A postscript on the Coats and Tunics
One other reason that the rank insignias were moved from shoulder patches to the collar was that in the field the epaulettes resulted in the rucksack rings chafing. Removing the epaulettes / rank insignia removed this problem, or at least reduced it. It should also be mentioned that despite the design improvements, the m/36 greatcoat and uniform was still not entirely comfortable in field use. Post Winter-War, the new m/43 uniform would be introduced which would be based on a detailed assessment of the performance of the m/36 in the Winter War. Assessment, re-design and field trials in 1942 based on almost a year of combat use through 1940 by the entire Maavoimat would result in a new uniform that was a vast improvement over the old.
Trousers
No self-respecting uniform is complete without trousers (unless of course you’re Scottish). Finland, as has been mentioned, was heavily influenced by German uniform design and opted for breeches for the m/36 uniform. These were worn by pretty much every soldier in all ranks. The pants featured a high waist, button fly and adjustment tabs on the sides. No belt loops were fitted, as the breeches were meant to be worn with suspenders. The leg cuffs tapered towards the end, and were secured with a strap that went under the foot and buttoned up to the side. At the time, breeches were still widely worn by civilians (and would remain so well into the 1950's, and probably even later in northern Finland).
Image sourced from: http://www.varusteleka.com/pictures/16129.jpg
Maavoimat M/36 Uniform – Tunic, Breeches and Boots
M/36 Caps
The caps worn by the Finnish soldier remained unchanged. The first m/22 style remained in service throughout the war as summer and dress versions for the troops. Minor alterations were made in construction and color but the style remained virtually unchanged. The m/22 was intended to be replaced by the all-purpose m/36 cap but in practice both were used. An m/34 cap was also trialed and for winter wear this had a separate quilted liner (of quilted cotton or silk) that could be snapped into the inside of the cap for added insulation. The sweatband was leather. The m/34 experimental and the simplified wool m/36 cap (which did not have the snap in liner) were essentially the same style but the m/36 cap used a gray soft cotton cloth lining.
Image sourced from: http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/images/m36_caps1.JPG
Notice the different wool colors. The middle hat, 2nd row, is the summer m36 hat with National emblem.
Both of these all season caps were hot in the summer months and so the m/22 style continued to be worn in the summer months. This prompted a change and in 1939 an updated version of the m/22 was made to correspond with the new m/36 uniform. This was made of lightweight cotton. 1939 also saw the adoption of a fur winter cap made of heavy gray wool with a sheepskin inner, it had flaps that tied at the top to hold them up. The front brow flap was attached in the up position with a small metal snap.
Image sourced from: http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/imag ... r_caps.JPG
M/39 Winter Hat: Australian and New Zealand clothing manufacturers would supply large numbers of m/39 fur winter hats manufactured in the heavy wool / sheepskin inner combination. There was no shortage of sheepskin or woolen textile material in either country.
Boots
With the introduction the m/36 uniform came new footwear. No less than five different versions were tested for use. The standard high calf type leather boot with sewn leather sole was standard issue. An ankle height boot was also approved. Many of the early boots used wooden studs on the sole like hobnails but these quickly wore down and it does not appear that they were replaced. Another version of the calf boot was a half-felt version for winter use. These boots kept the shoe portion leather but the upper half was fabricated in black felt/wool material and they used a rubber sole. The use of Laplander style boots was fairly common amongst the Suojeluskuntas but Army stores produced a generic version for issue to ski troopers. If footwear was not available to the troops (more common than not at the start of the Winter War) then civilian foot-gear was worn in the field. The last version of the boot was strictly a winter version. Felt boots were fine insulators and were available they were prized possessions. Most boots worn by Finnish soldiers in the early months of the Winter War came into Finnish service from home-use along with their owners - or in circ*mstances where their original Russian owners were no longer in need of them.
Image sourced from: http://www.mosinnagant.net/images/lapan ... rboots.JPG
"Lapp" boots on the left with the distinctive curled toe for engaging the cross country ski bindings and a pair of black issue boots of the Army on the right. The Lapp boots are also of Army issue but modeled after the local boots. Many Lapp boots had a large flap to fold up the leg to prevent deep snow from entering via the top of the soldier’s boots.
Image sourced from: http://www.kevos4.com/images/Boots1.jpg
Wartime Felt-lined boots on left. The Finnish ski boots on the right have a turned-up toe for fitting into skis.
Image sourced from: http://www.kevos4.com/images7/brown_boots.jpg
Finnish military boots - brown
[Image sourced from: http://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/pienpa ... =4&type=hq
Another type of boot that was less common, but highly prized by its owners, were the Suomen Gummitehdas Oy ("Nokia") Wellington Boots (in fact, before its entry into the mobile phone business, rubber boots were among the best-known products of Nokia outside of Finland). As early as 1935 and 1936, all Border Guard companies received a batch of different Suomen Gummitehdas Oy ("Nokia") wellingtons for testing. They were generally preferred over leather and rubber-tipped leather boots in wet and wet & cold weather. Most Border Guard units ordered a few dozen short "Pelto" and longer "Laatokka" wellingtons from Nokia after the trials. While the Finnish Defence Forces did not issue wellington boots prior to the Winter War, they were on the shopping list “if available”. Worn with winter socks or foot-cloth wrappings, they were warm and kept the feet dry in the sometimes muddy conditions of the trenches and in the wet conditions of spring and autumn.
