Finnish Army Soldiers Personal Items plus Finnish bayonets and puukko knives

Binoculars & Flare Pistols Russian Field Glasses...SA stamped. WWI German and French flare pistols sold to Finland prior to WWII. Artillery compass, army compass, and leather document case	Medals & Dog Tags Winter War medals with certificate. The dog tags are Winter War and Continuation War style. The smaller ring in the middle of the picture has SS markings and is a trench art ring.	Rifle Cleaning Kits Various cleaning kits for m27 and later rifles. Usually having a cloth case, oil bottle, jag, brush, muzzle guard. Some kits had the small screw driver and pull through cleaning rope.	Letters & Postcards Soldier's passbooks, blue cover, letters and postcards from soldiers to their families. The stamps are all the issues from the war, as well as the coins. Pictures tell the story of life on the front line.
Manual describes actions to be taken during an air raid. The armband is for an air raid warden. Russian and French binoculars that were actually used in the Finnish army during the war.	Items carried by a Lotta Svard includes her purse, manuals, personal puukko knife, pen and paper, ration coupons, clothes pins, magazines.	Items carried by a soldier in the field might include his shaving blade, puukko knife, pen and paper, soldier's manual, his passbook, watch, cigarettes, lighter, a novel, letters from home, a deck of cards, eating utensils, and his dogtags.	Various books and manuals include bibles (in Finnish and Swedish), soldier's manuals, officer manuals, books on operating machine guns and mortars, rifle training, and various field exercises.
In the process of adding translations for these book titles. Check back Feb. 21.
Finnish Mauser C96 or Broomhandle pistol, also known as the UkkoMauser. This particular pistol served a Finnish soldier during the War for Independence as well as WWII. These were known as "Ukko Mauser" aka "Old man Mauser") while much smaller Mauser M/1914 was known as "Akka Mauser" ("Old Woman Mauser"). - Jarkko Vihavainen of the Jaeger Platoon Website.	After the Independence War these pistols went to the Civil Guard as they were not accepted as issue pistols by the Army. There might have been some officers that made use of these (as this was not all that uncommon – to see an officer with his own personal pistol) but again this was not official by any means.	In the 1939-40 and 1941-45 time frame these again showed up in service many times as the personal weapon or sidearm of officers. Others ended up back in Army stocks and were homefront issue in most cases. There were 600 or so of these in Finnish stocks in the late 1960’s when they were surplused.	Note – It is hard to tell total numbers as many of these would have been personal pistols so never would have ended up in official Finnish stocks (meaning no SA marking and no record in official Army paperwork). - Brent Snodgrass - Gunboards.com
Various Knives M39 bayonets flank the 28/30 and m27 bayonets. The middle 4 knives are puukko knives. The long thin bayonet is made by Remington Arms for the m91 rifle and is SA stamped. The 2 knives on the right are army kitchen knives.	Examples of Finnish bayonets. From the top down: Finnish m27, m35, m28, and 28/30. The 28/30 is marked Sk.Y and the leather holster or "frog" is also stamped Sk.Y. Examples of Russian bayonets captured and carried by Finn soldiers. M91 and 91/30. The top bayo is SA stamped.	These are French Gras bayonets from the late 1870s that were found abandoned in the forests in Finland. The bottom bayonet shows some modifications. The soldier who carried this long sword-bayo cut the guard down to a nub. The top bayo was in its' scabbard and stuck into the ground. Only the end of the bayo and scabbard got rusty.	Puukko knife with aluminum sheath. The knife is rather rusty from spending years stored in the sheath. The sheath is probably made from skin of downed aircraft. This sheath has the date 1940 along with the battles that the soldier fought in - Maisio, Summa, and Viipuri.
Examples of Japanese bayonets found in the Finnish forests after the war. The Finns imported Japanese Arisaka rifles before the war and later sold and traded them to other countries. The bayonets remained and were used. These bayonets were abandoned in Finnish forests during the war. It is obvious that the bayonets saw use.	These 2 Japanese bayonet handles were modified by the Finnish soldiers that carried them. The top bayonet has new birch handles to replace the original Japanese wood. The bottom bayonet lost it's handles and they were replaced by cloth tape. Japanese rifles were used by Civil Guard (and also marked with their stamps) but most of them were sold abroad or to civilian markets in the 1920's and 1930's.	Other types of bayonets carried by Finnish soldiers include this early Russian SVT40 bayo, an Italian folder, a Finnish m39 and, at the bottom, a well worn m35 Fiskars bayonet. The Finns imported a number of Italian rifles in 1940 with some bayonets. The Russian SVT bayonets were mainly captured during the Continuation war. The SVT38 and SVT40 rifles were favorites of the Finnish Soldiers.	Various puukko knives show the individuality of the Finnish soldiers that carried them. All the knives have decorations, carvings, or names etched into them. The top left knife was made by a Finnish soldier who served in the SS Viking division on the eastern front in 1942. It is dated, signed, and has the etched design of a Viking ship on the pommel along with the SS runes.
Examples of Finnish m16 and m17 helmets. The helmet on the left shows the addition of post-war rivets to hold the newly replaced liner. The helmet on the right is original from the war.	The helmet on the left shows the liner that was replaced post-war. It has the same Finnish style padding but with the newer leather band. The helmet on the right has the original steel band that was in the helmet when it was originally used by the German Army during WWI.	E-Tool Shovels The shovels may have had holes drilled in the upper corner to make it easier to attach the shovel to the backpack with a hook. Sometimes, there were no leather carrying cases.	Rifle Oil Bottles & Tins Different styles of oil bottles and grease cans used from the 1920's thru 1945. The muzzle caps fit the m91, m24, m28, and m39 Mosin Nagant rifles.
Examples of cameras carried by Finnish soldiers during the war. The camera on the left is a "Singlo" and the camera on the right is an Agfa "ISOLETTE II" stamped "made in Germany". Cameras were expensive but it is amazing how many soldiers carried them and used them. This website has hundreds of photos taken by Finnish soldiers during the war.	Examples of Finnish holsters. The left holster is stamped SA on the top flap. The right holster, for a luger, is Finnish made in Oulu and has a luger clip still in it.	Pipes & Tobacco 2 Turkish tobacco with Finnish wartime packages. The rolling papers below have the Nazi tax stamp. The middle boxes are cardboard and wood cigarette boxes with cigs. The lighters are wartime Finnish and Russian. The matches are wartime German. There are 2 packages of soap on lower left, and 2 packages of wartime coffee.	Y-Straps & Belts SA and pre-war issued Y-Straps followed by belt and buckles. The hooks on lower left attached to the belt for hanging gear. These are Continuation War time frame. The leather straps on bottom were used for attaching external gear to the back pack.
Shaving Kit The brushes are wartime boot, uniform, and tooth brushes. The shaving kit is an officers kit with Gillette and Finnish blades. Swedish wartime razors. Estonian made glasses in wartime case. In the lower right are sewing needles and thread originally given to the German Army.	Most of the Finnish razors were made in England, Germany or Sweden. The blade on the right with the white plastic handles was made in Sweden. The leather "strop" used for sharpening the razors is made in Finland. On the far left is an original package of toilet paper from the war.	Finnish Field phones used during the Winter War and later. The phone on the left is made by Ericson in Sweden and is marked for use on Finnish trains. The phone on the right is made in Estonia in 1939 and has Finnish markings.	Finnish SA stamped ammo box for the maxim machine gun. Inside the box is a 250 round oily belt ready for ammo.