings found in Finnish items listed in this page. Most typical markings are manufacturers markings and acceptance markings. In case of Finnish Armed Forces markings follow a pattern of "INT/" or "Int/" followed by two-digit number - "INT" and "Int" are both abbreviation of Intendentuuri referring to administrative and supply department of Finnish military, which took care of acquisitions of such items. The two digit number following the marking is last two digits of the year in which the particular individual item was accepted and hence pretty exact indicator for its year of production. Finnish Civil Guar acceptance markings used in similar manner start with "SY/" or "Sk.Y/", which refers to Suojeluskuntain Yliesikunta (General Headquarters of Civil Guard), which handled Civil Guard's national level acquisitions. There were also other sort of acceptance markings used in other items. Finnish Army "SA in a box" property marking was introduced in June of 1942 and used after that until being replaced by "tower logo" property marking year 1969. Depending item markings could be engraved, metal stamped or stamped with ink.

The military kit issued to Finnish infantry soldier saw some changes during the particular time period of 1918 - 1945, but in theory the items issued in 1918 would have still filled their intended purpose during World War 2 and apparently some times they did exactly that. Soldiers of Finnish White Army was hastily equipped during war that had already started in a situation in which standardized pattern equipment did not exist, so what they were received was apparently very much based on what was at hand or could be obtained for the purpose. Much of the White Army soldiers left to war with what equipment they could personally muster - in their own civilian clothing with only white armband visually indicating their status as soldiers. February of 1918 Headquarters of White Army created list for equipment kit, which it tried to have its soldiers equipped and although the listed items were only capable of covering very basic needs of clothing plus carrying equipment for some ammunition and little else, one cannot avoid noticing some similarities in between the items listed at that time and later lists of issued military kit.

Military kit listed for soldiers of Finnish White Army in 18^th of February 1918:

Finnish White Army had items such as coats, trousers, hats and boots manufactured. Most of Finnish White Army soldiers were not lucky to receive complete uniform, with great many apparently ending up with mix of civilian clothing and issued military items. Finnish White Army uniforms are covered on this page (link). What is known at least some of backpacks that were being issued were manufactured by having fabric sacks (intended for transporting and storing flour or grain) being equipped with carry straps. Period photos show that at least some of these backpacks appear to also have outside pocket closed and flap on top of the backpack. One could note that the resulting backpack appears to be in concept somewhat similar to Russian veshmeshok, but apparently varying in size and detail. Items such as ammunition pouches and bandoliers used in year 1918 were often captured Russian items.

PICTURE: Soldiers of Finnish White Army photographed during ammunition supply. In foreground are Mosin-Nagant rifles arranged in pyramid shape piles and backpacks, which are of particular interest. They appear to have been produced from sacks of some kind and some have small kettles attached - the one best visible might be a coffee pot. Soldiers have ammunition bandoliers and soldier in the centre of photograph appears to have what may be Russian canteen hanging on his side. Considering how well equipped this unit appears to be chances are it was one of the conscripted Jaeger Battalions created during the war. Notice ammunition bandoliers hanging across chest. Photo source Helsinki City Museum (Helsingin kaupunginmuseo), acquired via Finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (348 KB).

Once Finnish Army was able to start equipping its troops with standardized military equipment, at least de facto the equipment kit issued by German Army to its soldiers during World War 1 became the starting point for that development. The practical reasons for this were most likely two-fold - financing (or lack of thereof) and influence of Finnish Jaegers - Finnish volunteers of Royal Prussian Jaeger Battalion 27, who basically formed officer corps early of Finnish military early on. After Germany had lost World War 1, equipment used by its soldiers became available as surplus, which was both widely available and cheap, plus after their experience serving in German Army Jaeger officers of Finnish Armed Forces were very familiar with German kit and how it was intended to be used. Another source from which Finnish military had "obtained" parts of military kit was Imperial Russia - with tens of thousands of Russian soldiers stationed in Finland being disarmed by Finnish White Army. But Russian sourced items were few in number and in general their use in Finnish Army proved to be brief.

The kit of military equipment intended to be issued by Finnish Army to its soldiers in year 1919 was considerably versatile and in fact so ambitious considering limited financing, that I suspect at least certain items listed on it were not actually issued at least in wide scale. It is also noteworthy that in practice at the time the issued items apparently contained both old mixed items originating from year 1918 and new standardized equipment, with newly produced properly standardized military equipment slowly becoming a norm in years following Civil War.

Military kit of Finnish infantry soldier in year 1919 (in theory):

(Source: Puolustusvoimien huolto 1918 – 1986, page 639.)

It must be noted immediately I am uncertain if fur vest was actually issued in any real numbers, since I have seen no evidence that would suggest so. The type of field kettle is also uncertain - it may have referred to mess tins of various type, but even that remains uncertain. Felt boots were only issued for certain units at that point. Tent equipment (exact translation of original Finnish language term: telttavaruste is also a weird one considering Finnish Army did not even start testing tents build from shelter half sort of tarps until mid-1920’s. This while some of the items on this list that may look unusual were actually issued by Finnish Army at the time. For example, Finnish military boots at the time had leather soles with steel nails and irons in heels until rubber heels were introduced to military boots starting mid 1930’s and started replacing older sole and heel design. Mattress cover made from cloth was essential piece kit for barracks, since there was no separate mattress, but the cover was filled with dry straw to create mattress to be used in bunk beds.

Field cup (kenttämuki: There were variety of field cup (drinking cup) in use, but official version was made from aluminium and oval-shaped when viewed from the top with rounded edge and two small steel loops attached to serve as a grip when exntended out. Finnish military acceptance markings on side of the cup on its top half. The field cups of this type issued early on must have been German surplus, with Finnish standard issue version being slightly larger direct copy. Also German World War 1 and early war issued field cup had been made from aluminium, but starting year 1915 it had been replaced in production with steel cup with enamel finish. As mentioned Finnish version has bit larger capacity - about 3.3 dl compared to about 2.5 dl of original German cup. Due to its material the cup is notably light – weighting only about 75 grams or so and yet quite durable if not abused. Finnish-made field cups are nowadays relatively rare in collector’s market. Acceptance markings in them suggest that most were likely produced in late 1920’s and they do appear in the collector’s market now and then, while reproductions are not known to exist. Acceptance markings suggest that they were manufactured at least in 1928 – 1939 with orders from both Finnish military and Civil Guard. It seems rather obvious that the cup has not really been planned for drinking anything other than water, so re-enactor be aware. With hot liquid such as coffee or tea the cup gets tends to get hot - do not burn your lips. Also drinking red wine from the cup is not recommended - if wine is acidic enough it may oxidize surface of the mug darkening its color and the process likely does not exactly improve taste of wine either.

World War 2 era photographs show Finnish soldiers with variety of other drinking cups as well, while this official field cup is rarely seen in them. Finnish industry at the time was producing variety of steel and enamel mugs, which may have been more common than the official field mug already during World War 2. And what is known it is likely that lot of soldiers probably did not have mug in their kit - in which case lid (pan) of mess tin would serve them as drinking cup.

Field bottle / canteen (kenttäpullo): Also, standard issue Finnish canteen design was basically direct copy of pre-war or early war German World War 1 era M.1907 canteen. Like German early World War 1 era field canteen, also Finnish one was made from aluminium. Again, it seems likely that early on Finnish Army used German surplus canteens for the purpose. Besides very similar overall size and shape particular Finnish and German canteens shared their most important features - screw cap made from aluminium attached to bottle with leather strap, canteen cover made from felt and leather strap harness with steel carabiner hook, which allowed canteen to be attached to soldier's belt or bread bag. Design of canteen cover and leather strap harness were changed sometime during World War 2, possibly circa year 1940. Ultimately both of them were replaced even with more simple design, which has canteen cover having integrated cloth strap closed with push dot button - it is likely also this change was introduced during World War 2, because Finnish industry was suffering from shortage of leather during the war.

Manufacturer and acceptance year are normally marked in canteen’s screw cap, which is also made from aluminium. Manufacturers include Oy Koru Ab (at least year 1924), Peltiteos Oy (at least years 1929 - 1940) and Kone- ja Silta Oy - Maskin och Bro (same company name first in Finnish and later in Swedish), which manufactured these bottles from late 1930’s well into World War 2. There exist also Continuation War era Finnish canteens with manufacturer’s markings missing and only acceptance year being marked in screw cap – it is possible that this was either done to conceal manufacturer or particular screw caps may have been replacement parts for screw caps previously gone missing. The internal volume of canteen is 0.75 litres and weight of empty bottle with canteen cover and strap harness is about 270 - 280 grams – hence when full the canteen weights about 1 kg.

PICTURE: Finnish soldiers photographed filling a canteen from a bucket in during War Games in August of 1939. Canteen appears to be early production version. Rifle is infantry rifle m/27. Both soldiers appear to be wearing uniforms m/36 and have backpacks. Corporal holding bucket has partially opened gas-mask bag with gas mask m/30. Photographer unknown, photographed during Finnish Army War Games in August of 1939. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 61). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (195 KB).

There are also some German World War 1 era medic's canteens with Finnish-produced replacement leather harness circling in collector's market in Finland. Since the leather harness for the particular canteen and its drinking cup is notably different design than the one used with Finnish canteens, harnesses must have been produced for these particular canteens. Some harnesses have been spotted having Finnish Civil Guard insignia, which seems to suggest that they were utilized by Finnish Civil Guard at some point.

