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178-670: The Töölö Hospital was part of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District. Until the early 1960s, the hospital was known by its earlier name as the Finnish Red Cross Hospital . People who lived through wartime in Finland used to call the hospital with the name Mannerheim hospital , as field marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim had become a personification of the Finnish Red Cross, and was also treated as

356-741: A White Guard 's parade on Hämeenkatu in Tampere , in which General Mannerheim was to participate. The group gathered on April 3 at the Park Café in Hämeenkatu; and at this stage, group member Karl Salo was designated as a shooter and given a Colt pistol . However, the assassination attempt failed due to Salo's hesitation. Salo's security detail in the crowd, consisting of Aleksander Weckman and Aleksanteri Suokas, who had been equipped with Walther and Colt pistols, lost sight of Salo and never had time to shoot Mannerheim either. On April 6, Weckman,

534-604: A cult of personality began to be built around Mannerheim right after the civil war. Given the broad recognition in Finland and elsewhere of his unparalleled role in establishing and later preserving Finland's independence from the Soviet Union, Mannerheim has long been referred to as the father of modern Finland, and the New York Times called the Finnish capital Helsinki 's Mannerheim Museum , memorializing

712-506: A Soviet anti-tank gun with direct fire. One shell exploded near Mannerheim who, on varying accounts, took cover either in a trench or behind tree trunks until Finnish counter-battery fire neutralized the attacker. Captain Ahti Petramaa, section commander during the inspection, lost fingers from flying shrapnel and was escorted to an aid station where he was promoted to major by Mannerheim. Mannerheim's 75th birthday, 4 June 1942,

890-531: A Soviet-dominated Allied Control Commission , and the task of post-war reconstruction. Before deciding to accept the Soviet demands, Mannerheim wrote a missive directly to Hitler: Our German brothers-in-arms will forever remain in our hearts. The Germans in Finland were certainly not the representatives of foreign despotism but helpers and brothers-in-arms. But even in such cases foreigners are in difficult positions requiring such tact. I can assure you that during

1068-498: A car that did not have a microphone in it. Damen acted quickly, pushing a microphone through one of the car windows onto a net shelf just above where Hitler and Mannerheim were sitting. After eleven minutes of Hitler's and Mannerheim's private conversation, Hitler's SS bodyguards spotted the cords coming out of the window and realized that the Finnish engineer was recording the conversation. They gestured to him to stop recording immediately, and he complied. The SS bodyguards demanded that

1246-514: A cigar. Mannerheim expected that Hitler would ask Finland for more help against the Soviet Union , which Mannerheim was unwilling to give. When Mannerheim lit up, all in attendance gasped, for Hitler's aversion to smoking was well known. Nevertheless, Hitler continued the conversation calmly, with no comment. By this test, Mannerheim could judge if Hitler was speaking from a position of strength or weakness. He refused Hitler, knowing that Hitler

1424-591: A group of local bandits with whom he sought the rear of the enemy to defeat them. Mannerheim, who had a long career in the Imperial Russian army, also rose to become a courtier of Emperor of all the Russias Nicholas II . When Mannerheim returned to Saint Petersburg, he was asked to undertake a journey through Turkestan to Beijing as a secret intelligence officer. The Russian General Staff wanted accurate, on-the-ground intelligence about

1602-609: A large portrait of Emperor Nicholas II in the living room of his house in Helsinki right up to his death, and when asked after the overthrow of the House of Romanov why he kept the portrait up, he always answered: "He was my emperor". In 1892, he married a wealthy noble of Russian-Serbian heritage, Anastasia Arapova (1872–1936). They had two daughters, Anastasie "Stasie" (1893–1978) and Sofia "Sophy" (1895–1963). The couple separated in 1902 and divorced in 1919. In December 1917 , Finland declared independence from Soviet Russia which

1780-491: A meta-analysis by Finnish historian Olli-Pekka Vehviläinen  [ fi ] . He likewise refuted the so-called "driftwood theory" that Finland had been merely a piece of driftwood that was swept uncontrollably in the rapids of great power politics. Even then, most historians conclude that Finland had no realistic alternative to co-operating with Germany. On 20 May, the Germans invited a number of Finnish officers to discuss

1958-507: A military committee was charged with bolstering the Finnish army, then not much more than some locally organised White Guards . Mannerheim was appointed to the committee, but soon resigned to protest its indecision. On 13 January, he was given command of the army. He had only 24,000 newly enlisted, mostly untrained men. The Finnish Red Guard , led by communist leader Kullervo Manner and backed by Soviet Russia, had 30,000 men; and there were 70,000 Red Russian troops in Finland. Mannerheim's army

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2136-564: A private patient at the Töölö Hospital. The Töölö Hospital was discontinued in 2023 when the new Siltasairaala hospital in Meilahti was completed. The newer parts of the hospital, built in the 1950s and 1960s, are demolished in 2023–2024. The original hospital building, completed in 1932, will be preserved. New apartment buildings will be built in the site. The Finnish Red Cross started its hospital plan in 1919, partly because of

2314-547: A triumphal victory parade in Helsinki in May. After spending some time abroad, he was invited back to Finland to serve as the country's second regent, or head of state, from December 1918 to July 1919. Despite being a monarchist , he formally ratified the republican Constitution of Finland . He then ran against K. J. Ståhlberg in the first Finnish presidential elections in 1919 but lost and quit politics. Mannerheim helped found

2492-533: The Academic Karelia Society , supported a Greater Finland ideology. This ideology of a Greater Finland mostly composed of Soviet territories was augmented by anti-Russian sentiments. The details of the Finnish preparations for war are still somewhat opaque. Historian William R. Trotter stated that "it has so far proven impossible to pinpoint the exact date on which Finland was taken into confidence about Operation Barbarossa" and that "neither

2670-771: The Bolshevik coup of November 1917 in Russia, Finland declared its independence on 6 December, but soon became embroiled in the 1918 Finnish Civil War between the " Whites ", who were the troops of the Senate of Finland , supported by troops of the German Empire , and the pro- Bolshevik " Reds ". A Finnish delegation appointed Mannerheim as the military chief of the Whites in January 1918; and he led them to victory, holding

2848-721: The British Empire , going by ship from London to Bombay. From there he travelled to Lucknow , Delhi , and Calcutta in the British India . From there he travelled overland to Burma , where he spent a month at Rangoon and Mandalay . He then went on to Sikkim and returned to Finland by car and aeroplane. In his second voyage, in 1936, he went by ship from Aden (a British territory in Southern Arabia ) to Bombay . During his travels and hunting expeditions, he visited Madras , Delhi and Nepal , where he

3026-592: The Commandant Johan Augustin Mannerheim , became the first head of the executive of the newly-autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland , an office that preceded that of the contemporary Prime Minister . His grandfather, Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (1797–1854), was an entomologist and jurist. His father, Carl Robert, Count Mannerheim (1835–1914), was both a playwright and industrialist, with modest success in both endeavours. Mannerheim's mother, Hedvig Charlotta Helena von Julin (1842–1881),

3204-742: The Finnish Civil War (or War of Liberty, as it was known among the "Whites"). Other officers were Finns who had been trained by the Germans as a Jäger Battalion . In March 1918 they were aided by German troops landing in Finland and occupying Helsinki . After the Whites' victory in the bitterly fought civil war , during which both sides employed ruthless terror tactics, Mannerheim resigned as commander-in-chief. He left Finland in June 1918 to visit relatives in Sweden. In Stockholm, Mannerheim conferred with Allied diplomats, emphasizing his opposition to

3382-611: The Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment , as well as numerous shore batteries, had been stationed on Lake Ladoga since August 1941. Finnish Lieutenant General Paavo Talvela proposed on 17 May 1942 to create a joint Finnish–German–Italian unit on the lake to disrupt Soviet supply convoys to Leningrad. The unit was named Naval Detachment K and comprised four Italian MAS torpedo motorboats of the XII Squadriglia MAS , four German KM-type minelayers and

3560-712: The Grand Duchy of Finland during Mannerheim's childhood, and Mannerheim made a career in the Imperial Russian Army , serving in the Russo-Japanese War and the Eastern Front of World War I and rising by 1917 to the rank of lieutenant general . He had a prominent place in the 1896 coronation ceremonies for Emperor Nicholas II and later had several private meetings with the Tsar. After

