Pro-German resistance movement in Finland

At the same time as the SD founded its own resistance organization, Dr. Vilho Helanen, chairman of the Academic Karelia Society, developed his own plan for a resistance movement in the event that the Soviet Union occupied Finland or a communist- led government came to power. Helanen's plan was based on the support of the Germans from Estonia. He presented his plan in Tallinn on September 7, 1944, to the local SD, and possibly Cellarius was also involved.[3]

According to the plan, the leadership of the organization would be in Tallinn, and the liaison committee in Finland would handle communications, transportation and safehouses with the support of the Germans. Landing areas for German aircraft and landing areas for ships would be established in advance. The actual armed activity would be carried out by a regional resistance movement, for which the weapons would be obtained from the Germans and in connection with the possible disarmament of the Finnish army. After a possible occupation, a partisan war would be waged by first hitting the occupier’s communication and maintenance connections. The resistance would bind as many occupying forces as possible until they retreat to isolation in large cities. The ultimate goal was to conquer the whole of Finland and also East Karelia.[3]

However, the plan was conditional on German troops remaining in Estonia and northern Finland, which made it impossible to implement. The withdrawal from northern Finland had already begun, and there was only a week left for the Estonian evacuation order. Helanen joined the SD resistance movement, where he was named the organization's second leader. He returned to Finland in a German motor torpedo boat with the task of attracting politicians behind the movement.[3]

The SD resistance project was not the only one of the Germans. On 5 September 1944, the 20th Mountain Army Commander, Lothar Rendulic, proposed the establishment of a resistance operation at the German chief of staff. The situation was favorable due to the division of opinions caused by the ceasefire.[4]

In addition to the resistance movement , SD also had other secret activities in Finland. SD Lieutenant Hans Seidl and Finnish Lieutenant Kai Laurell[5] established several radio stations and weapons caches in northern Finland. Until the spring of 1945, the stations kept in touch with the German military intelligence service Sonderabteilung Lappland (Special Department Lapland). Wilhelm Laqua, head of SD's Kirkenes office and commander of Einsatzkommando Finnland, founded Karesuvanto radio station that operated in October 1944. The station was later transferred to the Swedish side and communication was maintained by couriers from Norway. In Norway, Laqua also had radio, postal and flight connections to Finland.[4] The Germans also organized weapons caches in northern Finland and built safehouses.[6]

Safehouses were built to Sweden with the help of a network of liaison officers. Two of the routes passed through the country to Norway , the others to the port cities of Gothenburg, Malmö and Trelleborg. In addition to the safehouses, the Finnish leader of the Swedish operations had assistants in Stockholm, Luleå and Gothenburg, two in each. The leader himself worked in Boden and co-operated with the Swedish military intelligence: Swedish Major Danielsson arranged passports and other assistance. The Swedish organisation's contacts with the Germans were handled either by the German military ombudsman Edmund Sala[10] via Stockholm or directly to Berlin. The courier to Helsinki was businessman Arne Blom.[9]

Funding for the activities of the resistance movement came mainly from the Germans. For the initial organization, the organization is known to have received an equivalent amount of € 350,000 (based on 2007 value) from Cellarius. At least the shipowner, Colonel Ragnar Nordström, and Councilor Petter Forsström also funded the organization by purchasing motorboats for its use.[11] Funding from Germany was provided, directly by SD's Major Bross, partly through a cache located in Sweden near the Norwegian border, from which Finns were allowed to apply for the amount with Bross's permission. There is conflicting information about the size of the cache, according to one information, the currency of the various countries would have been worth a total of 65 million euros (according to the 2007 monetary value). In 1945, the cache is known to have fetched currency on at least two occasions, totaling more than 650,000 euros.[12]

Weapons, radio equipment and money received from Germany and Sweden were hidden in Närpes, Vaasa, Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. A lot of material had been placed in various caches in Vaasa.

In February 1945, Sonderkommando Nord began training Finns for reconnaissance in Heringsdorf . In the first course, morse code and cryptography training was given to SS men. The trainees for the courses were obtained from various sources; for example, there were Finnish prisoners of war enlisted from German prison camp and other volunteers who joined the Germans.[6] The base came from the German-occupied Kongsvinger fortress in Norway, where Finnish SS men had been trained as group leaders for a volunteer unit from Finland.[15]

A detachment of Finnish SS men was formed in Major Otto Skorzeny's regiment Jagdregiment in Neustrelitz. The detachment was intended to be trained for special missions, but there was no time to begin training until the war was over. There was also a small group of about twenty volunteers from those Finnish women who had moved to Norway and Germany with German troops and were recruited to the same detachment for message training.[15][16]

The organization built a network of radio stations in Finland for communication and promotion. In addition to one mobile radio station, there were stations in Helsinki at the Helvar radio factory and in Huopalahti, Hämeenlinna, Tampere, Turku, Vaasa, the Raahe region and Närpes. Thoralf Kyrre, a Danish engineer, was recruited as a technical expert.[20]

The most significant form of action was to smuggle out those who wanted to leave the country to Germany and Sweden for various reasons. For this purpose, a safehouse network was built in Finland and the cover company "Great fishing cooperative" was established. In Finland, safehouse routes were provided by a 50-70-man maritime transport organization. In Sweden, the target was the small town of Härnösand in western Norland. From Finland, the ships were driven to secret loading bays around the city, where the men of the organization were ready. Some of the smuggled men were delivered to Sweden from the north over the Tornio river. Access to Europe was opened through the Swedish safehouse network.[21]

The resistance movement in Blacknäs, Vaasa, had three large fishing vessels at its disposal, which were well suited for the smuggling of refugees to Sweden. The most important stage of the resistance movement was established in Närpes. Motorboats purchased for the cover company were placed in Närpes. The area also served as a loading bay for German submarines. The organization bought a detached house in Närpes, and houses and farms were acquired for accommodation. Transport between Helsinki and Närpes was handled by two cars acquired for this purpose.[22]

Through the safehouse routes, the resistance movement transported Finnish Nazis and fascists, officers and intelligence personnel, Estonian and East Karelian refugees and German citizens out of the country. Hundreds of people were assisted in Sweden, including more than a hundred German prisoners of war who had fled the Finns. Transport to Germany took place after the September 1944 break in German submarines, smuggling hundreds of people. At the same time Organisation brought refugees from Germany to the Finnish coast, sometimes in several submarines at the same time.[23] They were transported along the safe house route to Sweden and further from there.[22]

During his trip to Germany in January-February, Fabritius had become convinced that the situation in Germany was hopeless and that no further help to the resistance in Finland could be expected. At the beginning of April, meetings were held in Lohja, Helsinki and Tampere. The organisation sought to become independent of the Germans. On the other hand, there were still fears of a Soviet occupation, and the focus of action was on plans to get as many patriotic-minded people as possible into the movement and smuggled into Sweden. Contact with the Germans was maintained still in April 1945.[24]

After the defeat of Germany, the resistance movement continued to operate. Finland was not occupied, so the plan for armed struggle was not implemented. Activities focused on safehouses.[25]

In 1948, representatives of the resistance movement, Major General Harald Roos and Professor Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala traveled to Norway to inquire about support for the movement in the event that the Soviet Union occupied Finland. They were in contact with the Commander of the Norwegian Army, General Olaf Helset, and the US Military Ombudsman in Oslo. The military ombudsman reported to the U.S. that the resistance movement had 100,000 infantry weapons and some grenade launchers. The movement would be ready for action with three weeks' notice. Neither party promised support to the Finns.[25]