On 24 February 1555, Swedish King
Gustav Vasa ordered the establishment of a
Swedish Army unit consisting of Finns. From 1934 the peacetime ground forces would be organized under the command of an
Army Corps headquartered in
Viipuri under which there was three divisions [1.D - 3.D] and one cavalry brigade. These forces would form the cadre body of wartime protective forces.
Peacetime structure before the Winter War • Army Corps Headquarters (, AKE) • 1. Division,
Helsinki • Finnish White Guard Regiment,
Helsinki • Pori Regiment,
Turku • Uusimaa Regiment,
Helsinki • Field Artillery Regiment 1,
Hämeenlinna • Field Artillery Regiment 4,
Helsinki • Separate Armoured Company,
Hämeenlinna • Helsinki Assignment Company,
Helsinki • Helsinki Car Company,
Helsinki • Helsinki Commandant's Office,
Helsinki • Canine Kennel,
Hämeenlinna • 2. Division,
Viipuri • Karelian Guards Regiment,
Viipuri • Tampere Regiment,
Lahti • Central Finland Regiment,
Kouvola • Bicycle Battalion 1,
Terijoki • Bicycle Battalion 2,
Valkjärvi • Field Artillery Regiment 2,
Viipuri • Anti-Air Regiment,
Viipuri • Signals Battalion,
Viipuri • Separate Pioneer Company,
Kellomäki • Supplies Battalion,
Viipuri • Viipuri Commandant's Office,
Viipuri • 3. Division,
Mikkeli • Savo Jaeger Regiment,
Käkisalmi • Viipuri Regiment,
Jaakkima • Pohja Regiment,
Kuopio • Bicycle Battalion 3,
Mikkeli • Vuoksi Jaeger Battalion,
Sakkola • Pioneer Battalion,
Koria • Field Artillery Regiment 3,
Riihimäki • Cavalry Brigade,
Lappeenranta • Uusimaa Dragoon Regiment,
Lappeenranta • Häme Cavalry Regiment,
Lappeenranta • Cavalry NCO School,
Lappeenranta • Signals Squadron,
Lappeenranta • Mounted Battery,
Mikkeli • Cavalry School,
Ypäjä Winter War . The Finnish Army consisted of 9 field divisions, 4 brigades and a number of small independent battalions and companies at the beginning of the
Winter War, which began on 30 November 1939 when the
Soviet Union invaded Finland. During the war, the army was organised into three corps. The II and III Corps were organised into the
Army of the Isthmus which was located on the
Karelian Isthmus, the likely location for the main Soviet attack. The
IV Corps defended the area north of
Lake Ladoga. The defence of the rest of the border up to
Petsamo by the Arctic Ocean was given to the
North Finland Group which consisted of a handful of independent battalions. In order to organize replacements for the units, a Field Replacement Brigade (, KT-Pr) of nine battalions was formed. But due to the severity of the Soviet attack the battalions had to be used as combat troops. In addition, three Replacement Divisions or Home Replacement Divisions (1.Koti.TD – 3.Koti.TD) were formed from the available reservists. As the situation became more alarming, the 1st and 3rd Replacement Divisions were reformed into the
21st and
23rd Divisions and sent to the front on 19 December. The 2nd Replacement Division was deployed as individual regiments to Northern Finland. The Winter War ended on 13 March 1940. Finland ceded 9% of its territory via the
Moscow Peace Treaty, but successfully resisted Soviet conquest.
Order of battle Army of the Isthmus •
Army of the Isthmus (, KannA) (Commander:
Lieutenant General Hugo Österman) located on the
Karelian Isthmus. •
II Corps (II AK) (Commander: Lieutenant General
Harald Öhquist) •
4th Division •
5th Division •
11th Division •
III Corps (III AK) (Commander:
Major General Erik Heinrichs) •
8th Division •
10th Division • Reserve •
1st Division Four delaying groups, named for their location, were stationed immediately by the border on the isthmus.
Independent formations •
IV Corps (IV AK) (Commander: Major General
Juho Heiskanen and then Major General
Woldemar Hägglund from 4 December 1939) located in the
Ladoga Karelia. •
12th Division •
13th Division •
North Finland Group () (Commander: Major General
Wiljo Tuompo) •
Lapland Group () in
Salla and
Petsamo •
North Karelian Group () in North Karelia
Reserves of C-in-C •
6th Division (Southern Finland) •
9th Division (Northern Finland) • Field Replacement Brigade (KT-Pr)
Interim Peace The Finnish Army Headquarters was formed by the order of the General Headquarters on the 19th March 1940 by renaming the
Army of the Isthmus. The new echelon overseeing the ground forces was short lived, since it was disbanded by August 1940. The peacetime forces now consisted of five Army Corps under which there were among others, fifteen infantry brigades. The brigades could be reinforced with reservists, forming the cadre body of an wartime division. Overall, the amount of wartime divisions was increased to sixteen.