Similarly to Finland, there are two British Commonwealth countries where “Wellington” boots were (and are) ubiquitous. These are Canada and New Zealand. In Canada, Wellingtons specifically made for cold weather, lined with warm insulating material, were especially popular practical footwear for Canadian winters – and large numbers of such boots would be sent to Finland from Canada early in the Winter War (as we will see when we look at aid from Ca. In New Zealand, Wellingtons were generally called "gumboots" or "wellies" and were essential foot wear for New Zealand farmers as well as for abattoir workers, butchers, fishermen and schoolchildren in winter. In the early 1930’s, the largest footwear company in New Zealand was “Hannahs”, with 19 stores across the North Island, 11 in the South Island and a factory in Wellington which manufactured, among other shoe types, large quantities of Wellington Boots.
Hannahs had been founded by Robert Hannah, an Irish emigrant from Country Antrim (who had been apprenticed as a boot-maker in his youth), who opened his first boot shop in 1868 during the West Coast (of the South Island of New Zealand) gold rush. He moved to Wellington when the gold rush ended, and in June 1874 advertising in the Evening Post newspaper announced the opening on Lambton Quay of Robert Hannah & Co., who "had long and practical experience in the business" and sought the patronage of the people of Wellington.The business prospered and by 1879 there was another branch (and factory) in Cuba Street, followed by stores in Molesworth Street and Willis Street a few years later. By 1897, there were 10 stores in the North Island, set up with the assistance of Robert's younger brother, William, who had come out from Ireland in 1879. Although Robert was a manufacturer and retailer of footwear, he was also an importer, and claimed this was the profitable side of the business. The top floor of the Cuba Street premises was originally a small factory but by the early 1890's it had become too small, and the "Palace G" boot factory (of five floors) was built behind the Lambton Quay premises.
Image sourced from: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/etexts/Gov1 ... il018a.jpg
Handworkers on heavy boots, Hannah's Shoe Factory, Wellington, New Zealand
This building was designed by the New Zealand architect Thomas Turnball, and began a long business relationship between the two men. Some 124 staff were employed here, and its weekly output was about 3000 pairs of boots - or about half the boot trade in New Zealand at the time. By 1908, business was so good that a combined factory/warehouse (of 2 floors) was built behind the Cuba Street premises. This was further expanded when adjoining properties were purchased. The building was also the company's head office for many years. Robert Hannah himself was an entrepreneur of his times, a shrewd and hard businessman, who also cared deeply for his staff. He paid them above the going wage, and worked hard to keep them employed during the Depression years. Robert Hannah died in 1930 but his family continued with the business. By late 1939, Hannahs owned 42 retail branches across New Zealand, employed more than 750 people and were the largest footwear manufacturer in New Zealand, rivaling the largest boot manufacturing plants in the British Empire (Hannahs is still in existence today and is New Zealand's most famous footwear brand. They have 52 stores nation-wide, as well as stores in Australia).
In November 1939, a single Finnish Purchasing Team representative from Sydney travelled to New Zealand together with the Secretary from the Finnish Consulate in Sydney to place orders with New Zealand clothing and footwear manufacturers. Following an inspection of the Hannahs factory, an order was placed for “as many Wellington Boots as the Company
Excerpts of his report on the Hannahs factory, dated January 1 1940, translated from Finnish and republished in the “New Zealand Railways Magazine” (http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarl ... dy-d6.html) reads as follows:
“I was taken through the vast establishment by a foreman whose service with the company exceeded forty years. He had spent two years in America, familiarising himself with the methods of the famous Selby Factory, and the assembly of plants and the systems of any countries were familiar to him. He was sincerely of the opinion that Hannah's were abreast of modern footwear-making in all respects. The huge factory is rather like a self-contained township; its spaciousness and actual size are impressive, and one gets the feeling of a large and busy population. Hannah's make the whole range of footwear, from the smart feminine street shoe to the man's welted brogue, from the schoolgirl's sandal to the heavy military boot.”
