Oinassalmi Strait

Oinassalmi war memorial was erected in 1959.

Where enemy attack was halted in Winter War in 1939.

The Finns had blown up the bridge that crossed the swiftly flowing Koitajoki River at Möhkö. However, the Russians had made hasty repairs, and tanks that spearheaded the attack could drive across and proceed five kilometers to Oinassalmi, where the advance came to a halt.

The Finns destroyed the iron bridge at Oinassalmi on December 14.The road leading to the bridge, which had been opened to traffic only four months earlier, ascended a rocky hillside, and the Finnish gunners could easily knock out five leading tanks at a point-blank range.

The blown-up bridge had opened to traffic only a four months earlier.

Meanwhile, Task Force A had become combat-capable, and the 11th Battalion, which had delayed the enemy continuously for a week and a half, was relieved and moved from Oinassalmi to the rear to rest. Relief was short-lived as the unit was soon deployed to Taivallampi.

The Russians tried first to break into the defenders’ rear near Lake Mölkälampi to the northwest of Oinassalmi. The day was critical in terms of the overall situation, because at the same time fighting erupted around Lake Taivallampi five kilometers from Oinassalmi in the direction of Ilomantsi parish village.

The Finns managed to hold their positions in both locations, partly because fortifications had been completed at Oinassalmi just in time before the outbreak of the war. Trenches were also constructed along the crest of the ridgeline that extended toward the area of the present Petkeljärvi national park.

From these positions, the Finns provided fire support to the defenders at Oinassalmi and suppressed enemy forces that held the terrain on the other side of the narrows. The fortifications remain visible today.

By the end of the year, the situation at Oinassalmi had stabilized, although a narrow stretch of water called Kääntämänsalmi, five kilometers to the southwest, remained a potential hotspot throughout the war.

Russian mortars fired a small number of gas grenades across the water into the defenders’ positions, but without results. Slight breeze blew poisonous yellow clouds back toward the mortar crews, who were forced to abandon their positions in a hurry. This was the only confirmed occasion where prohibited poisonous gases have been used inside the present-day borders of Finland.

Oinassalmi was the only place where prohibited poisonous gases have been used inside the present-day borders of Finland.

The Russians withdrew from Oinassalmi after the end of the Winter War on March 13, 1940, as agreed in the peace talks. Work to replace the destroyed bridge with a wooden structure started early in the spring of 1940 because the road connection was essential for reconstruction work and the return of evacuees.

Yet only little more than a year passed, and troops marched once again across the bridge. The Continuation War had begun on June 25, 1941, and the Finns were deploying toward Kuolismaa to retake those areas of Ilomantsi that had been lost in the Winter War.

A memorial was erected at Oinassalmi in 1959 to commemorate the defenders of Tolvajärvi–Oinassalmi–Kallioniemi line and to honor the fallen heroes.

A nearby information board explains the connection between the Ilomantsi battles and major operations that took place around Tolvajärvi to the south. A restored machine gun nest is located near the board.

The present bridge was built in 1966 using the drawings of the original structure.