3738-688: The Intelligence Division 's Detached Battalion 4 and by local units, patrolled behind Soviet lines. Soviet partisans , both resistance fighters and regular long-range patrol detachments, conducted a number of operations in Finland and in Eastern Karelia from 1941 to 1944. In summer 1942, the USSR formed the 1st Partisan Brigade. The unit was 'partisan' in name only, as it was essentially 600 men and women on long-range patrol intended to disrupt Finnish operations. The 1st Partisan Brigade

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3916-475: The Interim Peace . By the terms of the treaty, Finland ceded 9% of its national territory and 13% of its economic capacity to the Soviet Union. Some 420,000 evacuees were resettled from the ceded territories. Finland avoided total conquest of the country by the Soviet Union and retained its sovereignty. Prior to the war, Finnish foreign policy had been based on multilateral guarantees of support from

4094-756: The Leningrad Military District was commanded by Lieutenant General Markian Popov and numbered around 450,000 soldiers in 18 divisions and 40 independent battalions in the Finnish region. During the Interim Peace, the Soviet Military had relaid operational plans to conquer Finland, but with the German attack, Operation Barbarossa, begun on 22 June 1941, the Soviets required its best units and latest materiel to be deployed against

4272-691: The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare in 1920 and headed the Finnish Red Cross from 1922 to his death. He was restored to a central role in national defence policy when President Svinhufvud appointed him as the Chairman of the Finnish Defence Council in 1931, tasked with making preparations for a potential war with the Soviet Union . It was also agreed that he would temporarily take over as commander-in-chief of

4450-591: The Moscow Peace Treaty . Numerous reasons have been proposed for the Finnish decision to invade, with regaining territory lost during the Winter War regarded as the most common. Other justifications for the conflict include Finnish President Risto Ryti 's vision of a Greater Finland and Commander-in-Chief Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim 's desire to annex East Karelia . On 22 June 1941, the Axis invaded

4628-603: The Second Soviet-Finnish War , was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II . It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 September 1944 with the Moscow Armistice . The Soviet Union and Finland had previously fought the Winter War from 1939 to 1940, which ended with the Soviet failure to conquer Finland and

4806-589: The Soviet Union with their two assistants but were arrested on the Helsinki- Vyborg train the night of April 21. Salo was arrested in Espoo on April 23. When negotiations with the Soviet Union failed in 1939, and aware of the imminent war and deploring the lack of equipment and preparation of the army, Mannerheim resigned once again from the military council on 17 October 1939, declaring that he would agree to return to business only as Commander-in-Chief of

4984-539: The Vuoksi River to the east and encircled the Soviet forces defending Vyborg. Finnish forces captured Vyborg on 29 August. The Soviet order to withdraw from Vyborg came too late, resulting in significant losses in materiel, although most of the troops were later evacuated via the Koivisto Islands . After suffering severe losses, the Soviet 23rd Army was unable to halt the offensive, and by 2 September

5162-654: The siege of Leningrad began on 8 September. The Finnish Army of Karelia started its attack in East Karelia towards Petrozavodsk , Lake Onega and the Svir River on 9 September. German Army Group North advanced from the south of Leningrad towards the Svir River and captured Tikhvin but were forced to retreat to the Volkhov River by Soviet counterattacks. Soviet forces repeatedly attempted to expel

5340-805: The "Finnish question" to which Molotov responded that it would mirror the events in Bessarabia and the Baltic states. Hitler rejected that course of action. During the Finnish presidential election in December 1940, Risto Ryti was elected to be president largely due to interference by Molotov in Ryti's favour since he had signed the Moscow Peace Treaty as prime minister. On 18 December 1940, Hitler officially approved Operation Barbarossa, paving

5518-583: The 1939 border. Finnish and German troops were a threat to the Kirov Railway and the northern supply line between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. On 25 October 1941, the US demanded that Finland cease all hostilities against the USSR and to withdraw behind the 1939 border. In public, President Ryti rejected the demands, but in private, he wrote to Mannerheim on 5 November and asked him to halt

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5696-454: The Allies that Finnish troops would halt their advance in the next few days. The reply did not satisfy London, which declared war on Finland on 6 December. The Commonwealth nations of Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand soon followed suit. In private, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had sent a letter to Mannerheim on 29 November in which Churchill was "deeply grieved" that

5874-649: The Axis powers. The Finnish plans for the offensive in Ladoga Karelia were finalised on 28 June 1941, and the first stages of the operation began on 10 July. By 16 July, the VI Corps had reached the northern shore of Lake Ladoga , dividing the Soviet 7th Army, which had been tasked with defending the area. The USSR struggled to contain the German assault, and soon the Soviet high command, Stavka (Russian: Ставка ), pulled all available units stationed along

6052-608: The Bank of Helsinki, the chairman of the supervisory board of that bank until 1934, and was a member of the board of Nokia Corporation . He offered to serve the French Foreign Legion in the Rif War (1925–1926), but was turned down. In the 1920s and 1930s, Mannerheim returned to Asia , where he travelled and hunted extensively. On his first trip in 1927, to avoid going through the Soviet Union , he travelled through

6230-536: The British would have to declare war on Finland because of the British alliance with the Soviets. Mannerheim repatriated British volunteers under his command to the United Kingdom via Sweden. According to Clements, the declaration of war was mostly for appearance's sake. Unconventional warfare was fought in both the Finnish and Soviet wildernesses. Finnish long-range reconnaissance patrols , organised both by

6408-594: The Continuation War including Curtiss Hawk 75s , Fokker D.XXIs , Dornier Do 22 flying boats, Morane M.S. 406 bombers, and Focke-Wulf Fw 44 Stieglitz trainers; in total the Finnish Air Force had 550 aircraft by June 1941, approximately half being combat. By September 1944, despite considerable German supply of aircraft, the Finns only had 384 planes. Even with the increase in supplied aircraft,

6586-495: The Continuation War. The function of the neurosurgical department advanced through the significant experience gained from skull and brain injuries during the war. During the entire war, a care department for brain injury patients was active at the civil protection premises in the hospital, led by Snellman and Teuvo Mäkelä . In addition to and in connection with the neurosurgery, the hospital also made advances in anaesthesiology and intensive care. The first office for an anesthesiologist

6764-536: The Finnish torpedo-motorboat Sisu . The detachment began operations in August 1942 and sank numerous smaller Soviet watercraft and flatboats and assaulted enemy bases and beach fronts until it was dissolved in the winter of 1942–43. Twenty-three Siebel ferries and nine infantry transports of the German Einsatzstab Fähre Ost were also deployed to Lake Ladoga and unsuccessfully assaulted

6942-749: The Finnish Army had reached the old 1939 border . The advance by Finnish and German forces split the Soviet Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and the Karelian Front on 23 August. On 31 August, Finnish Headquarters ordered II and IV Corps, which had advanced the furthest, to halt their advance along a line that ran from the Gulf of Finland via Beloostrov – Sestra – Okhta – Lembolovo to Lake Ladoga. The line ran past

7120-610: The Finnish Army. He officially became the supreme commander of the armies, at the age of 72, after the Soviet attack, the November 30, 1939. In a letter to his daughter Sophie, he stated, "I had not wanted to undertake the responsibility of commander-in-chief, as my age and my health entitled me, but I had to yield to appeals from the President of the Republic and the government, and now for the fourth time I am at war." He addressed

7298-407: The Finnish Defence Forces in an invasion of the Soviet Union alongside Nazi Germany known as the Continuation War (1941–1944). In 1944, when the prospect of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II became clear, the Finnish Parliament appointed Mannerheim as President of Finland, and he oversaw peace negotiations with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom . Already in declining health, he resigned

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7476-580: The Finnish army did not occur as swiftly or as well as he hoped, and he was not enthusiastic about a war. He had many disagreements with various Cabinets, and signed many letters of resignation. After their defeat in the Civil War, some Reds Guards attempted to assassinate Mannerheim. One of the would-be assassins, Eino Rahja , was in charge of the Saint Petersburg International School of Red Officers. He began planning an assassination by assembling eight groups of Finnish Red Guards in Saint Petersburg for this purpose. The attempt happened in April 1920 during

7654-412: The Finnish border into the beleaguered front line. Additional reinforcements were drawn from the 237th Rifle Division and the Soviet 10th Mechanised Corps , excluding the 198th Motorised Division  [ ru ] , both of which were stationed in Ladoga Karelia, but this stripped much of the reserve strength of the Soviet units defending that area. The Finnish II Corps started its offensive in

