Finnish Cavalry

[Ari Vaisanen]

In response to Pat's question, yes, finnish cavarly first used captured russian horses, saddles
and so on. Soon after Civil War finnish army ordered equipment
from several finnish manufacturers.

We are just opening new cavalry museum here in Ypaja, first
exhibition will be finnish cavalry equipment from 1918 to late 30´s.
I will send you as soon as possible url-address, so you can get all
information you need.


I enclose some pictures of our horses, those finnish horses ( Hiku
and Vertti ) are equipped with service saddles in preWinter War
configuration ( with sabre carrier ). Nicos, the half-bred, is equipped
with service saddle in 1940 configuration ( without sabre carrier ).

[Sam Cox]

Great photos
I cant wait for the link
Will there be an English language version of the site?
later

Sam Cox

Edited by - Sam Cox on 04/10/2002 00:19:40

[Pat Holscher]

They are great photos.

Interesting crown brand in the top photo. Is that a private brand?

Also, why has the horse in the bottom photo been clipped in that particular pattern?

Pat

[Joseph Sullivan]

WOnderful pictures of interesting horses and equipment. I also like the house and forest. What breed are the horses?

Off topic, but once in Sweden, our hosts gave us a desert that was called currants with chinuski sauce or something like that. Obviously I can't spell it, but it was very good, and said to be from Finland. Do you know of it?

Joe

[Ari Vaisanen]

Those finnish horses ( Finnish Universal Horse )are clipped that way because of cold winters and warm riding halls. Horses build up heavy coating during winter and they would sweat a lot without clipping when they are trained hard in warm hall.
That crown brand ( crown and wave ) means the horse is from Danmark.
That dessert is really unknown to me, probably swedish. Well, I´m not a heavy-duty-chef.
Our url-address is http://www.hevosopisto.fi but there is nothing about cavalry items yet.

[Ari Vaisanen]

The mobility of finnish army was mainly based on horse during Winter War and Continuition War ( starting summer 1941 ).
There was only 4000 horses in army payrolls in late 1939, so 61.000 horses was called to armyservice.
For example, the "manpower" of each field artillery regiment was:
- 2300 soldier and officer
- 1300 horses
- 1 motorcycle
- 5 passanger cars
7000 horses was lost during Winter War, 4000 of them under enemy fire.

[Pat Holscher]

Ari, thanks.

These simple figures say volumes about the continued importance of the horse in WWII, at least in some armies. These figures show that there was nearly one horse for every two soldiers in artillery units, quite a number.

Also, I?m surprised the loss of horses was this low. Not that the number is inconsequential, but I would have expected higher a number. German losses were appalling. I wonder if this isn't another example of superior Finnish preparedness, in comparison to the Germans, for the conditions inherent in far northern combat. Finnish cold weather losses were much lower than the Germans for that reason.

Did the Finns field cavalry during the war? The Russians and Germans both ended up using significant cavalry formations during WWII, and I wonder if the Finns did the same. The mental image of the Finnish soldier during the war (or three wars, from the Finnish prospective) is normally of the ski troop. And, unique to some extent in WWII, the Finns had hardly any armor. Other than the use of horses for support, did mounted men figure in combat formations?


Pat

[Santee]

Greeting to my neighbor to the north east.
Nice shots, are the saddles Finnish or Swedish made.
I'm missing the back saddle bags on my Swedish army saddle.
Your right the crown is Danish, the horse comes from the Danish Royal Stables.
We don't brand horses here in Sweden, but is quit commen in Europe, Russia and countrys around the Baltic.

Finland fought a hard fight with the Russians during WWII, Stalin sent 3! divisions in, only one got out and they were in poor shape.
Finland is one of the unsung heros of WWII. Russia would have taken Sweden if it hadn't been for the Finns.
Sweden may have been nutral durring the war, but many Swed's volinered and fought in the Finish Army of Mannerhiem.
Just a little history that I picked up.
Mark

[Pat Holscher]

Ari also provided these photos of a Finnish field kitchen, very interesting photo. It makes a person recall how many different horse drawn vehicles there were in military use, quite a variety.

I've also included the text he sent with the photos:

Here enclosed is couple of pictures about finnish field kitchen
model 1927. I think it is more or less based on german WW1-
period field kitchen.
We restored it 2 years ago from 2 wrecks that was lying around. It
is fully working, we can make 200 litres soup and 2*20 litres of
coffee with it, on one go.

Pat

[John M Φ]

Nice, interesting pictures..useful information.
As an observation, the design of the saddles..as far can be seen from the photos..could well be a copy of the "U.S.M1912 seat and the British P1902 frame".. there certainl appears to be a similarity. I assume the saddles have spoons, similar to the M1912 and P1902?.
John.M.

John D Morgan

[Joseph Sullivan]

Ari and all -- thought you might like this shot of a US field kitchen in action iin the 1st World War

Joe

[Pat Holscher]

Ari and all -- thought you might like this shot of a US field kitchen in action iin the 1st World War

Neat photo. I like the image of the teamster armed with the 03, says a bit.

Pat

[Tom Muller]

Interesting to note that the Finnish Cavalry used Haflingers as Cav. mounts, not only as pack animals.

Tom

[Jim Bewley]

Also, why has the horse in the bottom photo been clipped in that particular pattern?

Pat

That looks like a version of what is called a "trace clip". I actually clip my hunter in much the same fashion. It is not the triditional trace, but works well for my horse. Very nice pictures.

Jim

[Pat Holscher]

Finnish cavalryman:

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f? ... 160f48d8ca

[Pat Holscher]

It occurs to me that I've never heard of the Soviets using cavalry in the Winter War. Given as the Soviets used a lot of cavalry in World War Two, including during the winter months, I wonder if this is an omission or if it reflects something else.

Of course, the something else it might reflect is the lack of my knowledge ion the Winter War.

Did the Soviets use any cavalry during the Winter War?

[Pat Holscher]

I see the old image links on this thread are broken, darn it. I'll have to see if I can find the photos and reload them. The links to outside sites still work, however.

[jan]

I saved some of these photos, here they are,



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



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[Pat Holscher]

I saved some of these photos, here they are,



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us





Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Thanks Jan!

By off chance, did you save a copy of the Finnish rolling kitchen?

[Pat Holscher]

Thanks again Jan, I've restored the original photos uploads via your saved copies.