The Pro-German resistance movement in Finland was set up during the latter stages of the Second World War after the Moscow Armistice by Nazi Germany and the extreme right in Finland, who prepared for armed struggle against the expected Soviet occupation. Germany funded the activities and provided the necessary training. The project was separate from the plans drawn up by Finnish chief of staff officers in the summer of 1944 for the transition to guerrilla warfare. When there was no occupation, propaganda and smuggling hundreds of people out of Finland became the principal activity of the organization. After the defeat of Germany, the movement did not disintegrate but operated in Finland for several more years. Some members of the movement were caught, and 11 were convicted of treason in 1946.
Background During Finland's participation on the Eastern Front, two German intelligence organizations operated in Finland: the SS intelligence service SD and the military intelligence service Abwehr under German chief of staff. The SD's Finnish arm was led by Sturmbannführer (Major) Alarich Bross, the Abwehr's by Fregattenkapitän (Commander) Alexander Cellarius. In February 1944, the organizations were merged under the SD, and in August, Bross, who had good relations with Finland's extreme right circles, was appointed head of Germany's intelligence efforts in Finland.Lappalainen, Niilo: Aselevon jälkeen. WSOY, 1997. . p. 106
SD's resistance movement set up Bross was immediately tasked with forming a resistance movement in Finland that would serve German interests. The plan for the organization was presented to a select group of Finns in August 1944 at a meeting convened by Bross, which was attended by, among others, Colonel Ragnar Nordström, Lieutenant Colonels Carl Lindh and Johan Christian Fabritius, Counselor Petter Forsström and Dr. Erkki Osmonsalo. Aarne Runolinna, working as Bross's assistant, had prepared the structure draft of the organisation. At the meeting, a resistance movement in accordance with the SD's plans was established under veteran organisation "Front Soldier League". Carl Lindh was elected to lead the movement.Lappalainen 1997, p. 107
Other German-led resistance plans
AKS chairman Helanen's plan At the same time as the SD founded its own resistance organization, Dr. Vilho Helanen, chairman of the Academic Karelia Society, developed his own plan for a resistance movement in the event that the Soviet Union occupied Finland or a communist- led government came to power. Helanen's plan was based on the support of the Germans from Estonia. He presented his plan in Tallinn on September 7, 1944, to the local SD, and possibly Cellarius was also involved.Lappalainen 1997, p. 107–109
According to the plan, the leadership of the organization would be in Tallinn, and the liaison committee in Finland would handle communications, transportation and safehouses with the support of the Germans. Landing areas for German aircraft and landing areas for ships would be established in advance. The actual armed activity would be carried out by a regional resistance movement, for which the weapons would be obtained from the Germans and in connection with the possible disarmament of the Finnish army. After a possible occupation, a partisan war would be waged by first hitting the occupier’s communication and maintenance connections. The resistance would bind as many occupying forces as possible until they retreat to isolation in large cities. The ultimate goal was to conquer the whole of Finland and also East Karelia.
However, the plan was conditional on German troops remaining in Estonia and northern Finland, which made it impossible to implement. The withdrawal from northern Finland had already begun, and there was only a week left for the Estonian evacuation order. Helanen joined the SD resistance movement, where he was named the organization's second leader. He returned to Finland in a German motor torpedo boat with the task of attracting politicians behind the movement.
Other German projects The SD resistance project was not the only one of the Germans. On 5 September 1944, the 20th Mountain Army Commander, Lothar Rendulic, proposed the establishment of a resistance operation at the German chief of staff. The situation was favorable due to the division of opinions caused by the ceasefire.Lappalainen 1997, p. 112
In addition to the resistance movement, SD also had other secret activities in Finland. SD Lieutenant Hans Seidl and Finnish Lieutenant Kai LaurellThe SS Hunter Battalions: The Hidden History of the Nazi Resistance Movement 1944-5, Tempus (December 1, 2006) established several radio stations and weapons caches in northern Finland. Until the spring of 1945, the stations kept in touch with the German military intelligence service Sonderabteilung Lappland (Special Department Lapland). Wilhelm Laqua, head of SD's Kirkenes office and commander of Einsatzkommando Finnland, founded Karesuvanto radio station that operated in October 1944. The station was later transferred to the Swedish side and communication was maintained by couriers from Norway. In Norway, Laqua also had radio, postal and flight connections to Finland. The Germans also organized weapons caches in northern Finland and built safehouses.Vertanen, Anu: Rintamalta Ratakadulle: suomalaiset SS-miehet kommunistisen Valpon kohteina 1945–1948 (pdf) 2005. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto.