7832-410: The Finnish forces lost no aircraft. Although the USSR claimed that the airstrikes were directed against German targets, particularly airfields in Finland, the Finnish Parliament used the attacks as justification for the approval of a "defensive war". According to historian David Kirby, the message was intended more for public opinion in Finland than abroad, where the country was viewed as an ally of

8010-526: The Finnish government of persecuting the communist Finland–Soviet Union Peace and Friendship Society and soon afterward publicly declared support for the group. The society organised demonstrations in Finland, some of which turned into riots. Russian-language sources from the post-Soviet era, such as the study Stalin's Missed Chance , maintain that Soviet policies leading up to the Continuation War were best explained as defensive measures by offensive means. The Soviet division of occupied Poland with Germany,

8188-437: The Finnish government's policy; Finnish leaders were confident the Germans would win the war, and had declared the Kaiser's brother-in-law, Frederick Charles of Hesse , to be the King of Finland. In the meantime Svinhufvud served as the first Regent of the nascent kingdom. Mannerheim's rapport with the Allies was recognized in October 1918 when the Finnish government sent him to Britain and France to attempt to gain Britain's and

8366-408: The Finnish language. Mannerheim disliked his last Christian name, Emil, and wrote his signature as C. G. Mannerheim, or simply Mannerheim. Among his relatives and close friends Mannerheim was called Gustaf. Mannerheim secured recognition of Finnish independence from Britain and the United States. In July 1919, after he had confirmed a new, republican constitution, Mannerheim stood as a candidate in

8544-452: The Finnish leadership wanted to preserve the spirit of unanimity that was felt throughout the country during the Winter War. The divisive White Guard tradition of the Finnish Civil War 's 16 May victory-day celebration was therefore discontinued. The Soviet Union had received the Hanko Naval Base , on Finland's southern coast near the capital Helsinki, where it deployed over 30,000 Soviet military personnel. Relations between Finland and

8722-426: The Finnish, as it was considered an ally of the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, the Finnish government sought to restore diplomatic relations with Germany, but also continued its Western-orientated policy and negotiated a war trade agreement with the United Kingdom. The agreement was renounced after the German invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940 resulted in the UK cutting all trade and traffic communications with

8900-419: The Finns from their bridgehead south of the Svir during October and December but were repulsed; Soviet units attacked the German 163rd Infantry Division in October 1941, which was operating under Finnish command across the Svir, but failed to dislodge it. Despite these failed attacks, the Finnish attack in East Karelia had been blunted and their advance had halted by 6 December. During the five-month campaign,

9078-471: The Finns nor the Germans were entirely candid with one another as to their national aims and methods. In any case, the step from contingency planning to actual operations, when it came, was little more than a formality". The inner circle of Finnish leadership, led by Ryti and Mannerheim, actively planned joint operations with Germany under a veil of ambiguous neutrality and without formal agreements after an alliance with Sweden had proved fruitless, according to

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9256-399: The Finns regarding the lend-lease deliveries to Murmansk. The offensive and its three sub-operations failed to achieve their objectives. Both sides dug in and the arctic theatre remained stable, excluding minor skirmishes, until the Soviet Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive in October 1944. The crucial arctic lend-lease convoys from the US and the UK via Murmansk and Kirov Railway to the bulk of

9434-545: The Finns suffered 75,000 casualties, of whom 26,355 had died, while the Soviets had 230,000 casualties, of whom 50,000 became prisoners of war. The German objective in Finnish Lapland was to take Murmansk and cut the Kirov (Murmansk) Railway running from Murmansk to Leningrad by capturing Salla and Kandalaksha . Murmansk was the only year-round ice-free port in the north and a threat to the nickel mine at Petsamo. The joint Finnish–German Operation Silver Fox ( German : Unternehmen Silberfuchs ; Finnish: operaatio Hopeakettu )

9612-442: The German forces fighting in Lapland from the Army of Norway and create the Army of Lapland, commanded by Colonel General Eduard Dietl. In June 1942, the Army of Lapland was redesignated the 20th Mountain Army . In the early stages of the war, the Finnish Army overran the former 1939 border, but ceased their advance 30–32 km (19–20 mi) from the center of Leningrad. Multiple authors have stated that Finland participated in

9790-400: The Germans and so abandoned plans for a renewed offensive against Finland. The 23rd Army was deployed in the Karelian Isthmus, the 7th Army to Ladoga Karelia and the 14th Army to the Murmansk – Salla area of Lapland. The Northern Front also commanded eight aviation divisions . As the initial German strike against the Soviet Air Forces had not affected air units located near Finland,

9968-431: The June agreement with the Germans, Finland's leaders saw a chance to reach a peace with the Soviet Union. At first, attempts were made to persuade Mannerheim to become prime minister, but he rejected them because of his age and lack of experience running a civil government. The next suggestion was to elect him head of state . Risto Ryti would resign as president, and parliament would appoint Mannerheim as regent. The use of

10146-418: The League of Nations and Nordic countries , but this policy was considered a failure. After the war, Finnish public opinion favored the reconquest of Finnish Karelia . The government declared national defence to be its first priority, and military expenditure rose to nearly half of public spending. Finland both received donations and purchased war materiel during and immediately after the Winter War. Likewise,

10324-607: The Marshal. Stalin told a Finnish delegation in Moscow in 1947 that the Finns owed much to their old Marshal. Due to Mannerheim, Finland was not occupied. Despite Mannerheim's criticisms of some of the demands of the Control Commission, he worked hard to carry out Finland's armistice obligations. He also emphasised the necessity of further work on reconstruction in Finland after the war. Continuation War Soviet victory Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups Finland Iceland Norway The Continuation War , also known as

10502-421: The Military Hospital 54 included the Finnish Red Cross hospital with its underground facilities, the Invalid Hospital, the Experimental Lyceum and the Swedish lyceum for girls. Later special departments included the old army hospital on Lönnrotinkatu for spinal injuries and the command school for the White Guard in Tuusula for aftercare and rehabilitation of brain injury patients. After the February 1944 bombings

10680-441: The Naistenklinikka hospital and the Mehiläinen hospital. During the Interim Peace , construction of a bomb-proof hospital and surgery facility underneath the hospital garden was started and the hospital was expanded by the so-called Invalid Hospital at Tukholmankatu street, treating severe limb injuries, amputations and jaw and plastic surgery. The head surgeon at this hospital was medical major Sven Rehnberg , whose civilian post

10858-453: The Nordic countries. With the fall of France , a Western orientation was no longer considered a viable option in Finnish foreign policy. On 15 and 16 June, the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states almost without any resistance and Soviet puppet regimes were installed. Within two months Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated into the USSR and by mid–1940, the two remaining northern democracies, Finland and Sweden, were encircled by

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11036-447: The Red Army. The Wehrmacht rapidly advanced deep into Soviet territory early in the Operation Barbarossa campaign, leading the Finnish government to believe that Germany would defeat the Soviet Union quickly. President Ryti envisioned a Greater Finland, where Finns and other Finnic peoples would live inside a "natural defence borderline" by incorporating the Kola Peninsula , East Karelia and perhaps even northern Ingria . In public,

11214-401: The Red Cross would have during wartime. As such the hospital also hosted the repository of field hospital equipment of the Red Cross. The preparation for the war could also be seen in equipping the hospital with protection from gas attacks. In the beginning the hospital had 158 bed places. Right from the start, the hospital became the leading place for treatment of trauma patients and was probably

11392-401: The Russian army as one of his official duties. In 1903, he was put in charge of the model squadron in the Imperial Chevalier Guard and became a member of the equestrian training board of the cavalry regiments. Mannerheim volunteered for active service with the Imperial Russian Army in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. He was transferred to the 52nd Nezhin Dragoon Regiment in Manchuria , with

11570-448: The Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade (the 23rd Army Corps), and fought on the Austro-Hungarian and Romanian fronts . In December 1914, after distinguishing himself in combat against the Austro-Hungarian forces , Mannerheim was awarded the Order of St. George , 4th class. In March 1915, Mannerheim was appointed to command the 12th Cavalry Division. Mannerheim received leave to visit Finland and Saint Petersburg in early 1917 and witnessed

11748-461: The Soviet Union . Three days later, the Soviet Union conducted an air raid on Finnish cities which prompted Finland to declare war and allow German troops in Finland to begin offensive warfare. By September 1941, Finland had regained its post–Winter War concessions to the Soviet Union in Karelia . The Finnish Army continued its offensive past the 1939 border during the invasion of East Karelia and halted it only around 30–32 km (19–20 mi) from

