"Finnes, helmet or not?" Topic

Hi gang,

Collecting info for my Winter war project.
Went through several sites with historical pictures, and most
of them show infantry with just fur hats or caps.
Wondering how common/uncommon it was to wear helmets during
Early war…

That sould be Finns not Finnes, sorry about that^^

Most of what I have seen has a mix of hats and the WWI surplus German helmets.

Winter War, hats would be most common

Helmets, my son, are uncommonly cold in the winter

Just in case you may have missed this site. There are lots of photos and info here :). Robert

kevos4.com

Or these,
link

link

A mix--Some Finns were very badly equipped at the start of the Winter War--In the film of that name one character gets just a chevron as a uniform!! He complained he would look a right knob if he got captured by the Soviets!!

Thanks for the replies guys, i shouldn't be too picky as
it's going to be a 6mm project….
I might check WW1 germans to see how they look like.
And also check the Afrika Korps figs as suggested on the
BKC forums too.

Kaoschallenged, nice links, i had the first one but not
the two others, interesting read, thanks !!

You are most welcome springsnow. Im glad to be of some help :). Robert

When bullets and shrapnel are flying a decent head scarf makes any helmet comfy.

The reason most pictures show Finns standing around in hats instead of helmets is because they are doing just that, standing around and posing for the camera. In a combat situation most Finns would wear a helmet, unless they were in some special unit (say a patrol deep behind enemy lines who had to carry so much stuff they cannot afford to lug a round a helmet too), or unless they are feeling especially reckless. While helmets are very cold, one can usually fit a wool hat of some kind underneath the helmet, sometimes by removing the helmet liner. I think there are some examples in the Winter War movie.

I don't have an eye for this, what would be there uniform
color scheme? I use Vallejo model colors.
Blue Jacket and green trousers…
link

On this one the trouser is grey, and i like it better :p
Even though it's during the continuation war not the
earlier WinterWar.
link

Helmet models used by Finnish army
link
link

link

link

Robert

The uniform is the same in both wars, the latest model was the 1936, which was used by our Army until the Eighties at least. The hues of gray differed from soldier to soldier, because the coarse cloth used in the uniforms will become successively lighter in hue with every washing, so there are few "incorrect" hues of gray. Incidentally the same goes for WWII German army uniforms too.

Often the pants will be of a darker color than the jacket. This is because of manufacturing differences and because pants will become torn to shreds quicker and thus tend to be newer than the more durable jackets. I went through at least three pairs of model 1936 trousers during my year in the Army, climbing in and out of Russian-made vehicles in a great hurry.

Kaoschallenged, wow thanks, they used quite an amount of
different helmets!!

7dot62mm, yep that the impression i had when looking at old
pictures of uniforms, even though it's in black and white
the shades looked quite different from one picture to
another.

I hesitate to use the dreaded Osprey word on TMP but 'Finland at War' Elite 141 has several pictures and plates showing a variety of helmets in Finnish use.

"Kaoschallenged, wow thanks, they used quite an amount of
different helmets!!"

You are most welcome again springsnow :) LOL. The Finns were in a situation of course where they used everything they could get their hands on. Robert

In regards to the uniforms here are some great pics of Finnish uniforms :). Robert

link
link

These are some guys in St Petersburg who reenact Finnish Army – this is them set up for the Continuation War though they do Winter War as well.

picture

This has a couple of pics of my favorite Finnish helmet markings :). Robert

link

Nice findings guys! The uniforms definitely look like
having two different colors for jacket and trousers.
Man those helmet markings are incredible :)

I remember seeing a drawing of the helmet in the old Funcken series of books years ago when I had them. Then I saw the pictures of them. I always thought they looked great. Robert

BTW most of the pics I have seen of the Swedish Volunteer Corps (Svenska Frivilligkåren) show them mostlty wearing soft fur caps rather then helmets. Robert

The light grey jackets are the thinner summer jackets, for Winter War finns you should the same color as the trousers (or slightly faded) since they used the same type of fabric.

Some more,
link

link

I also found this little tidbit,

"The 50,000 "sympathy" uniforms from the British could not be used in combat because of their similarity to the brown uniforms of the Russians. They were, however, greatly appreciated."
link
Robert

Thanks all, quite interesting infos,had never heard of
those "sympathy uniforms" :)

The same here LOL. I can see where there would be some confusion with the Soviet uniforms.

Robert

Looking up the 50,000 "sympathy uniforms" from Britain it looks like the same source has been quoted quite a few times LOL. Robert

Interesting that the British and French were offering to send some 50,000 troops if asked too. Robert