Mess tin (kenttäkeittoastia / kenttäpakki / pakki): Probably the first mess tin design resembling what was later adopted as standard issue Finnish mess tin was Swiss mess tin, whose sheet steel version was introduced in year 1875 and its notably lighter aluminium version in year 1882. German Army introduced its own all aluminium structure mess tin Essgeschirr model 1908 based on Swiss model 1882 in year 1908, but decided to replace mess tin’s aluminium handle with one made from galvanised iron only two years later with this improved version being referred as model 1910. During World War 1 Germany issued two notable sub-variants of model 1910 – M.1914 manufactured from aluminium and M.1915 made often from steel with interior enamel finish and outside surfaces painted grey. German mess tin model 1910 had internal capacity of about 2 litres and in German use it was later replaced with mess tin M.31, which was standard German mess tin of World War 2.

PICTURE: Three Finnish calvalry soldiers photographed with their packs in year 1926. This may be related to experiments done for developing winter warfare capabilities for Finnish Army in 1920's. Ski soldier on the left has in his back a light pack with what appears to be German mess tin from circa year 1914 and what might be rolled up fur overcoat M/22 around it. Cavalry soldier in the middle has his pack attached back of the saddle. Ski soldier on the right has what was likely the standard pack used around that time - German tornister backpack with spare pair of boots and rolled up greatcoat or blanket around it. Compare light pack of soldier on the left to wartime light pack. Photographer unknown. Photo source Museums of Lappeenranta (Lappeenrannan museot), acquired via Finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (148 KB).

Finnish mess tin was introduced to production in year 1928 and is probably based of early variant M.1914 of German World War 1 German kidney-shaped Essgeschirr model mess tin, although in this case Finns were only one of the numerous countries to copy the mess tin design. Finnish mess tin is two-part design, with lower part (kettle) having volume of about 1.7 litres and lid (pan) having volume of 0.6 litres - so about 2.3 litres total. Weight of individual examples of mess tin m/28 seems to vary around 550 – 680 grams. As interesting detail Finnish mess is just the right size for standard issue spork to be pinned in a certain way inside it, although this is not very secure way of transporting spork, since if spork breaks free, it will start rattling inside the mess tin – hence this is not recommended. As mentioned main parts of the are aluminium, but smaller parts such as handle and wire hanger are made from steel. Handle is used to lock two main parts of the mess tin to another and works as a handle for the lid, while wire hanger can be used to hang the lower part on top of fire. Finnish mess tins were painted dull matt green. The handle design used in Finnish mess tin has spots in its handle for either vertical or horizontal leather strap to secure the mess tin closed or to attach it into bread bag or backpack, the handle design also allows using stick pushed into it to be used as extension while cooking something on open fire.

There were only three known Finnish suppliers for these mess tins, which are sometimes referred as mess tin m/28 (pakki m/28) probably due to first known acceptance markings being from year 1928. The earliest and rarest of those suppliers is Taloustarpeita Oy (rough translation: Household Supplies Ltd), which apparently delivered mess tins only in 1928 - 1930. The mess tins it provided are marked Taloustarpeita Helsinki. The second supplier is Kone ja Silta O.Y. - Maskin och Bro A.B., which produced mess tins for Finnish military at least in mid 1930's. The third and last supplier provided large majority of Finnish mess tins and went on producing mess tins for Finnish military until long into post-war era. Grand majority of mess tins that the company produced are marked Oy Alumiinitehdas Ab Järvenpää (Ltd Aluminium Factory Ltd), which was located in town of Järvenää), but later on the company changed its name twice. Later names for this company that was originally established in year 1923 and existed until year 1998 were Oy ALU Ab and Hackmann ALU Oy Ab. Mess tin is one of the few old military kit items still being issued for Finnish soldiers even today and its design has remained unchanged since 1920’s. Field kitchens of the era were best suited for producing soups, porridges and stews of various kind and food handed over to line of soldiers leading to field kitchen, hence soldiers typically took warm food (main course) into larger bottom part of mess tin, while other food items handed to them (such as bread, cheese, sausage, boiled egg, some sort of fruit etc.) were either taken in hand and lid of mess tin filled with drink (juice, coffee etc.) or they would first load other food items into lid of mess tin.

PICTURE: Soldier sent to pick up food with mess tins of his fellow soldiers. Food cooked in field kitchens was usually brought to suitable place near frontline in metal containers, from which soldiers would pick it up into mess tins. Since whole unit could not leave their positions to pick up food, it was normal for groups of soldiers to sent one of them with mess tins go pick up food. This explains why often soldiers would scrape their initials or even whole name into their mess tin. Soldier in the photo is wearing standard Finnish Army uniform of World War 2 - military uniform m/36 and has bread bag on his side. Photographed by Military Official Unto Hämäläinen in Vuosalmi in July of 1944. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 156151). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (121 KB).

Finnish military mess tin works well for food supplied by field kitchens, but it was not as well-suited for individual soldiers to cook their own food with it, this was due to limitations of basic design and having no heater provided with it and hence required either fire or iron stove to produce the necessary heat. For comparison one might note that German Esbit pocket stove was introduced already year 1936. Later on in post World War 2 era Finnish military adopted Trangia stove for the purpose. It might be worth noting that Finnish military apparently started paying attention with its food supply related equipment in late 1920’s with both field bottle and mess tin apparently entering to production in year 1928. Standard Finnish field kitchen was introduced to production year later as kenttäkeittiö m/29 (field kitchen m/29). Before that World War 1 era German and Russian field kitchens had been used for the purpose and some of the old German field kitchens seem to have remained in service at least until 1930’s.

Period photographs suggest that there likely some captured Russian model 1909 mess tins in use of Finnish White Army in year 1918, but nothing is known about their later fate.

PICTURE: Soldiers of Pohjois-Savon rykmentti (Northern Savo Regiment, Unit of Finnish White Army) photographed sometime during Civil War. Their backpacks have mess tins attached and particular mess tins appearing to be Russian model 1909. Also notice design of backpacks - they seem to be one version of backpacks produced from sacks of fabric. One of the soldiers is also wearing blanket roll over his shoulder. Photographed by Ivar Aleksander Ekström. Photo source Varkaus Museum (Varkauden museot), acquired via Finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (113 KB).

During World War 2 foreign mess tins re-appeared to use of Finnish Army. British large mess tins were supplied to Finnish Army during other British materials during Winter War. British mess tin is pair of rectangular-shaped tins made from aluminium, with each tin being equipped with extendable wire handle. Year 1944 Finnish military ordered 10,000 mess tins from Germany and presumably received them before Germany ended deliveries in September of that year. In addition unknown number of captured Soviet mess tins were taken in Finnish use.

Spork (lusikkahaarukka / luha): As to be expected, this was directly based on German World War 1 era spork Göffel. There may have been German sporks used early on, but that seems uncertain since in that case one would assume that in that case there would still be some circling in Finnish collector’s market, which is not the case. While very similar, Finnish version is not a direct copy of a German design, since it differs in some details and is somewhat larger in size - which makes it just the right size to be pinned inside Finnish mess tin. There is also a difference material-wise. Sometime after World War 1 German production moved from steel to aluminium, while Finnish early production was steel, which was later replaced by stainless steel. As seems to have happened in other countries the official Finnish name refers to combination of spoon (lusikka) and fork (haarukka), with commonly used alternative term luha being simply abbreviation of that name. Manufacturers include Oy Sahanterä (OSY), Hackmann and Kellokoski factories, with samples often having acceptance markings of Finnish military or Civil Guard.

Basic kit intended to be issued in mobilization for infantry in year 1922:

PICTURE: Finnish soldiers prepare their clothing for delousing in May of 1942. The underwear seen here was the official military underwear at the time. Photographed by Military official J. Taube. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 89081). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (216 KB).

Clothing worn under uniform

What is known underwear issued at early 1920's was already of similar type as issued during World War 2 - combination of long johns and long-sleeved undershirt with grandfather-collar. In pre-war era fabrics used for underwear seem varied in between cotton, flannel and terry cloth, although flannel was apparently noted as the best material for winter underwear already in 1920’s and by late 1930's cotton was the standard material used for purpose. From the three options flannel seems to have been intended for winter use, with cotton being otherwise standard and terry cloth was likely issued only in quite limited scale. During World War 2 availability of cotton dropped significantly and also wool proved difficult to obtain, hence during war these materials were replaced with viscose / rayon, which at the time was produced by two Finnish companies - Kuitu Oy and Säteri Oy. Production of military underwear moved from cotton to viscose / rayon in year 1942. In general during World War 2 inventory of underwear issued by Finnish military seems to have become extremely varied. There was number of Finnish manufacturers who manufactured underwear for military, some 300,000 sets of underwear were acquired from Germany and huge variety of civilian underwear that the reservists brought with them in mobilisation also ended up to military inventory after being handed out to laundry system.

Besides underwear the issued clothing worn under uniform when needed included shirt and sweater. The shirt was typical design for the era with grandfather collar with buttons in front and in pre-war era been made from cotton – period photos suggest that there were both white and striped versions of the shirt being issued. Wool sweater was essential part of kit for cold weather with standard pattern being wool sweater m/22 (villapaita m/22) made from steel grey wool with blue horizontal stripe over chest and cooling holes in armpits. Wool sweater m/22 remained in production until early 1980’s with late production having cuff loops intended to go around thumbs, but its design otherwise remaining unchanged to the end. While it was the standard pattern sweater, Finnish soldiers also took variety of civilian wool sweaters into war and apparently it was common to supplement the kit issued to them with civilian clothing sent from home in particular when it came to items such as additional warm underwear. When it comes to issued kit alone, it seems that the combination of uniform pants and long johns would have been insufficient for coldest winter days, so getting additional civilian wool underpants to be able to add one warmer layer when needed would have made sense - as Finnish military would learn later on.

Shelter half was a piece of tarp carried by a soldier and intended to be attached into other similar shelter halves to create make-shift ten, but may have also been suitable to used as rain cape of sort, as much of military issued shelter halves were designed also to serve that purpose. It was a commonly issued item for European armies at the time and also part of issued kit for Finnish infantry soldiers, until removed from the kit in 1930’s when half-platoon tent with its iron furnace replaced earlier tent designs used by Finnish Army. It is worth noting that this created a problem in that sense, that it left Finnish soldiers without any rain gear, shortage which numerous Finnish soldiers solved during World War 2 by adding captured Soviet plash-palatka shelter half / rain cape to their kit when they had an opportunity.

