Military clothing situation during Winter War

Before World War 2 Finnish Armed Forces never got the appropriations that would have been needed to create a stockpile of military uniforms, boots, helmets etc. that would have been needed for properly equipping its soldiers in mobilization. Early on even equipping conscripts of peacetime Armed Forces undergoing their military training before being transferred to reserves proved problematic. It took well into 1920’s until conscripts could be properly equipped and the financial resources provided for the matter never reached the level that would have been needed to reserve necessary clothing materials for substantially larger wartime Armed Forces. Financial calculations made in 1920’s suggested that about 320 million Finnish Marks would have been needed for properly clothing fully mobilized wartime troops, but by year 1924 only about 10 million had been allocated for the purpose. While the financial situation improved in late 1920’s and 1930’s, at the same time the size of wartime Finnish Armed Forces also more than doubled, which may explain at least partially why the financial resources reserved for properly equipping its soldiers failed to caught up. Finnish Parliament created special committee named Military Revision (Sotilasrevisio) that worked in 1923 – 1926 to "Study existing defense arrangement and make suggestions for improving it". The committee came up with Basic Acquisitions Program (Perushankintaohjelma) intended to fix the most serious shortcomings of military equipment with acquisitions that were to happen with-in timeframe of 1927 – 1935. Among other things the Basic Acquisitions Program included military clothing and essential items of military kit for Field Army of 275,000 men, which would have required sum of 270 million Finnish Marks. But ultimately total appropriations provided for the matter (to be used by year 1942) were only 50 million and from those only about 10 million were spent in acquisitions by year 1939.

PICTURE: Fabric cutting hall of State Uniform Factory (Valtion Pukutehdas. This factory established in year 1922 and commonly referred with its abbreviation VPU was the de facto the sole Finnish manufacturer of military uniforms before (SA-kuva.fi archive, photo number 40386). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (136 KB).

But the appropriations were not the only problem – also the production capacity used for the purpose was much too small. The only large-scale uniform manufacturer to which all the orders were placed before the war was Armeijan Pukimo (AP) / Valtion Pukutehdas (VPU) – state-owned factory, which had been created in year 1922 for the specific purpose of manufacturing uniforms. The factory simply did not have the production capacity, which would have been needed for such a large-scale production, but the uniform production was apparently not really expanded to other manufacturers until year 1939.

So when Finnish Armed Forces were mobilized for "additional refresher exercises" (ylimääräiset harjoitukset = YH) in October of 1939 the clothing material inventory contained:

· About 190,000 military uniforms (shortage about 30 %).

· About 160,000 pairs of footwear (shortage about 70 %).

The situation was not much better with other clothing items either. For example the shortage of overcoats was about 60 % and with bread bags it was about 50 %.

PICTURE: Four Finnish soldiers photographed in Russarö coastal fort during Winter War. Due to shortage of military uniforms, Finnish military issued all kinds of uniforms that remained in its inventory. Two of the men (1^st and 3^rd from the left) appear to have Civil Guard uniform tunics m/22 and the other two are wearing coastal artillery uniform tunics m/22. Three of the soldiers have fur caps m/27, while the hat worn by soldier on the left might be civil guard field cap. All four soldiers have gas mask bags and at least three of them seem to have leather belts m/27. (SA-kuva.fi archive, photo number 1776). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (156 KB).

The clothing supply situation during Winter War (11/1939 – 3/1940) was apparently further complicated not all materials existing in inventory being of proper quality. What is known much of the uniforms being acquired by that time had been acquired in size-scale that was based on what suited for conscripts, which proved different from what would have been needed for reservists. In other words, the reservists called to fill the ranks of wartime Armed Forces on average tended to need notably larger percentage of their uniforms in larger sizes, than what had been needed for young conscripts. Another major issue discovered during mobilization was that also too large of a percentage of existing boots was in very small sizes or otherwise in poor shape.

