Sturmbock Stellung Finland

Yesterday I was in Finland picking up my brother and on the way back to Norway we spotted an interesting sign so we had to make a stop. Next to the road towards the Norwegian border the local municipality had built a small museum , and restored ca 1200 meter of the German defensive line "The Sturmbock Stellung".

This was a strong position built in 1942 made to protect the important Norwegian harbours from a potential Red Army push. It was built by Pioneer troops, Org.Todt and around 3000 Soviet POWs. The trenchlines and positions has a great overview of the flat Finnish landscape and is overlooking some smaller hills in the distance and the road going towards the border. In October 1944 it was manned by 12000 troops from the 7th Gebirgsjäger Division, but after the retreat of the German forces into the Lyngen line in Norway it was abandoned early January 1945 after smaller skirmishes with Finnish troops.

Walking around in the reconstructed positions was very interesting and the small exhibition in the Museum building is nicely made. There is also a cafeteria where you can grab a snack and a coffee.

This is a site one really need to visit if one is driving through the area :)