The ferocity of fighting at Mannerheim Line, propaganda and general lack of information about the Finnish fortifications in Russian and Western historical literature, as well as different understanding of what could be called bunker and what could not, caused lots of legends, rumors and myths about the Line to appear. Some of them are described below.
In many sources one can read about Finnish bunkers having up to five floors down into the ground from the level of casemates. This myth dates back as early as times of Winter War, but was reinforced after the war, as many bunkers of Karelian Fortified District have two floors. See location of bunkers section for more comments.
Other myth is that the bunkers were covered by thick layer of rubber, that made bunkers invincible from direct fire - the shells ricocheted and exploded far away from the bunker. Other variations of this legend include the armor plates on springs, which would also throw an artillery shell away from the bunker, as well as special nets that covered bunkers and also made the shells fly back at the Russian positions.
Finns indeed used nets on the bunkers, but those were used for camouflage purposes (see picture on Sk16 page, for example).
Sloped armor walls of some bunkers, like Le6, Le7, Sk10 and Inkila sector bunkers indeed caused a lot of ricochets, so this might be the explanation of the legend about the rubber layer on the bunkers. Read the story of artillery storming Le6 and Le7 bunkers here.
Many people would say that any bunker located north of Sestra (Rajajoki) river on the Karelian Isthmus is part of Mannerheim Line. This is not true, as in the Eastern part of the Isthmus the border was much further to the north from Saint-Petersburg than at Beloostrov (Valkesaari), and many bunkers one can see in Lembolovo lake (Lempaala) area are in fact Russian bunkers of Karelian Fortified District.
One should also remember the fortified lines that were built by the Finns on the Isthmus in 1942 - 1944, the VT and VKT lines, which are in some 30-20 kms from the actual Mannerheim Line to the south.
The most prevailing legend of the Winter War is a cuckoo sniper, a Finnish sharpshooter sitting in the tree, pinning down entire battalions and killing dozens of Red Army soldiers. However, all Finnish sources claim that there were no Finnish snipers in the trees. The argument of the Finnish historians is that the main feature of a Finnish soldier is mobility and fast maneuver in the forest, which would not be possible if a soldier tied himself in a tree.
Finns indeed had observation posts in trees - at the border between the Soviet Union and Finland and at the roads, so that artillery observers could report any enemy movement to the artillery, but Finnish snipers were all on the ground.
It is interesting that the danger of snipers in trees was mentioned in Red Army field manuals even before the war broke out, so it seems that the Red Army only THOUGHT they were under fire from trees, while Finns were actually firing from the ground. One can see this in pictures from battles on Raattee road - several abandoned Russian 76mm guns are aimed at the tops of the trees.
As one can read in the memories of Lieutenant Lekanov, the Soviet propaganda and the Red Army soldiers referred to their enemies as White Finns. This is due to the fact that the White forces led by Mannerheim defeated the Finnish Red Guards, secretly supported by the Soviet Government, during the Finnish Independence War in 1918 - 1919. Thus, from the Soviet point of view, the Finnish Government was capitalistic, white and anti-Communist. This gave birth to the special Soviet propaganda term belofinn (White Finn), when speaking about the Finnish Government, the Finnish Army and anything related to Finland of Winter War times.
The legend about the White Finn (Bely Finn) dates back to 1960s - 1970s and is part of modern Russian folklore about the Karelian Isthmus. Summa - Lahde area are quite popular destinations for hiking, although this is territory of the Russian Army fire range, and people hiking in that area produced the legend.
Water in the rivers in that area is very yellow, as rivers flow through swamps. The mythological explanation of this is different, though. According to the legend, a Finnish soldier was sitting at a river and was making tee, when he was killed by Red Army soldier. Tee from his pot spilled into the river, and from that time all water in rivers on the Isthmus is yellow. One can also see the ghost of the Finnish soldier on skies in the forest or on the swamps during the fog.
One of less known legends is the legend of a singing bunker. It is about a black digger (cherny sledopyt, or simply cherny - black, or kopar' - digger) - a person who digs at the old battlefields for decorations, gold, weapons and other things of value for profit. The word black stresses that this activity is not exactly legal and that such a person basically robs the dead soldiers, be that Russian, German or Finnish soldiers.
The story goes that a black digger was digging at a bunker (in the version of the legend that I heard, it was Le7) and put up his tent for the night on top of the underground barracks, which are collapsed and could be a grave for the bunkers garrison. During the night he was waken up by singing in Finnish, which came from the barracks. The guy ran 10 kilometers to the nearest village, leaving his tent and all belongings behind.
© Bair Irincheev 2001 - 2004