New development ideas in 1920's

In 1920’s as part of development process that into introduction of field uniform m/27, number of developmental ideas were explored, with some very good ideas among them, but very few of them got actually put into practice.

These developmental ideas included:

PICTURE: Finnish soldiers with underhelmets or tube scarves in January of 1942. This sort of items simplified life in the front. All soldiers are wearing snow camo suits m/27. Two of the soldiers on the left have Suomi M/31 and first soldier from the right has Tokarev SVT-40. Photographed by Lieutenant R. Ruponen. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 69549). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (90 KB).

Future military kit to be issued in case of war - as planned in year 1928:

It is worth noting that while there were lists about materials such these listing items that were supposed to be issued for soldiers in mobilization, Finnish military stockpiles were short on materials and when Finnish Army was mobilized for Winter War in year 1939 there was nowhere enough materials in its stockpile for properly equipping the troops. There was enough materials to equip units created from conscripts (who had been undergoing their military training) and first echelon of troops mobilized in so-called YH-mobilization (reservists called to refresher training to part in wargames of summer 1939) reasonably well, but units formed after them and later reinforcements could not often be equipped even with most rudimentary equipment. Hence Finnish soldiers who served in Winter War in large extent used their own civilian clothing and other civilian items in addition of items belonging to military kit - with cockade and military being commonly the minimum issued kit issued to them. While the supply situation did slowly improve by starting of Continuation War in June of 1941 and during it, this was not apparently possible with number of substitute items being introduced.

PICTURE: Well-equipped Finnish soldiers photographed on a march in October of 1939. According original photo caption the soldiers seen here belonged to Protective Troops (Suojajoukot - military units sent into border areas to protect mobilisation). First two soldiers on the left have backpacks, which Friitala had produced for Civil Guard (Suojeluskunta) in 1930's and first soldier from the left has rifle M/28-30. He also has map case behind his back. Notice mess tin strapped on flap of the backpack and canteen attached to bread bag. Photographer unknown. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 401). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (128 KB).

Field kit as to be issued to infantry soldiers in YH-mobilization of year 1939:

It is worth noting that when mobilized in year 1939 Finnish military was not actually able to equip anywhere near all its soldiers with the military kit listed above. For more information check this page named Realities of War on this same website.

PICTURE: Presumably Winter War era (10/1939 - 3/1940) photograph showing items of soldier's kit spread out over a greatcoat. Photographer unknown. Photographed on studio of Eloseppo Oy Ab - company which existed in 1938 - 1942. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 707). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (367 KB).

AMMUNITION POUCHES AND BANDOLIERS

When it comes to equipment purpose-built for carrying small arms ammunition issued by Finnish military before and during World War 2, only equipment issued in really large numbers were ammunition pouches and bandoliers for carrying rifle ammunition. Magazine pouches were generally issued only for following automatic weapons:

• (Pre-war used) Madsen M/20 light machinegun - leather pouches.
• Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machinegun - two canvas pouches of five magazines, both of which were either both carried by gunner and he might carry only one while his assistant carried second pouch.
• FN D light machinegun - canvas harness system with magazine pouches, FN supplied those with the guns.
• Bergmann M/20 submachine gun - Civil Guard’s pre-war magazine bags made from tan leather.

PICTURE: Magazine pouch for Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machinegun. This was by far the most numerous magazine pouch issued by Finnish military for light machineguns during World War 2. Normally two of these pouches were issued for each Lahti-Saloranta M/26, with each pouch being used to carry five 20-round magazines. Both pouches could either be carried by machine gunner, or he could carry one pouch with his assistant carrying the second. Photo source The Hunting Museum of Finland (Suomen metsästysmuseo), acquired via Finna.fi and used with CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (90 KB).

It is also likely that Swedish light machinegun M/21 may have been issued in some extent with Swedish-produced magazine pouches, which had been made from brown leather, but it is not known how common they were in Finnish use. What is quite striking is that the most common World War 2 era Finnish-used submachine gun (Suomi M/31) and Degtjarev M/27 light machinegun) had no magazine pouches for them. Admitted coming up with functional magazine pouches for these guns would have been difficult. Suomi M/31 had no less then five magazine designs issued for it and even by far the most common of those – 70-round drum magazine and 50-round box magazine were differed so much in shape that they would likely required two kind of magazine pouches to be introduced. Degtjarev M/27 on the other hand used rather large pan-magazines, so carrying them attached to belt does not appear too practical. What Finnish military ended up doing was carrying Suomi M/31 magazines hanging from standard issue leather belt with various arrangements. In addition, bread bag was quite well-suited for carrying large variety of small arms magazines – being spacious and sturdy enough for carrying any sort of magazines for submachine guns or self-loading rifles. Bread bag had separating wall inside it that would have impeded fitting of Degtjarev M/27 pan-magazine inside it, but if the separating wall was cut or removed, the bag appears to have been exactly the right size for carrying 1 – 3 of its pan-magazines. Another bag likely commonly used for carrying all sort of magazines and ammunition for small arms during World War 2 was canvas bag originally introduced as magazine bag for Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machine gun. It is likely that gas-mask bags were also used for carrying ammunition in some degree, but it is not known how common that was – there were several gas-mask bag designs of varying size and shape being issued at the time.

PICTURE: Finnish patrol receives watchword of the day before heading to no-man's land. Notice bread bag with German stick hand grenade Sa/39 in it. Both soldiers in the foreground have captured Soviet rifles - carbine M/38 on the left and Tokarev SVT-40 on the right. All soldiers appear to be wearing snow camo suits m/27 and most have fur hats m/39. Photographed by Lieutenant R. Ruponen in February of 1942 in isthmus of Aunus / Olonets Carelia. (SA-kuva archive, photo number 74207). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (98 KB).

AMMUNITION POUCHES

Russian ammunition pouches m1893: These are brown leather pouches designed to carry stripper clips of 7.62 x 54R ammunition had been standard issue for Russian military during World War 1 and due to being standard Soviet ammunition pouch design until 1930's also saw use with Red Army during World War 2. They were apparently captured in 1918 in decent numbers and saw use with Finnish White Army in Civil War. After that Finnish Army or Civil Guard they apparently did not see use beyond early 1920’s, at which point they were replaced with German style ammunition pouches. Short service life may have been explained by limited numbers available and Russian origin, but quite possibly also the pouch design, which is not particularly fast or easy to use. Russian m1893 is a single pouch design with locking tabs in both ends and six stripper clips (in other words 30 rounds total) inside the pouch. Early production versions of the pouch apparently has small opening strap, which was eliminated from the design around year 1930 and last production variant has a D-ring on the back of the pouch for Y-harness. These pouches remaining in Soviet use also for World War 2, with unknown number being captured and as proved by period photographs at least some pouches m1893 being taken to Finnish use again.

PICTURE: Russian ammunition pouch m1893. Notice locking tabs in both ends and small opening tab on top of the pouch. Other side of the pouch has two simple belt loops. Russian ink stamp inside suggests that this pouch was produced in year 1896. Photo source Turku Museum Centre (Turun museokeskus), acquired via Finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (73 KB).

German-style pouch: This leather pouch with three pockets was copied and produced in several countries. Originally it was German m1909 ammunition pouch, which were standard German ammo pouch design for Mauser rifles during World War 1. In addition of German-produced World War 1 era pouches Finnish military used also their Finnish- and Polish-made copies. The first pouches of this type to enter into Finnish use were German-produced pouches, which Finland acquired as surplus after First World War and if ink stamps have remained in readable condition may have Finnish acceptance markings from early-mid 1920’s. As mentioned this pouch system has three compartments, each of which was designed to contain three stripper clips of 7.92 x 57 IS ammunition - nine stripper clips with 45 rounds total. While the pouch had been designed for somewhat smaller Mauser stripper clips, nine stripper clips of standard Finnish 7.62mm x 53R ammunition also fit into these pouches, admitted they can be somewhat a snug fit at least when it comes to German and later date Polish manufactured pouches. Finnish-made pouches seem to be slightly more spacious and were produced by three manufacturers - Rauman nahkatehdas Oy (Rauma Leather Factory Ltd) Friitalan Nahkatehdas Osakeyhtiö (Friitala Leather Factory Limited Liability Company) and Loimaan Nahkatehdas Oy (Loimaa Leather Factory Ltd). All three presumably produced these pouches in late 1920’s, since they tend to be normally stamped with year 1928 acceptance marking. Poland had also manufactured copy of German m1909 ammunition pouches - during Winter War Finnish military purchased from Hungary 26,000 such pouches which originated from Poland.

PICTURE: Finnish Army machine gun team poses with practice version of M/09-21 machine gun in Parola training camp year 1930. Five of the soldiers have infantry rifles M/91 and pair of German-style ammunition pouches in their belts. Partially visible they probably also have backpacks with rolled up greatcoat tied around it. Their uniforms are military uniform M/22 with summer tunic m/22. The first soldier from the left is team leader and has case for binoculars plus map case. The last two soldiers from the right have Russian World War 1 era Zelinsky-Kummand gas mask containers. (Original photo part of Jaeger Platoon Website photo collection. Unlicensed use of photograph prohibited). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (231 KB).

