Tag Archives: Suomi KP31 Submachine gun

Ciggys, Suomis, and Shades

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80 years ago today: a Finnish ski patrol on a smoke break, 26 March 1943, Limosaari (Klimetski) island area, Kurginitsa, Karelia.

Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

Note the staples of the WWII (“Continuation War” in Finn parlance) Karelian front when it comes to personal arms: bolt-action Mosin rifles, KP31 9mm Suomi sub guns, a captured Soviet Degtyaryov DP-27/28 “pan” light machine gun, and the ubiquitous puukko knife. Also, note the aurinkolasit, or sunglasses, which appear to be of a German design, a must for use in the dazzling snow.

Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

“A warm sauna awaits the scouts (Lämmin sauna odottaa partiomiehiä). Limosaari, Kurginitsa 1943.03.26.” Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

Such remote operations in the remote Lappland and Karelian regions (Suomen kaukopartiotoiminta) were the stuff of legend, especially when coupled with the occasional epic Pervitin overuse!

Of course, while the West saw Finnish ski troops fighting against the “Brutish Reds” as romantic in 1939-40, and used the theme for a series of “Fighting Funds for Finland” committees in England and the U.S., the posters surely got problematic by 1941-42 when Stalin had morphed to “Uncle Joe.”

The Suomi KP31 Submachine gun: Finland’s finest

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Ever got in a fight with a Finn? Well if you never have let me tell you now, save your time and your health. Zero to sixty is how Finnish fury goes in battle and in 1939, the mighty Soviet Red Army found this out first hand. The weapon of choice for the hearty Finnish troopers? The Suomi.

Finland fought for its independence from the corpse of Imperial Russia at the end of World War 1 in 1918. The Russians (even today) have always fostered the notion that being part of their country, willingly or not, is kind of like being in the mob—once you are in you can never really get out. With that in mind, Finnish military planners knew that it was only a matter of time before the Russians indeed came back with an offer they couldn’t refuse so in the early 1920s, the Finnish arsenal at Tikka began work on a prototype small machine gun to give the vastly outnumbered Finn infantry a leg up in a potential invasion.

Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com

suomi k31 on finn motorcycle