Anti-Tank Barrier Built with Granite 1940

The Salpa Anti-Tank Defensive line started in 1940 was enormous effort to stop Soviet tanks invading Finland. Anti-tank guns were not widely available in 1939, the were relatively new technology from Germany in 1940-41. Gray Nordic granite was cut into rectangle shape oblong blocks, and sunk deep into the ground standing up. The Anti-tank physical barrier using mined granite, restricted the Soviet invasion to roam freely across the Finland borders in the worst case scenario. The Salpa defensive line was far inland, out of reach of the Soviet heavy artillery. From the Gulf of Finland to the Arctic Sea defense line, at least in theory, was 1200 kilometers long.

There were four lines of defense prepared to defend Finland in 1944 against the Soviet invasion.
1. Main front line
2. V-T line
3. V-K-T LINE
4. Salpa Line

1939 Nazi German–Soviet Pact of Aggression

During the 1939 Soviet War against Peace, there were two defensive lines to block the Soviets from invasion.
1. Main Defense-Line
2. Mannerheim -Defense LIne

The Mannerheim Defense Line

“The Mannerheim Line was a defensive fortification line on the Karelian Isthmus built by Finland against the Soviet Union. During the Winter War, it became known as the Mannerheim Line, after Field Marshal Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. The line was constructed in two phases: 1920–1924 and 1932–1939. By November 1939, when the Winter War began, the line was by no means complete.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannerheim_Line

Strategic Defense Line Against Aggression 1940

The Commander-in-chief of Finland 1940 Military Baron Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, ordered Edvard F Hanell as the head of the new Eastern border fortification, at the end of March 1940. He worked during the Winter War at the headquarters as a pioneer commander for the defense constructions. Hanell was Jager officer, pioneer, engineer, and concrete expert. He studied in France for his Education.
The practical planners of the fortress would be armed defense groups of the military. The underlying idea was that the forces that design and build it would possibly be fighting in their own fortification. Thus, providing motivation at all stages as a most efficient result.
The main principle was to build a fortress roughly far enough from the border out of reach of the enemy’s guns. In most part, it was built out of reach of the Soviet high caliber guns, with the only exception of the southernmost part along the Gulf of Finland. The eastern Salpa -line fortress plan under Hanelli was approved on 11 May 1940.

Salpa Line Defensive

“The construction of the Salpa Line began at the end of the Winter War in 1940. At first, volunteers worked there—then people ineligible for the war service were mobilized. The maximum number of workers, on-site was near 35 000 in the spring of 1941. The Salpa-Line stretches northwards from the Gulf of Finland to the Barents sea, 1200 kilometer distance.”

“They built 728 various concrete installations along the defensive line, 315 km of wire obstacles, 225 km of anti-tank obstacles, 130 km of anti-tank ditches, more than 3000 entrenchments, 254 concrete infantry shelters, trenches, rifleman’s cells and dugouts composed the power and strength of this defensive line.”

“Numerous lakes, marshes, and small rocks were also incorporated in the defensive line. For example, the Lake Saimaa area is a labyrinth of lakes of varying sizes, islands, straits and rivers, making the area very easy to defend. 90% of all the concrete installations of the Salpa-Line were on the line between the Gulf of Finland and the Lake Saimaa waterway system.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salpa_Line

VKT Defense Line

“The VKT-line or Viipuri–Kuparsaari–Taipale line was a Finnish defensive line on Karelian Isthmus during the Continuation War, spanning from Viipuri (Vyborg) through Tali and Kuparsaari along the northern shore of Vuoksi River, Suvanto and Taipaleenjoki to Taipale on the western shore of Lake Ladoga, using natural benefits of the eastern part of the destroyed Mannerheim Line.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VKT-line

VT-Defense Line

The VT-line or Vammelsuu–Taipale line was a Finnish defensive line on the Karelian Isthmus built in 1942–1944 during the Continuation War and running from Vammelsuu on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland through Kuuterselkä and Kivennapa and along Taipaleenjoki to Taipale on the western shore of Lake Ladoga.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT-line

Salpa-Line Defense

“The construction of the Salpa Defense Line was an enormous effort for war-torn Finland in the 1940s, which Edvard Hanell, head of the fortification itself, described as a show of strength from the entire Finnish engineering team.”

“In the fortification work, a number of different mining and concrete construction techniques were developed, which have since become useful in peace-building work. In the construction of the Salpalline, the latest technologies in the field were combined with the experiences gained during the Winter War, creating a united effort for the defense of Finland by optimizing the natural terrain for defense against the Soviet aggression. ”

“The combined effort uniting the workforce for the fortification line over 1200 kilometers is impressive: a total of 728 different types of reinforced concrete bunkers, gun bill boxes, and gun pits, and underground wood reinforced tunnels were built in Salpalinja; more than 3,000 underground accommodation facilities, about 315 kilometers of tank blocking obstacles cut out of grey granite, 315 kilometers of barbed wire obstacles, 130 kilometers of anti-tank trenches and 350 kilometers of connecting trenches for fighting.
In the battles of the summer of 1944, among Finnish soldiers, the Salpa-line was seen as a last resort, against the worse scenario of the Soviet breaking through the other three defense lines across the Karelian Isthmus.”

“Salpa defense line was the Last defense line, which was said to have formed the military backbone of the Army in the fight against the summer of 1944. The soldiers knew that Salpalinja was far behind their backs there was the most substantial ground defense line ever built in Finland by the defense engineers, which would allow the troops to delay fighting and draw back further while concentrating on the changing situations of the defensive, even when the front was broken.”

“During the Second World War, the Finnish army proved highly capable of defending its country for a time, even with limited preparation for a major war that nobody believed would come against none threatening Finland. Undoubtedly, the Salpa-line would also have been a tough obstacle for the Soviet to defeat, which would have created even a greater military concentration by the Soviets, and increased their own casualties many times over.
This was also known in the Soviet Union. It was not possible to circumvent the Salpa-line, and after the massive battles of the 1944 early summer months, there was less willingness to try, in the high probability of significant casualties, to attempt to break the Salpalinja.”

“The Soviet leadership had noticed that the Finns’ defense was not easily broken with even overwhelming numbers of foot soldiers and armory. The Soviet troops along the Finnish front were decided to conserve and send to more priority missions, to strike Germany in Central Europe. That decision indeed saved a large number of lives on both sides”.

Source: The Nemesis Book by Victor Leinonen 2018.