Finnish uniform overview

[lentosotamies]

By popular request, a brief overview of Finnish uniform:
Finland was a part of the Russian Empire, so it is hardly suprising that they came out of WW1 with essentially Russian kit. Eager to distance themselves from their old masters, they quickly adopted a very smart uniform in 1922. This looked similar to the Imperial German parade uniform of 1909, only in a blueish-grey rather than feldgrau.
It was found to be utterly impractical for field wear (metal braid litzen, for god's sake!), but great when out on the pull. As a result, in 1927 a khaki-brown uniform on the lines of WW1 British field dress was brought in. This was sound as field kit, but shite for going out on the razz, and was made of woolen cloth, no laughing matter in Finnish summertime. It never completely replaced the M22, either, a lot of soldiers keeping a jacket and trousers set of the old kit if they had to be smart.
In an attempt to get one standard uniform, the M36 kit was introduced. This went back to grey (not a bad move, as it was obvious by then that the likely enemies were the Soviets, who also wore khaki), and consisted of a very Wehrmacht-looking jacket and trousers in grey wool, a peaked feldmutze and for summer, a scruffy-looking but practical light grey canvas fatigue jacket. Rank was shown on collar litzen and on shoulder straps.
Finland ordered war surplus German and Austrian M16 pattern helmets, and received a few Hungarian-made M35s just before the Winter War. After, they ordered helmets for all troops in the army, and ended up with:
Czech M34s from Germany
Swedish M26s and M37s (the last looked dangerously like Soviet)
Italian M33s (ditto)
Some German M42s (I think)
a )The Russian-looking helmets tended to go to the rear-area troops, to prevent possible friendly fire.
That's a basic overview, but I should point out that even in 1944, it was possible to see a mix and match of all types of uniform, along with any kind of helmet. b) If any two Finnish soldiers were dressed alike, one of them was an imposter.

a)I have seen film footage of front line soldiers, (teeth arms) wearing a mixture of Swedish, Czech, and Italian helmets.

b)Slight exageration!-plenty of eveidence of uniforminity in SA, consult
'Asepkuku m/36' -is this a re-enactor desire to mix and match uniforms?

[Pirkka]

Thanks for the reply - you're not a Finn yourself are you? (Just looking at your user name).

First point, yes you're right, this is made even more embarassing when you consider that I had Asepuku m/36 open on my modelling table, to the page after the picture of the 1941 Infantry Private in ankle boots.

Second: You're quite right, in fact the same book shows a 1941 Infantry platoon wearing every kind of helmet issued to Finnish forces, as well as a few men in ankle boots! I was relying on information from a Finnish friend of mine, that in general 'German' helmets went to front line units first. If this wasn't so, please let me know.

Third: I agree, there is plenty of evidence of uniformity in the SA, but equally there is plenty of evidence of the opposite. This is hardly surprising: Fonland was a small country trying to keep a large standing army in the field. It wasn't a desire to be farby, but I take your point. From a personal point of view I think a wide mix of appearences looks better, but their's evidence for both points of view.

Again, thanks for the input - I don't pretend to be an expert on the SA, but I'm doing the best I can without the ability to speak or read much Finnish.

[lentosotamies]

Thanks for the reply - you're not a Finn yourself are you? (Just looking at your user name).

First point, yes you're right, this is made even more embarassing when you consider that I had Asepuku m/36 open on my modelling table, to the page after the picture of the 1941 Infantry Private in ankle boots.

Second: You're quite right, in fact the same book shows a 1941 Infantry platoon wearing every kind of helmet issued to Finnish forces, as well as a few men in ankle boots! I was relying on information from a Finnish friend of mine, that in general 'German' helmets went to front line units first. If this wasn't so, please let me know.

Third: I agree, there is plenty of evidence of uniformity in the SA, but equally there is plenty of evidence of the opposite. This is hardly surprising: Fonland was a small country trying to keep a large standing army in the field. It wasn't a desire to be farby, but I take your point. From a personal point of view I think a wide mix of appearences looks better, but their's evidence for both points of view.

Again, thanks for the input - I don't pretend to be an expert on the SA, but I'm doing the best I can without the ability to speak or read much Finnish.

Hei Pirkka,

I'm not Finnish, however I am of Scandinavian heritage. I speak a modest amount of Finnish.

Scale of issue is a difficult subject to tackle.I suppose it depends on whether you wish to show a cross section of helmet types that were worn/available, or what was more likely to be seen on a section/platoon level.

Only thing I can advise is to build up a collection of photographs.

Good luck with your studies,
L