Image sourced from: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/etexts/Gov1 ... (h280).jpg
The “Clicking” room at Hannah's factory, Wellington, New Zealand
“We went first to the preparing rooms, where the multitudinous patterns are cut, where skiving, perforating and other processes are carried on. “Skiving,” means shaving off the leather, and “clicking” means cutting out the uppers, and so on. This work is done by hand at Hannah's, for with leather at three shillings per foot, human care is worth its place. The various leathers come from all parts of the world, a substantial proportion of course being New Zealand-grown and tanned. Leather is a natural product, and its variations depend largely on environment and other regional circ*mstances. For instance, calf-skins come largely from France and the other countries that eat veal freely. The “chain” system of operations enters largely into this modern factory's organisation. Each man does one operation with skill and speed, and the article passes on, after inspection at chosen points. At the ends of these lines, the shoes pour off for the finishing processes, and the imagination boggles at the moving masses of five-tier trolleys laden with shoes, taking selected routes like a crowd of trams at a Helsinki Exhibition rush hour. I had a look at a “Consolidated Laster.” This uncanny, almost human mechanism, grabs the leather upper, pinches and shapes it round and tacks it on, all in the same operation, at the rate of 150 tacks a minute, the operative working a simple knee-grip device. The Shoe Seat machine puts in eighteen tacks at one shot, and the Pulling Over machine pulls the toe into position and drives in the tacks at the same time. The tacks run down parallel tubes into their proper positions. The machine stitching of a welted shoe is an interesting operation, for no handwork could get the same strength and durability. All shoes are re-blocked, that is to say they are put back on the lasts and go through levelling and fitting processes. The making of heels has more to it than I imagined. The shaped leather layers are stamped out to the exact size, placed together, joined, and then a crusher compresses them and makes the hollow necessary for attachment to the sole.”
Image sourced from: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/etexts/Gov1 ... (h280).jpg
Shoes on trolleys moving to the finishing department, Hannah's factory, Wellington, New Zealand
“The soles themselves are cut out by instruments resembling die-presses, and the number, shapes and variety of sizes are bewildering. In the leather storeroom, there is a lesson in general geography. Although a substantial proportion of the materials come from New Zealand, the world is combed by Hannah's for the extraordinary diversity of coloured leathers, fabrics, crepe rubbers, ornaments, and the other thousandand-one things needed to make footwear for New Zealanders. I found one outstanding fact about wholesale boot-making; the secret is inspection. Hannah's inspection is constant and thorough-going, and, as they sell their goods only through their own stores, they guarantee every purchase. This giant institution, the achievement of one of New Zealand’s pioneers, is something of which even Nokia could be proud. Hannah's is, in truth, a National Footwear Service.”
Image sourced from: http://mebooks.co.nz/clients/library.hu ... 00171a.jpg
The huge modern factory where Hannah Footwear is manufactured to-day. The largest and most up-to-date Shoe Factory in New Zealand
Hannahs could manufacture some 7,000 military style boots per week (OTL note: this was in fact the actual production capacity of the Hannahs factory, there were also other footwear manufacturers in New Zealand with similar production capacity such as Ducksworths in Christchurch) and in the first meeting with the Finnish Purchasing Team representative, indicated a willingness to place the complete factory workforce on the manufacturing of boots to meet any Finnish order as long as payment was guaranteed. In addition and unasked, Hannahs stated that they would collect donated Wellington Boots at every Hannahs retail outlet across New Zealand and collect them for shipping in Wellington together with the shipment from the Factory in Wellington. As we will see a little further on in this Post, the New Zealand Government stepped in with a Guarantee for all purchase orders placed by the Finnish Purchasing Team with New Zealand manufacturers. The end result was that in the second week of November 1939, the Finnish Purchasing Team placed an order for some 40,000 Wellington Boots with Hannahs, to be collected in Wellington for shipment at the end of December. Production would commence immediately.
Hannahs offered to do their best to produce more if this would help and the offer was accepted, up to a maximum of 100,000 boots. In the event, by hiring retired employees, paying overtime and advertising for skilled workers on a temporary basis, Hannahs managed to manufacture 65,000 Wellington Boots. In addition, a further 15,000 boots were collected at Hannahs retail branches around New Zealand, some used, some new. In total, 80,000 Wellington Boots from New Zealand would arrive in Finland at the end of February 1940. Australia, on the other hand, would contribute large numbers of leather boots to Finnish military design. These would be the standard Finnish military boots and some 200,000 would be shipped off at the end of December 1939, with a further 150,000 pairs leaving in early February 1940.
Leather Uniform Items
In addition to the sizable quantities of military boots from Australia, there was another little-known advantage in purchasing uniforms made of leather (such as those used by tank crews for example) from Australia. This was the large supply of kangaroo leather available. Leather made from kangaroo hide has a number of features which were, at that stage, little known outside of Australia. To start with, kangaroo leather is lighter and stronger than the hide of a cow or goat. It has 10 times the tensile strength of cowhide and is 50% stronger than goatskin. When compared to other leathers, such as that made from steer hide, kangaroo leather can be cut much thinner than steer hide leather whilst retaining the same strength. Similarly, when split into thinner sheets, kangaroo leather retains considerably more of the original tensile strength of the unsplit leather than does, for example, calf (when split to 20% of its original thickness, kangaroo retains between 30 to 60% of the tensile strength of the unsplit hide. Calf on the other hand split to 20% of original thickness retains only 1 to 4% of the original strength).