So when Finnish military was mobilized for Winter War, even when Guardsmen of Civil Guard arrived to mobilization in their Civil Guard uniforms, Finnish Army was still forced to issue all possible uniforms (m/22 and m/27) that it had in inventory and yet was not able to equip nearly all its soldiers with uniforms. Due to shortage of military uniforms large number of Finnish soldiers went to war in their own civilian clothes, with only cockade and leather belt being provided by the Army. This combination of mixed civilian clothes combined with military cockade and possibly belt was named as uniform m/Cajander (asepuku m/Cajander) after Finnish Prime Minister A.K. Cajander (1879 – 1943), who had just few months before the war expressed in a public speech his joy for appropriations not being unnecessary wasted for military equipment, which would never be needed and would only become obsolete. While according the old proverb uniform makes a soldier and the whole idea of uniform begun as a way of identifying on which side the soldiers are, this shortage apparently cause surprisingly little problems and may have even been a sort of blessing in disguise. Finnish soldiers in general got equipped with white snow camouflage clothing, which was worn top of other clothing – so in general this snow camouflage clothing still gave them appearance of being clothed in uniform manner, no matter what they had under it. At that time Finland was still mostly a rural agrarian society and typical winter clothing used by its farmers and lumberjacks was likely actually better suited as winter combat clothing than military uniforms.

PICTURE: Even after all possible uniforms had been issued, there still were not enough of them to equip all soldiers during Winter War. Photograph showing group of soldiers that arrived as reinforcements to battlefield of Kollaa in January of 1940. Clothing of these soldiers represents what was commonly referred as "uniform m/Cajander". Notice civilian clothes, cockades in civilian hats and few ammunition bandoliers made from canvas. But while they are wearing civilian clothing, their clothing seems to be relatively well-suited for winter with various type of fur hats, wool overcoats and either leather or felt boots. (SA-kuva.fi archive, photo number 3997). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (156 KB).

In an attempt to fix the uniform shortage Finnish textile- and clothing-industries were placed on wartime footing during Winter War and succeeded making a lot for solving the problem. During Winter War they either manufactured or acquired about:

· 191,000 military tunics

· 349,000 pairs of pants for military uniform

· 742,000 shirts

· 824,000 pairs of underpants

· 336,000 wool sweaters

· 375,000 overcoats and fur coats

· 60,000 hats

· 209,000 fur hats

· 540,000 pairs of boots

· 140,000 backpacks

Needless to say Finnish uniform production during World War 2 obviously concentrated in manufacturing uniforms of the latest model – in other words uniform items of military uniform m/36. Although with some items such as backpacks there were less of a standard with numerous designs being issued simultaneously and them including also backpacks imported from Sweden and Norway. It is also noteworthy that Finnish uniform development work apparently stopped for duration of World War 2. One could claim that once it faced war, Finnish military preferred to fight it in already tested and proven uniforms instead of trying to develop new uniforms in middle of war.

By end of year 1939 Finnish industry mobilized in manufacturing of military clothing included:

• 45 factories that manufactured uniforms.
• 40 factories that manufactured underwear.
• 31 factories that manufactured snow camouflage clothing.
• 7 wool factories and 28 weaving mills that manufactured wool blankets.
• Some 53 – 58 factories that manufactured footwear.

While the factories were busy manufacturing boots, uniforms, shirts and hats women at home front organized a knitting operation of massive scale to produce other warm accessory clothing necessary for winter warfare, manufacturing knitted wool items such socks, mittens, scarves and tube scarves.

 

 

Manufacturing and imports of military uniform items during Continuation War:

By the time Continuation War started in June of 1941 the major shortages of military uniforms suffered during Winter War were just about fixed, although some items of military clothing were still not available in adequate numbers. Hence when Finnish Armed Forces was mobilized for Continuation War at least all soldiers could be supplied with most items of military kit – including either tunic m/36 or summer tunic m/36. The most remaining shortages of military clothing items, which were still in short supply, were shirts (shortage 25 %), pants (shortage 20 %), wool sweaters (shortage 15 %) and military footwear (shortage 10 %). Percentage-wise the most serious shortage was with fur hats, from which about 60 % were still missing from inventory, but since the war started in June, fortunately there was no immediate need for winter hats.

