Ilajanjoki River

Ilajanjoki memorial and information board.

Where Red Army attack was blunted in July 1944.

On the same day, the enemy sustained significant losses in an engagement 1.5 kilometers away east of the Ilajanjoki. The defenders were opposed by the Red Army’s 52nd Penal Unit, a motley collection of convicts mobilized for military service.

After receiving reinforcements during the morning of July 30, the enemy began to advance in the general direction of the road. The situation was aggravated after the Russians set the dry forest floor on fire and sent four tanks to spearhead the attack under smoke cover. Artillery shells and mortar grenades ignited localized fires.

The defenders were forced to retreat hastily toward the Ilajanjoki, often amid fiercely burning flames. But the wall of flame also hampered the pursuing enemy forces and negated some of the advantage they had wished to gain by starting the conflagration.

The events took a turn for the better when Border Jaeger Esko Kiisseli arrived with a Panzerschreck.

The Finns entrenched on the eastern bank of the river, where an anti-tank gun was already in position. The gun crew fired at the leading tanks without success. The events took a turn for the better when Border Jaeger Esko Kiisseli arrived with a Panzerschreck, a reusable shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket launcher of German design. Kiisseli, who had received a crash course on the weapon, moved to a position 100 meters east of the battle memorial and fired in quick succession three shots, all of which found their mark.

Both leading tanks were destroyed and the third was damaged. Kiisseli was then wounded. The engagement was the only action within the present-day borders of Finland where a Panzerschreck was employed, with a remarkable success.

A force over three companies strong had established a defensive line east of the river bridge but was forced to withdraw to the far bank, after which sappers blew up the bridge. Meanwhile, the enemy’s 55th Rifle Regiment began to withdraw toward Lake Niemijärvi with Finns in hot pursuit. After 24 hours, the unit crossed the present-day border and became soon encircled in the famous Vellivaara pocket.

A remarkable operation was ongoing less than two kilometers away from the bridge at Ilajanjärvi.

At the same time, a remarkable operation was ongoing less than two kilometers away from the bridge at Ilajanjärvi. The forces fighting on the other side of the six-kilometer-long lake could not be supplied quickly and effectively by land, and sappers were again called upon to help. They built a jetty at the location of the present swimming beach, brought in fast attack boats and filled them to capacity with ammunition, weapons, provisions and miscellaneous supplies. The craft then headed across the lake toward Ruukinpohja.

On return trips they carried men killed in action, laid at the bottom on the boats. On top of these traveled wounded soldiers, who were then transported from the jetty to a dressing station set up in Ukkolanvaara schoolhouse. Dead soldiers were also collected in the schoolyard. Over 700 wounded combatants were taken across the water to receive medical care.