(Empirically, in 1939 this was known. The reason why was not. Studies of the morphology of kangaroo leather have now explained these particular properties. The collagen fibre bundles in cattle hide are arranged in a complex weaving pattern. The fibres are often at angles as much as 90 degrees to the skin surface. Cattle hide also contains sweat glands, erector pili muscles and a distinct gradation in elastin levels, concentrated in the upper part of the skin. Kangaroo on the other hand has been shown to have a highly uniform orientation of fibre bundles in parallel with the skin surface. It does not contain sweat glands or erector pili muscles and elastin is evenly distributed throughout the skin thickness. This structural uniformity explains both the greater tensile strength of the whole leather and the greater retention of strength in splits. Bovine skin is much more complex in cross section. Hence in whole section it has many more weak points from which tears can start when placed under tension. In addition when sliced into splits the collagen fibres running at significant angles to the skin surface will be cut. These then become weak points in the structural strength).
The end result however was that in 1939, it was known that thinner kangaroo leather could be used while having the same strength as thicker and heavier steer-hide leather. In addition, kangaroo leather was substantially cheaper – the kangaroos were shot as vermin, with no costs involved in raising them, and there were large quantities available. The Finnish Purchasing Team was flexible on the type of leather to be used and prepared to listen to the Australian experts. The end result was that when ordering leathers for tankers of the Armoured Division, as well as leathers for Ilmavoimat pilots and aircrew, kangaroo leather was accepted as a permissible material. The result was that a large percentage of the tanker and aircrew leathers supplied to Finland from Australia were made from kangaroo leather – and the kangaroo leather uniforms were of a lighter weight and had greater flexibility and comfort than steer-hide leather. In combat, this gave Finnish tankers and aircrew a slight advantage in physical dexterity and freedom of movement inside the tanks and aircraft that they fought in. This may not seem like much, but in combat, even a fraction of a seconds speed in reaction time can make a difference – and kangaroo hide leather uniforms sometimes gave the Finnish soldiers that miniscule advantage that was the difference between life and death in combat.
Finland would continue to buy kangaroo hide leather from Australia through WW2, and by the time Finland re-entered WW2 and declared war on Germany, the tank crews of the 4 Maavoimat Armoured Divisions in existence in early 1944 were equipped with kangaroo-hide leather uniforms, as were the tank crews of the Polish 1st Armoured Division and the 3 Norwegian Panserbataljonen that formed the armoured component of the 1st Norwegian Division attached to the Maavoimat.
Image sourced from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ljonen.jpg
Norwegian Army Panserbataljonen insignia. The 3 Panserbataljonen were equipped with American supplied lend-lease equipment and were manned by Norwegian volunteers who had been regrouping in the Finnish-occupied Finnmark region of Norway from mid-1940 on. The Panserbataljonen were formed in late 1943 after the Finnish decision had been taken to enter the war against Germany.
Below are a series of illustrations of Maavoimat and Ilmavoimat uniforms and uniform items made from Australian leather.
Image sourced from: http://www.kevos4.com/images/tankers_helmet.jpg
Leather tankers helmet. Australia would manufacture a considerable number of these from kangaroo-hide. Kangaroo leather was selected as the leather of choice for tanker uniforms manufactured in Australia for the Maavoimat.
Image sourced from: http://www.mosinnagant.net/images/tank2 ... eather.JPG
Here a complete tank commanders uniform can be seen in detail with the special m/36 tunic made of black leather along with the black leather "breeches”. His padded leather tankers helmet is held in his left hand. Prior to the Winter War, this tunic was rare due to the small number of armored crews and the limited production of the leather tunics. Where leather uniforms were not available, a heavy canvas type jumpsuit or the simple winter wool or lightweight cotton summer version of the m/36 uniform was used.
Image sourced from: http://www.mosinnagant.net/images/sototankuni.JPG
Here you can see the leather m/36 commander’s tunic on the left along with the padded tankers helmet worn for protection while in the fighting vehicle. The radio earphones are incorporated into the helmet. You can see the plug in cord for this headgear in the commander’s hand. The right side figure is shown with the grey canvas jumpsuit that was used as an alternative to the leather uniform. This figure is more than likely a radio operator/gunner than a commander due to the lack of rank insignia on his uniform and the standard enlisted mans co*ckade worn on his m/36 cap.