But once first winter of the war started to approach, further needs started to surface, since soldiers needed to be equipped for it. The major supply problem in this was that while apparently summer tunic m/36 (made from cotton) had been originally considered adequate also for winter use (presumably when used with wool sweater and overcoat), later this changed, creating need to to provide uniform tunic m/36 (made from wool) for each soldier. Needless to say there just were nowhere enough tunics m/36 for equipping the whole army. Apparently much of the tunic manufacturing in 1940 - 1941 had been for summer tunic m/36, so the number of tunics m/36 needed by arrival of winter proved far too large for production capacity of Finnish industry. The quick fix was to buy from Germany 100,000 German Army (Heer) uniform kits composed to tunic and trousers, which were all delivered by spring of 1942. These German uniform kits seem to have been Heeres Dienstanzug Modell 1936 tunic production variations nowadays referred as M40 and M41. Before issuing of these uniforms to Finnish soldiers they were marked with Finnish Army ink stamps and their original buttons were replaced with standard issue Finnish Army buttons (with lion emblem from Finnish coat of arms). Another acquisitions that Finnish military made from Germany in year 1941 for solving the uniform item shortage was order of 300,000 sets of underwear and 20,000 greatcoats. Once these orders had been delivered Finnish Army had finally succeeded solving its most most pressing clothing supply problems, although there were yet some rather serious supply problems even after that. The most serious of these was that there were not enough military boots in inventory and at the same time availability of raw materials was deteriorating. So, in year 1942 Finnish military bought almost 100,000 pairs of standard issue German Army leather jackboots (marschstiefel) from Germany along 300 tons of sole leather, which was needed for Finnish manufacturers. After these acquisitions Finnish industry was pretty much able to keep up with the demand and supply the military, even though there still were not enough fur hats m/36 for equipping all troops until year 1943 and manufacturing of boots suffered from poor availability of leather rest of the war. Year 1944 Finnish military still ordered 50,000 pairs of leather jackboots from Germany, in this case there is no certainty if the order was delivered – by that time Germany was also suffering such a leather shortage that it forced them to shift into issuing ankle boots (schurschuhe) in massive numbers.

PICTURE: Fabric storage of Finnish Army Clothing Depot (Vaatetusvarikko) in May of 1942. While there is a lot of fabric in those piles, there were several hundred thousand men to equip. (SA-kuva.fi archive, photo number 87107). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (120 KB).

During Continuation War (6/1941 – 9/1944) Finnish industry succeeded manufacturing about 675,000 tunics and summer tunics m/36, although also this production suffered from availability of raw materials, since both wool and cotton were in short supply. Before World War 2 Finnish uniforms in general had been manufactured from good quality materials and even during Winter War Finland still succeeded acquiring high quality wool for military uniforms m/36. But once imports dried up due to the war, this changed. Finland obviously had no production of cotton and before the war most of wool needed by industry had been imported as well, since Finnish wool production was far too small even for the wartime military needs. Hence getting either of those fabrics proved ever increasingly difficult during the war. Due to these material shortages Finnish industry was forced to replace wool and cotton in manufacturing of fabrics in large extent with recycled rags and synthetic fibers. Due to poorer quality of fabrics used for manufacturing, quality of uniforms deteriorated during Continuation War. In the large extent the shift into using mix containing recycled rags and synthetic fibers in fabrics used for manufacturing uniforms seems to have happened already in 1941 – 1942. The synthetic fiber mostly used in fabric manufacturing at the time was viscose, which was manufactured by Finnish companies Kuitu Oy and Säteri Oy, but also imported from Germany during the war. The Finnish trade names used for viscose during the war were silla and säteri. While fabrics used for making uniform items such as tunics, their pants, great coats and field caps starting year 1941 were apparently manufactured from mix of wool, rags and viscose, the material used from making underwear seems to have moved straight from cotton to viscose. Even when viscose proved to be real lifesaver for clothing production of Finnish military during World War 2, it had certain problems. For one thing viscose is not as warm as wool so one must wonder how warm uniforms whose fabric was most viscose really were, but viscose is also notably more flammable than wool and wartime sources suggest that fabric with high viscose content would easily stretch making clothes baggy. The basic observation made from few wartime uniform items made with such substitute materials suggests that the cloth appears to be less uniform in appearance and its color appears to be somewhat lighter and patchy compared to fabric of pre-war m/36 uniforms. Another thing that Finnish military tried for material shortages was recycling, in which clothing items that were too worn out or damaged for repair, were recycled as materials for manufacturing. During Continuation War the recycling proved quite effective – particularly so with leather goods.