11926-433: The Soviet Union attempted to negotiate with Finland to cede Finnish territory on the Karelian Isthmus and the islands of the Gulf of Finland , and to establish a Soviet military base near the Finnish capital of Helsinki . The Finnish government refused, and the Red Army invaded Finland on 30 November 1939. The same day, Field Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim , who was chairman of Finland's Defence Council at

12104-405: The Soviet Union remained strained after the signing of the one-sided peace treaty, and there were disputes regarding the implementation of the treaty. Finland sought security against further territorial depredations by the USSR and proposed mutual defence agreements with Norway and Sweden , but these initiatives were quashed by Moscow. After the Winter War, Germany was viewed with distrust by

12282-409: The Soviet Union. Outlines of the actual plan were revealed in January 1941 and regular contact between Finnish and German military leaders began in February. Additionally in January 1941, Moscow again demanded Finland relinquish control of the Petsamo mining area to the Soviets, but Finland, emboldened by a rebuilt defence force and German support, rejected the proposition. In the late spring of 1941,

12460-547: The Soviet Union." In 2014, author Jeff Rutherford described the city as being "ensnared" between the German and Finnish armies. British historian John Barber described it as a "siege by the German and Finnish armies from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944 [...]" in his foreword in 2017. Likewise, in 2017, Alexis Peri wrote that the city was "completely cut off, save a heavily patrolled water passage over Lake Ladoga" by "Hitler's Army Group North and his Finnish allies." The 150 speedboats, two minelayers and four steamships of

12638-503: The Soviet forces continued throughout World War II. The US supplied almost $ 11 billion in materials: 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, which could equip some 20 US armoured divisions); 11,400 aircraft; and 1.59 million t (1.75 million short tons) of food. As a similar example, British shipments of Matilda, Valentine and Tetrarch tanks accounted for only 6% of total Soviet tank production, but over 25% of medium and heavy tanks produced for

12816-558: The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states and the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War are described as elements in the Soviet construction of a security zone or buffer region from the perceived threat from the capitalist powers of Western Europe. Other post-Soviet Russian-language sources consider establishment of Soviet satellite states in the Warsaw Pact countries and the Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 as

12994-623: The Soviet sphere. One week later, Germany invaded Poland , leading to the United Kingdom and France declaring war on Germany. The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on 17 September. The Soviet government turned its attention to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, demanding that they allow Soviet military bases to be established and troops stationed on their soil. The Baltic governments acquiesced to these demands and signed agreements in September and October. In October 1939,

13172-618: The Soviet threat. In July 1941 the Finnish Army of Karelia was strengthened by the German 163rd Infantry Division . They retook the Finnish territories annexed by the Soviet Union after the Winter War, and went further, occupying East Karelia . Finnish troops took part in the Siege of Leningrad , which lasted 872 days. On 20 June 1942, Mannerheim was inspecting Finnish front line troops in Poventsa when he and his staff were engaged by

13350-531: The Soviets could deploy around 700 aircraft supported by a number of Soviet Navy wings. The Red Banner Baltic Fleet , which outnumbered the navy of Germany ( Kriegsmarine ), comprised 2 battleships, 2 light cruisers, 47 destroyers or large torpedo boats, 75 submarines, over 200 smaller crafts, and 682 aircraft (of which 595 were operational). The Finnish Army ([Maavoimat] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |links= ( help ) ) mobilised between 475,000 and 500,000 soldiers in 14 divisions and 3 brigades for

13528-495: The USSR made a number of goodwill gestures to prevent Finland from completely falling under German influence. Ambassador Ivan Stepanovich Zotov  [ ru ] was replaced with the more conciliatory and passive Pavel Dmitrievich Orlov  [ ru ] . Furthermore, the Soviet government announced that it no longer opposed a rapprochement between Finland and Sweden. Those conciliatory measures, however, did not have any effect on Finnish policy. Finland wished to re-enter

13706-560: The United States's recognition of Finland's independence. In December, he was summoned back to Finland; Frederick Charles had renounced the throne, and in his stead, Mannerheim had been elected Regent. As Regent, Mannerheim often signed official documents using Kustaa , the Finnish form of his Christian name, to emphasize his Finnishness to those who were suspicious of his background in the Russian armed forces and his difficulties with

13884-415: The Winter War. He further stated that the term 'Continuation War' was created at the start of the conflict by the Finnish government to justify the invasion to the population as a continuation of the defensive Winter War. The government also wished to emphasise that it was not an official ally of Germany, but a 'co-belligerent' fighting against a common enemy and with purely Finnish aims. Vehviläinen wrote that

14062-457: The air force was constantly outnumbered by the Soviets. The Army of Norway , or AOK Norwegen , comprising four divisions totaling 67,000 German soldiers, held the arctic front, which stretched approximately 500 km (310 mi) through Finnish Lapland. This army would also be tasked with striking Murmansk and the Kirov (Murmansk) Railway during Operation Silver Fox . The Army of Norway

14240-422: The arms which you have so liberally supplied us against Germans. I harbour the hope that you, even if you disapprove of my attitude, will wish and endeavour like myself and all other Finns to terminate our former relations without increasing the gravity of the situation. Mannerheim's term as president was difficult for him. Although he was elected for a full six-year term, he was 77 years old in 1944 and had accepted

14418-532: The attacks targeted civilians, killing 200 and injuring 50, including children and elderly. Between 1942 and 1943, military operations were limited, although the front did see some action. In January 1942, the Soviet Karelian Front attempted to retake Medvezhyegorsk (Finnish: Karhumäki ), which had been lost to the Finns in late 1941. With the arrival of spring in April, Soviet forces went on

14596-431: The authenticity of the government's claim changed when the Finnish Army crossed the old frontier of 1939 and began to annex Soviet territory. British author Jonathan Clements asserted that by December 1941, Finnish soldiers had started questioning whether they were fighting a war of national defence or foreign conquest. By the autumn of 1941, the Finnish military leadership started to doubt Germany's capability to finish

14774-409: The balance of the 1940 treaty, though some historians consider that it had wider territorial goals under the slogan "shorter borders, longer peace" (Finnish: "lyhyet rajat, pitkä rauha" ). During the war, the Finnish leadership generally referred to the Germans as "brothers-in-arms" but also denied that they were allies of Germany – instead claiming to be "co-belligerents". For Hitler, the distinction

14952-466: The birthplace of Finnish neurosurgery. The hospital's deputy surgeon Aarno Snellman (later additional professor of neurosurgery since 1947) travelled to Stockholm in 1935 to learn modern neurosurgery from Herbert Olivecrona in the Serafimer hospital. After returning to Finland, he performed his first brain surgery in September 1935 and the first proper neurosurgical department in Finland was opened in

15130-475: The border of the German and Soviet spheres of influence, in violation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In response to that new situation, Molotov visited Berlin on 12–13 November 1940. He requested for Germany to withdraw its troops from Finland and to stop enabling Finnish anti-Soviet sentiments. He also reminded the Germans of the 1939 pact. Hitler inquired how the Soviets planned to settle

15308-473: The centre of Leningrad . It participated in besieging the city by cutting the northern supply routes and by digging in until 1944. In Lapland , joint German-Finnish forces failed to capture Murmansk or cut the Kirov (Murmansk) Railway. The Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive in June and August 1944 drove the Finns from most of the territories that they had gained during the war, but the Finnish Army halted

15486-614: The city. However, in 2009 British historian Michael Jones disputed Baryshnikov's claim and asserted that the Finnish Army cut off the city's northern supply routes but did not take further military action. In 2006, American author Lisa Kirschenbaum wrote that the siege started "when German and Finnish troops severed all land routes in and out of Leningrad." According to Clements, Mannerheim personally refused Hitler's request of assaulting Leningrad during their meeting on 4 June 1942 . Mannerheim explained to Hitler that "Finland had every reason to wish to stay out of any further provocation of

15664-466: The coordination of Operation Barbarossa. The participants met on 25–28 May in Salzburg and Berlin and continued their meeting in Helsinki from 3 to 6 June. They agreed upon Finnish mobilisation and a general division of operations. They also agreed that the Finnish Army would start mobilisation on 15 June, but the Germans did not reveal the actual date of the assault. The Finnish decisions were made by