Image sourced from: http://www.ww2incolor.com/d/689434-1/Fi ... Oct12_1941
Finnish tank crew in front of their T-28 during a parade in Petroskoi on October 12, 1940, shortly prior to the withdrawal to the new Finnish-USSR border. The uniforms are Finnish Army standard issue M/36, the headgear looks like captured Soviet tank helmets rather than the better quality Australian kangaroo-hide leather headgear. An additional factor in using Soviet headgear was that the tanks for two of the three Maavoimat Armoured Divisions (as of October 1940) were very largely captured Soviets ones and these had Soviet interphone systems and if equipped with radio, typically also the original Soviet tank radios. Hence the microphone and headphone systems inbuilt in the Soviet tank helmets were compatible with this signal equipment. BTW, the second soldier from the left has interesting footwear which look like the extremely rare Finnish Army M/36 marching boots. Despite the uniforms and additional shipments of tanned leather supplied from Australia, the Maavoimat would experience a shortfall of leather tankers uniforms through until after the Winter War. With three Armoured Divisions by September 1940 (two of them equipped with captured Red Army tanks), the Maavoimat would, as in the photo above, issue most of the tankers with the m/36 uniforms. Generally, only the troopers of the 21st Armoured Division (the first to be formed) were fully equipped with leather tanker uniforms.
Image sourced from: http://www.wiking.fi/kuvat/kustannus/asepukum36.jpg
The Finnish Army M/36 Uniform was the main uniform used in the Winter War of 1939-40. It was worn by hundreds of thousands of fighting men. “Asepuku M/36” by Petteri Leino (published by Wiking-Divisioona OY) is the standard reference on the M/36 Uniform and provides comprehensive coverage, containing many previously unpublished period pictures. Written by a uniform specialist, the colour pages show authentic uniforms worn together with authentic weapons and equipment. The book has English photo captions and an English summary for every chapter. Highly recommended if this is something that interests you.
Finnish Uniforms – supply during the Winter War
After the first year or two of production when older styles were updated and material was standardized, the model 1936 uniform remained unchanged through the Winter War. The biggest problem with the m/36 uniform however was the lack of them. When the Winter War broke out between Russia and Finland, the mobilisation of the reserves and the movement of the standing conscript army saw only the conscripts doing their period of military service outfitted in combat uniforms – and less than 30% of the mobilized reservists (and the bulk of those with uniforms were in point of fact Suojeluskuntas members and members of the “active” reserves who trained regularly and who had been issued uniforms as a result). With the war taking place in winter, the issue of proper winter jackets and great coats to the Army was in even more dire straights, as only 150,000 of some 750,000 troops and Lottas were outfitted with current army issue great coats and cold weather boots. The remaining troops, lottas, home guards and cadets (the boy and girl soldiers) wore the so-called "model Cajander Uniform" that was a mix and match of primarily civilian clothing augmented here and there with any available uniform issue. This was a serious problem but as mentioned, Prime Minister Cajander did not believe, even on all the evidence, that the USSR would attack Finland. And while he approved both mobilization and emergency arms purchases, he would stubbornly and seemingly without reason dig in his toes on the issue of purchasing uniforms.
Incidentally, in addition to a lack of uniforms, there was a general lack of rank insignia and service branch patches and the Finnish military would in large fight through the Winter War without these. In the immediate post-war analysis of combat experiences, it was found that there was actually a significant difference in casualty rates between units where rank insignia was worn, and those without. As a direct result, the Finnish military would go into battle against Germany in 1944 wearing no rank insignia or distinguishing features of any kind on combat uniforms.
With the outbreak of war, clothing manufacturers across Finland geared up to supply the troops. By December of 1939 over 45 different clothing manufactures including the state owned uniform producers as well as private makers were involved in the contract production of uniforms, boots and great coats for the Finnish Army. Many members of the Lotta Svard organization also made uniforms from fabric, as well as snow suits, gloves and winter hats. By February of 1940 over 200,000 additional woollen tunics and a similar quantity of winter greatcoats had been produced as well as an astounding 350,000 new pairs of woolen trousers. This however met only around half the needs of the mobilized Finnish armed forces and did not include the more than 100,000 uniform-issues needed for foreign volunteers.
The part played by Australia and New Zealand
Some immediate assistance was provided by Britain which, in late December 1939 shipped 100,000 British uniforms to Finland. These were generally issued to Cadets (the younger teenage Boy and Girl Soldiers) as in general they were too small for the average Finn. The brown colour was also easily mistaken for a Russian uniform. However, as we have seen, both New Zealand and Australia responded to the urgent Finnish requests for assistance – and for orders placed with textile and clothing manufacturers by the Finnish purchasing agents in Sydney. With funds available (and in the case of New Zealand, both a loan made available direct to the Finnish Government by the New Zealand Government to fund all textile and clothing purchases made in New Zealand) and guarantees of payment to New Zealand manufacturers signing orders with the Finnish Government, the response was immediate. Large stockpiles of wool existed in both countries (as has been mentioned) and both countries also had experienced workforces – still with some significant unemployment. With guaranteed payments and a bonus for rapid delivery, manufacturers in both countries responded quickly. By early January 1940, two of the first Finnish cargo ships to leave Australia (& New Zealand) were en-route, packed with uniforms, boots, donated clothing, textiles, canvas, leather and bales of raw wool for the Finnish textile industry.
