Finland My Finnish Collection 1918-1945

[christerd]

And another Document for the winter war medal , this time to a woman ! A member of Lotta Svärd organisation . Lotta Svärd was a paramilitary organisation for woman and the members worked in Air Defence , hospitals , food cantines and and so on.

They where close to the front and many brave Lottas was killed during the war ...

This doc is in Finnish and awarded to Lotta Sirkka Kyllikki Palomäki a girl born in July 1915

included is the medal on womans bow

[christerd]

And now over to the rare Foreigners medals :

Mostly awarded to Swedish volunteers in the war , about 10 000 is said to been awarded , they are around but prices are high !

Take a good look because these are faked, often quite bad fakes but even so.

Compare with the ordinary medal on the left , the foreigner is bigger and have a totally different backside.

And keep an eye on the loop !! Most fakes I´ve seen have the ordinary medal loop instead of the different real one ...

Edited July 26, 2013 by christerd

[christerd]

And the backside of the medals

It said that they made 10 Gold medals , 7 was awarded so I suppose three are in some museum.

Of the 42 Silver ones I have seen 1 ! for sale in 20 years ..... yes it was expensive ( around 2400 Euro )

[christerd]

And the rare Medal to civilian foreigners not participating in the fighting .

I´ve seen figures that < 2000 was awarded which means that its 5 times more rare then the ordinary Foreginers medal in Iron, but

I´m not sure they are very hard to find at all , and when they surface they become stupidly expensive .

But still probably there is some of these lying around in swedish drawers to be found

This was found in a coin shop along a lot of cheap medals from all over the world ------ got lucky sometimes

[christerd]

And the back of the medal !

[christerd]

Here is a medal for approx Air civil Defence ? it have two classes and awarded during winter war it has the bar 1939-1940

this is the second bronce class

[christerd]

One of the big battles during winter war was the battle of Summa (there was also a bar for winter war medal with Summa)

A special medal was made for the battle , unusual for finnish medals these are numbered , I don´t know how many that was awarded

andt my medal have No 11040

Very nice and collactable medal

Edited July 25, 2011 by christerd

[christerd]

Backside of the Summa Cross , 1939- 1940 and number 11040

[christerd]

In 1939 the Liberty Crosses from 1918 returned , almost exactly the same but with a thicker layer of black colour on the backside.

Here is a 4th class a very nice example , almost 15 000 was awarded during the winter war .

Notice that no Germans was awarded 1939 crosses , so remember to look on the backside on medalbars assumed to be awarded to Germans.

[christerd]

And the backside , with the typical raised year 1939 for this type , later crosses of 1941 issue was usually issued with flat swords on the backside and year punched into medal . But there is early1941 medals that look just like 1939 ones and yes they are real :)

[christerd]

1939 was the birth of another award, the postume Cross of 1939 , this cross was given to next of kin of soldiers killed in action.

Of all Finnish awards this is the one which wake up most feelings , Finnland lost a lot of men and woman during the 1939/40 war.

The Cross is the same as a ordinary 4th class but the ribbon is black, awarded in one class.

[christerd]

Even the 4th Class mourning Cross was awarded with a document

Here is a doc in Swedish dated 24th Oct 1940 to the wife of Torsten Birger Eugen Bäck who was killed in action.

This doc was sent to the relatives together with another doc , that one I show next -

These docs are rather rare

[christerd]

And here is the doc in form of a letter from Field Marshal Mannerheim

The text is in Swedish and i will try to translate it into English .

" It is my heavy burden to tell you that Torsten Birger Eugen Bäck has been killed while fighting for his Country and freedom and for everything thats sacred and precious. I deeply regret your loss. May the knowledge that you have made the most precisous sacrifice for Finnland be of some comfor.

May God the mighty and merciful give your strenght "

[christerd]

Well Finnland didn´t have peace for long after the winter war ended in 1940, just a year later the 1941-44 war begun

and of course new/old awards was released. The same medals and Libert Crosses as in 1939 but with the year 1941 on the backside

Here is a document for a 1st class medal to a woman : Rouva Marjetta Anna-Liisa Hyyryläinen in 1942 , this medal is in real silver

[christerd]

The medal of Liberty from 1941 , looks just like the 1918 and 1939 except for the changed year in the back.

It would be interesting to know what the woman did to earn such an award. Possible someone from the Lotta Svärd organisation.

The difference between these real silver ones and the ordinary is that these are thinner.

There was also a version with Red cross on, just like 1918 and 1939 , these was awarded in rather few numbers and are scarce .

[christerd]

And here is the backside of the medal, you can see the small silver marks at the bottom .

[christerd]

Here is the Liberty Cross 4th class 1941 , notice that the swords are flat on the back , earlier crosses had double sided swords,

and the year are punched instead of raised. About 48 000 of these was awarded some to German soldiers .

[christerd]

And the backside where you can see the differences against the 1939 cross.

[christerd]

And here is a 3rd class Liberty Cross from 1941 , issued to Leutnants , and Captains rank usually

These where awarded approx 9000 during the war , so they are quite rare , the difference between the 4th class and the 3rd is the golden swords and gold cross .

[christerd]

The backside of the 3rd class cross , this cross was made by a different maker than the 4th cross shown earlier. notice the slightly changed punching of the year and rivets .

[christerd]

Second class medal Liberty Cross , looks just like the 1918 and 1939 . Awarded almost 240 000 times these are the most common of the Finnish awards from the 1918-1945 time.

The medal on the left is the 2nd Class Bravery for Nurses and Medics much harder to find and awarded 6849 times in 1941

The third medal is almost the same but look at the front ! Instead of For Bravery it says in Finnish and Swedish " For Country "

It is the medal for merits on the homefront and app 38 000 was awarded.

[christerd]

And just like 1939 there was a Mourning Cross in 1941 given to realtives to KIA .

Here is the 1941 version

[christerd]

Backside of Cross

[christerd]

A new award wasinstituted during th 1941-44 war , The Liberty Cross with Oakleaves

A Oakleave on the ribbon shows that the the wearer have two Cross of the same class

These oakleves comes in every class from 4th up to 1st class , 4th class was awarded 8359 times and about 50 went to Swedish soldiers fighting in the war.

This document is to Jalmar Alfons Ekman and is written in Swedish , showing that Jalmar was born in a Swedish speaking part of Finnland the award was given 22 september 1944.

[christerd]

And Cross itself with the Oakleaf on the ribbon