15842-405: The coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, standing for four hours in his full-dress Imperial Chevalier Guard uniform at the bottom of the steps leading up to the imperial throne. Mannerheim always considered the coronation a high-point of his life, recalling with pride his role in what he called an "indescribably magnificent" coronation. An expert rider and trained horseman, Mannerheim bought horses for

16020-439: The country's armed forces should there be a war. Accordingly, after the Soviets invaded Finland in November 1939 in what became the Winter War , Mannerheim replaced President Kyösti Kallio as commander-in-chief, and occupied the post for the next five years. He became a unifying symbol of the war effort and part of the core leadership of the country. He personally participated in the planning of Operation Barbarossa and led

16198-665: The culmination of the Soviet defence plan. Western historians, such as Norman Davies and John Lukacs , dispute this view and describe pre-war Soviet policy as an attempt to stay out of the war and regain the land lost due to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk after the fall of the Russian Empire . On 31 July 1940, Adolf Hitler gave the order to plan an assault on the Soviet Union, meaning Germany had to reassess its position regarding both Finland and Romania. Until then, Germany had rejected Finnish requests to purchase arms, but with

16376-483: The day, the Sword Scabbard Declaration , in which he pledged to liberate Karelia; in December 1941 in private letters, he made known his doubts of the need to push beyond the previous borders. The Finnish government assured the United States that it was unaware of the order. According to Vehviläinen, most Finns thought that the scope of the new offensive was only to regain what had been taken in

16554-503: The deployment was a deliberate violation of the treaty, according to Finnish historian Mauno Jokipii . On the morning of 22 June, Hitler's proclamation read: "Together with their Finnish comrades in arms the heroes from Narvik stand at the edge of the Arctic Ocean. German troops under command of the conqueror of Norway , and the Finnish freedom fighters under their Marshal's command, are protecting Finnish territory." Following

16732-425: The deposit had already been granted to a British-Canadian company and so the demand was rejected by Finland. The following month, the Soviets demanded that Finland destroy the fortifications on the Åland Islands and to grant the Soviets the right to use Finnish railways to transport Soviet troops to the newly acquired Soviet base at Hanko. The Finns very reluctantly agreed to those demands. On 24 July, Molotov accused

16910-515: The effect of the Finnish Civil War and the Red Cross's function at the time, to help the people wounded or injured in the war. Right from the start, the hospital was prominently associated with general (later field marshal) Mannerheim, who served as the chairman of the hospital board and later as an active member of the construction board. After a suitable lot was found in Taka-Töölö and funding

17088-517: The exiled Norwegian government and more than once criticised German occupation policy in Norway. Relations between Finland and the United States were more complex since the American public was sympathetic to the "brave little democracy" and had anticommunist sentiments. At first, the United States sympathised with the Finnish cause, but the situation became problematic after the Finnish Army had crossed

17266-748: The fatherland's interests were too often sacrificed by the democratic politicians for partisan benefit. He kept busy heading the Finnish Red Cross (Chairman 1919–1951), was a member of the board of the International Red Cross, and founded the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare ( Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliitto ). He was also the chairman of the supervisory board of a commercial bank, the Liittopankki-Unionsbanken, and after its merger with

17444-501: The first hospital in Finland to have a first-aid station in connection to its outpatient department . During the first months of the Winter War , the Finnish Red Cross hospital served as the hospital station for civil protection in Helsinki, treating victims of bombing. For this purpose, after the first wave of bombing in the war, it was helped by auxiliary hospitals, including the Kalastajatorppa restaurant building. During

17622-533: The first of his often controversial orders of the day to the Defence Forces on the day the war began: The President of the Republic has appointed me on 30 November 1939 as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the country. Brave soldiers of Finland! I enter on this task at a time when our hereditary enemy is once again attacking our country. Confidence in one's commander is the first condition for success. You know me and I know you and know that everyone in

17800-777: The first presidential election , with parliament as the electors. He was supported by the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People's Party . He finished second to Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg , and withdrew from public life. Mannerheim's mother tongue was Swedish . He spoke fluent German , French , and Russian , the last of which he learned in the forces of the Russian Imperial Army . He also spoke some English, Polish , Portuguese , Latin , and Chinese . He did not start learning Finnish properly until after Finland's independence . In

17978-528: The following year. Mannerheim's maternal uncle, Albert von Julin (1846–1906), then became his legal guardian and financier of his later schooling. The third child of the family, Mannerheim inherited the title of Baron . Mannerheim was sent to the Hamina Cadet School , a state school educating aristocrats for the Imperial Russian Army , in 1882. The handsome young Baron towered over his classmates, standing 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m). He

18156-594: The foreigners who joined Finnish ranks. Infantry Regiment 200 , called soomepoisid ("Finnish boys"), mostly Estonians, and the Swedes mustered the Swedish Volunteer Battalion . The Finnish government stressed that Finland was fighting as a co-belligerent with Germany against the USSR only to protect itself and that it was still the same democratic country as it had been in the Winter War. For example, Finland maintained diplomatic relations with

18334-565: The former 1939 border, and approximately 30–32 km (19–20 mi) from Leningrad; a defensive position was established along this line. On 30 August, the IV Corps fought the Soviet 23rd Army in the Battle of Porlampi and defeated them on 1 September. Sporadic fighting continued around Beloostrov until the Soviets evicted the Finns on 5 September. The front on the Isthmus stabilised and

18512-484: The front in Finland, a total of 149 divisions and 3,050,000 soldiers were deployed for the rest of Operation Barbarossa. In the evening of 21 June 1941, German mine-layers hiding in the Archipelago Sea deployed two large minefields across the Gulf of Finland. Later that night, German bombers flew along the gulf to Leningrad, mining the harbour and the river Neva , making a refueling stop at Utti , Finland, on

18690-493: The front lines were generally stalemated. In September 1942, the USSR attacked again at Medvezhyegorsk, but despite five days of fighting, the Soviets only managed to push the Finnish lines back 500 m (550 yd) on a roughly 1 km (0.62 mi) long stretch of the front. Later that month, a Soviet landing with two battalions in Petsamo was defeated by a German counterattack. In November 1941, Hitler decided to separate

18868-693: The general alarm phase from October to November 1939 most of the hospital staff had been evacuated to Aulanko in Hämeenlinna to serve at the 35th military hospital, but this organisation was cancelled before the war broke out. From February 1940, the hospital returned to the role of a military hospital in the medical care of the Finnish Defence Forces under the name of the Finnish Red Cross Military Hospital (P.R. SotaS.), including temporary departments at

19046-587: The greater part of the expedition on his own. With a small caravan, including a Cossack guide, Chinese interpreter, and Uyghur cook, Mannerheim first trekked to Khotan in search of British and Japanese spies. After returning to Kashgar , he headed north into the Tian Shan range, surveying passes and gauging the stances of the tribes towards the Han Chinese. Mannerheim arrived in the provincial capital of Urumqi , and then headed east into Gansu province. At

19224-852: The hospital activities were spread out into temporary facilities, including the Meltola sanatorium, the Workers' institute, the Jorvi manor and Vestankvarn in Inkoo . Treatment of severe war injuries continued in the Military Hospital 54 until the end of 1946, after which the hospital could slowly return to its peacetime duty. After the founding of the Helsinki University Central Hospital the Finnish Red Cross hospital could no longer continue its earlier function, and

19402-407: The hospital because of his advanced age and illness, docent Simo Brofeldt was elected as the first head surgeon of the hospital. After Brofeldt's death he was succeeded by docent Aarno Snellman , who remained as the hospital's head surgeon until it was no longer needed. Right from the start, the hospital's primary function was to improve hospital care for traumatic injuries and to prepare for needs

19580-546: The hospital in the next year. At the same time, the hospital's X-ray surgeon doctor Yrjö Lassila studied neuroradiology taught by Olivecrona's coworker, radiologist Eric Lysholm . Before the Winter War and immediately after it a few younger doctors, such as Mikko Eirto and Gunnar af Björkesten - later the first professor of neurosurgery at the University of Helsinki - had the chance to study neurosurgery and adapt their learning to treatment of brain and nerve trauma during

19758-482: The hostile states of Germany and the Soviet Union. On 23 June, shortly after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states began, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov contacted the Finnish government to demand that a mining licence be issued to the Soviet Union for the nickel mines in Petsamo or, alternatively, permission for the establishment of a joint Soviet-Finnish company to operate there. A licence to mine