In support of Finland, sheep farmers had donated bales of wool to the campaign, amounting to shiploads of raw wool. Fortunately, with the outbreak of the War and the mobilization of the Finnish Merchant Marine, there were large numbers of Finnish merchant ships that could be utilized and a number of these were sent to Australia (and New Zealand, which similarly could not provide much in the way of military material but could certainly provide raw wool – which the small Pacific country did, filling a number of cargo ships with donated bales from sheep stations all around the country). Australia in turn would in the end fill half a dozen Finnish cargo ships to capacity with bales of unprocessed wool – enough to fill warehouse after warehouse in Tampere and indeed, these shiploads together with a similar donation from Argentina would provide Finland with sufficient wool to last through the entire Winter War period.
Australian and New Zealand textile mills produced woollen cloth to the specifications needed for the various pieces of Finnish uniform issue – underclothing, trousers, shirts, tunics, great coats and hats. Australian and New Zealand clothing manufacturers worked day and night shirts to produced finished pieces of uniform clothing while the growing Finland Assistance organization in both countries form “knitting circles” to knit woolen sweaters and scarves and to hand-sew various other pieces of needed military-clothing. The manufacturers in both countries were modern, efficient and well-run – and the labour force was highly motivated both by the overtime pay offered and by the knowledge that they were providing tangible assistance to “gallant little Finland” as well as supporting their own volunteer troops on the way to fight in Finland alongside the Finns. In New Zealand, the encouragement and support offered to the Finland Assistance Organisation by both the highly popular Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage, and the Leader of the Opposition, Adam Hamilton, would also go a long way to ensuring support across the length and breadth of the country for anything related to the provision of assistance to Finland.
Image sourced from: http://blog.greens.org.nz/wp-content/up ... e-1935.jpg
Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand at the start of the Winter War
Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is commonly known as the architect of the New Zealand welfare state and is consistently regarded as one of New Zealand's greatest and most revered Prime Ministers. He was given the title New Zealander of the Century by The New Zealand Herald in 1999. Born in Australia, Savage first became involved in politics while working in that state. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1907 at the age of 35. He worked in a variety of jobs, as a miner, flax-cutter and storeman, before becoming involved in the union movement. Savage initially opposed the formation of the 1910 New Zealand Labour Party as he viewed the grouping as insufficiently socialistic and instead he became the chairman of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, known as the "Red Feds". In the 1911 general election Savage unsuccessfully stood as the Socialist candidate for Auckland Central. During World War I he opposed conscription, arguing that the conscription of wealth should precede the conscription of men. After the war the voters of the Auckland West electorate put Savage into Parliament as a Labour member in the 1919 general election, an electorate that he held until his death. He in due course became the Labour Party leader in 1933 and helped engineer the Labour/Ratana (maori political party) alliance. During the Great Depression Savage toured the country and became an iconic figure. An excellent speaker, he became the most visible politician in New Zealand and led Labour to victory in the 1935 election. Along with the Premiership he appointed himself the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Maori Affairs. The first Labour government swiftly proved popular and easily won the 1938 general election with an increased popular mandate. Savage, suffering from cancer of the colon at the time, had delayed seeking treatment to participate in the election campaign. Savage led the country into World War II, officially declaring war on Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, just hours after Britain. Unlike Australia, which felt obligated to declare war, New Zealand did so as a sign of allegiance to Britain, and in recognition of Britain's abandoning its former appeasem*nt of the dictators, a policy that New Zealand had vehemently opposed. At first doubtful, Savage would come to strongly support the sending of New Zealand volunteers and assistance to Finland. Announcing the decision to send the first battalion of New Zealanders to Finland in December 1939, Prime Minister Savage declared (from his sickbed) that: “With confidence in the future we range ourselves without fear beside Finland in the struggle against totalitarianism wherever it may be found. Where Finland fights, we fight; where Finland stands, we stand. New Zealand, as with Finland, is only a small and young nation, but we march with a union of hearts and souls towards a common destiny.” Savage brought an almost religious fervour to his politics and wholeheartedly encouraged New Zealand support for Finland up until his death in March 1940. Savage become something of an iconic figure to the Left and his picture hung in many Labour supporters' homes decades after his death. Savage’s successor as Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, would maintain New Zealand’s policy of providing whatever support for Finland could be provided without weakening New Zealand’s contribution to the British Empire’s military strength. As Minister of Health, Fraser had been involved in the negotiations with the Finnish government that had led to New Zealand providing assistance to Finland in setting up the School Dental Program and had been supportive of providing assistance to Finland from the start. Another influencing factor had been Fraser’s opposition to Communism (although initially enthusiastic about the Russian October Revolution of 1917 and its Bolshevik leaders, he rejected them soon afterwards, and eventually became one of the strongest advocates of excluding communists completely from the New Zealand Labour Party).
