Quotes from another movie discussion forum:
Two movies, "Etulinjan edessä - Framom främstä linjen"
and "Tali-Ihantala 1944".
Budget for the first: 3,5 million euros.
Budget for the second: 4,5 million euros.
In total: 8.0 million euros (VERY HUGE sum for two Finnish-based movies).
Director: Professor Åke Lindman
Shooting is supposed to start in the winter of 2003. First opening night should be in January 2004 and the second in January 2005.
Screenplay is written by Stefan Forss and Benedict Ziliacus. Forss is for example, an expert of military history and weapons technology and a member of Swedish military academy. Ziliacus is a Captain in the reserves, who served in the artillery at the Tali-Ihantala battle.
Finnish government is said to be funding partly the project and the Finnish Army will provide some material and personnel help for the project. Several communities, individuals and corporations are also involved. Even the Swedish government is supporting this very ambitious project.
In the first movie, leads to the decisive battle between the Finnish Army and the Red Army in Summer of 1944. The movie looks at the men of swedish-speaking 61st. infantry regiment and it's involvement in battles, first at the further side of Syväri in 1942-1943 and afterwards in Tienhaara in 1944.
Finnish Artillery and the Infantry Regiment 61. won the first of the summer's defensive battles and stopped the Red Army's advance to West from Viipuri. The leader of the Finnish Army, Mannerheim
described that this win the save of Finland.
Tali-Ihantala" starts from where the first part ends, but it has it's own independent story. The movie starts with General Major
R. Lagus and his tank forces' counterattack at Kuuterselkä. Finnish forces weren't enough at that point and the Red Army continued advancing towards Northwest. After the bitter loss in Kuuterselkä, the movie looks at the Russian's severe breakthrough in Tali and the efforts of the Finnish Army in trying to stop the advance. Finally when the fall back-order is announced, Finnish troops are very fatiqued. In that battle, several Swedish voluenteers served well with their Finnish comrades.
From this point the movie progresses to Ihantala, where the last reserves, the 6th division commanded by General Major E. Vihma are sent to meet the Soviet attackers. This is the moment when the badly outnumbered and outgunned Finnish forces with the backup provided by the artillery achieve "the miracle of Ihantala" and stop the advance.
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New news about these cases:
- Etulinjan edessä (Swedish: "Framom främsta linjen", English: "What free men can do") will starting to run in Finnish movie theatres 5.3.2004. Story about Swedish speaking JR16 from East-Karelia Svir front to Tienhaara battles of summer 1944.
This movie is going to be shown in Sweden too, because film makers wants give something to think for Swedes "who saved who" . And because it is partly financied by Swedes.
I will bet that this movie will cause some heated discussion in Finland about Swedish speaking soldiers and their moments of glory and most embarrassing moments in 1939-1944. I can see that some people will say it glorifies Swedish soldiers too much ("they claims that they saved us alone") and others will say that it is realistic and keeps on its historical background. We will see what kind it is and what happens when it´s out
- Tali-Ihantala 1944´s filming will start after Etulinjan edessä is ready, next spring. It will be seen by the eyes of group of young men, just like Band of Brothers in the victorious battles of Tali-Ihantala June-July 1944. There will also be authentic film material in movie. Movie should be out in spring 2005.
Both movies are made under "protection" of State and Veteran associations. So I guess they will be very good, money won´t be problem. Total sum of making these two movies will be about 8 million euros.
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Personally I'm especially looking for Tali-Ihantala. Many of hte veterans I've met participated in this very battle, which was the culmination of Finland in WW2.
More about it:
Swedish Parliamentary Speaker: Finnish independence very important for Sweden
The Swedish Parliamentary Speaker made his comments in Hämeenlinna on Monday after watching a multimedia presentation on the major battle of Tali-Ihantala which took place in the summer of 1944 near the end of the Continuation War. The presentation was at the Hämeenlinna Artillery Museum, and von Sydow was accompanied by his host, Finnish Parliamentary Speaker Paavo Lipponen.
Many foreign guests have been shown the historical production. Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson was deeply moved when he saw it nearly two years ago.
Von Sydow was also amazed at the spectacle. He did know about the historical background; last month he had read the memoirs of Orrvar Nilsson, a Swedish volunteer fighting alongside Finland who had taken part in the Ihantala battle.
He noted that the battle stopped the Soviet breakthrough in the Karelian Isthmus. It also had considerable political significance. Just weeks later Stalin ordered the Soviet divisions to shift their focus to fighting Germany.
A company of Swedish soldiers took part in the fighting. The battalion which the company belonged to lost 450 men. Lipponen said that only 17 of the 80 Swedes survived the battle.
The Tali-Ihantala battle in late June and early July of 1944 is one of the most significant in Finnish military history. Historians say that the battle largely saved Finland from Soviet occupation.
Ihantala was also the biggest battle in the Nordic region. About 50,000 men fought on the Finnish side, while the Red Army had about three times as many. The Finns were even more outnumbered in tanks, fighter planes, and artillery.
Finnish casualties in the fighting were 8,800, while Soviet losses were more than 22,000.
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There the Finnish concentration of artillery fire was the heaviest in the country's military history. It has been described as even heavier than the Soviet fire in the siege of Berlin.
The Soviet offensive on the Karelian Isthmus was launched just at the time of the Western Allies' landing at Normandy. The several armies hurled against Finnish fences were crack troops, the Soviet "elite." Stalin's plan was obviously to occupy Finland before the Wester Allies could advance very far against the German lines.
For every 100-meter stretch of the Isthmus, the Red Army placed no less than 10 pieces of artillery--in one sector all of 400 over a distance of only one kilometer. Since the Finns had only 268 cannon, they could mount only 5 for every kilometer. The artillery odds were thus 20 to 1 in the attacker's favor. Besides, with some 400 bombers and 600 fighters thrown into the fray, the Soviet forces had overwhelming air superiority. Official Russian records reveal that during the summer offensive, aircraft of the 13th Soviet Air Force carried out "more than 9,000 combat missions" against the Finnish forces.
The artillery fire aimed at Finnish targets has been described by some researchers as the most massive in world military history up to that time.
At the critical Ihantala sector, however, the Finnish defenders managed to concentrate their fire to the extent of smashing the advancing Soviet spearhead.
In the Russian book Bitva za Leningrad 1941-1944 (The Battle of Leningrad) edited by Lt.-Gen. S.P. Platonov, it is stated: "The repeated offensive attempts by the Soviet Forces failed . . . to gain results. The enemy succeeded in significantly tightening its ranks in this area and repulse all the attacks of our troops . . . During the offensive operations lasting over three weeks, from June 21 to mid-July, the forces of the right flank of the Leningrad front failed to carry out the tasks assigned to them on the orders of the Supreme Command issued on June 21st."
It was then that Stalin ordered the withdrawal from the Finnish front of the decimated elite divisions to join the forces advancing on Berlin.
In a speech held Sept. 4, this year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice ending Finnish-Soviet hostilities, Prime Minister Esko Aho declared:
"I do not see defeat in the summer's battles, but the victory of a small nation over a major power, whose forces were stopped far short of the objectives of the Soviet leadership. Finland was not beaten militarily . . .
"Finland preserved her autonomy and her democratic social system . . .
"Finland was on the losing side of the war, but won the peace."
Significantly, aside from Britain, Finland was the only European country involved in the war west of Russia that was never occupied by enemy troops.
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