The organization of the resistance movement is created Carl Lindh and Vilho Helanen were appointed to lead the SD resistance movement. Bross's assistant Aarne Runolinna was the propaganda manager. The liaison was journalist Karl Jansson, from May 1945 Lieutenant Colonel Fabritius. The organizer was long-distance patrolman Arthur Björklund, later lieutenant Seppo Veli Heikkilä. Nationwide, the organization was divided into eight districts, each of which was to have local leadership. Underground activities would be organized according to the three-cell system inherited from the Communists.Lappalainen 1997, p. 106, 109–111
Members of the Front Soldier League, Patriotic People's Movement and different Nazi organisations were recruited. The resistance movement had good connections to various parties: several people from Valpo were involved, such as detective Urho Rantala and detective Arvid Ojasti, who moved to Norway.Silvennoinen, Oula: Salaiset aseveljet. Suomen ja Saksan turvallisuuspoliisiyhteistyö 1933-1944. 416 s.. Helsinki: Otava, 2008. Arno Anthoni, former head of the Central Detective Police advised on the practical arrangements for underground operations. The organization also kept in touch with Finnish army officers who moved to Sweden and wartime military intelligence chiefs. Former intelligence chief Colonel Aladár Paasonen was present, Harri Paarma (formerly Paatsalo), Director of the intelligence gathering and sabotage unit "Remote Patrol Department", in charge of Northern Finland's intelligence, and Major Pauli Marttina, Second Director of the Remote Patrol Department.Lappalainen 1997, p. 110–111
In addition, there were plans to recruit high-ranking officers. Lieutenant General Paavo Talvela, Major General Kaarlo Heiska or Colonel Matti Aarnio were planned to be the commander of the military wing.
Swedish connections Safehouses were built to Sweden with the help of a network of liaison officers. Two of the routes passed through the country to Norway, the others to the port cities of Gothenburg, Malmö and Trelleborg. In addition to the safehouses, the Finnish leader of the Swedish operations had assistants in Stockholm, Luleå and Gothenburg, two in each. The leader himself worked in Boden and co-operated with the Swedish military intelligence: Swedish Major Danielsson arranged passports and other assistance. The Swedish organisation's contacts with the Germans were handled either by the German military ombudsman Edmund SalaC. G. McKay: From information to intrigue: Studies in secret service based on the Swedish Experience 1939-1945. Routledge, 1993. via Stockholm or directly to Berlin. The courier to Helsinki was businessman Arne Blom.
Financial Funding for the activities of the resistance movement came mainly from the Germans. For the initial organization, the organization is known to have received an equivalent amount of €350,000 (based on 2007 value) from Cellarius. At least the shipowner, Colonel Ragnar Nordström, and Councilor Petter Forsström also funded the organization by purchasing motorboats for its use.Lappalainen 1997, p. 110 Funding from Germany was provided, directly by SD's Major Bross, partly through a cache located in Sweden near the Norwegian border, from which Finns were allowed to apply for the amount with Bross's permission. There is conflicting information about the size of the cache, according to one information, the currency of the various countries would have been worth a total of 65 million euros (according to the 2007 monetary value). In 1945, the cache is known to have fetched currency on at least two occasions, totaling more than 650,000 euros.Lappalainen 1997, p. 108
Weapons, radio equipment and money received from Germany and Sweden were hidden in Närpes, Vaasa, Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. A lot of material had been placed in various caches in Vaasa.
Sonderkommando Nord After the Germans left Southern Finland in the first week of September 1944, Sonderkommando Nord was established as the governing body of the Finnish resistance movement. The department was directly subordinated to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the Reich Security Main Office. Bross was appointed head of the department.Alava, Ali: Erikoisosasto Pohjoinen. Hämeenlinna: Karisto, 1978. .
A base was established for the department on the German Baltic coast on the island of Usedom in the spa town of Heringsdorf, owned by the German navy, to which German intelligence services in Finland moved. The crew was obtained from Finnish SS men and prisoners of war from the German withdrawal from Finnish Lapland who defected to the German side.Vertanen 2004, p. 12 Contacts with Finland were handled by radio messages and submarines. Contact with the Finns lasted at least until April 1945, although the leadership of the resistance movement was already disengaging from German control at that time. The German military surrendered on 8 May 1945.
Training in the winter of 1945 In February 1945, Sonderkommando Nord began training Finns for reconnaissance in Heringsdorf. In the first course, morse code and cryptography training was given to SS men. The trainees for the courses were obtained from various sources; for example, there were Finnish prisoners of war enlisted from German prison camp and other volunteers who joined the Germans. The base came from the German-occupied Kongsvinger Fortress in Norway, where Finnish SS men had been trained as group leaders for a volunteer unit from Finland.Lappalainen 1997, p. 114–115
A detachment of Finnish SS men was formed in Major Otto Skorzeny's regiment Jagdregiment in Neustrelitz. The detachment was intended to be trained for special missions, but there was no time to begin training until the war was over. There was also a small group of about twenty volunteers from those Finnish women who had moved to Norway and Germany with German troops and were recruited to the same detachment for message training.Vertanen 2004, p. 47
The negotiations in January 1945 and Fabritius travels to Germany