BACKGROUND: Finns kept meticulous records on locations of mine fields
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By Ilkka Ahtiainen
The history of the dismantling of mines and barbed wire in the autumn of 1944 is a history of the vanquished, which has not been subjected to an overall assessment.
Nobody knows how extensive the activity was and how many men fell victim to the Finns’ own mines while clearing them away.
According to war diaries, three men were killed or injured in the Rukajärvi operation. There were 73 mine fields, and more than 14,000 mines in the ground.
How was it possible to come through with so few casualties?
At least on the Rukajärvi front, the Finns were very disciplined in their use of land mines. The locations of the fields were clearly marked, as was the number of mines.
During the mine-clearing operation the Finns came across only one field that had not been recorded in the maps. Of 14,070 mines, nearly 11,070 were found. According to the record, "3,008 mines were not found, having exploded as a result of artillery fire, burned in fires, or were not located for some other reason".
There are no reports that the Russians would have complained later of damage caused by remaining mines.
The Rukajärvi front was unique: there were only eight kilometres of unified defence lines. The remaining nearly 200 kilometres was monitored from small wilderness fortresses.
For the defenders of those installations, the mines and the barbed wire served as life insurance.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 27.10.2004
More on this subject:
 History: Dismantling barbed wire and clearing mines behind the new border
Previously in HS International Edition:
British general questions military usefulness of land mines (27.10.2004)
ILKKA AHTIAINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
ilkka.ahtiainen@hs.fi
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