Paavo Talvela
Paavo Talvela | |
---|---|
Helsingin maalaiskunta, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire | |
Died | 30 September 1973 Helsinki, Finland | (aged 76)
Buried | |
Allegiance |
|
Service/ |
|
Years of service | 1916–1946 |
Rank | General of the Infantry (1966) |
Commands held |
|
Battles/wars | |
Awards |
|
Paavo Juho Talvela (born Paavo Juho Thorén; 19 February 1897 – 30 September 1973) was a
Talvela was also active in Finnish far-right politics, being involved in both the founding of the Academic Karelia Society and in the Lapua Movement. In 1940, he was also involved in talks with Germany about forming a Finnish Jäger battalion as part of the Wehrmacht.
Early life
Paavo Juho Talvela (originally Thorén) was born 19 January 1897 to farmer parents Johan Fredrik Thorén and Helena Uino in
Talvela was promoted to a major after the civil war, briefly commanding both a battalion and a regiment, but resigned in 1919 to participate as a regimental commander in the Kinship Wars of the 1920s. Talvela became the commander-in-chief of the Aunus expedition after it had reached Petrozavodsk. After the failure of the Aunus expedition, Talvela re-joined the Finnish Army, but continued to view efforts to integrate East Karelia to Finland as crucial for both the security and the economy of the newly-independent Finland. As such, Talvela resigned again in 1921 to command a battalion during the Viena expedition which also failed. Following the failed military expeditions, Talvela joined the Finnish army the third time in 1922.[1][4] He was also involved behind-the-scenes in the founding of the Academic Karelia Society, a student association that was also the first Finnish radical nationalistic movement.[5]
Having returned to service, Talvela graduated from the English Coast Artillery School in 1923 before acting as the chief of coastal artillery in 1925. In 1926, he graduated from the
Following his resignation, Talvela became politically active. He was a member of the
Winter War and Continuation War
The Finno-Soviet
The Finnish position in the Tolvajärvi region was in severe danger, and upon arriving in his area of operations Talvela's first task was to halt the retreat of Infantry Regiment 16.[8] The following Battle of Tolvajärvi resulted in a Soviet retreat and the first Finnish victory of the war: The Soviet 139th Rifle Division lost its headquarters and most of its artillery.[9] The 139th Division was replaced with the 75th Division, which was also forced to retreat just a few days later.[10] Following these victories, the area saw only limited action to the end of the war. In February, Talvela was given command of the III Corps on the Karelian Isthmus in the area of Vuoksi and Lake Sukhodolskoye.[1]
During the
At the start of the
Talvela was recalled to Finland in February 1944. Having been promoted to
On 16 July 1944, the Aunus Group was disbanded and Talvela was ordered to return to Germany. He would stay in Germany until the Finno-Soviet cease-fire and the breaking of the Finno-German relations, both of which came as a surprise to him. Before leaving Germany, Talvela was approached by
Later life and legacy
Talvela left the army in September 1944, returning to his job as the director of Pohjolan Liikenne which he had taken during the Interim Peace.[1] As a result of the time he had spent in Germany during the war, he found working in Finland difficult,[21] and lived in Rio de Janeiro selling cellulose between 1946 and 1949. Talvela returned to Finland in 1949, serving as a member of the City Council of Helsinki between 1954 and 1960. In 1958, he was the head consul for Philippines.[1] He continued to be active in various activities related to paper production until his retirement. Talvela received his final promotion to the rank of general of the infantry (Finnish: jalkaväenkenraali) in 1966.[1]
Talvela married twice during his life. His first marriage with Martta Sofia Nikoskelainen ran from 1919 to 1922, ending in a divorce. He remarried in 1923 to Karin Johanna Tengman. During his marriages, Talvela had a total of four children, born between 1919 and 1926.[1] He secretly had a fifth child born out of wedlock, Swedish writer Gunilla Boëthius in 1945; this wasn't discovered until long after his death.[22] Talvela died on 30 September 1973 in Helsinki.[1] He is buried in the Kulosaari Cemetery in Helsinki.[23]
During his career, Talvela was granted several awards. The most notable of these is the
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Uola 2001.
- ^ a b Tuunainen 2015, p. 91.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, p. 209.
- ^ a b c d Nenye et al. 2016, p. 75.
- ^ Silvennoinen, Tikka & Roselius 2016, pp. 114–115.
- ^ Silvennoinen 2015, p. 135.
- ^ Edwards 2006, p. 116.
- ^ a b Edwards 2006, pp. 178–180.
- ^ Edwards 2006, pp. 184–185.
- ^ Edwards 2006, p. 185-187.
- ^ Pajunen & Karjalainen 2019, p. 7.
- ^ Pajunen & Karjalainen 2019, p. 1.
- ^ Sotatieteen laitos 1988, p. 261.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, p. 144.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, pp. 144–146.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, p. 217.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, p. 219.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, p. 343.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, pp. 219–222.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, pp. 223–224.
- ^ Leskinen & Juutilainen 2005, p. 224.
- ^ Bodin, Anna (23 September 2021). "Gunilla Boëthius: Så jävlig kunde väl inte mamma ha varit? Så inpiskat lögnaktig?". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
- ^ Nupponen 2020.
References
- Edwards, Robert (2006). White Death: Russia's War on Finland 1939–40. London: Weidenfel & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-84630-2.
- Leskinen, Jari; Juutilainen, Antti, eds. (2005). Jatkosodan pikkujättiläinen (in Finnish). Helsinki: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. ISBN 95-1028690-7.
- Nenye, Vesa; Munter, Peter; Wirtanen, Toni; Birks, Chris (2016). Finland at War: The Continuation and Lapland Wars 1941–45. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-47-281528-6.
- Pajunen, Jussi; Karjalainen, Mikko (2019). "Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen SS in 1941–1943 and Related Finnish studies" (PDF). Finno-German Yearbook of Political Economy. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-19.
- Silvennoinen, Oula (2015). "'Home, Religion, Fatherland': Movements of the Radical Right in Finland". Fascism. 4 (4). ISSN 2211-6257.
- Silvennoinen, Oula; Tikka, Marko; Roselius, Aapo (2016). Suomalaiset fasistit - mustan sarastuksen airuet [Finnish Fascists - Heralds of a Black Dawn] (in Finnish). Porvoo: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. ISBN 978-951-0-40132-3.
- Sotatieteen laitos, ed. (1988). Jatkosodan historia 1. Sotatieteen laitoksen julkaisuja XXV (in Finnish). Vol. 1. Porvoo: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. ISBN 951-0-15327-3.
- Tuunainen, Pasi (2015). "The transfer of military knowledge and the Finnish Civil War: The Finnish volunteers in the Royal Prussian Jaeger Battalion 27 as adopters and disseminators of the German art of war, 1915–1918". Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte. 28 (1): 91–97. JSTOR 24574785.
- Uola, Mikko (2001). "Talvela, Paavo (1897–1973)". Kansallisbiografia. Studia Biographica (in Finnish). Vol. 4. The Finnish Literature Society. ISSN 1799-4349. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- Nupponen, Sakari (24 August 2020). "Kulosaaren hautausmaa on Helsingin "piilopuisto" – sinne on haudattu mahtimies, joka toi hampurilaiset Suomeen". Helsingin Uutiset. Retrieved 23 October 2021.