19936-472: The inner circle of political and military leaders, without the knowledge of the rest of the government. Due to tensions between Germany and the Soviet Union, the government was not informed until 9 June that mobilisation of reservists would be required. Finland never signed the Tripartite Pact . The Finnish leadership stated they would fight against the Soviets only to the extent needed to redress

20114-729: The interwar years, Mannerheim held no public office, mainly because he was viewed by many politicians of the centre and left as a controversial figure for his ruthless battle with the Bolsheviks , his supposed desire for Finnish intervention on the side of the Whites during the Russian Civil War , and the Finnish socialists' antipathy toward him. They saw him as the bourgeois "White General". Mannerheim doubted that modern party-based politics would produce principled and high-quality leaders in Finland or elsewhere. In his gloomy opinion,

20292-510: The invasion, commanded by Field Marshal ( sotamarsalkka ) Mannerheim. The army was organised as follows: Although initially deployed for a static defence, the Finnish Army was to later launch an attack to the south, on both sides of Lake Ladoga, putting pressure on Leningrad and thus supporting the advance of the German Army Group North through the Baltic states towards Leningrad. Finnish intelligence had overestimated

20470-616: The launch of Operation Barbarossa at around 3:15 a.m. on 22 June 1941, the Soviet Union sent seven bombers on a retaliatory airstrike into Finland, hitting targets at 6:06 a.m. Helsinki time as reported by the Finnish coastal defence ship Väinämöinen . On the morning of 25 June, the Soviet Union launched another air offensive, with 460 fighters and bombers targeting 19 airfields in Finland; however, inaccurate intelligence and poor bombing accuracy resulted in several raids hitting Finnish cities, or municipalities, causing considerable damage. 23 Soviet bombers were lost in this strike while

20648-438: The leader's life and times, "the closest thing there is to a [Finnish] national shrine". The Mannerheims , originally from Germany as Marhein , became Swedish noblemen in 1693. In the latter part of the 18th century, they moved to Finland, which was then an integral part of Sweden . After Sweden lost Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809, Mannerheim's great-grandfather, Count Carl Erik Mannerheim (1759–1837), son of

20826-597: The north of the Karelian Isthmus on 31 July. Other Finnish forces reached the shores of Lake Ladoga on 9 August, encircling most of the three defending Soviet divisions on the northwestern coast of the lake in a pocket (Finnish: motti ); these divisions were later evacuated across the lake. On 22 August, the Finnish IV Corps began its offensive south of II Corps and advanced towards Vyborg (Finnish: Viipuri ). By 23 August, II Corps had reached

21004-543: The offensive in August 1944. Hostilities between Finland and the USSR ceased in September 1944 with the signing of the Moscow Armistice in which Finland restored its borders per the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty and additionally ceded Petsamo and leased the Porkkala Peninsula to the Soviets. Furthermore, Finland was required to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union , accept partial responsibility for

21182-685: The offensive on the Svir River front, in the Kestenga (Finnish: Kiestinki ) region further north in Lapland as well as in the far north at Petsamo with the 14th Rifle Division 's amphibious landings supported by the Northern Fleet . All Soviet offensives started promisingly, but due either to the Soviets overextending their lines or stubborn defensive resistance, the offensives were repulsed. After Finnish and German counterattacks in Kestenga,

21360-509: The offensive. Mannerheim agreed and secretly instructed General Hjalmar Siilasvuo and his III Corps to end the assault on the Kirov Railway. Nevertheless, the United States never declared war on Finland during the entire conflict. On 12 July 1941, the United Kingdom signed an agreement of joint action with the Soviet Union. Under German pressure, Finland closed the British legation in Helsinki and cut diplomatic relations with Britain on 1 August. On 2 August 1941, Britain declared that Finland

21538-495: The office reluctantly after being urged to do so. The situation was exacerbated by frequent periods of ill-health, the demands of the Allied Control Commission, and the war responsibility trials . He was afraid throughout most of his presidency that the commission would request his prosecution for crimes against peace . This never happened. One of the reasons for this was Stalin's respect for and admiration of

21716-538: The old entrance had been located on the street intersecting the hospital grounds, referred to as the Red Cross alley, which was since cut off. Even after the war the hospital's major function was to tend to trauma patients, but it still served as a general surgical facility up to 1960. After this the hospital premises were used for the I and V surgery clinics of the Central Hospital, specialising in orthopedics, traumatology and neurosurgery. Professor Kalle Kallio

21894-560: The operation leader, threatened to kill Salo if he had not assassinated either Mannerheim or the Minister of War and Uusimaa County Governor within a week. Bruno Jalander . This attempt was also unsuccessful, as Mannerheim and Jalander did not come to the Helsinki Conservation Party celebration after the authorities received a tip. Salo returned his pistol and escaped afterwards. Weckman and Suokas tried to escape to

22072-428: The organisation sold its hospital premises to the Central Hospital in 1958. The expansion part constituting the current neurological clinic, trauma treatment station and outpatient clinic was completed in 1959; the expansion originally planned in the 1940s was supposed to cover a separate rheumatism department. After the expansion part had been completed, the main entrance to the hospital moved to its current place, whereas

22250-471: The other states bordering the Soviet Union . Finland retained its sovereignty, its parliamentary democracy, and its market economy. Territorial losses were considerable; a portion of Karelia and all Petsamo were lost. Numerous Karelian refugees needed to be relocated. The war reparations were very heavy. Finland also had to fight the Lapland War against withdrawing German troops in the north, and at

22428-511: The outbreak of the February Revolution . After returning to the front, he was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1917 (the promotion was backdated to February 1915), and took command of the 6th Cavalry Corps in the summer of 1917. However, Mannerheim fell out of favour with the new government , who regarded him as not supporting the revolution, and was relieved of his duties. He retired and returned to Finland. Mannerheim kept

22606-556: The pact, and it fell to President Risto Ryti to sign it, so it came to be known as the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement . This allowed Mannerheim to revoke the agreement upon the resignation of President Ryti at the start of August 1944. Mannerheim succeeded Ryti as president. When Germany was deemed sufficiently weakened, and the USSR 's summer offensive was fought to a standstill (see Battle of Tali-Ihantala ) thanks to

22784-462: The past years nothing whatsoever happened that could have induced us to consider the German troops intruders or oppressors. I believe that the attitude of the German Army in northern Finland towards the local population and authorities will enter our history as a unique example of a correct and cordial relationship ... I deem it my duty to lead my people out of the war. I cannot and I will not turn

22962-629: The point when Mannerheim's visit to Germany made him realize what kind of "ideal state" Hitler was building; he compared Hitler's rise in Germany to the 1917 rise of the Bolshevists in Russia. Before the Continuation War, the Germans offered Mannerheim command over 80,000 German troops in Finland. Mannerheim declined so as to not tie himself and Finland to Nazi war aims; Mannerheim was ready for cooperation and fraternity with Hitler's Germany, but for practical rather than ideological reasons because of

23140-425: The possibility of a Russian invasion of Xinjiang, and Xinjiang's possible role as a bargaining chip in a putative future war with China. His trip through Asia left him with a lifelong love of Asian art, which he thereafter collected. After returning to Russia in 1909, Mannerheim presented results of the expedition to Emperor Nicholas II. There are many artifacts still on display in the museum. After that, Mannerheim

23318-426: The presence of security guards, because mainly as a fatalist , he firmly believed in fate, if it had to happen in the form of an untimely death, and in addition, he also strongly trusted his own authority. In 1929, Mannerheim refused the right-wing radicals ' plea to become a de facto military dictator, although he did express some support for the right-wing Lapua Movement . After President Pehr Evind Svinhufvud

23496-489: The presidency in 1946 and spent much of his remaining life in a sanatorium in Switzerland , where he wrote his memoirs, and where he died in 1951. Participants in a Finnish survey taken 53 years after his death voted Mannerheim the greatest Finn of all time. During his own lifetime he became, alongside Jean Sibelius , the best-known Finnish personage at home and abroad. According to Finnish historian Tuomas Tepora,

23674-583: The proposed frontier was introduced with the slogan "short border, long peace". Some members of the Finnish Parliament, such as members of the Social Democratic Party and the Swedish People's Party , opposed the idea, arguing that maintaining the 1939 frontier would be enough. Mannerheim often called the war an anti-Communist crusade, hoping to defeat " Bolshevism once and for all". On 10 July, Mannerheim drafted his order of