Each of the pouch system’s three pouches has its own lid with locking tab, hence if compared to Russian m1893 the pouches are faster to open or close and probability of accidentally dropping all or substantial part of ammunition seems much less likely. For some reason Finnish Military Museum refers this pouch design as ammunition pouch m/18, while World War 2 era inventory lists refer to it as ammunition pouch m/28, which may be linked to delivery year of Finnish-made pouches. While I am yet to find reliable statistics about total number for this pouch type or how many there were of each type in Finnish inventory, the German World War 1 era produced version seem to be notably most common by a substantial margin, suggesting that it was probably also more common than the Finnish- and Polish-produced variants. German-style pouches appear to have been the de facto standard ammunition pouch type issued by Finnish military with Mosin-Nagant family of rifles from 1920’s to Cold War era and apparently remained mothballed for possible use in large numbers until military rifles M/39 were declared obsolete in year 1990’s. Before World War 2 soldiers were routinely issued two pouches and for Winter War at least some troops were still issued two pouches per soldier, but by Continuation War one pouch per soldier seem to have become the norm. It is worth noting that the number of pouches did not directly correspond the number of rounds issued to each soldier. March of 1941 there were about 33,000 of these pouches stored in Finnish depots, with much larger number being issued to military units and stored in lower levels of supply system.

Rubberized Finnish ammunition pouches: During World War 2 Finnish industry started manufacturing ammunition pouch sets of three pouches from rubberized canvas. The basic structural design of these pouches appears to have possibly loaned ideas from German style and Swedish pouches, but a simplified and very economical design, which was probably very fast and effective to produce due to parts apparently being glued to one another instead of being sewed. The pouches are physically notably smaller than German-style pouches, which suggests that they may have been intended to less space consuming stripper clips of rifle ammunition and according period photographs were the standard ammunition pouch design that Finnish military issued with infantry rifles M/96 and “Terni-rifles”. When it comes to production very little details is known, but apparently manufacturing started by early 1941, since March of 1941 there were 18,400 sets of these pouches stored in gun depots of Finnish Armed Forces - plus unknown number issued to military units and stored in lower levels of supply system.

PICTURE: Two Finnish soldiers in snow camo m/27 with rubberized ammunition pouches. Soldier on the right has two German stick hand grenades Sa/39 stuck into his bread bag. Rifles appear to be infantry rifle m/27 (left) and rifle m/91-30 (right). Photographed by 2^nd Lieutenant K. Berg in March of 1942 in Gumboritsa. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 75633). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (126 KB).

Swedish cartridge belt and ammunition pouches: These had been designed for five round stripper clips of 6.5mm x 55 SE ammunition used with Swedish Mauser rifles M/96. There were three models of the cartridge belt (ammunitionsgördel in Swedish) - m/1898, m/1900 and m/1900-12, from which m/1900 seems to be most common. All of these cartridge belts were made from brown leather, but featured numerous production variants (stitched vs riveted, leather or fabric used in sides of pockets, type of leather used etc.). From these three m/1900-12 can be easily identified from utility hook for entrenching tool, which is not present in earlier versions. Cartridge belts m1898, m1900 and m/1900-12 have five ammunition pouches, each of which intended to carry up to five stripper clips of five rounds - so the total carry capacity for cartridge belt is whopping 125 rounds. In addition of cartridge belts Swedish military issued cartridge pouch with capacity of 20 rounds (four stripper clips of five cartridges) made from brown leather and butterfly flange for M/1894 and M/1894-14 carbines and smaller brown leather pouches, which each take two stripper clips of five cartridges and resemble pockets used in cartridge belts. In addition Swedish Navy apparently had its own cartridge belt design and Air Force had its own ammunition pouches made from black leather, but it is unclear if they saw use in Finland.

PICTURE: Swedish cartridge belt m/1900-12. This individual cartridge belt had been in Finland with SFK during Winter War. Notice utility hook for entrenching tool visible on the right. Photo source Digitaltmuseum.se - original photo by Armémuseum (Sweden). Used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (79 KB).

Swedish cartridge belts and ammo pouches saw use in Finland at least twice - apparently both times with Swedish volunteers. Period photos indicate that year 1918 at least some of the Swedish volunteers that joined to Finnish White Army brought cartridge belts with them. Since the volunteers seem to have taken their equipment with them when they returned to Sweden after Civil War, it is likely that most if not all of the cartridge belts left with them. The second time happened during Winter War in 1939 - 1940. Swedish – Norwegian Winter War era volunteer force Svenska Frivilligk&oring;ren (SFK) was equipped with Swedish Army standard issue ammunition pouches and cartridge belts before heading to Finland. It is possible that some may have also been acquired separately by Finnish military, but I have not seen any evidence of such. Ammunition pouch parts of Swedish cartridge belts can also be found in the market as separate items and can be used with any other belt of suitable width. Inventory of gun depots of Finnish military in March 1941 listed among materials stored in them 7,000 Swedish cartridge belts, 500 infantry ammunition pouches and 147 pairs of ammunition pouches. When SFK returned to Sweden after Winter War it left its equipment (financed by donations gathered in Sweden during the war) in Finland. These would have seemingly been enough to equip 7,647 riflemen, which is not terribly far from the total number that would have been needed to equip SFK, which by end of Winter War had grown in size to 8,552 men total.

PICTURE: Photo crop showing SFK trumpet player with cartridge belt during church service in Märkäjärvi four days after ending of Winter War. Rifle is infantry rifle M/96. Photographer unknown, photographed 17^th of March 1940. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 9851). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (123 KB).

Soviet leather pouch: This is a Soviet pouch produced from brown leather with two pockets for the same five round stripper clips of 7.62 mm x 54R ammunition as used by Finnish military. Each pocket has room for three five-round stripper clips, so total capacity of the pouch is 30 rounds. The Soviets originally issued these as pairs of pouches. This pouch design was in production in 1937 – 1941 and apparently captured in decent numbers, being both taken in use by Finnish soldiers and also officially reissued at least in some scale, since there are known samples with Finnish military property markings. Starting year 1941 also Soviet industry started suffering from shortage of leather and started producing its ammunition pouches (and many other products previously made from leather) with those made from kirza (cotton lined with plastic from one side), which the Soviets introduced as substitute for leather. In addition of the leather pouch system mentioned above there were numerous other Soviet ammunition pouch and magazine pouch designs, some of which were intended to carry magazines of their self-loading rifles (AVS-36, SVT-38 and SVT-40), but they do not seem to have played in role of any significance in Finnish use.

PICTURE: Barefoot Finnish soldier with captured Soviet leather pouch with two pockets. Due to its pockets appearing rather similar to those of German-type pouch and usually being carried at side separating the two in period photos is often difficult. Rifle that the soldier is carrying is military rifle M/39 and he is wearing summer tunic m/36 with breeches. Steel helmet appears to be Swedish m/26. Photographed by Military official Hedenström north of Viipuri / Wiborg in July of 1944. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 155442). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (175 KB).

Ammunition bandoliers: When it comes to ammunition bandoliers, which saw Finnish use, the situation was far less clear than with ammo pouches. There were two points of time during which ammunition bandoliers were common in use of Finnish military – Civil War (1918) and World War 2 (1939 – 1945). During World War 1 Russian Army had two official ammunition bandolier designs, both of which appear in photographs taken during Finnish Civil War. Those two designs were pre-war bandolier m/1900 produced from oil cloth with leather parts and notably simpler bandolier m/1915 manufactured from canvas. Both of these Russian ammunition bandoliers saw use with Red Guards, White Army during Civil War and also with Finnish Army right after the war. The vast variety of Finnish bandolier designs from year 1918 is mostly explained by shear number of manufacturers, with most of the bandoliers being either product of cottage industry or one of a kind sort of handiwork. Vast majority of the bandoliers of the era seem to be manufactured from canvas and variety of other available fabrics, but there were also rare exceptions to this.

PICTURE: Finnish soldier photographed in process of filling ammunition bandolier in March of 1942. Ammunition is five round stripper clips of 7.62mm x 54R - the standard stripper clip and ammunition type for Mosin-Nagant rifles. The backpack on top of which he has stripper clips of ammunition and one (standard Finnish military wedge-shaped ammunition box of 15 rounds) is Norwegian Bergan backpack. He is wearing fur hat m/39, military tunic m/36 and pants of snow camo suit m/27. Photographed by Olavi Aavikko. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 77562). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (124 KB).

The comeback of ammunition bandoliers made from canvas happened during World War 2. Already during Winter War it became apparent that there were not enough ammo pouches for equipping all soldiers, who were issued a rifle - and apparently no resources for producing such a number of ammunition pouches from leather either. Hence cottage industry sort kind of production for ammunition bandoliers was organized already during Winter War and later on also industrial production was set in motion. In 1941 – 1943 Weapons Depot 1 (Asevarikko 1) of Finnish Armed Forces and two factories, Oy Vyö ja Nahkateollisuus (Ltd Belt and Leather Industry) and Partolan Kenkätehdas Oy (Partola Shoe Factory Ltd) delivered in total over 105,000 ammunition bandoliers. While the World War 2 era production efforts were notably better organized than those of Civil War era, there were still several commonly found varieties of ammunition bandoliers at the time. It is likely that at least some bandoliers left from Civil War saw use also in World War 2.

BAGS AND BACKPACKS

At least starting 1920’s issue set issued by Finnish Army for its soldiers to carry all the items that they needed contained bread bag and backpack. From these two, bread bag was normally used to carry only most basic essential items and was commonly used to carry ammunition as well - hence was part of the kit commonly carried into battle. Backpack on the other hand was used to carry rest of the items and being heavier and more cumbersome - so it was routinely dropped to some suitable place to be picked up later while entering combat. In addition to those there were also some bags originally intended for specific purposes, but often also used for carrying other items – most important of these are gas-mask bags and magazine bags for Lahti-Saloranta light machinegun.

PICTURE: Going into battle with kit as light as possible was preferable. Hence sometimes this sort of light pack made sense. During winter staying warm was important - light pack of rolled up greatcoat and mess tin strapped into it provided necessities for the purpose. Bread bag (on soldier's left side) and/or gas-mask bag (visible on soldier's right side) to carry ammunition and other essentials completed the pack. Rifle is rifle M/28-30. Notice also entrenching tool. Photographed by Lieutenant Pekka Kyytinen in January of 1944. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 113281). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (90 KB).