Continuation War awarding
Mannerheim Crosses to soldiers and aviators. He is congratulating cadet
Yrjö Keinonen, who later became
Finnish Chief of Defence. The man next to him (to the right) is flying ace
Jorma Karhunen. roundel during
WWII. The Army of Karelia was formed on 29 June 1941 soon after the start of the
Continuation War. There were seven Finnish corps in the field during the war: the I, II,
III, IV, V, VI and VII. During the war, the Finnish Army was responsible for the front from the
Gulf of Finland to
Kainuu. The front in Northern Finland was the responsibility of the German
AOK Norwegen. During summer and autumn 1941, the Finnish Army re-conquered the areas lost to the Soviet Union in the Winter War and pushed deep into Soviet territory in
East Karelia. In winter 1942, the Finnish political leadership ended offensive action and the front stagnated for over two years. The relatively inactive period of stationary war ended abruptly in June 1944, as the
Soviet Union started its
Fourth Strategic Offensive. As a result, the Finnish Army lost large areas of the
Karelian Isthmus, most importantly
Viipuri, a major city, and was forced to retreat from East Karelia. However, in the decisive
Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the Soviet advance was halted. The Soviet Union concentrated its forces on the battles in Central Europe, and Finland made a separate peace in September 1944.
Lapland War The Lapland War () between Finland and Germany was fought from September 1944 to April 1945, in Finland's
Lapland Province. While the Finns saw this as a separate conflict much like the Continuation War, German forces considered their actions to be part of the Second World War. A peculiarity of the war was that the Finnish Army was forced to demobilise its forces while simultaneously fighting the German Army, in an effort to force it out of Finland. The German forces retreated to Norway, and Finland was, therefore, able to uphold its armistice agreement with the Soviet Union.
Cold War During the Cold War, Finland was neutral but maintained close ties to the Soviet Union. The Finnish Army was in a difficult situation as it bordered the Soviet Union.
Porkkala was leased to the Soviet Union for 50 years, per the terms of the
Moscow Armistice. The Soviets completed construction of a naval base at Porkkala in 1945. Porkkala was handed back to Finland in 1956, for
Kaliningrad had become a better place for the
Soviet Navy. From 1st July 1966, the Finnish ground forces were reorganized into seven independent military provinces () which oversaw the regional system consisting of military districts () and the standing cadre brigades, regiments and battalions of the ground forces. The military provinces were as follows: Southern Finland, Northern Finland, Southeastern Finland, Southwestern Finland, Savo-Karelian, Inner Finland and Ostrobothnian Military Provinces. This structure were to remain the same all the way to the end of the Cold War.
Post Cold War As part of rationalization of the military funding, the Finnish Defence Forces oversaw organizational reforms in the end of the 1980's. As part of long-term planning new organization was approved from the beginning of 1993. As part of this reform a position of Ground Forces Chief was added to the
Defence Command along with a Army Office (), which was responsible for ground forces' development and training. The regional defence responsibility was given to new three National Defence Areas () which were the Northern, Western and Eastern National Defence Areas. The amount of Military Provinces () were increased to twelve and all Military Districts () were disbanded with their tasks given to the Military Provinces. As part of the development of wartime forces, each National Defence Area reorganized one of their brigades as a readines brigade (M05), which were equipped according to their area of responsibility. The brigades were
Kainuu Brigade in the Northern Area,
Pori Brigade in the Western Area and
Karelia Brigade in the Eastern Area. In addition
Utti Jaeger Regiment was formed in 1997 and subordinated directly to the Defence Command.
As an independent branch The structure of the Finnish Defence Forces was again refined in 2008. The Army Office was disbanded and the Finnish Army became an independent branch of the Finnish Defence Forces, with its own commander and headquarters in
Mikkeli. The National Defence Areas were disbanded and their tasks were given to the Finnish Army Headquarters, now responsible for both peacetime and wartime tasks related to the ground forces. The Finnish Army was split into seven military provinces, of which four were operational military provinces. The reform related to military provinces was short-lived as the non-operational provinces were disbanded by 2010 and replaced with regional offices. ==Organisation==