Fraser had a very rocky relationship with U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, particularly over the Canberra Pact and the dispatch of New Zealand troops to Finland. When Fraser visited Washington D.C. in mid-1944, Hull gave Fraser a sharp and rather demeaning dressing-down over New Zealand support for Finland and opposition to the Canberra Pact, which resulted in New Zealand's military becoming sidelined to some extent in the conduct of the Pacific War. It also resulted in New Zealand strongly supporting Finland and Poland’s position on the Baltic, Poland, East Prussia and northern Germany issues and on war-crime trials in the immediate post-WW2 timeframe. After the war ended, Fraser devoted much attention to the formation of the United Nations at the San Francisco conference (UNCIO) in 1945; this was the apogee of Fraser’s career. Noteworthy for his strong opposition (in conjunction with Finland and Poland) to vesting powers of veto in permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, he often spoke unofficially for smaller states. He earned the respect of many world statesmen through his commitment to principle, his energy, and most of all his skill as a chairman. With dwindling support from traditional Labour voters, and a population weary of war-time measures, Fraser's popularity declined. In the 1949 elections the National Party defeated his government and Fraser became Leader of the Opposition. He died on 12 December 1950.
Image sourced from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... Fraser.jpg
Peter Fraser ((28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) would succeed Savage as Prime Minister of New Zealand in March 1940. Fraser would also maintain New Zealand’s support, such as it was, for Finland through the war years. As Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1942 and 1949, Fraser would also keep foreign affairs under his control as well as focusing almost exclusively on the war effort. Throughout WW2 Fraser was concerned with ensuring that New Zealand retained control over its own military forces. He believed that Britain viewed New Zealand's military as a mere extension of their own, rather than as the armed forces of a sovereign nation. After particularly serious New Zealand losses in the Greek campaign in 1941 (and comparing these to the successes of the Commonwealth Division in the Winter War under Finnish command), Fraser determined to retain a say as to where to deploy New Zealand troops and on how they were to be used. Fraser insisted to British leaders that Bernard Freyberg, commander of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, should report to the New Zealand government just as extensively as to the British authorities. When Japan entered the war, Fraser had to choose between recalling New Zealand's forces to the Pacific (as Australia had done) or keeping them in the Middle East (as Winston Churchill requested). Fraser eventually opted for the 2nd New Zealand Division to remain in the Middle East (the 1st Division was a Home Defence unit). In late 1943 Fraser would order the New Zealand 3rd Division formed and sent to Finland together with a number of RNZAF squadrons. The under-strength 3rd Division would include the Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles (QAMR), the New Zealand Army’s only armoured battalion and would fight alongside the Maavoimat until the end of the war.
The end result would be that by early January 1940, New Zealand and Australia had in combination produced large volumes of military uniform pieces – enough to make a significant difference in the quantity of uniforms available for issue in Finland after they arrived. In addition, very large numbers of leather and wool gloves, mittens, sweaters, scarves, hand-made woolen undershirts and white snow-suits had been made and packed for shipment. Significant quantities of other kit was also included, often based on Australian or New Zealand Army issue but made up to as closely as possible match Finnish Army specifications.
Other items sent included medical kits, messkits, shaving kits, woollen hats (and with typical Aussie humour, even in the midst of a World War, large numbers of Australian “slouch” hats which would go on to be worn by many thousands of Finnish soldiers through the summer months of the Winter War as well as over 1944-45 in the fight against Germany).
Image sourced from: http://www.kevos4.com/images/medical_kits.jpg
Maavoimat Medical Kit: Volunteers in Australia and New Zealand would pack thousands of these medical kits, as closely as possible matching the Maavoimat specifications.
Image sourced from: http://netti.nic.fi/~junkyard/IM000355.jpg
In the above is a Finnish pioneer with a British-style messkit attached to his back (close-up below – when I was in the New Zealand Army we still used these – and I still use my old one for hiking…. 30 years old and going fine)
Image sourced from: http://netti.nic.fi/~junkyard/IM000323.jpg
British-style messkit used by the Maavoimat. Messkits were another item that was in short supply – some 250,000 messkits were supplied by Britain, another 150,000 were shipped from Australia and New Zealand. Finland also managed to source 100,000 German style messkits from Germany and during the Winter War, many thousands of messkits were from Red Army units that had been destroyed were collected and re-issued. Over the early months of the Winter War however, improvisation was the name of the game.
Image sourced from: http://www.kevos4.com/images/shaving_stuff.JPG
Finnish Army shaving kit: Australian and New Zealand school children would put together thousands of these shaving kits for shipment to Finland – and many an Australian or New Zealand father would curse his children as he found essential shaving items missing….. The brushes are wartime boot, uniform, and tooth brushes. The shaving kit is actually an officers kit with Gillette and Finnish blades. Swedish wartime razors. Estonian made glasses in wartime case. In the lower right are sewing needles and thread.
Image sourced from: http://www.kevos4.com/images/cold_weather.JPG
Finnish sweater and 2 different neck scarves. The leather gloves on the left have a separate index finger on the right glove for the trigger. The mittens have separate liners.