Bread bag (leipälaukku): Haversack bag type of bags such as this are small bags with single shoulder strap used to be very popular in military use. Finnish military referred the bag as leipälaukku (which literally translates as bread bag) and it was part of the basic kit issued to soldiers of Finnish Army. As so many of the items issued by Finnish military, leipälaukku was apparently early on essentially a direct copy of German World War 1 era hafersack m1887 – with gradual changes being introduced over time as development to better fit Finnish military kit and doctrine. In fact in collector’s market there are circling some nowadays very rare surviving samples of World War 1 era German hafersack with later Finnish military acceptance markings, which suggest that early on German surplus bags were issued by Finnish military at least in some sort of scale. I have also spotted some early (with acceptance stamps from mid 1920's to late 1930's) Finnish military bread bags, which appear to be very exact copies of German World War 1 era bread bag design with belt hook in end of a short strap. They also have single leather loop attachment point in left side of bag's flap with D-ring on top of it. The attachment point and D-ring were intended for canteen to be attached. Later Finnish-produced bread bags no longer have the short strap with belt hook and number of number of leather loops in flap of the bag was updated to three, with two new added attachment points with small hook made from steel wire on top of them apparently being intended for also mess tin to be attached into it with loose strap. The last version of Finnish military bread bag introduced, which was introduced after World War 2 had five attachment points in flap of the bag with two new attachment points being added to the right to right side of flap.

PICTURE: Early version of Finnish bread bag, which is basically a direct copy of German World War 1 era design. Notice small strap with belt hook plus single attachment point with D-ring on top of it. Photo source Digitaltmuseum.se - original photo by Armémuseum (Sweden). Used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (99 KB).

Finnish-produced bread bag is bit over 30 cm wide and about equally tall, made from heavy canvas with canvas shoulder strap and when empty weights about 350 grams. Shoulder strap is removable and top of the bag also has loops which were routinely used to suspend it into soldier’s belt, hence it could be carried with or without shoulder strap and when attached into standard issue leather belt works as rather secure carry pouch for all sort of items. Large flap in front of the bag has leather loops, which with leather straps plus the metal D-ring and metal hook on top of the bag are intended for attaching mess tin and canteen on top of the bag’s flap. Attachment points for attaching shoulder carry strap are attached with leather patches.

Wartime photographs seem to suggest that attaching canteen into bread bag’s flap was somewhat common, but attaching mess tin into it was less frequent. Reason for this may have been that from the two items mess tin is bulkier and far more likely to produce sound if bumping into something hard than field canteen with its bottle cover. Bread bag had quite a long career with Finnish military with production continuing at least into late 1960’s. During its lengthy production bread bag saw some development with gradual changes in details, which allow rough estimation of production period even when ink stamps are missing. While colour of heavy canvas used for producing these bags seem to have varied, the pre-war and wartime samples seem to be often somewhat grey in shade or brown, while wartime and early post-war samples are usually (faded) light brown in color. Late post-war bread bags appear to be usually brown., but also green-coloured version was manufactured post-war for Frontier Guard (Rajavartiosto). Other details that gradually changed include number of leather loops (attachment points) on flap and design of metal components with total number of leather loops being increased over time and metal components made from steel wire being replaced by purpose-built hooks produced from flat steel. Wartime Finnish Army bread bags tend to be rare and expensive collector’s items especially so when with readable military markings, while post-war version of bread bags easily available in Finland and affordable.

PICTURE: Finnish cavalry soldiers in training inspection. Submachine gunner on the right has wartime production version of bread bag with canteen attached into it. He has Suomi M/31 submachine gun and German stick hand grenade Sa/39 while soldier on the left has cavalry rifle M/27. Both soldiers have Hungarian m/38 steel helmets. Photographed by Military official T. Ovaskainen in July of 1942. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 99970). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (205 KB).

PICTURE: Late production post World War 2 version of Finnish Army bread bag. Notice five attachment points in flap of the bag and carabiner hooks made from flat steel. D-rings for shoulder strap are also attached on top of the bag with rectangular pieces of leather sewn into the bag. This version can usually be obtained much easier and far cheaper than earlier versions and can be easily modified to look more like World War 2 era version by removing top two attachment points from the right. Photo source Digitaltmuseum.se - original photo by Armémuseum (Sweden). Used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (167 KB).

Gas mask bag (kaasunaamarilaukku): At the time soldiers carried gas mask in a separate canvas bag. During World War 2 Finnish military issued at least five gas-mask bag models, but exact model designations for them remain uncertain. I have seen claims of designations such m/33, m/38, m/39 and m/40, while other source mention model A and model D gas mask bags, but nothing that would allow linking model designation to each gas mask bag design. Attached photographs show four of those five gas mask bag models. When it comes to possible alternative use for carrying small arms ammunition or hand grenades, how well gas mask bags suited for the purpose varied considerably depending model of gas mask bag, because their size and shape varying in rather drastic manner.

PICTURE: Six Finnish soldiers each of which has a different kind of gas mask and four gas mask designs, which had found its way to Finnish inventory for World War 2. From left to right Finnish military gas mask m/30, Finnish military gas mask m/38, Finnish gas mask m/39 for civilian population, Czechoslovakian Fatra FM-3 gas mask, British Mk. IV Service Respirator and British C1 General Civilian Respirator. First on the left large Finnish gas mask bag intended for gas mask m/30 and small gas mask bag intended for gas mask m/38. The gas mask bag seen with Mk. IV Service Respirator is probably British origin. Photographed by Osvald Hedenströ. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 114340). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (168 KB).

Large Finnish gas mask bag (apparently intended for gas mask m/30) is about 40 cm wide, 30 cm high and about 12 cm thick. It has large main section inside and three pockets outside - one in front of the bag and one in each end. Thanks to its large main section (about 27 cm x 27 cm x 10 cm in size with access from the top) it seems from all commonly issued bags to be the one that was best suited for transporting pan magazines of Degtjarev M/27 light machinegun. It has enough internal volume to comfortably store three or four of those pan magazines inside it and it has quite a sturdy design. It has plywood reinforced front wall, leather reinforced bottom of main section and two belt loops in the back allowing the bag to be secured into soldier's leather belt. On the other hand small Finnish gas mask bag (apparently intended for gas mask m/38) has one main section and two outside pockets and is far smaller (about 14 cm wide, 28 cm high and 9 cm thick), which does considerably limit what could be fitted inside. But the bag does have narrow long main section, which would appear to have been well suited for carrying two or three stick hand grenades (such as Finnish stick hand grenade M/32 or German stick hand grenade Sa/39 or up to half-a-dozen stick box magazines for submachine gun (such as 50-round box magazines for Suomi M/31. There are at least two production versions of small gas mask bag - one version (early production variant?), which has only has shoulder strap and no way of securing it into anything, while second (late production?) version has short fabric strap with steel hook in end of it - which could be used to secure the gas mask gas into soldier's belt. Neither version has belt loops.

Magazine bag for Lahti-Saloranta light machinegun (Lahti-Saloranta pikakiväärin lipaspussi): This is a brown baggy canvas bag with two straps either made from leather or canvas, which was not part of the kit issued all soldiers, but it was still issued in large numbers and often easily available. Most appear to have been manufactured from rather thick fabric (cotton?) similar to that commonly used for backpacks, but I have also seen version produced from much thinner material. The top strap can be used to close opening of the bag, while lower strap is probably intended for tightening the bag to reduce probability of its contents rattling while on the move. In addition, the bag has four carabiner hooks in it – two on the top and another two at the bottom. Top two carabiner hooks seem to be meant for attacking single shoulder strap made from canvas, while carabiner hooks on the bottom are apparently intended for securing bag into soldier’s gear.

As the name suggest this bag design was originally introduced for carrying and transporting magazines for Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machinegun. In 1930’s and still during Winter War light machinegun squad (which there were two in every rifle platoon) was to carry for its Lahti-Saloranta whopping 90 magazines (of 20 rounds), from which 80 magazines were transported in eight of these magazine bags. So each soldier assigned for the task was carrying in their back two magazine bags, with each bag containing 10 magazines. Such a number of magazines proved unnecessarily large, hence after Winter War total number of magazines issued for Lahti-Saloranta M/26 was reduced considerably, which freed number of already produced magazine bags for other purposes. That other purpose that they were commonly used was carrying of all sorts of small arms ammunition and hand grenades - for which the bag appears to be fairly well-suited. It is just large enough to house even 47-round pan-magazines of Degtjarev M/27 light machinegun and works with all sorts of other magazines for small arms, although with smaller magazines it is bit of a matter of luck in what direction the magazine happens to be in bottom of the bag, so it is not particularly fast to use especially with smaller magazines. When empty magazine bag (made from thick canvas) weights about 550 – 650 grams.

German tornister (tornisteri): This was German Army tornister model 1895. It is small box-shaped backpack that was structurally remarkably complicated with canvas and leather and backpack’s front and back topped with either horse-skin or calf-fur. During World War 1 the design was simplified with wooden frame and substitute materials being used instead of leather and hide. Later it was replaced in use of German Army by tornister model 1934, which remained in German use through World War 2. While it was probably the oldest backpack design to see use with Finnish Army and some apparently still saw use during World War 2, the design was apparently not particularly popular among Finnish soldiers. Finnish Army noted already in testing performed for developing winter warfare capability in 1920’s that German tornister-type backpack was uncomfortable to use and by World War 2 it had apparently been almost completely replaced by other backpack designs. This backpack is not particularly large and could carry German kit of the time only when packed in very specific manner, which makes one wonder how problematic its use must have been for packing items of Finnish kit.

PICTURE: German tornister of World War 1 era with German canteen and rolled up attached. This individual tornister appears to be simplified version produced during World War 1. Photo taken in Finnish Military Museum (Sotamuseo), Helsinki. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (116 KB).

