Kurt Martti Wallenius

Kurt Martti Wallenius (born June 25, 1893 in Kuopio , † May 3, 1984 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish officer .

Kurt Martti Wallenius

Life

Wallenius took part in the hunter movement in Finland during World War I , which had set itself the goal of the country's independence from the Russian Empire . As a result, he completed military training in the German Empire in 1915. After returning to Finland in 1918, he took part in the Finnish Civil War on the side of the whites . He first commanded a platoon in Tervola and Tornio . He was later appointed commander of the white troops around Kuolajärvi and Kuusamo . After the whites had won the civil war, he took part in the Finnish eastern war campaigns, in which smaller paramilitary units tried unsuccessfully to separate Karelia from the union of the Soviet state .

In the interwar period, Wallenius held commands in northwest Finland. In the 1920s he was a military attaché in Berlin for a short time . In 1930 Wallenius was promoted to major general and appointed chief of the general staff . Shortly thereafter, however, he was forcibly retired without a pension because he was involved in the kidnapping of the former President of Finland Kaarlo Ståhlberg . After his removal from active service, Wallenius became involved in right-wing extremist circles and became general secretary of the Lapua movement . In 1932 he took part in an unsuccessful coup against the Finnish government. Wallenius was convicted of aiding and abetting treason but only spent more than a year in prison.

At the beginning of the Winter War , Wallenius was reactivated. The Finnish Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim gave him command of the Finnish troops in Lapland . Wallenius commanded the Finnish units in the defense of Petsamos and the Battle of Salla . After the Lapland sector had been taken over by Swedish volunteers, Wallenius and his troops were transferred to the Karelian Isthmus . The defense of Viipuri Bay fell to him. He protested against this post. Wallenius and his men did not succeed in stopping the Soviet advance. As a result, and because of reports of excessive drinking, he was dishonorably dismissed and replaced by Lieutenant General Karl Lennart Oesch .

In Finland's continuation war against the Soviet Union, Wallenius was no longer recalled to active service.

He spent his twilight years in Rovaniemen maalaiskunta , where he worked as an author. Two of his works were also published in German: Fangboot klar , first edition 1959, Berlin 1961, and The Sea of ​​Men (“Miesten meri”, 1953), Braunschweig 1954.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lasse Laaksonen: Mistä sotakenraalit tulivat? : tie Mannerheimin johtoon 1918-1939 / Lasse Laaksonen . Helsinki-kirjat ,, [Helsinki]: 2011, ISBN 978-952-5874-25-9 ( helmet.fi [accessed January 20, 2018]).
2. ↑ Lasse Laaksonen: Mistä sotakenraalit tulivat? : tie Mannerheimin johtoon 1918-1939 / Lasse Laaksonen . Helsinki-kirjat ,, [Helsinki]: 2011, ISBN 978-952-5874-25-9 ( helmet.fi [accessed January 20, 2018]).