“GHOST” PATROLS

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVIII, Issue 60, 16 February 1940, Page 4

“GHOST” PATROLS

SPEED-SHOOTING FROM SKIS HOW THEY FIGHT. LONDON, January 13. Secrets of the daring tactics used by the Finns in attacking the Russians were revealed this week by the leader of a Finnish “ghost” patrol. The man, Aarne Valkama, was former ski-shooting champion of the world. He led in the forests of Saila one of those white-cloaked Finnish patrols which, almost invisible, attack again and again. He lay this week against the pillows of a field hospital bed, wounded through the ribs and the right hand by Russian machine-gun bullets, j This is his story:—“Ever since 1924 our instincts told us to prepare with all our might for a conflict with Russia. We studied in the army and . the civil guard every possible ruse j of this northern warfare. ! “We especially studied the art of shooting from skis at high speed. We trained ourselves to unsling our , rifles, lean them against our left arm i where they are held in position by a I small leather band, and shoot as we ' move downhill at full speed. We trained at putting targets set low in the snow and small floating balloons. ’ ’ Valkama, a house painter by trade, holds the rank of a corporal. He told how these ghost patrols are composed of the same men, who always work together. They come to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. One man will have better eyesight, another better hearing. The third perhaps will be the best shot. They go out in the evening and ski through the forests till dawn watching Russian movements.