Image sourced from: http://www.kevos4.com/images/Gloves_1.jpg
Close-up shot of mittens and wool liners. The gloves have SA stamps.
Image sourced from: http://www.kevos4.com/images/underwear_1.JPG
Long Underwear: The square cloths on right are actually socks. The underwear on left is made of linen and wartime stamped. Again, large quantities of both linen and woolen winter-underwear would be manufactured and supplied to Finland, largely from Australia.
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One last non-clothing item that would be supplied in large numbers was the standard British Army entrenching tool (used by all the Commonwealth armies). In the UK, there were large numbers of these stockpiled, and a request from the New Zealand Government would result in 250,000 entrenching tools being shipped to Finland direct from the UK early in the war. Together with captured Red Army entrenching tools and existing Maavoimat entrenching tools, this would go a long way to ensuring every soldier in the Maavoimat was equipped with this very useful tool.
Image sourced from: http://www.grantsmilitaria.com/gall/pix/images/182.jpg
Finnish machinegunner with a tool case and spare parts box on his belt (this case would hold some essential tools and spares to keep his machine gun operating). Behind this case he has tucked an entrenching tool. The entrenching tool can be used to either dig, or, using its sharpened edge, it can hack away small branches and twigs which may interfere with his selected machine gun site. Before the Winter War the Finnish Army seems to have used a rather complicated leather frame system, which went around the blade of the entrenching tool, for carrying them. But just before mobilisation in late 1939 a simple carrying strap with hook to attach to the belt was introduced. However, this had a considerable downside - carrying the entrenching tool with this hook-system was really uncomfortable and noisy - the entrenching tool hung loose at the soldiers side without cover of any kind. Stuffing the entrenching tool under the belt (as seen above) was suggested as alternative method - neither of these worked that well. As a result, during the Winter War Finnish troops had a tendency to discard their Maavoimat-issue entrenching tools. By contrast, the British entrenching tool, which broke down, was easier to carry and also had a canvas cover, was far more popular. As a direct result of these experiences, the Finnish company Fiskars would work with the Maavoimat to design a practical new folding entrenching tool which would be issued in 1942 and which all Finnish soldiers would carry through the fighting of 1944 and 1945.
Image sourced from: http://www.gerbergear.com/var/gerber/st ... gerber.jpg
The new (m/43) Maavoimat entrenching tools were manufactured by the Finnish companies Fiskars and Savotta. Fiskars Oyj Ab was and is a metal and consumer brands company founded in 1649 at Fiskars Bruk (Finnish: Fiskarsin Ruukki) in the town of Raseborg, about 100 km west of Helsinki on the old main road from Turku to Viipuri. Fiskars is best known today for its scissors, axes and high-quality knives. Prior to and during WW2, Fiskars would design and develop the new-model entrenching tool as well as a fighting-knife developed by Gustaf Johannes Lindbergh, the founder of the Finnish military martial art, KKT (KäsiKähmäTaistelu) that would be issued to all Maavoimat soldiers
Image sourced from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _Knife.jpg
The Isotalo-Taistelut-Veitsi (“Isotalo Fighting Knife, so named in memory of Antti Isotalo, the famous Finnish knife-fighter) would be designed during the Spanish Civil War by Fiskars and Gustaf Johannes Lindbergh, the founder of the Finnish military martial art, KKT as a direct result of the use of Puukko knives by Maavoimat soldiers in hand to hand combat. Lindbergh would produce a knife specially designed to use in hand-to-hand combat and by late 1939, this was starting to be issued in large numbers. By the end of the Winter War, all Maavoimat combat soldiers would carry an Isotalo-Taistelut-Veitsi, as would most of the foreign volunteers in Finland.
The above is of course not all-inclusive, many other items found their way into the Aid shipments (such as very large quantities of blankets), but it is indicative of the types of material aid that were supplied to Finland for use by the military from two countries which had no significant armaments industry to speak of but which still did what they could to assist. However, with an approximate six to eight week timeframe for the journey by ship from New Zealand and Australia to Lyngenfjiord, and then additional time for off-loading and transport to Maavoimat depots and then transport to the troops at the front and issuing, it would not be until later in the winter that the first issues of these uniforms and uniform and kit items would occur. But by this time, manufacturing within Finland together with the large quantities of New Zealand and Australian made clothing would ensure that the Finnish military and the foreign volunteer units were adequately clothed in winter-issue uniforms – and the shiploads of raw wool from Australia, New Zealand and Argentina had served to replenish Finnish warehouses, ensuring that a large stockpile of wool, woolen fabrics, leather and canvas was available through the next one to two years – a stockpile that ongoing trade between Finland and Argentina together with sporadic shipments from Australia and New Zealand would see maintained over the war years.
Next Post: the Australian-Finland Assistance Organisation, Australian politics, the formation and dispatch of the Australian Volunteer Units and the Australian commanders
