Exploding Wilderness
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FINNISH DEFENCE STUDIES 20 EXPLODING WILDERNESS Guerrilla-type activities in the Finnish art of war Marko Palokangas National Defence University 2015 FINNISH DEFENCE STUDIES 20 EXPLODING WILDERNESS Guerrilla-type activities in the Finnish art of war Marko Palokangas National Defence University Helsinki 2015 Finnish Defence Studies is published under the auspices of the National Defence University, and the contributions reflect the fields of research and teaching of the University. Finnish Defence Studies will occasionally feature documentation on Finnish Security Policy. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily imply endorsement by the National Defence University of Finland. Editor: Prof. Pekka Sivonen, National Defence University Editorial Assistant: MA Aki Aunala, National Defence University Editorial Board: Chairman, Prof. Hannu Kari, National Defence University Prof. (emeritus) Ohto Manninen Prof. Pekka Appelqvist, Scientific Advisory Board for Defence Director of Research Juha Martelius, Ministry of Defence Prof., Col. (ret.) Pekka Visuri Translation by Semantix Finland Oy Finnish Defence Studies in open access pdf-format: http://bit.ly/1S57Rta ISBN: 978-951-25-2807-3 (Pbk.) ISBN: 978-951-25-2808-0 (PDF) ISSN: 0788-5571 Published by NAT1ONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY PO. Box 7 FI-00861 Helsinki FINLAND www.mpkk.fi Juvenes Print Tampere 2016 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 1.1. Guerrilla-type activities as an area of study in the history of the art of war ........ 1 1.2. On concepts ................................................................................................................................ 5 1.3. International historical background and the legal status of guerrilla warfare ... 11 2. GUERRILLA-TYPE ACTIVITES AS A FOURTH METHOD OF COMBAT ....................................................................................................... 16 2.1. Development of the Finnish military system and the art of war during the early years of independent Finland .................................................................................. 16 Guerrilla-type activities in the army regulations in the early years of Finland’s independence ...................................................................................................... 21 Reflection on guerrilla-type activities from the viewpoint of the art of war complementing the prevalent Jaeger tactics ............................................................... 24 Guerrilla warfare and irregular troops in the basics of tactics ............................. 30 Instructions for guerrilla-type activities and the guerrilla manual before the Winter War ............................................................................................................................. 32 The Soviet partisan movement and its ability to counter Finnish guerrilla- type activities .......................................................................................................................... 36 2.2. Summary of the development of guerrilla-type activities from 1918 to 1939 .. 39 3. GUERRILLA-TYPE ACTIVITIES AND RECONNAISSANCE IN THE ENEMY’S REAR ........................................................................................... 41 3.1. Guerrilla-type activities in the Winter War and during the Interim Peace in 1939–1941 ................................................................................................................................. 41 Miscellaneous guerrilla troops and directives for guerrilla-type activities at the onset of the Winter War ............................................................................................. 41 General instructions concerning guerrilla-type activities issued by the General Headquarters during the Winter War .......................................................... 46 Training in guerrilla-type activities and experiences gained during the Winter War ............................................................................................................................. 49 Developing guerrilla-type activities after the Winter War ..................................... 55 3.2. Guerrilla-type activities and long-range patrolling during the Continuation War .............................................................................................................................................. 58 Long-range patrolling and other forms of reconnaissance required training in guerrilla-type activities ................................................................................................... 61 Guerrilla-type and partisan activities during the period of static warfare ........ 64 Operation Forest Felling (‘Metsähakkuut’) – guerrilla-type activities led by the General Headquarters ................................................................................................. 67 Guerrilla-type activities and lessons learned during the Continuation War ... 71 Experiences transformed into guidebooks ................................................................. 75 i 3.3. Dispersed storage of weapons – the last major guerrilla operation of the Continuation War .................................................................................................................. 77 3.4. Summary of the development of guerrilla-type activities from 1939 to 1944 .. 81 4. GUERRILLA-TYPE ACTIVITIEAND GUERRILLA WARFARE ........... 84 4.1. The difficult aftermath of the wars and the preparations made between 1944 and 1946 for the worst-case scenario .................................................................. 84 The Defence Revision Committee and the discussions around the perceived need to change the defensive doctrine ......................................................................... 88 The ultimate fate of surplus weapons laid the foundation for equipping the field army ................................................................................................................................. 91 The beginnings of territorial defence thinking .......................................................... 96 The teaching, training and research of guerrilla-type activities and guerrilla warfare in 1945–1950 .......................................................................................................... 99 The intensive development of the territorial defence system in the 1950s .. 108 Discussion and reflection on, and influences gained from, the opportunities open to guerrilla warfare .................................................................................................. 114 Texts and studies on guerrilla warfare and guerrilla-type activities between 1951 and 1960 ...................................................................................................................... 117 4.2. Guerrilla-type activities and guerrilla warfare ............................................................. 120 Wartime needs lent vigour to training in guerrilla-type activities ..................... 120 A change in the thinking regarding the art of war required that regulations and handbooks be renewed ............................................................................................ 139 A handbook in guerrilla training and a regulation regarding guerrilla-type activities were drafted to support training ................................................................. 148 Parachute training in long-range reconnaissance and guerrilla-type activities .. 158 Veikko Koppinen – a man with ideas for guerrilla-type activities and the father of ‘Exploding Wilderness’ .................................................................................. 166 A Guerrilla Tactics Committee is set up to investigate the proposals made by Koppinen and his Räjähtävä tyhjyys ......................................................................... 175 Further research by Olavi Lopmeri and by the research group for guerrilla tactics ...................................................................................................................................... 195 Guerrilla warfare as a topic in the training events of the top leadership between 1961 and 1965 .................................................................................................... 204 A summary of investigations, texts and discussions related to guerrilla war between 1961 and 1966 .................................................................................................... 207 4.3. A summary of the developments in guerrilla warfare and guerrilla-type activities between 1945 and 1966 ................................................................................... 212 5. MAKING GUERRILLA-TYPE ACTIVITIES PART OF TERRITORIAL COMBAT ..................................................................................................... 216 5.1. From a threat scenario based on an attack designed to capture Finland to repelling a surprise invasion ............................................................................................. 216 Developing the local defence and territorial guerrilla-type activities .............. 227 ii Opportunities available to guerrilla-type activities in the Finnish archipelago in the repulsion of an attack aimed at capturing the country ............................. 237 Conflicts regarding the meaning of concepts and modifications to the threat scenario .................................................................................................................................