 

Soldier’s experiences:

After Winter War Finnish military gathered feedback from its soldiers about equipment, which they had been using during the war. Among other things the feedback revealed following observations:

· Soldiers requested number of flannel foot rags (which Finnish soldiers commonly used in their boots. Wool socks were also used by in more limited supply) issued to be increased from two pairs to three pairs for each soldier.

· Wool neck toque / tube scarf worn under helmet and wool underpants were requested to be added as official part of soldier’s kit. During the war neither had been standard issue items, although soldiers had presumably often brought wool underpants of their own and neck toques had been delivered to them from the homefront in unknown numbers.

· Soldiers considered Laplander boots to be the best type of winter boots, with either pair of leather jackboots or felt boots being requested as secondary pair of boots be issued along them.

· Greatcoat was considered to be too long. While shorter version of greatcoat m/36 was not issued until after World War 2, some soldiers apparently had shortened their existing greatcoats already during the war – presumably at their own peril.

· Soldiers considered German (World War 1 era) helmets to be the best helmet design of the steel helmets used by Finnish military at that time. Although it is worth noting that there were not yet that many other helmet designs in Finnish use during Winter War, so they did not have that many other helmet designs to compare it against at that time.

The opinions voiced by soldiers during World War 2 and after it also indicated several problem points with the uniform items issued to them. While military uniform m/36 had been designed to be closer fitted than military uniform m/22, its fit still was not loose enough to allow soldier to wear several kits of underwear simultaneously with his normal underwear and wool sweater (as often necessary due to exceedingly cold winter in year 1940). Another problematic uniform item was greatcoat, wearing of which tended to reduce soldier's mobility due. Not only did greatcoat hinder movement, but it also proved to be too heavy (on average 3 kg when dry and about 4 – 6 kg when wet) and practically impossible to dry in field conditions. At the same time greatcoat proved to be warm in winter conditions and was essential part of kit when troops were sleeping in tents. Knee area proved to be the weak point of all uniform trouser designs in use. All uniform trousers had only a single layer of fabric in knees and their knees were not reinforced in other way either, in addition to which they had been made from wool, which was probably factor in this durability issue. Jackboot-type leather boots, that were the standard issue military boots of that time, also proved quite problematic. Laplander boots proved to be far more popular boot design among frontline troops, although they were never as widely available as standard issue jackboot-type boots. More specifically ungreased Laplander boots proved be the warmest winter boots and when greased they proved be more waterproof than standard issue leather boots. As an important bonus Laplander boots worked well with standard issue ski bindings. But Laplander boots also had their own share of issues. They were slower and more expensive to manufacture because they had to be partially stitched by hand and due to their leather being typically vegetable tanned instead of chrome tanned (like latest jackboot-type service boots) notably more sensitive to damage if dried next to fire.

PICTURE: Group of Finnish soldiers photographed near Salkovaara in August of 1942. Notice that several soldiers have pants with broken knees. Original photo caption translates as "war in the wilderness wears out clothing". It might be worth noting that photos of SA-kuva.fi rarely show worn out uniforms and that is likely intentional, since they were mainly photographed by TK-companies, whose main job was making propaganda. (SA-kuva.fi archive, photo number 104477). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (164 KB).

Generally speaking the standard kit of equipment issued to Finnish soldiers during World War 2 was rather poorly suited carrying the equipment issued to them, although it must be admitted that Finnish Army certainly was not alone in this regard. During World War 2 leather belt m/30 (nahkavyö m/30) became the standard belt type for Finnish Army. While the belt on itself apparently had no major issues, there were normally no Y-strap harness available for it and still Finnish soldiers often ended up loading a lot of stuff on their belt. Before the war the standard load that Finnish soldiers had placed on their belts did not contain much else than ammunition pouches and rifle bayonet - which apparently did not yet really cause real issues. But the during the war problems seem to have surfaced because soldiers were issued a whole lot of items, for which they really did not have carrying equipment. With things like sub machinegun magazines and stick hand grenades placed hanging from the belt the combined total weight of kit connected to the belt could reach up to 6 – 7 kilograms (13.3 - 15.5 pounds), which was just too much. Without Y-strap harness to support it, the belt was unable to support such weight and could start slipping downwards.