Backpacks of Finnish Civil War: Finnish White was already issuing backpacks and had them manufactured during Finnish Civil War. What is known suggests that there were many variations of backpacks produced in year 1918. For one thing the size of backpack apparently varied quite a bit. What they seem to have in common is that they were often (probably even most commonly) produced from canvas bags - at least some of which supposedly intended for transporting and storing flour or grain. Modification to backpack involved adding shoulder straps and possibly a flap on the top and/or pocket outside the backpack. Finnish production of notably higher quality backpacks and their use in Finnish military seem to have started at least by late 1920’s and included both backpacks with external frame and those without it.

PICTURE: One example of numerous Finnish military backpack designs from year 1918. This rectangular backpack is made from green-brown canvas, has a flap closed with button and two carry straps with small leather straps for attaching those carry straps to belt. Photo source Turku Museum Centre (Turun museokeskus), acquired via Finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (58 KB).

"Sipulisäkki" ("onion sack"): While there were several backpack designs used by Finnish military at the time, the backpack design better known as "sipulisäkki" ("onion sack") was likely the most common type of backpack in use of Finnish military during World War 2. I have seen it being also being called "model Ulvila" - presumably after location of Friitala factory, which produced it and was located in in town of Ulvila. Photographs suggest that quite similar looking backpack design (but with canvas carry straps) may have existed in use of Finnish military already in 1920's and in years following the war it apparently became standard backpack design for Finnish military. It has about 30 litre capacity and is made from canvas with two external pockets and rather wide leather carry straps permanently fixed into the back of the bag. The backpack probably received its rather unflattering name of "onion sack" due to not having frame of any sort and having tendency to basically turn into less than comfortable to carry ball-shape when loaded in haste. While not particularly popular the backpack design remained in production at least until 1970’s and the last of them were supposedly not removed from military inventory until year 2005. Manufacturers of this backpack included Oy Urheilutarpeita Ab (nowadays: Karhu Sporting Goods Oy), Friitala and possibly Veljekset Åström.

PICTURE: Photograph taken during testing of various backpack designs in Valamo / Valaam in January of 1944. This photograph shows soldier's pack in "onion sack" type of backpack. Notice mess tin attached on backpack's flap, second pair of should attached in both sides and rolled up greatcoat strapped under the backpack. Rifle is M/28-30 and hanging on soldier's side is small gas mask bag. Photographed by Lieutenant Pekka Kyytinen. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 113286). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (121 KB).

Norwegian Bergan “satulareppu” and other imported backpacks: During World War 2 Finnish military used also imported backpacks, from which Norwegian and Swedish backpacks were apparently quite common. Finnish military had noted Norwegian Bergans backpack equipped with external tubular steel frame as a particularly good design already in 1920’s and during Winter War it was acquired in very large numbers. This backpack has notably larger internal volume than "sipulisäkki" type Finnish backpack and tends to be notably more comfortable to carry - making it better option for troops who had to carry lot of gear with them. Bergans had started producing backpacks in year 1910 and the military backpack, which was issued by Finnish military had been developed in year 1920. During World War 2 particular backpack design that it produced was top of the line for military backpacks. Bergans backpack and backpack designs based to it saw military use with French, German, British, Swedish and American troops. This backpack and its copies proved to popular with British Army, that "Bergen" (miss-spelled Bergan) became a standard British military term for rucksack. Finnish manufacturer Savotta produced for a very long time its own backpack design resembling classic Bergans military design as Savotta model 323. In Finnish vocabulary backpacks with external frame are being referred as “satulareppu”.

PICTURE: Photograph taken during testing of various backpack designs in Valamo / Valaam in January of 1944. This photograph shows soldier's pack in Norwegian Bergan backpack. Rolled up greatcoat has been strapped on top of the backpack. Helmet is Hungarian M/38, whose steel loop in back of the helmet has been used to strap it into backpack. Notice also bread bag with canteen attached into it and entrenching tool visible on the back. Rifle is M/28-30. Photographed by Lieutenant Pekka Kyytinen. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 113286). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (113 KB).

There were also numerous other officially approved backpack designs issued by Finnish Army before and during World War 2. One of those is Finnish military backpack design commonly referred as backpack m/28. It is a somewhat smaller canvas backpack with external metal frame and two external pockets, one of which is under large flap and second one goes against soldier's back. Attachment points used in backpack m/28 for loose straps are larger leather panels with slots cut in them for the straps. Another less known backpack design also issued by Finnish military during World War 2 in more limited scale is commonly referred as "rynnäkköreppu"("assault backpack") – it is smaller narrower canvas backpack equipped with leather carry straps, which have metal hooks intended to be attached to soldier’s leather belt in very similar manner as with German tornister type backpacks. While there are some wartime photographs showing the backpack design, there is basically nothing known about manufacturer or not even data about for which purpose the particular backpack was normally intended for. Yet another backpack that possibly saw limited use with Finnish Army during World War 2 was Swedish military backpack m/39, which is also canvas backpack equipped with external metal frame. In addition of military backpack designs also variety of civilian backpacks available at the time presumably saw military use and captured Soviet backpacks may have also been used by Finnish soldiers at least in small numbers.

PICTURE: Finnish soldier with military backpack m/28. The helmet attached to the backpack is Italian steel helmet m/33. Photographed by Military official P. Jänis in September of 1944. Photo crop. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 165018). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (173 KB).

Loose strap (irtohihna): Finnish military normally used leather straps with steel single prong buckle for attaching items outside its backpacks and bread bag. Finnish term for this item, which was produced in numerous lengths is irtohihna, which roughly translates as loose strap. What is known early production was brown leather with green-grey versions being introduced likely in 1930's. Hence Finnish military surplus green-grey leather straps with steel buckles commonly available from surplus shops in Finland are the type, which was commonly issued already during World War 2. Wartime Finnish military backpacks are now collector’s items and if stamped with military markings and in good condition can be quite expensive. Similar backpacks without military markings tend to be notably cheaper and while post-war produced versions of the backpacks can be downright cheap.

MITTENS / GLOVES:

There were variety of mittens and gloves issued by Finnish military, but the ones delved in this text are the basic type issued for winter. Year 1939 the standard design was wool mittens appears to have been grey wool mittens with blue stripes. Due to looming political situation and partial mobilization of Armed Forces, instructions for knitting wool mittens intended to soldiers were circulated to Finnish civilian population with for example female auxiliary Lotta-Svärd starting their manufacture. During Winter War Finnish womenfolk in home front was knitting the mittens according those instructions – as pre-war mitten design, also the wartime version is made from grey wool with blue stripe, but has either trigger finger or hole for trigger finger. Having trigger finger or hole for it in the mittens became the standard also feature for wool mittens for woo mittens produced for Finnish military, remaining as their standard feature even if the mitten design was simplified in post-war era. The post-war production of simplified wool mittens did not end until year 1988, when development of uniform items for camouflage uniform m/91 started. It is noteworthy Finnish military used in its wool items such as sweaters, socks, mittens and scarves the same basic combination of colours – grey wool with blue stripe. This was not done just to make the items appear uniform, but presumably also to make identifying them as parts of military uniform easy and hence discourage theft.

But when it comes to mittens and gloves used by Finnish soldiers during World War 2, the grey wool gloves explained above were apparently a minority. Various kind of civilian mittens and gloves brought from the home front were likely far more common and grey wool mittens knitted in home front were not the most produced wartime mitten design either. The most produced Finnish wartime mitten design were reinforced mittens m/42 (vahvistetut lapaset m/42), which were rudimentary one size fits all sort of fabric mitten, in total 119,000 pairs of which were manufactured by business name Matti Lintero in 1942 – 1945. Reinforced mittens m/42 were produced from recycled fabrics, hence each mitten is “one of a kind” with random fabrics of various kind being used for each mitten. What they have in combined is crude and loose-fitting design with hole for trigger finger in the right-hand mitten.

There was variety of other apparel produced from wool and issued by Finnish military. These included underhelmets, scarves and possibly tube scarves. There were some official designs for these, those can generally be identified from materials, which were grey wool with dark blue stripe(s) and possibly even ink stamps. Those official designs were knitted by women in the home front, but possibly also produced by industry at some point. In addition variety of civilian wool apparel saw military use. When it came to wool as material, Finland was not self-sufficient, so during World War 2 shortage of wool developed and complicated availability of materials, making new clothing items produced from wool scarce towards end of the war.

EQUIPMENT ISSUED TO OFFICERS AND NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS

Finnish Army had some items, which were issued only to military leaders. For practical purposes this meant that they were issued to basically all officers and those of the non-commissioned officers serving in task that required particular equipment. Most important of these items were compass, binoculars and map case.

Finnish Army standard issue compass at the time was marching compass m/34 (marssikompassi m/34) invented by Tuomas Vohlonen (1877 – 1939), who patented it in year 1933. The compass has aluminium case containing needle sealed inside transparent liquid container and leather wrist band. Top of the case has rotating wheel with lens marked with bracket for making course adjustment into compass. The part of needle pointing north is coated with phosphorous for night use. Side and back of the compass have markings for taking measurements on maps and calculating distances. Early on company Oy Physica Ab manufactured the compass without a license, which later resulted a lengthy court case concerning its patents. Year 1936 Vohlonen established Suunto Oy, which became main manufacturer of this compass, which is also known as Suunto M-311 compass. Finnish soldiers seem to have typically carried the compass either attached to their wrist or in breast pocket, in which case wrist band could be used to secure the compass into a button. Typically the button used for the purpose seems to have been either military tunic breast pocket or epaulet button. Compasses usually have serial number marked in them and markings indicating, which organization had acquired them originally. Unlike its Soviet competitor Finnish compass was noted to have worked reliably also in freezing temperatures. This compass design proved highly effective and was further developed into newer compass designs, which were also acquired by Finnish military in post World War 2 era.

