Karelia Brigade is one of the three Finnish Army

Finnish Army

The Finnish Army is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces.Today's Army is divided into six branches: the infantry , field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, engineers, signals, and materiel troops.-History of the Finnish Army:Between 1809 and 1917 Finland was an autonomous part of...

 readiness brigades. It is located in the Eastern Command at Valkeala

Valkeala

Valkeala is a former municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Southern Finland, near the city of Kouvola, and it was a part of the Kymenlaakso region. The municipality had a population of 11,238 and covered an area of 1,004.40 km² of which 143.47 km² was water...

. With some three thousand soldiers it is the second largest brigade

Brigade

A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...

 in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. Karelia Brigade is currently commanded by Brigadier General

Brigadier General

Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

 Timo Kivinen.

Composition

• Kymi Jaeger Battalion (Kymen Jääkäripataljoona)
  • 1st Mechanized Jaeger Company (1. Panssarijääkärikomppania)
  • 2nd Mechanized Jaeger Company (2. Panssarijääkärikomppania)
  • 3rd Mechanized Jaeger Company (3. Panssarijääkärikomppania)

• Karelia Artillery Regiment (Karjalan Tykistörykmentti)
  • 1st Field Artillery Battery (1. Kenttätykistöpatteri)
  • 2nd Field Artillery Battery (2. Kenttätykistöpatteri)
  • 3rd Field Artillery Battery (3. Kenttätykistöpatteri)
  • Artillery NCO School (Tykistöaliupseerikoulu)

• Salpausselkä Air Defense Battalion (Salpausselän Ilmatorjuntapatteristo)
  • 1st Air Defense Battery (1. Ilmatorjuntapatteri)
  • 2nd Air Defense Battery (2. Ilmatorjuntapatteri)
  • 3rd Air Defense Battery (3. Ilmatorjuntapatteri)

• Kymi Engineer Battalion (Kymen Pioneeripataljoona)
  • 1st Engineer Company (1. Pioneerikomppania)
  • 2nd Engineer Company (2. Pioneerikomppania)

• East Finland Signal Battalion (Itä-Suomen Viestipataljoona)
  • HQ Company (Esikuntakomppania)
  • 1st Signals Company (1. Viestikomppania)
  • 2nd Signals Company (2. Viestikomppania)

• Karelia Logistics Battalion (Karjalan Huoltopataljoona)
  • Supply and Transportation Company (Huolto- ja Kuljetuskomppania)

History

Karelia Brigade was founded on January 1, 1957 when the 5th Brigade was renamed. 5th Brigade itself was the successor of the Infantry Regiment 8, which became famous by Väinö Linna

Väinö Linna

Väinö Linna was one of the most influential Finnish authors of the 20th century. He shot to immediate literary fame with his third novel, Tuntematon sotilas , and consolidated his position with the trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla Väinö Linna (20 December 1920 – 21 April 1992) was one of the...

's novel The Unknown Soldier

The Unknown Soldier (novel)

The Unknown Soldier is author Väinö Linna's first major novel and his other major work besides Under the North Star. Published in 1954, it is a story about the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union as told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers...

. Karelia Brigade maintains the traditions of the Karelia Guard Regiment, which used to lie in Vyborg

Vyborg

Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, to the northwest of St. Petersburg and south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland...

. The anniversary day of the Karelia Brigade is May 6, as on that day in 1618 the king of Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Gustav II Adolf

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden

Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...

, gave the order to renew the Finnish military and when the Karelia Regiment was founded.

External links

• Puolustusvoimat: Karjalan Prikaati (In Finnish)

61°6′52.81"N 26°58′57.29"E