The Amazing Story of the Finnish French Foreign Legionnaire!
Aarne Juutilainen was born 18 October 1904 in the town of Sortavala. After being accepted into the Officer’s Academy, he was later expelled due to conduct unbecoming an officer; mainly a result of excessive alcohol consumption. Waiting to continue a military career he joined the French Foreign Legion in the summer of 1930 where he served five years.
Most of his time was spent in Morocco where he gained the nickname “The Terror of Monocco.” Returning to Finland he rejoined the Finnish Army in the late 1930s. When the Red Army on 30 November 1939 attacked across the Finnish border, without a declaration of war, Lieutenant Juutilainen was a company commander serving in Infantry Regiment 34. Unable to stop the Soviet onslaught the regiment retreated to the river of Kollaa. As the regiment withdrew from the Finnish border they skillfully used ambush tactics to slow down the attacking Soviet forces
When the Finns reached the small river Kolla they decided to take the fight to the Soviets. With the remnants of Regiment 34 Juutilainen managed to stop the Soviet advance through a number of fierce counter attacks where they even captured Soviet guns, small arms and various equipment. Juutilainen later described his service in the Foreign Legion as tough but still very easy compared to the harsh reality of the Winter War.
The Numerical superiority of the enemy was simply overwhelming and it was really a question of standing your ground or dying. Juutilainen was wounded twice in action but returned to his troops holding the position along the Kollaa river against all odds until the cease-fire on 13 March 1940, giving birth to the famous Finnish saying
“Kollaa will hold!”