Finnish Army issued large variety of binoculars, but during World War 2 German-manufactured 6 x 30 military binoculars became the de facto standard binocular design. German military referred this type of binoculars as dienstglas 6 x 30, they were the lowest power commonly issued standard type of binoculars for German Army and are equipped with range finder grid etched into its right lens. Binoculars issued by Finnish military during World War 2 included also captured Soviet binoculars. Issued binoculars were normally equipped with leather case and leather strap with lens cover. Wartime Finnish military placed both compasses and binoculars in category of optical equipment.

There were also several map case designs that saw use with Finnish military, with the most notable thing in common for them was having been made from brown leather. Most were probably those made by Finnish manufacturers, but Finnish Army found use also for captured Soviet map cases. During the war map cases proved to be somewhat a sniper magnet, being one of the items from which enemy snipers often recognized officers.

OTHER ITEMS

ID-disc / dog tags (tuntolevy): First armies to officially issue ID-disc for its soldiers had been Prussia and German Northern Alliance for French – Prussian War of 1870 – 1871. Some units of Finnish White Army had also issued their soldiers ID-discs of varying design manufactured from variety of materials. During World War 2 Finnish Armed Forces issued ID-disc design changing from one design to another between wars. The first version of Finnish ID-disc was issued for Winter War and resembled German World War 1 era post year 1916 version of ID-disc, being oval shape aluminium disc intended to be folded to be cut in two halves, but more elongated with two holes for twine in both parts and different kind of split line between the two halves. Before Continuation War old Finnish ID-disc was replaced with new version, which looks somewhat like razor blade for double-edged safety razor. There is also third ID-disc design, which is rectangular and which some sources claim was also introduced still during Continuation War or Lapland War, but it appears to be post-war design. All three ID-disc designs have a serial number with cards issued with them presumably for collecting information for whom each disc had been issued and lists being made to keep track. They were also all being carried with cotton twine, which has separate piece of twine attached to each half of ID-disc and a weaker piece of thread attaching both pieces of twine to another – the idea being that by folding the disc and breaking weak piece of thread the end result is two separate parts of ID-disc which both have piece of cotton thread attached.

First-aid bandage (ensiside): Finnish Army were instructed to carry two first-aid bandages on their person. The standard location for carrying those first-aids bandage was inside pocket specifically made in lapel of military tunic - feature quite likely copied from German uniforms. The wartime standard first-aid bandage issued to Finnish soldiers was smaller version of First-aid bandage 1/-35 (in Finnish Ensiside 1/-35 and in Swedish Första förband 1/-35, which in addition of the name marking had also short instructions for use in both Finnish and Swedish. The bandage apparently remained in production well into post-war era, but the version that was used during World War 2 for sure is paper-wrapped, while version wrapped in rubberized canvas was likely produced in post-war era. When wrapped into its packaging the bandage is cylindrical shape, about 3.5 - 4 centimetres in diameter and about 8.5 centimetres in length. Larger version of this first-aid bandage was part of kit issued to medics. When packaged it was also cylindrical in shape, about 5.5 centimetres in diameter and some 19 centimeters in length. Also another model of first-aid bandage named as Ensiside II/-39 and in Swedish Första förband II/-39 with rubberized canvas wrapping is known, but it is unclear if it was routinely issued to soldiers or intended for some specific injuries. During World War 2 Finnish military was routinely recycling used first-aid bandages after sanitising them in boiling water.

Gun cleaning kit (aseen puhdistusvälineet): Standard equipment issued to soldiers included cleaning kit for the firearm they had been equipped with, hence type of cleaning kit varied depending model of firearm. In case of Finnish Army before and during World War 2 by far the most common issued firearms were Mosin-Nagant rifles of various models and for those rifles the cleaning kit included:

• Cleaning rod head for attaching wool.
• Brush for cleaning rod.
• Extension part for cleaning rod (made from brass).
• Handle for cleaning rod.
• Pick for cleaning rod handle.
• Muzzle cover / guide for cleaning rod.
• Oil bottle

Cleaning kit was carried in small fabric bag and cleaning rod was normally carried attached below rifle barrel. It is worth noting that Imperial Russian / Soviet and Finnish cleaning rods and accessories intended for 7.62mm guns have compatible threads.

Gas masks

With-in timeframe of 1918 – 1945 Finnish military Finnish military issued at least eight gas mask designs, from which three were Finnish made. Those eight gas masks were

• Russian Zelinsky-Kummand (Selinski-Kummandt in most Finnish source materials) gas mask (captured World War 1 stock).
• Finnish military gas mask m/30 (most common issued gas mask).
• Finnish military gas mask m/38 (2^nd most common issued gas mask).
• Finnish gas mask m/39 for civilian population.
• Belgian L702 gas mask.
• Czechoslovakian m/F (model Fatra) gas mask (Fatra FM-3).
• British m/E gas mask.
• Swedish model m/R gas mask (Probably Swedish gas mask m36. For Finnish military this was rare item, whose career with Finnish military was rather brief).

From these gas mask designs Finnish m/39, Belgian L702 and Czechoslovakian m/F were originally acquired for use of civilian population, but ended up seeing also into military use.

Needless to say later studies have revealed that World War 2 era gas mask filters often have asbestos in them, so I do not recommend breathing through them. This appears to include also Finnish-made filters of the era. Just consider them collectables and if the filters are still sealed, leave them such. Not that gas masks that old are usually in great condition either, so handle them with care to avoid further damage.

PICTURE: Six Finnish soldiers each of which has a different kind of gas mask and four gas mask designs, which had found its way to Finnish inventory for World War 2. From left to right Finnish military gas mask m/30, Finnish military gas mask m/38, Finnish gas mask m/39 for civilian population, Czechoslovakian Fatra FM-3 gas mask, British Mk. IV Service Respirator and British C1 General Civilian Respirator. First on the left large Finnish gas mask bag intended for gas mask m/30 and small gas mask bag intended for gas mask m/38. The gas mask bag seen with Mk. IV Service Respirator is probably British origin. Photographed by Osvald Hedenström. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 114339). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (179 KB).

Russian Zelinsky-Kummand gas mask had been developed during World War 1. Its filter was work of chemical researcher Nikolay Dmitrievich Zelinsky, while mask itself was developed by engineer Eduard Kummand of Treugolk rubber factory. With its fully rubberized structure and charcoal filter it was one of the most advanced gas-mask designs of World War 1. Production of Zelinsky-Kummand gas mask started in spring of 1916 and by end of the war total production reached over 11 million total. During Finnish Civil War in year 1918 Finnish White Army captured over 100,000 Zelinsky-Kummand gas masks and hence the gas mask design became the standard gas-mask model for Finnish Army. It also remained as standard gas mask for Finnish military until being gradually replaced by new Finnish developed and produced gas-masks in 1930´s, but even than it was not completely removed from military inventory until during World War 2.

Zelinsky-Kummand gas mask is rather simple bag-shaped mask over the head design with glass eye-pieces and removable box-shaped filter made from sheet metal and filled with charcoal produced from birch. While it had been top of the line design when introduced to use of Russian Army in year 1916, the mask did not have exhale flap/vent design and was noted as being to be uncomfortable to wear. Lacking exhale flap/vent was a major problem common for 1^st generation gas masks introduced during World War 1, which not only made breathing more laborious, but also caused build-up of carbon monoxide inside the mask further reducing soldier’s physical capability while wearing mask. In addition moisture contained by exhaled air could deteriorate coal used in the gas-mask filter. As if not these had not been enough in 1920´s doubts started to surface about Zelinsky-Kummand gas mask´s performance and its field of view was noted to be too limited. Shortly said the design was already at that time getting dated when compared to newer gas-mask designs. At the same time masks existing in Finnish inventory were not getting any younger and were subject of wear down due to training use, so they would need to be replaced rather sooner than later.

PICTURE: Cavalry soldiers of Finnish Army practice with Zelinsky-Kummand gas masks in year 1927. Soldiers are wearing uniforms m/22 and rifles are likely dragoon rifles M/91. Photographed by E. G. Lehtinen. Photo crop. Photo source Museums of Lappeenranta (Lappeenrannan museot), acquired via Finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (139 KB).

The process for coming up with replacement for Zelinsky-Kummand gas mask proved to be long and tedious. March of 1924 Finnish government set committee to arrange question of gas-masks for the military and the work started in with acquisitions of foreign gas masks for testing purposes in 1926 – 1928. None of the foreign gas masks tested at that time succeeded filling the requirements and also be reasonably priced, with German Degea m/28 gas mask found to be otherwise the best design, but much too expensive. Hence in year 1928 decision was made to start development of suitable gas masks in Finland, with the goal of development process being developing both affordable military gas mask mainly suitable for peacetime training and more simple gas mask design intended for civilian population. Developing of gas masks was joined effort of Chemical Test Department for Ministry of Defence (Puolustusministeriön Kemiallinen Koelaitos) and anti-gas protection officers from General Staff of Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence. Early on the development process produced dozens of prototypes, from which two most successful (number 51 military gas mask prototype and number 55 civilian population gas mask prototype) were field-tested with 100 of each mask design being produced for the purpose and tested side by side of best foreign designs. After these field tests the development work continued until finally improved version of number 118 protype gas-mask was approved for military use as gas-mask m/30. While military gas mask m/30 proved successful, committee found civilian gas mask m/32, which lacked exhaust valve, to be too ineffective for use of civil defence. Hence civilian gas mask was returned into development, with the development work leading to development of civilian gas mask m/39. And as it turned out the earlier rejected civilian gas mask design proved useful as well, since it became the starting point for development of smaller and lighter military gas mask – military gas mask m/38.

