Introduction

The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas) or Unknown Soldiers is a war novel by Finnish author Väinö Linna, considered his magnum opus.

Published in 1954, The Unknown Soldier chronicles the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union during 1941-1944 from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers.

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In 2000, the manuscript version of the novel was published with the title Sotaromaani (“the war novel”) and in 2015, the latest English translation as Unknown Soldiers. A fictional account based closely on Linna’s own experiences during the war, the novel presented a more realistic outlook on the formerly romanticised image of a noble and obedient Finnish soldier. Linna gave his characters independent and critical thoughts, and presented them with human feelings, such as fear and rebellion.

Although published to mixed reviews, The Unknown Soldier quickly became one of the best-selling books in Finland and is considered both a classic in Finnish literature and a part of the national legacy. The novel was well received by frontline veterans; it shot Linna to literary fame and has been described as creating a shift in the collective memory of the war. It has sold nearly 800,000 units, been translated into 20 different languages and adapted into three films with the latest one released in 2017.

Outline (Setting and Characters)

The novel follows soldiers of a Finnish Army machine gun company operating on the Karelian front during the Continuation War from mobilisation in 1941 to the Moscow Armistice in 1944. The company’s action is based on Infantry Regiment 8 (Finnish: Jalkaväkirykmentti 8), the actual unit Väinö Linna served in. The novel has no single central character and both begins and ends with an ironic play on the narrator’s omniscience. Rather, its focus is on different responses and views on the experience of war from a frog perspective.

The men of the company come from all over Finland, they have widely varying social backgrounds and political attitudes, and everyone has their own way of coping with the war. The novel paints realistic, yet sympathetic, portraits of a score of very different men: cowards and heroes – the initially naive and eventually brave upper-class idealist Kariluoto; the down-to-earth Koskela; the hardened and cynical working-class grunt Lehto; the company comedian Vanhala; the pragmatic and strong-nerved Rokka; the politically indifferent Hietanen, and the communist Lahtinen. Most of the characters are killed in action during the course of the novel. Nevertheless, the general atmosphere of the machine gun company is relaxed and business-like, even childish and jolly, throughout the story, despite the war, losses and despair. The soldiers’ continued disrespect for formalities and discipline is a source of frustration for some of the officers.

Outline (Plot)

The novel starts with the company transferring in June 1941 from their barracks to the Finnish-Soviet border in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Soon after, the soldiers receive their baptism by fire in an attack over a swamp on Soviet positions. Captain Kaarna is killed during the battle and the stern Lieutenant Lammio takes his place as company commander. Amidst a series of battles, the company assaults a Soviet bunker line on a ridge and stops an armoured attack, the ambushed and abandoned Lehto commits suicide during a regimental flanking manoeuvre, and the soldiers advance into East Karelia. The company eventually crosses the old border lost during the Winter War and the soldiers ponder the justification for the continued invasion. In October 1941, the company is stationed in the captured and pillaged Petrozavodsk, where the novel follows the soldiers interacting with the locals.

Two men are executed after refusing to follow orders to fend off a Soviet winter attack along the Svir river – during which Lahtinen is killed while trying to carry off his Maxim M/32-33 machine gun and Rokka distinguishes himself by ambushing a 50-strong enemy unit with a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun. The story moves on to the trench warfare period of the war. The period includes the soldiers drinking kilju (a home-made sugar wine) during Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim’s birthday celebrations and getting drunk, a new recruit being killed by a sniper for failing to listen to advice from experienced veterans and raising his head above the trench, and Rokka capturing an enemy captain during a nightly Soviet probe into the Finnish trenches.

The final act of the novel describes the defence against the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive of summer 1944, the withdrawal and counter-attacks of the Finnish Army, and the numerous losses that the company suffers. The company abandons their machine guns in a lake while withdrawing from a hopeless defence, and Lieutenant Colonel Karjula executes the retreating Private Viirilä in a burst of rage while trying to force his men into positions. Koskela is killed while disabling an attacking Soviet tank with a satchel charge and Hietanen loses his eyes to an artillery strike and later dies when his ambulance is attacked. Asumaniemi, a young private, is the last one to die during the company’s last counter-attack. The war ends in a ceasefire in September 1944, with the soldiers rising from their foxholes after the final Soviet artillery barrage stops. The survivors listen to the first radio announcements of the eventual Moscow Armistice. The novel’s last sentence describes the characters of the unit as “[r]ather dear, those boys.”

Trivia

• By 2017, the book had been printed in 60 editions in Finland.
• Its first English translations were published in 1957 by William Collins, Sons and G.P. Putnam’s Sons in the UK and the US, respectively.
• It has since been translated into 20 other languages.
• An unedited manuscript version was published in 2000 by WSOY as Sotaromaani (“the war novel”) – Linna’s working title for The Unknown Soldier.
• Penguin Books published a new English translation by Liesl Yamaguchi in 2015 with the idiosyncratic title Unknown Soldiers to reflect the lives of young Finnish soldiers in the war.

Tuntematon Sotilas Series

• The Unknown Soldier (novel), a 1954 novel by Väinö Linna.
• The Unknown Soldier (1955 film), a film adaption based on the novel by Väinö Linna, directed by Edvin Laine.
• The Unknown Soldier (1985 film), a film adaption based on the novel by Väinö Linna, directed by Rauni Mollberg.
• The Unknown Soldier (2017 film), a film adaption based on the unedited Sotaromaani (lit. A War Novel) version of the novel by Väinö Linna, directed by Aku Louhimies.
• Tuntematon Sotilas, a 2018-2019 TV miniseries of the 2017 film.
  • Episode 01: Komea on Alku.
  • Episode 02: Petroskoi, Petroskoi.
  • Episode 03: Hänen Upseeriensa Malja.
  • Episode 04: Tavallisen Suruton Poika.
  • Episode 05: Hyväntahtoinen Aurinko.

Production & Filming Details

• Release Date: 1954 to 2019.
• Running Time: 300 minutes (5-part TV series).
• Country: Finland.
• Language: Finnish, Swedish, Danish, English, and Norwegian.