Ukkolanvaara

Ukkolanvaara school house surroundings where wounded soldiers were given first aid before they were moved to field hospitals and military hospitals in the rear..

Where Russians had dressing station in Winter War. Site of Finnish dressing station in Continuation War.

The regiment ground to a halt 15 kilometers further at Kallioniemi, where a ferry was the sole means of conveyance across the Koitajoki River. The Russians set up a dressing station in the schoolhouse at a safe distance from the contact line.

The fate of the original schoolhouse after the end of the Winter War is uncertain. A photograph shot in 1940 shows a simple building on concrete blocks. The same method was used for the assembly of prefabricated houses donated by Sweden later in the same year. The present schoolhouse was built after the wars, purportedly using materials from the aforementioned building, which was in use during the Continuation War.

The schoolhouse and its surroundings were taken over by Finnish troops during the battles of the summer of 1944. The building housed a dressing station where wounded soldiers were given first aid before they were moved to field hospitals and military hospitals in the rear. Finnish soldiers killed in action were also brought to the school yard.

A wounded war veteran recalled the chill he felt while waiting for medical care next to dead bodies piled against one end of the schoolhouse and wondering if the same fate was awaiting him.

The enemy's attack spearheads were halted in late July and early August on the Ilajanjoki River, only 2.5 kilometers away from Ukkolanvaara. The 3rd Border Jaeger Battalion dug in near the river bridge and established a command post in the schoolhouse.

Prisoners of war brought from the river and its vicinity were assembled in the school yard. The veteran who was quoted above recalled his feelings when he watched enemy prisoners.

At first, he felt overpowering hatred toward Red Army soldiers who had invaded his country. But after observing shabby, fearful, and hungry young men for a while, hatred began to give way to pity. The veteran concluded that the youngsters had been sent to war against their will. They had been forced to the front at gunpoint.