Hence when Finland entered World War 2 with Finnish – Soviet Winter War in November 1939 there were four gas mask designs in Finnish inventory – military gas mask m/30, military gas mask m/38, civilian gas mask m/39 and old Selinski-Kummandt gas mask. From these four masks military gas mask m/30 had best filtering capacity with its filter carried in end of a long hose. Structurally military gas mask m/30 was modern for its time, having rubber mask and rubber tube both coated with grey stockinette, exhale valve, circular eyepieces and head harness. It was manufactured in three sizes (1 – large, 2 – medium and 3 – small) and was issued with cleaning kit packed into a box. Military gas mask m/38 was smaller size and handier mask also manufactured from rubber coated with grey stockinette, exhale valve, circular eyepieces and head harness, but has relatively small filter attached into attachment point in front of mouth. Its filter was not as effective as the one used with m/30, but gas mask m/38, but deemed sufficient. Originally military gas mask m/30 was intended to be issued to combat units, while gas mask m/38 was intended for supply formations, but because m/30 proved more complicated to mass produce, in September of 1939 gas mask m/38 was approved for combat units as well. As suggested by its name civilian gas mask m/39 had been intended for civilian population, but due to not having enough other mask during Winter War it was issued also to supply formations and coastal defence. Civilian gas mask m/39 was grey rubber mask pulled over head with strap on back of the mask, exhale valve, circular eyepieces and quite large filter attached in front of the mask. While aging Selinski-Kummandt gas masks were of somewhat dubious value, they were not completely removed from inventory until May of 1941. Still, due to it large-scale pre-war production (some 174,000 produced in 1930 – 1938) during Winter War military gas mask m/30 remained the most common gas mask issued by Finnish military, while second most common issued gas mask model was military gas mask m/38, which was the standard military gas-mask design produced during war. Last military gas masks m/30 were not removed from military inventory until year 1983.

During Winter War Finland acquired five gas masks designs from foreign sources. Most important of these foreign sources was United Kingdom, which donated Finland no less than 200,000 gas masks apparently containing three separate models - Mk IV Service Respirator, C1 General Civilian Respirator and Belgian L702 gas mask. British-donated gas-masks were delivered unassembled and at least some, maybe most, arrived without gas mask bags. The gas-mask referred by Finnish military as gas mask m/E was presumably Mk IV Service Respirator introduced year 1926 and remained in use of British military through World War 2 to post-war era. It saw some use with Finnish military, but proved unreliable in sub-zero temperatures. Belgian L702 gas mask had been produced in 1938 – 1940, so they were basically brand new when delivered and some 20,000 in total were assembled in Finland during World War 2. L702 was issued for both Finnish military and civil defence. British C1 General Civilian Respirator, which was produced in United Kingdom and Canada in 1935 – 1945 was not particularly good gas mask even by standards of the day. While it does appear in some wartime Finnish military photographs, at this time there is no information concerning its Finnish use. Gas masks m/F (Czechoslovakian Fatra FM3) gas masks were also acquired during Winter War mainly for civil defence, also issued by military in smaller numbers, but proved to suffer from durability issues. At the no specifics is known about gas mask m/R beyond it being Swedish beyond being used in limited numbers and not being issued anymore after May of 1941.

During year 1941 offensive Finnish soldiers proved to have tendency of lightening their load in long foot marches done on foot by discarding certain items issued to them. These commonly discarded items included entrenching tools, bayonets and gas masks. Due to this gas masks were gathered off from many military units and placed in storage.

FOOD ITEMS AND SUCH

During World War 2 food was rationed with civilians having ration cards and soldiers being provided food by their military units. The calory intake provided to soldiers was higher than what ration cards provided to the civilians. Soldier’s food was usually manufactured in field kitchens, although during trench-war period of Continuation War it was common to supply frontline troops with cauldrons, which they could use for cooking food and Alpha-cookers (Alpha-keitin) were also used for smaller military units. When possible, troops tried to supplement their food rations by hunting, fishing and during trench-war period even by growing their crops – and sometimes by stealing. Ready to eat rations were not widely distributed and were usually reserved for troops, which due to nature of their activities could not be provided food produced in field kitchens. This would involve troops send into roadless wilderness or behind enemy lines, which were equipped with ration packs known as iron ration (rautaisannos), ranger food ration (sissimuona-annos), patrol food ration (partiomuona-annos) or best of them all - long range recon food ration (kaukopartiomuona-annos) only available to select military units. Unlike modern MRE these rations did not really contain readily cooked meals, but easy to cook and readily available rations of canned items and other light to carry items, which could be expected to survive edible for duration of patrol. When there was opportunity, soldiers could also cook food their own use, but due to cooking equipment usually limited to mess tin, spork and puukko-knife, even more limited supply of available cooking ingredients and typically not having much cooking experience the resulting courses produced apparently tended to be rudimentary.

PICTURE: Field kitchen m/29 (kenttäkeittiö) was the standard field kitchen model for Finnish Army during World War 2. It was horse-towed and originally equipped with wooden wheels which had steel hoops, but during the war many (most?) field kitchens m/29 were equipped with used rubber tires, which were too worn-out to used in motor vehicles anymore. In post-war era surviving field kitchens were modified for motorized towing and many remain still in use of Finnish military even today. Photographed by M.J. Vuorela. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 30190). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (245 KB).

The single most important basic food item supplied to soldiers was crips bread made from rye, with fresh bread used as its substitute when necessary. Items such as sugar, tea and sugar were heavily rationed, with substitutes being introduced during war to supplement dwindling supply and finally to replace it. Another staple product of Finnish diet, which played massive role in feeding Finnish civilians and soldiers alike was potato, which was also most important wartime source of vitamin C. Another vitally important vitamin included to military diet was vitamin A, which was mixed to margarine that was part of soldiers food rations. Another supplementary item which was rumoured to be added into military diet was “jarru” (“brake”), which was bromine supposedly added into certain food items to reduce sexual urges, however later research has proved the rumour untrue.

PICTURE: Patrol receives its ranger food rations (sissiannos) before heading out. Photographed by O. Hedeström. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 148357). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (118 KB).

War food ration II used as guideline according which soldiers were fed during Winter War provides pretty good idea what sort of items were included to typical daily diet of Finnish soldier during Winter War:

• 500 grams of crisp bread or if not available as its substitute 600 grams of fresh bread.
• 60 grams of butter.
• 60 grams of cheese (or 30 grams of butter or 0.5 litres of milk).
• 60 grams of sausage (or 60 grams of canned pork or 80 grams of canned beef).
• 600 grams of potatoes (or 800 grams of cabbage/fresh vegetables or 100 grams of pasta or 175 grams of peas).
• 200 grams of beef (or 150 grams of pork or 175 grams of sausage or 150 grams of canned beef or 250 grams of fresh fish or 150 grams of herring).
• 15 grams of salt.
• 50 grams of sugar.
• 2 grams of tea (or 20 grams of coffee or 5 grams of cocoa).
• 25 grams of flour (intended for making sauce).
• 5 cigarettes

While soldiers normally did not have ration cards, when going on furlough they were provided with ration cards for its duration. Early 1942 special type of ration card known as S-card (S-kortti) for furloughs with duration of 1 – 7 days. During Continuation War soldiers serving in areas east of year 1940 borders were also provided food for part of travel to that border.

PICTURE: Soldiers having short break on a march enjoy quick snack with coffee substitute. Soldier front left is spreading with his puukko knife either butter or cheese on crisp bread, which was/is staple of Finnish military cousine. Photographed by H. Harrivirta in August of 1942. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photograph number 103664). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (125 KB).

Standard food rations of Finnish soldiers contained certain number of cigarettes per day – no matter if the soldier in question was smoker or not. Early on the number of cigarettes included into rations was five cigarettes per day, but later it was reduced to three per day. Some special ration packs such as patrol food ration contained larger number of cigarettes. Early on cigarettes were not included into rationing in home front, but July of 1942 they were included into it and their availability for civilians started to decline. For soldiers who were heavy smokers the daily ration proved too little to cover the need, hence during trench-war period home-growing tobacco became quite widely popular. It is noteworthy that during war tobacco also became a medium of exchange used for trading services and other items in between soldiers and stressing condition caused lot of men to start smoking.

SOURCES:

Eino Tirronen: Puolustusvoimien huolto 1918 – 1986 (Supply System of Defence Forces 1918 - 1986).

Atso Haapanen: Taistelukaasut (Combat Gasses).

Johan Somers: Imperial Russian Field Uniforms and Equipment 1907 - 1917.

Steve Kehaya and Joe Poyer: Swedish Mauser.

Finnish National Archives, folder PLM-47/Hb:6 Puolustusministeriön toimeenpanokäskyt. Lists of personal clothing items to be issued for each soldier in case of war.

Doctoral thesis of Anneli Pranttila: Rintamamiesten muonitus Suomessa sotavuosina 1939 – 1945 (Food Supply of Frontline Soldiers in Finland 1939 - 1945). https://helda.helsinki.fi/items/4ecce9ae-39bc-402d-a787-76c43fbd9074.

Article: Neljän sukupolven naamarit (Four generations of gas masks) by Markku Mäkinen in Ase-lehti magazine vol. 6/94.

Etulinja.net: http://etulinja.net/

Some Finnish shops:

Tiera reproductions: - The best reproduction manufacturer of Finnish gear.

Swat Team Oy - Original Finnish surplus and reproductions of varying quality.

SA-kauppa - The one and only official Finnish Defence Forces surplus shop.

Etulinja myym&aum;lä - Shop of Reservist District of Southern Häme (Etelä-Hämeen Reserviläispiiri).

Youtube:

How to pack a WWI German Tornister, WWI German Reeactor Tutorial

Special thanks to Sotamuseo (Military Museum), Helsinki.

Special thanks to Museo Militaria, Hämeenlinna.

Special thanks to Jalkaväkimuseo (Infantry Museum), Mikkeli.