 

Snow camouflage clothing:

Finnish White Army had already used snow camouflage clothing in some extent during Civil War in year 1918. It is most likely that the inspiration for equipping soldiers with white snow camouflage at that time originated from snow camouflage clothing that had been issued to ski unit created from Finnish volunteers of Royal Prussian Jaeger Battalion 27 for battle of Aa-River in January of 1917. But it is also possible that home-made snow camouflage clothing used by Finnish hunters for hunting seals on ice may have also provided inspiration. What is known Finnish military never issued snow camouflage clothing in large scale before World War 2, but was familiar with the concept with development work being done already before the war.

During Winter War white snow camouflage clothing was produced in massive numbers at home front in numerous variations. While snow camouflage was issued in very large scale during Winter War, especially early on the need surpassed supply, so sometimes the troops had be pro-active and improvise with whatever materials they could find. The most typical fabrics used for snow camouflage clothing seem to have been cotton and linen, but if those were not available, also other suitable white-colored fabric could be used. As mentioned normally fabric color was white without any sort of camouflage pattern. Finnish-issued now camouflage clothing was also normally white thin, since it was intended to be worn on top of all other clothing. The most common snow camouflage clothing used by Finnish Army during World War 2 was snow camouflage suit m/27 (lumipuku m/27), which was a suit of loose fitting hooded jacket and pants and proved to be exceptionally successful design. Snow camouflage capes of various type seem to have been quite popular among self-made improvised designs – quite probably due to being much easier for soldiers to make than proper snow camouflage suits.

During Winter War snow camouflage clothing proved also useful in that sense, that when Finnish Army was unable to provide sizable part of its soldiers with military uniforms, the snow camouflage suit covered civilian clothes, making soldiers appearance more uniform and allowing easier identification of friend or foe.

PICTURE: Soldier in snow camo suit m/27 and skis. Hood of the camo suit jacket hides steel helmet under it. Weapon is Suomi m/31 submachine gun. Visible are also tube scarf and leather belt m/30 with 70-round drum magazine and puukko-knife. Photo taken in Infantry Museum (Jalkaväkimuseo), Mikkeli. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (126 KB).

 

Use of captured Soviet clothing materials:

While use of captured Soviet military clothing obviously increased the risk of becoming victim of friendly fire incident, Finnish soldiers seem to have still commonly taken certain items from captured Soviet kit to their own use. Probably the most common of these items was Soviet shelter-half (plash palatka), which apparently enjoyed considerable popularity among Finnish soldiers due to fact that Finnish Army did not issue shelter-halves to its soldiers in large-scale, nor did it issue any raingear of any sort either. Soviet shelter half was rather useful item for Finnish soldiers, since it could be used as rain cape or as somewhat water proof top layer for rolled greatcoat or wool blanket or for making improvised short-term shelter. Some Finnish units were issued with shelter halfs, presumably because the role they were intended to perform demanded it, but this seems to have been rare. Photographic evidence also suggests that apparently some rare Finnish units (mainly long range recon, which as special forces had a priority status for getting supplies and were able to acquire non- standard equipment) had some German zeltbahn M31 shelter quarters in its use during Continuation War.

PICTURE: Finnish soldiers with captured Soviet plash palatka shelter-halves / rain capes somewhere out there during Continuation War. (Photo part of Jaeger Platoon Website photo collection). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (145 KB).

Another Soviet item commonly that was apparently quite often taken to own use were boots and this included not only jackboot-type leather boots (sapogi), but also felt boots (valenki), which regardless of being highly suited for sub-zero weather and rather popular among Finnish soldiers were not issued by Finnish Army.

In addition some other items belonging to Soviet kit, such as Soviet officer’s belts occasionally appear in use of Finnish officers in wartime photos, but it is difficult to say if they were used as replacement for officer’s leather belt m/27, or were worn as status symbols of some sort.

