American Officer Fought In Russian-Finnish War

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29336, 15 October 1960, Page 16

American Officer Fought In Russian-Finnish War

Finland had remained independent while other Eastern European countries had been occupied by Russian troops because of three factors—the desire to keep Finland as a show place demonstrating that Russia could remain at peace with her small neighbour, the wish not to provoke another outburst of world opinion such as that caused by Russia’s first attempt to invade Finland, and the difficulty of fighting wars in Finland. This was said yesterday by Major A. Havoia, a native of Finland now with’the United States Army.

A member of the United States Antarctic expedition. Major Havoia will go to. Byrd Station with a party of men to begin preparing supplies and equipment tor transfer to the South Pole. About December 1, the party, driving three D-8 tractors tjwing seven sleds, will depart on the 800-mile journey to toe South Pole.

Major Havoia said that the praise Finland had earned from the rest of toe world for its struggle against Russia had stood it in good stead after the war. Now Russia wished to preserve the picture of living in peace with its small, heroic neighbour. Major Havoia fought against the Russians in Finland in 1939, and when peace was declared between the two countries he continued fighting against the RussiaiK, this time with German forces in Lapland.

The Russian-Finnish war, he said, was a classic example of the benefit of a small, highlytrained force fighting a larger force on its own territory. The Finns were trained for winter warfare, and it was a military adage that large forces were no use in winter conditions.

Even the scorched-earth policy toe Russians adopted did not prove very effective. The Finns were accustomed to living on meagre rations, and as Finland had a large amount of timber, the problem of finding fuel was not very difficult.

The war in Lapland was fought under the worst conditions he had ever experienced, said Major Havoia. For most of the time the temperature was 54 degrees below freezing point, and transport was limited almost solely to skis.

As his position in the Finnish Army was that of transport officer, he had found his experience in directing winter transport in war-time invaluable in his peacetime occupation of working in the polar regions. Speaking of his service in Greenland with the United States Army, Major Havoia said he considered Greenland a far more pleasant place than McMurdo Sound. Though both were on equivalent latitudes. McMurdo was far colder. "At least in Greenland there was warm sunshine during the summer months,” he said.