Summary:

Markus Anaja, The Finnish headquarter’s liaison officer in Tallinn during the Continuation War.

It is a little known fact that there were Finnish soldiers south of the Gulf of Finland during the Continuation War. Several small detachments were placed in Estonia and Ingria.54 These signals and observation detachments were important for the Finnish air raid warning system and coastal artillery. Only fragmentary evidence of these activities is found in Finnish archives.

In addition to these diverse detachments, there were also several liaison officers from both the Finnish navy and the air force. As of September 1st, 1943 the Finnish Headquarters appointed a liaison officer with–for all practical purposes–the status of a military attaché. A suitable person was found in Lieutenant Colonel Ragnar Ingelius, who had been military attaché to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the 1930’s.

“The Finnish Headquarters’ Liaison Officer in Tallinn” acted as the representative of the Finnish Headquarters, wrote regular intelligence reports, took care of the affairs of Estonian volunteers in the Finnish defence forces (the so called Finnish Boys, Soomepoisid) and supervised the Finnish military detachments in Estonia and Ingria. Finnish soldiers reported to Ingelius when entering or leaving Estonia.

The entries in Ingelius’s official diary, the correspondence of his office and the intelligence reports provide an interesting insight not only into the activities of the German occupation authorities but also to some extent into the life of ordinary Estonians.