Finnish leaders mark 60th anniversary of end of Continuation War
Veterans and providers of international aid praised at official seminar.
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Finnish leaders on Saturday expressed their gratitude to the veterans of the Continuation War which ended in a ceasefire in the late summer of 1944. In addition to the Finnish veterans, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (centre) expressed thanks to foreign volunteers who came to help Finland.
The message at a seminar arranged by the Finnish government to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the fighting was that the war against the Soviet Union was a defensive victory for Finland.
President Tarja Halonen noted that the defensive victory in June and July significantly changed the situation.
"Finland retained both its external independence and its national defence capability and other preconditions for implementing independent policy."
"For this achievement, which required great sacrifices, our country is in permanent debt to you, honoured war veterans", the President said.
Attending the seminar at the House of Estates were representatives of veterans’ organisations, as well as Hanna-Liisa Ryti-Erkinheimo, the granddaughter of wartime President Risto Ryti.
In the front row, alongside the President, two former Presidents, the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister, other government ministers, and the Lutheran Archbishop, were two Knights of the Mannerheim Cross - Pentti Iisalo, 84, and Tuomas Gerdt, 82.
"It was a difficult summer, but we survived", said Gerdt on the experiences of 60 years back.
"Your memory will not fade. You are a permanent part of Finnish history, its heroes", said Vanhanen, who organised the seminar.
Vanhanen's words of gratitude to foreign volunteers were noted by the ambassadors of Estonia and Sweden who were sitting in the third row.
The ambassadors of the United States and the UK possibly noted with discomfort the part of Prime Minister Vanhanen’s speech in which he remarked that Finland had not always received help from "the great democracies".
Russia’s Ambassador Vladimir Grinin and Germany’s Hans Schumacher listened serenely to the presentation by war historian, Professor Ohto Manninen, who noted that in the summer of 1944 both the Soviet Union and Germany had plans for the occupation of Finland, or its key parts.
In April 1944 the Soviet Union set as its goal the surrender of Finland and its occupation, once Finland had rejected the peace terms that had been offered. Professor Manninen says that this would have involved moving the Russian border west to the Kymi River. The island fortress of Suomenlinna off Helsinki would have been turned into a Soviet naval base.
The Soviet Union still had plans for a Finnish surrender even after the crucial battle of Tali-Ihantala, but the occupation would only have affected key areas, such as Petsamo, Kotka, Porkkala, and Hanko. Under this plan, the Soviet border would still have been moved to the Kymi River.
"When the weapons of the Red Army went silent on September 5, 1944, there was no more talk of unconditional surrender", Manninen said, commenting on the result of the defensive victory.
German plans for an occupation of Finland were based on the scenario that Finland might surrender to the Soviets, in which case Germany was prepared to occupy the Åland Islands and the island of Suursaari in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.
When Finland cut its ties with Germany, orders were given to occupy Åland, but Germany’s military strength was no longer sufficient to carry this out.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 6.9.2004 - TODAY |
 Finnish leaders mark 60th anniversary of end of Continuation War |
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