 

"Military elegance"

For all practical purposes during the Continuation War straight pants practically replaced breeches, becoming not only the standard type for enlisted men and non-commissioned officers, but also as the type of trousers commonly used by officers. But otherwise breeches seem to have still held some status as trousers of higher status, which both soldiers on home leave and soldiers stationed in home front often tried to obtain. Other than that the frontline troops had very little opportunity to be picky about the uniform items issued to them, since the hard wartime use of years long deteriorated the soldier’s uniform to such level, that they were no longer exactly looking crisp or handsome. But with a large percentage of male population serving in military, when the soldiers rarely got the possibility to visit the home front, they typically wanted to look at their best. In addition it clearly was not in the best interests of the military to show civilian population in which kind of shape the soldiers uniforms actually often were. As a solution for this problem during trench war period (roughly 1/1942 – 5/1944) clothing storages (varusvarasto) were established to practically all military units to not only allow soldiers to easily replace broken items of their military kit, but also when needed to provide soldiers going to home leave a nice looking uniform. The standard operation procedure was to store clothing comparable to 10 % of the clothing items issued to the particular unit to its clothing store.

Finnish military had certain uniform items, which could only be obtained privately – in other word they were not normally issued, but soldiers wanting them could privately purchase such items if they succeeded finding manufacturer or seller and were willing to buy the item with their own money. Often these items were originally intended for more select group of soldiers (officers, military officials and possibly senior NCO ranks) or were no longer even in production or even no longer officially part of official uniform. But during the war many such items became available for soldiers who had the money and either/or wanted to show their status or pride of the unit in which they served. Such items included fancier officer’s boots version of jackboot-type standard issue black leather boots, summer cap m/39 and black (tank corps) version of m/22 summer cap. Probably the most high profile items among these were leather jackets, which enjoyed considerable popularity among certain troops. Wartime photos often show also civilian leather jackets of various type mainly with Air Force and tank corps. For tank corps the leather uniforms m/22 and m/36 were the uniform items that distinguished their soldiers from the other soldiers of other units already before the war, so once availability of these leather uniforms dried out, civilian leather coats and trousers apparently worked as substitute. Air Force still operated some aircraft with open cockpits and even closed cockpits had draft, hence leather jacket was practical item for pilots, but also developed in fashionable clothing item that immediately separated them from the masses of other soldiers. The very rarely seen ultimate luxury item in country suffering from leather shortage was great coat made from leather, which was apparently never officially approved as part of Finnish military uniform, but does still appear in some wartime photos.

PICTURE: In a country suffering shortage of leather any sort of leather jacket was a luxury item. Many of these fighter pilots photographed in Nurmoila Air Base in July of 1942 are wearing short civilian leather jackets. Fighter pilots enjoyed such status during the war that it would have been unlikely for them to challenged just because of uniform regulations. Four officers have Air Force version of officer's cap m/22 - notice wreath around cockade and eagle on top of it. Three men appear to have pistol holsters for 9 mm pistol m/35 (FN HP). (SA-kuva.fi archive, photo number 98608). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (161 KB).

One class of items, which apparently also enjoyed popularity with air crews and tank crews, but purely for reasons of convenience instead of looks were coveralls. Coveralls used by Finnish military during World War 2 are not known to have had model number of any sort and fall into two distinct categories - normal overalls and fur overalls. As the name suggests pilot's fur overalls (lentoturkki) was fur-lined coveralls, which for practical reasons was commonly used by Finnish air crews in wintertime, although few photos also indicate that they seem to have seen some use with tank crews. Normal coveralls seem to have been quite common for tank and assault gun crews particularly late in the war. But normal coveralls also saw use with some units of special forces category - possibly because they could be used as uniform of sort, but when spotted by the enemy did not appear like the standard Finnish uniform - leaving enemy uncertain if the soldiers they spotted were friend or fow.

PICTURE: Group of pilots photographed in front of Fokker D.XII fighter plane in Suulajärvi Air Base in January of 1941. All of the are wearing pilot's fur overalls and have parachutes strapped into them. (SA-kuva.fi archive, photo number 71382). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (133 KB).

 

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