Finnish War Hero Lauri Allan Törni: Small Unit Commander Who Fought the Soviets

Born May 28, 1919 in Vyborg (Viipuri) Finland, Lauri Allan Törni was to serve as a soldier under many flags. The country he was born in had only months ago succeeded from the remnants of the Old Russian Empire and shared an uneasy border with its much larger neighbor. Growing up the son of a ferryboat captain he spent his formative years occupied in boxing and hunting. On October 8, 1938 he was sworn into the Finnish Army and soon exhibited the traits that led to his selection to the NCO academy where he was made a junior sergeant at the age of twenty. When the Soviet Union invaded tiny Finland on November 1939 Torni was sent to join the 4th Jaeger Battalion. The Jaegers (Swedish-Jagare, Finnish- Jääkkäri ) were small light infantry units, much like today’s US Army Rangers, that specilized in scouting, reconnaissance, raids and ambushes. As the brief winter war evolved Torni's group took to their skis and inflicted horrible damage against much larger Soviet forces. He was a popular commander and carried out a number of impossible missions. By the end of the Winter War in March 1940 Torni had been made an junior officer. The war ended in an inevitable Finnish defeat and a large slice of Finland, including Torni's own home tome of Vyborg, was succeeded to the Soviets in a humiliating peace treaty. The territory belongs to Russia to this day.

With the end of the Finish Winter War, Thorne went on to join what he believed to be the next enemy of Soviet Russia- the German Army. He served with the Nazi German SS Finnisches Freiwilligen Bataillon "Nordost" during the first part of 1941 in the rank of SS-Untersturmfuhrer. He conducted three months of officer training with the SS, but was released when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union June 22, 1941 and Finland entered the war as a Nazi ally. Torni returned to Finland and rejoined the Finnish Army, serving in the Finnish 1st Division with the Jaeger battalion. For three years he fought with these men on the brutal eastern front, reaching the rank of Captain and being awarded the Mannerhiem Cross- Finland’s highest military award. From December 1942 onward he was given command of an independent jager company (Jaakarikompapania). Under the designation "Detachment Törni" the esprit de corps and cult of personality the young officer conveyed led to his unit to adopt a crossed lightning bolt over the initial "T" as their insignia in honor of their commander. They began seek and destroy operations against Soviet partisans and deep 10-15 day penetration patrols of Soviet held territory. He was so well known to the Soviets that they put a price of 3,000,000 markka on his head. In September 1944, with the war turning bad for Nazi Germany and the Soviets closing again on the borders of Finland, the tiny county once more sought peace with Stalin.

Torni, unable to bring himself to surrender, joined the regular German army and continued to fight the Soviets for another nine months until the end of World War Two. While in German service he was promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer (Captain) in April 1945 and awarded the Iron Cross. He found himself in American hands in April 1945 when his unit surrendered in Germany. After a stint in a POW camp that lasted until 1948 he was released and immigrated to the United States in 1954. There the 35-year old practiced the only vocation he ever knew and enlisted in the US Army as a private soldier under the name of Larry Thorne just in time for Vietnam. But that is another story.

Arlington Nation Cemetery listing http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/larry-thorne.htm

Finnisches Freiwilligen SS-Bataillon "Nordost" Der Waffen SS maintained by Olli Wikberg http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/2130/

Sep 15, 2008 2:46 PM

Guest :

Otherwise correct, but Finland has never surrendered to Stalin or anybody else. Peace treaty or surrending are bit different things.

Jan 2, 2009 11:31 PM

Christopher Eger :

Finland fought a long, hard war against Soviet Russia. In the original Winter War (1939-1940) Finland was indeed defeated. The Winter War was ended Moscow Peace Treaty signed March 12, 1940 and Finland made several territorial concessions to the Soviet Union. Finland fought well and remained independent but did not win or even 'tie' the Winter War.

In the Continuation War (1941-1944) Finland again fought the same enemy. However it went even worse for Finland. The Moscow armistice was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union Sept 12, 1944. Finland made even more territorial concessions as well as agreed to allow communist groups to be formed in Finland and kick the Nazis out of the country. In the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty Finland was made to pay $300 million in reparations to the USSR, had arms limitations placed on it, and made to house a Soviet occupation force until 1956. Finland was clearly not the winner of the Continuation War.

IN 1948 Finland was even forced to join in the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance with the Soviet Union that in effect made the country a Soviet ally if attacked by NATO until 1991.

I agree that Finland was not defeated to the degree that Nazi Germany and Japan were in World War II, but defeated they were.

Jan 13, 2009 8:01 AM

Guest :

Remeber though my friend, that the occupation was only of the tiny town of porkkala and not the whole of Finland.

Feb 28, 2009 9:56 AM

Guest :

Living in Finland as an Englishman (a country that was last invaded in....) I have taken an interest in the history of this, as you mention, small country. The Winter war and war of continuation have been raised to something of a cult status in this country. Finland, as your first guest pointed out, did not surrender, and in this David and Goliath battle, Finland certainly came out favourably. The Finns used the terrain well (including the -40c winter temperature), and were mostly farmers and foresters, used to the conditions. There is a region just to the west of the Russian border, about 10 km wide, where the residents voluntarily burnt every inhabitable building, so that the poorly equipped Russians would be forced to survive in the open. They didn't - there is well documented evidence of Russian soldiers starving and freezing to death, in addition to evidence of cannabalism. Having been out and about in -27 here, I wouldn't recommend it. Because of men like Törni, and countless others who were defending their own (and often completely their own) land, the fact that Finland is still Finland is most definitely a victory. Interesting that Mr. Eger mentions the Soviet pact - in reality the Russians were and (not surprisingly) still are, treated at the least with contempt and distrust. Finns almost visibly relax when they realise I'm not Russian. The whole concept of Finnish 'sisu' developed after these wars.