National Defence University Department of Behavioural Sciences Knut Pipping INFANTRY COMPANY AS A SOCIETY Edited and translated into English by Petri Kekäle Helsinki 2008 2 ISBN 978–951–25–1892–0 ISSN 1796–671–x Layout: Heidi Paananen/TKKK Edita Prima Oy Helsinki 2008 3 Contents FOREWORD (Pentti Lehtimäki) ................................................. 5 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDITION: Finland in the Second World War 1939–1944 and Pipping’s 12th Infantry Regiment .................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDITION: Knut Pipping’s “Infantry Company as a Society” and Aspects of Some Other Military Sociological Studies of Small Military Units During and After the Second World War (Olli Harinen) ............................................................................ 14 INFANTRY COMPANY AS A SOCIETY (Knut Pipping) .......................................................................... 45 PREFACE .................................................................................. 46 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 47 THE SECOND MACHINE GUN COMPANY OF THE TWELFTH INFANTRY REGIMENT ............................................................... 65 I HISTORY OF THE COMPANY ............................................... 65 II COMPOSITION OF THE COMPANY ..................................... 72 Organization ................................................................................ 72 Composition According to the Home District of the Rank and File ......................................................................................... 74 Composition According to the Age of the Rank and File ......... 78 Term of Service of the Rank and File in the Company .............. 80 Company Losses ........................................................................... 81 Composition According to the Men’s Profession and Marital Status ............................................................................... 83 III COMPANY’S LINES OF ACTION (CASE STUDIES).............. 85 March ............................................................................................ 85 Battle............................................................................................. 94 Peace at the Front .......................................................................104 Rest...............................................................................................117 Railway Transport .......................................................................124 4 IV SOCIAL GROUPS IN THE COMPANY ................................ 127 Rank Groups ................................................................................127 Military Groups ...........................................................................136 Local Groups................................................................................146 Age Groups .................................................................................150 Home District Groups .................................................................157 Mess Kit Groups ..........................................................................161 V COMPLIANCE WITH FORMAL AND INFORMAL NORMS 163 Courage .......................................................................................163 Private and Public Property ........................................................168 Alcohol and sexuality .................................................................178 Religion, Superstition and Information ....................................187 Discipline .....................................................................................194 Helpfulness ..................................................................................204 VI ATTITUDES TOWARDS OUTSIDERS .................................. 206 Other Front Units .......................................................................206 Home Front .................................................................................208 Enemy ..........................................................................................210 LAPLAND ................................................................................ 211 I THE LAND .......................................................................... 211 History of the Settlement ..........................................................211 Demographic Conditions............................................................218 Economic Conditions ..................................................................219 Crime ............................................................................................225 Religion ........................................................................................226 Political Views..............................................................................227 II HIETASUVANTO ................................................................. 229 The Settlement ............................................................................229 Inhabitants ..................................................................................231 Work and Free Time ....................................................................235 Attitudes towards the Authorities and the Community .........248 CONCLUDING WORDS ............................................................ 252 LITERATURE ............................................................................. 256 Diagrams and Map Supplements ........................................ 259 5 FOREWORD During the Second World War Knut Pipping, a young Finnish sociologist, served as a NCO in a Finnish machine gun company. In 1942, during the war, he began an extensive sociological study of his own company. He gathered empirical material systematically during and after the war, and in 1947 his work was published as a doctoral dissertation at Åbo Academi. The dissertation was written in Swedish and had only a short English summary. In 2001 the Finnish Military Sociological Society started a project to translate Knut Pipping’s study into English. There are very few scientific military sociological or military psychological studies that deal with small, integrated World War II military units, like platoons, companies or batteries. “The American Soldier”, a classical WW II study, was based on large-scale surveys and did not focus on small platoon or company-sized units. There are also a great number of very good military historical books and articles that deal with platoon or company-sized units in the Second World War, for instance “Band of Brothers” (Ambrose 2002, also a TV series), which tells the story of one infantry company. Although books like “Band of Brothers” provide fascinating reading and extremely interesting data for researchers, they are not scientific studies, like Pipping’s. Since Pipping’s work is relatively unknown to the English-speaking readership, and since there are very few similar small unit WW II studies, the Finnish Military Sociological Society wanted to have it translated into English. The Finnish Military Sociological Society, which was founded in 1993 with General Jaakko Valtanen (former commander in chief of the Finnish Defence Forces) as its first chairman, has arranged military sociological seminars at the University of Helsinki and elsewhere from the beginnings of the 1990’s and has participated in the preparations of the biannual National Conference on Military Science. M.A. Petri Kekäle (Ministry of Defence, later Prime Minister’s Office; member of the Military Sociological Society) has translated and edited the book. The idea to translate Pipping’s study into English was first proposed by M.A. Pertti Alanen, vice chairman of the Society. The board of the Finnish Military Sociological Society, with Lieutenant General Pentti Lehtimäki as its chairman, nominated an advisory group, which consisted of the following persons (who are also board members of the Military Sociological Society): – Colonel Kalle Liesinen, chairman of the advisory group – later replaced as chairman by Colonel (M.C.), Ph.D. Matti Ponteva – Colonel, M.A. Erkki Nordberg (chief of the training section of the General Headquarters) – M.A. Göran Lindgren (Finnish Reserve Officers’ Union) – researcher Olli Harinen. The advisory group has checked the whole translation for accuracy and military terminology. 6 In addition to Pipping’s original text the English version contains an introductory chapter written especially for the English edition by licenciate Olli Harinen from the National Defence University’s Department of Behavioral Sciences, also secretary of the Military Sociological Society. He has also checked the translation of Pipping’s chapters IV, V and VI for scientific terminology. There is also an additional chapter about Finland’s and Pipping’s 12th Infantry Regiment’s role in the Second World War. This historical introduction to Pipping’s book was compiled by the advisory group. The Finnish Military Sociological Society wishes to thank the following foundations which have given grants for the work: – Maanpuolustuksen kannatussäätiö – Puolustusvoimien tukisäätiö – Svenska Kulturfonden – Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi – Oscar Öflunds Stiftelse – Sotavahinkoyhdistyksen säätiö. The state-owned Åbo Academy University, where Pipping’s dissertation was published in 1947, is Finland’s only Swedish-language multi-faculty university. It is the centre