Old Möhkö Village Thoroughfare

The village road as it is today.

One kilometer of wartime road in its original condition.

The village of Möhkö is bisected by the Koitajoki River. The retreating 11th Independent Battalion set nearly all buildings on the northeastern side of the river ablaze during the first days of the Winter War in early December 1939 to deny the enemy billeting and supply facilities.

A section of road and houses to the southwest of the river bridge remains in its pre-war condition. Most of the buildings on this old thoroughfare, called Möhkönraitti, were built before the Winter War, and the quarter conveys an authentic atmosphere redolent of military history.

The commander of the 11th Independent Battalion, Major Vilho Nikoskelainen, had his headquarters in Möhkönraitti 8 until the defenders began the retreat.

A two-volume guide on marching routes into Finland was printed in Moscow in 1939, sponsored by the 5th Directorate of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army to support the upcoming invasion. The initial section of route no. 7 connects Liusvaara to Ilomantsi. Möhkönraitti remains the best-preserved part of the 442-kilometer-long route, which extended all the way to Jyväskylä in Central Finland.

Because the Russians’ advance in the Winter War came to a halt at Taivallampi, the Red Army could make use of only 70 kilometers of the described route.