51 dead on a Sunday afternoon

A 250-kilo bomb dropped by a solitary Soviet plane wreaked havoc in downtown Helsinki in November 1942

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By Ilkka Malmberg
     
      Helsinki was bombed from the air quite extensively in the Winter War of 1939-40 and again in the Continuation War of 1941-44, particularly in the later phase of the Continuation War, when the Soviet Union launched a number of massive raids in February of 1944.
      Fortuitously, by this stage the Finns had a relatively sophisticated air defence system in effect for the capital, and whilst there were obviously casualties and much structural damage, few of the more than 16,000 bombs carried during over 2,000 Red Air Force bomber approaches actually fell on the city proper.
     
The situation was rather different, however, on an overcast Sunday afternoon on 8th November, 1942.
      This was the occasion of the largest single loss of life in Helsinki's wartime history, when a bomb fell on the corner of Iso Roobertinkatu and Yrjönkatu, in the downtown area known as Erottaja or Kolminkulma ("Three Corners").
      A single bomb dropped right in the middle of a large crowd killed 51 and wounded a further 120 or more.
      A great many of the victims were children and teenagers.
     
In the autumn of 1942, Helsinki was actually bombed very little, and life in the capital went on much as normal, in spite of the war, which was at this time being waged far away in the east, beyond Finland's borders.
      Helsinki did not have radar cover to assist the anti-aircraft batteries at this point, and on that Sunday afternoon a lone Soviet Petlyakov PE-2 managed to fly into the airspace above the city, carrying two 250-kilo bombs in its bomb-bay.
     
The plane approached Helsinki from across the Gulf of Finland, hugging the cloud line.
      Its mission was probably one of aggressive reconnaisance, involving taking pictures and dropping some ordnance for good measure.
      Air defence lookouts heard the drone of the aircraft's twin V-12 engines, and two fighters were scrambled from the airfield at Malmi in order to intercept the intruder.
      The air raid warning siren was sounded.
     
The carnage was in fact the sum of many tragic coincidences: at exactly the same time a large number of children and adults were queueing up outside the Tivoli Cinema to see a comedy musical spoof version of The Three Musketeers, starring Don Ameche.
      The screening-times had apparently been changed that very week in order that the last showing of the day would not have been too late for the child audience.
      The street was filled with people, as not only was there the line outside Rivoli, but also those film-goers in the nearby Gloria movie house had all rushed out on hearing the air raid sirens, and were heading for the nearest shelter, close to the recently-built St. John's Church.
     
The Soviet plane banked over the city.
      By all accounts the pilot felt an urgent need to jettison his load and hightail it out of town, as the fighters approached and the anti-aircraft batteries on the fortress island of Suomenlinna began to open up in his direction.
      The plane dropped its load from a flat trajectory (although the PE-2 was ideally suited to a dive-bombing role), and the accuracy under such conditions was not good.
     
One of the two bombs fell on a building in the courtyard of a house at Lönnrotinkatu 13 and caused no casualties, but the other came down right on the tram-lines in the centre of the intersection of Iso Roobertinkatu and Yrjönkatu.
      The reinforced paving-stones underneath the tram-lines were so hard that the bomb exploded at street level and shrapnel splinters fanned out across the two streets, with terrible effect.
      The shockwave from the blast blew out windows all the way along Yrjönkatu to the swimming hall by Hotel Torni, several hundred metres away.
     
In the Monday edition of Helsingin Sanomat, the tragedy that took place very close to the newspaper's then head office (on Ludviginkatu) was reported as a small item on the front page.
      The front page was dominated by news of "Operation Torch", the Allied landings in Algeria.
      In the post-war Finland, with its Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance with the Soviet Union and an attendant deferential attitude towards Moscow, it was not the done thing to dwell too much or too publicly on civilian casualties of the war, and until now no plaque has ever been put up to mark the event.
     
     
At 11:00 on Sunday a plaque marking the tragedy will be unveiled on the wall of Iso Roobertinkatu 2. The plaque has been acquired by the company owning the building. Helsinki Deputy Mayor Pekka Sauri will speak at the event.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 8.11.2009

More on this subject:
 Memorial plaque unveiled for Iso Roobertinkatu bombing victims

Links:
  Petlyakov PE-2 (Wikipedia)
  Bombing of Helsinki in World War II (Wikipedia)

ILKKA MALMBERG / Helsingin Sanomat
ilkka.malmberg@hs.fi