Finnish winter war mapcase and belts propably to the same officer

**Jan** · 12-10-2013, 05:11 PM

Added this to my collection of Finnish-Russian winter war (1939-1940) artefacts last saturday for 125 euros. Good solid stamps and good honest "been there" wear too. The seller claimed the officer who wore these was killed early on in the continuation war (1941-1944) but it seems like this is another case of "buy the item not the story" since his name can´t be found among the Finnish casualities of 1939-1945. Still I love the items, would love it if they could tell the real story

Best,

Jan

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 12-10-2013 05:11 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Scout** · 12-10-2013, 05:15 PM

Very nice item. I like it. Congrats.

**Jan** · 12-10-2013, 05:18 PM

Thanks Scout! I thought I´d start adding the prices to the items I´ve bought as it may be of interest to others in the collecting business.

Best,

Jan

**Scout** · 12-10-2013, 05:27 PM

Good thinking.

That case looks good enough for Simo Häyhä!

**lithgow** · 12-10-2013, 05:32 PM

Jan-does the officers name appear in army records in general or is it the Finnish equivalent of 'John Brown' (a very, very common name in English)?

**Gunny Hartmann** · 12-10-2013, 05:38 PM

Well done Jan!...

**Jan** · 12-10-2013, 05:47 PM

The officers name (according to the seller) is not a common Finnish name. Doing some preliminary research on the guy I actually managed to find only one of the same name in Finland that fitted the time period. The National Archives of Finland digited all the fallen Finnish soldiers in WW 2 a couple of years ago so, if an item has a name on it it´s now easy to track info about him on the web (were he was killed, were he was buried etc.).

The seller just contacted me when I confronted him and promised to clear things out. Personally I´m sure the officer survived (if the name is right) the war and that I have even have his picture

He´s the guy on the far right in this pic from 1931.

Best,

Jan