23852-402: The prospect of an invasion of Russia, that policy was reversed, and in August, the secret sale of weapons to Finland was permitted. Military authorities signed an agreement on 12 September, and an official exchange of diplomatic notes was sent on 22 September. Meanwhile, German troops were allowed to transit through Sweden and Finland. This change in policy meant Germany had effectively redrawn

24030-507: The public, including some former socialists, less as a "White General" and more as a nonpartisan figure, enhanced by his public statements urging reconciliation between the opposing sides in the Civil War and the need to focus on national unity and defence: "we need not ask where a man stood fifteen years ago". Mannerheim supported Finland's military industry and sought in vain to obtain a military defence union with Sweden . However, rearming

24208-413: The rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. During a reconnaissance patrol on the plains of Manchuria, he first saw action in a skirmish and had his horse shot out from under him. He was promoted to Colonel for bravery in the Battle of Mukden in 1905 and briefly commanded an irregular unit of Hong Huzi , a local militia, on an exploratory mission into Inner Mongolia. During the war, Mannerheim also managed to lead

24386-587: The ranks is ready to do his duty even to death. This war is nothing other than the continuation and final act of our War of Independence. We are fighting for our homes, our faith, and our country. The defensive field fortifications they manned became known as the Mannerheim Line . Field Marshal Mannerheim quickly organised his headquarters in Mikkeli . His chief of staff was Lieutenant General Aksel Airo , while his close friend, General Rudolf Walden ,

24564-838: The reforms and activities by the Qing dynasty , as well as the military feasibility of invading Western China : a possible move in their struggle with Britain for control of inner Asia . Disguised as an ethnographic collector, he joined the French archeologist Paul Pelliot 's expedition at Samarkand in Russian Turkestan (now Uzbekistan ). They started from the terminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway in Andijan in July 1906, but Mannerheim quarreled with Pelliot, so he made

24742-503: The request, but Hitler himself agreed. Annual grain deliveries of 180,000 t (200,000 short tons) equaled almost half of the Finnish domestic crop. On 25 November 1941, Finland signed the Anti-Comintern Pact , a less formal alliance, which the German leadership saw as a "litmus test of loyalty". Finland maintained good relations with a number of other Western powers. Foreign volunteers from Sweden and Estonia were among

24920-419: The return leg. In the early hours of 22 June, Finnish forces launched Operation Kilpapurjehdus ("Regatta"), deploying troops in the demilitarised Åland Islands. Although the 1921 Åland convention had clauses allowing Finland to defend the islands in the event of an attack, the coordination of this operation with the German invasion and the arrest of the Soviet consulate staff stationed on the islands meant that

25098-646: The sacred Buddhist mountain of Mount Wutai in Shanxi province , Mannerheim met the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet. He showed the Dalai Lama how to use a pistol. He followed the Great Wall of China , and investigated a mysterious tribe known as Yugurs . From Lanzhou, the provincial capital, Mannerheim headed south into Tibetan territory and visited the lamasery of Labrang , where he was stoned by xenophobic monks. During his trip to Tibet in 1908 Mannerheim became

25276-407: The same time demobilize its own army, making it harder to expel the Germans; Mannerheim appointed Lieutenant General Hjalmar Siilasvuo as the high commander of the army to take this action. It is widely agreed that only Mannerheim could have guided Finland through these difficult times, when the Finnish people had to come to terms with the severe conditions of the armistice, their implementation by

25454-460: The siege of Leningrad (Russian: Блокада Ленинграда ), but the full extent and nature of their participation is debated and a clear consensus has yet to emerge. American historian David Glantz writes that the Finnish Army generally maintained their lines and contributed little to the siege from 1941 to 1944, whereas Russian historian Nikolai Baryshnikov  [ ru ] stated in 2002 that Finland tacitly supported Hitler's starvation policy for

25632-534: The strength of the Red Army, when in fact it was numerically inferior to Finnish forces at various points along the border. The army, especially its artillery, was stronger than it had been during the Winter War but included only one armoured battalion and had a general lack of motorised transportation; the army possessed 1,829 artillery pieces at the beginning of the invasion. The Finnish Air Force ( Ilmavoimat ) had received large donations from Germany prior to

25810-438: The tape be destroyed, but Yleisradio was allowed to keep the reel after promising to keep it in a sealed container. It was given to Kustaa Vilkuna , head of the state censors' office, and in 1957 returned to Yleisradio. It was released to the public a few years later. It is the only known recording of Hitler speaking outside of a formal occasion. There is an unsubstantiated story that while conversing with Hitler, Mannerheim lit

25988-542: The third European who had met with the Dalai Lama. Mannerheim arrived in Beijing in July 1908, returning to Saint Petersburg via Japan and the Trans-Siberian Express . His report gave a detailed account of Chinese modernization, covering education, military reforms, colonization of ethnic borderlands, mining and industry, railway construction, the influence of Japan, and opium smoking. He also discussed

26166-460: The time, assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces . The USSR was expelled from the League of Nations and was condemned by the international community for the illegal attack. Foreign support for Finland was promised, but very little actual help materialised, except from Sweden. The Moscow Peace Treaty concluded the 105-day Winter War on 13 March 1940 and started

26344-545: The title regent would have reflected the exceptional circumstances of Mannerheim's election. Mannerheim and Ryti both agreed, and Ryti submitted a notice of resignation on 1 August. The Parliament of Finland passed a special act conferring the presidency on Mannerheim on 4 August 1944. He took the oath of office the same day. A month after Mannerheim took office, the Continuation War was concluded on harsh terms, but ultimately far less harsh than those imposed on

26522-459: The visit, an engineer of the Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio , Thor Damen, succeeded in recording the first eleven minutes of Hitler's and Mannerheim's private conversation . This had to be done secretly, as Hitler never allowed off-guard recordings. Damen was assigned to record the official birthday speeches and Mannerheim's response and therefore placed microphones in some of the railway cars. However, Mannerheim and his guests chose to go to

26700-499: The war mainly because of the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War, which the League of Nations and Nordic neutrality had failed to prevent due to lack of outside support. Finland primarily aimed to reverse its territorial losses from the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty and, depending on the success of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, to possibly expand its borders, especially into East Karelia . Some right-wing groups, such as

26878-516: The war quickly. The Finnish Defence Forces suffered relatively severe losses during their advance and, overall, German victory became uncertain as German troops were halted near Moscow . German troops in northern Finland faced circumstances they were unprepared for and failed to reach their targets. As the front lines stabilised, Finland attempted to start peace negotiations with the USSR. Mannerheim refused to assault Leningrad, which would inextricably tie Finland to Germany; he regarded his objectives for

27056-507: The war to be achieved, a decision that angered the Germans. Due to the war effort, the Finnish economy suffered from a lack of labour, as well as food shortages and increased prices. To combat this, the Finnish government demobilised part of the army to prevent industrial and agricultural production from collapsing. In October, Finland informed Germany that it would need 159,000  t (175,000 short tons ) of grain to manage until next year's harvest. The German authorities would have rejected

27234-485: The war, and acknowledge that it had been a German ally. Finland was also required by the agreement to expel German troops from Finnish territory, which led to the Lapland War between Finland and Germany. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in which both parties agreed to divide the independent countries of Finland, Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , and Romania into spheres of interest , with Finland falling within

27412-403: The way for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, in which he expected both Finland and Romania to participate. Meanwhile, Finnish Major General Paavo Talvela met with German Colonel General Franz Halder and Reich Marshal Hermann Göring in Berlin, the first time that the Germans had advised the Finnish government, in carefully-couched diplomatic terms, that they were preparing for war with

27590-426: The will of the soldiers to fight. He was famed for this quote: Forts, cannons and foreign aid will not help unless every man himself knows that he is the guard of his country. Mannerheim kept relations with Adolf Hitler 's government as formal as possible. Mannerheim did not really appreciate Hitler, even though he initially expressed an interest in his rise to power; his attitude towards Hitler turned negative at

27768-488: Was a Finnish military commander, aristocrat, and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defence Forces during the period of World War II (1939–1945), and as the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946). He became Finland's only field marshal in 1933 and was appointed honorary Marshal of Finland in 1942. The Russian Empire still dominated

27946-556: Was a national celebration. The government granted him the unique title of Marshal of Finland ( Suomen Marsalkka in Finnish, Marskalk av Finland in Swedish). So far he is the only person to receive the title. A surprise birthday visit by Hitler occurred on the day as he wished to visit the "brave Finns ( die tapferen Finnen )" and their leader Mannerheim. Mannerheim did not want to meet him at his headquarters or in Helsinki, as then it would seem like an official state visit. The meeting took place near Imatra , in south-eastern Finland, and

28124-661: Was a small café with less than ten customer spaces for blood donors. The blood donation service worked in these basic premises for over a quarter of a century until the Red Cross received a new specially built hospital building in Kivihaka . At this time the blood donation premises were converted into the use of surgery time registration. 60°10′51.07″N 24°55′23.23″E  /  60.1808528°N 24.9231194°E  / 60.1808528; 24.9231194 Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim ( Finland Swedish: [(kɑːrl) ˈɡʉstɑːf (ˈeːmil) ˈmɑnːærˌheim] , 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951)

28302-539: Was able to infiltrate beyond Finnish patrol lines, but was intercepted, and rendered ineffective, in August 1942 at Lake Segozero . Irregular partisans distributed propaganda newspapers, such as Finnish translations of the official Communist Party paper Pravda (Russian: Правда ). Notable Soviet politician Yuri Andropov took part in these partisan guerrilla actions. Finnish sources state that, although Soviet partisan activity in East Karelia disrupted Finnish military supply and communication assets, almost two thirds of

28480-427: Was appointed to command the 13th Vladimir Uhlan Regiment in the Congress Kingdom of Poland . The following year, he was promoted to major general and was posted as the commander of the Life Guard Uhlan Regiment of His Imperial Majesty in Warsaw . Next Mannerheim became part of the Imperial entourage and was appointed to command a cavalry brigade. At the beginning of World War I , Mannerheim served as commander of

28658-442: Was arranged in secrecy. From Immola Airfield , Hitler, accompanied by President Ryti, was driven to where Baron Mannerheim was waiting at a railway siding. A speech from Hitler was followed by a birthday meal and negotiations between him and Mannerheim. Overall, Hitler spent about five hours in Finland; he reportedly asked the Finns to step up military operations against the Soviets, but apparently made no specific demands. During

28836-449: Was chosen as the new director (1960-1967) of the hospital. In 1960 the hospital was renamed as the Töölö Hospital to avoid confusion about its ownership. The trauma care station was expanded into premises originally belonging to the blood transfusion service of the Finnish Red Cross in 1966. In the same year an intensive care station for traumatology with four patient places was started in the hospital. The Töölö Hospital can be considered as

29014-634: Was deputy surgeon at the Red Cross hospital. Professor Faltin served as head of the jaw surgery department. During the Continuation War the Military Hospital 54 was formed around the Red Cross hospital. In both wars the hospital concentrated especially on patients with brain and nerve damage as well as patients with severe limb or jaw injuries. Leading surgeons in the military hospital included its head surgeon medical colonel Brofeldt and medical major Snellman, and its chief surgeons first included professor and medical lieutenant colonel Arno Saxén and medical major Bertel Miesmäki after him. Department hospital of

29192-412: Was elected in 1931, he appointed Mannerheim as chairman of Finland's Defence Council and gave him a written promise that in the event of war he would become the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army. (Svinhufvud's successor Kyösti Kallio renewed this promise in 1937). In 1933, Mannerheim received the rank of Field Marshal ( sotamarsalkka , fältmarskalk ). By this time, Mannerheim had come to be seen by

29370-429: Was expelled in 1886 when he left without permission. Next he attended the Helsinki Private Lyceum, where he passed the university entrance examinations in June 1887. From 1887 to 1889, Mannerheim attended the Nicholas Cavalry College in Saint Petersburg . In January 1891, he joined the Chevalier Guard Regiment in Saint Petersburg. Mannerheim served in the Imperial Chevalier Guard until 1904. In 1896, he took part in

29548-470: Was financed by a fifteen million mark line of credit provided by the bankers. His raw recruits had few arms. Nonetheless, he marched them to Vaasa , which was garrisoned by 42,500 Red Russians. He surrounded the Russian garrison with a mass of men; the defenders could not see that only the front rank was armed, so they surrendered, providing badly needed arms. Further weapons were purchased from Germany. Eighty-four Swedish officers and 200 Swedish NCOs served in

29726-433: Was founded in 1952 and the first intensive care department in Finland was founded in connection to the neurosurgical clinic in 1959. There has been a blood donation service connected to the hospital. The first blood donors were mainly scouts. For blood donation, a special donation space was built to the hospital's basement with normal care tables at first, later with specially designed adjustable beds for blood donors. There

29904-445: Was in a weak position, and could not dictate to him. Shortly thereafter, Mannerheim returned the visit, traveling to Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia. In June 1944, Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, to ensure German support while a major Soviet offensive was threatening Finland, thought that it was necessary to agree to the pact the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop demanded. But even then Mannerheim distanced himself from

30082-471: Was intended to demonstrate British support for its Soviet ally. From September to October in 1941, a total of 39 Hawker Hurricanes of No. 151 Wing RAF , based at Murmansk, reinforced and provided pilot-training to the Soviet Air Forces during Operation Benedict to protect arctic convoys. On 28 November, the British government presented Finland with an ultimatum demanding for the Finns to cease military operations by 3 December. Unofficially, Finland informed

30260-402: Was invited by the Rana Prime Minister Tin Maharaja Sir Joodha Shumser Jung Bahadur Rana to join a tiger hunt. In the same year, Mannerheim made a private visit to the United Kingdom , where he was accompanied for the first time by security guards , who Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself had given Mannerheim to use during the trip. However, Mannerheim is known to have been bothered by

30438-435: Was irrelevant since he saw Finland as an ally. The 1947 Paris Peace Treaty signed by Finland described Finland as having been "an ally of Hitlerite Germany" during the Continuation War. In a 2008 poll of 28 Finnish historians carried out by Helsingin Sanomat , 16 said that Finland had been an ally of Nazi Germany, six said it had not been and six did not take a position. The Northern Front (Russian: Северный фронт ) of

30616-449: Was ruled by the Bolsheviks after they overthrew the Provisional Government in the October Revolution . The Soviets accepted the secession for a variety of reasons, mostly because they could not control Finland; also, they hoped they could inspire a communist revolution there modeled after the Russian one. The Finnish parliament appointed P. E. Svinhufvud to lead the newly independent grand duchy's interregnum government. In January 1918,

30794-423: Was secured, planning of the hospital could begin. The hospital building, clad entirely in white, was built in 1932 designed by architect Jussi Paatela . The building represents a shift from classicist to functionalist architecture and has a lot in common with Paatela's other hospital work at the time, the Naistenklinikka hospital. After professor emeritus Richard Faltin had declined the post of head surgeon at

30972-426: Was sent as a representative of the headquarters to the cabinet from 3 December 1939 until 27 March 1940, after which he became defence minister. Mannerheim spent most of the Winter War and Continuation War in his Mikkeli headquarters but made many visits to the front. Between the wars, he remained commander-in-chief. Although Mannerheim's main task was to lead the war, he also knew how to strengthen and maintain

31150-415: Was started on 29 June 1941 by the German Army of Norway, which had the Finnish 3rd and 6th Divisions under its command, against the defending Soviet 14th Army and 54th Rifle Division . By November, the operation had stalled 30 km (19 mi) from the Kirov Railway due to unacclimatised German troops, heavy Soviet resistance, poor terrain, arctic weather and diplomatic pressure by the United States on

31328-436: Was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, John von Julin (1787–1853). Gustaf Mannerheim was born in the Louhisaari Manor of the Askainen parish (current Masku ) on June 4, 1867. After Mannerheim's father left the family in 1880 for his mistress, a daughter of Baron and General Johan Mauritz Nordenstam , the young Mannerheim's mother and her seven children went to live with her aunt Louise; but Mannerheim's mother died

31506-399: Was under enemy occupation, which ended all economic transactions between Britain and Finland and led to a blockade of Finnish trade. The most sizable British action on Finnish soil was the Raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo , an aircraft-carrier strike on German and Finnish ships on 31 July 1941. The attack accomplished little except the loss of one Norwegian ship and three British aircraft, but it

31684-474: Was under the direct command of the German Army High Command ( OKH ) and was organised into Mountain Corps Norway and XXXVI Mountain Corps with the Finnish III Corps and 14th Division attached to it. The German Air Force High Command ( OKL ) assigned 60 aircraft from Luftflotte 5 (Air Fleet 5) to provide air support to the Army of Norway and the Finnish Army, in addition to its main responsibility of defending Norwegian air space. In contrast to

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