Partisan attack at Kurkivaara
Several partisan sightings had been made in Kuumu during the summer of 1942. Partisans attacked the Kurkivaara farm in the early hours of 9 July. The attack killed two innocent civilians and wounded three adults as well as two children.
Partisan activity in Kuumu
The summer of 1942 was a turbulent time in northern Kuhmo from Midsummer onwards. In early July, a partisan patrol had demolished a culvert on the road between Kuumu and Alavuokki. The patrol had then positioned itself to ambush the next vehicle. A lorry arrived carrying people obliged to work, but it successfully passed the ambush site by driving over the beams of the culvert. Later, an elderly man, Juho Kurkinen, was wounded in Kuumu after stepping on a roadside mine while walking a cow.
The nearest Finnish guard in the area was stationed at Lentiira, where both policemen as well as soldiers in air surveillance duty were stationed. On 8 July 1942, a patrol of soldiers went out to check a broken telephone line, escorted by three policemen. It was found that the line had been cut and two telephone poles had been brought down between the Purola and Heikkilä farms in Kuumu. The perpetrators were thought to have been partisans. People from the Heikkilä farm, located about 3–4 km (1.9–2.5 miles) southwest of Kurkivaara, reported that they had also encountered a partisan. The master’s wife, another woman and two sons of the farm had been in a deciduous forest. A partisan had jumped behind them on a forest path and apparently tried to shoot, but the gun’s bolt had not worked. After this, the younger son of the two had thrown an axe at the partisan’s head from a distance of about 2 metres (6.6 feet). The partisan had fallen down and apparently lost consciousness, allowing everyone to escape. A joint military and police patrol had also visited the site, where they found tracks, an axe and a rifle cartridge.
Partisan attack at Kurkivaara
In the early hours of 9 July 1942, partisans attacked the Kurkivaara farm. There were also people from the Liekinvaara farm, about 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) north of Kurkivaara, who had spent the day making hay. They had stayed as guests for the night because the old master of Kurkivaara had found a mine on a path he had taken to go fishing in the evening.
The partisan attack began at around 1 a.m. when the dog of the farm started barking outside. Next there was a gunshot, which stopped the dog’s barking. Then there was a knock on the window of the house. As the master of the farm went to open the door, a hand grenade was thrown into the house through the window. Most of the people inside were wounded by the grenade explosion but they tried to escape. Outside, the partisans
started firing from the forest to the west, causing people to flee in different directions. The master of Kurkivaara and his wife were hit and fell in the farmyard. At this time, the refugees heard some of the partisans speaking Finnish.
Those who survived the attack and those who were slightly wounded took word to the farms nearby. A boy and a girl were sent on bicycles from the Vihanta farm to alert the guard at Lentiira because there was no telephone connection. They arrived at the Lentiira guard at around 6 o’clock in the morning. From there, a ten-man patrol consisting of policemen and air surveillance soldiers set off in a bus. The patrol encountered the first wounded at the Vihanta farm and had them transferred to the bus. At the same time, the patrol was reinforced with five men from the village of Kuumu. After some men were left to guard the Vihanta farm, the patrol proceeded on foot to Liekinvaara. Some of the wounded were found there. The patrol continued in two teams to Kurkivaara, where the master of the farm and his wife were found shot dead in the yard in front of the farmhouse and barn that had been burned. An 11-month-old baby boy was found unharmed in the yard of the farm at the same time. The partisans had apparently lifted him out of the farmhouse and into the yard. After a thorough search of the woods, other survivors and wounded were found and evacuated by car. The cow of the farm was found butchered, with both hind legs cut off and taken.
The patrol continued to scour the nearby area, where they also found the mine that had been placed on the path earlier. However, no other traces of the partisans were found. Six soldiers arrived as reinforcements from Kuhmo at about 6 p.m., and another 16 soldiers came from Suomussalmi. Later, more information was received about a group of 5–10 partisans that had been observed heading east. The partisans’ tracks were still searched for, but no further pursuit was undertaken. Apparently the same group of partisans was spotted further east, in the direction of Akonlahti, and Finns were already patrolling there. For a few days, the farms in the village of Kuumu were protected by military patrols, and a telephone connection was organised and left in the Heikkilä farm.
Two adults were killed in the attack, and three adults and two children were wounded. Two adults and two children survived unharmed.
Kurkivaara memorial
A memorial to the partisans’ victims was erected on the site by LC Kuhmo/Kuhmoniemi. It was unveiled on 9 July 2000.
The memorial was designed by Kauko Haverinen.
The site can be reached with some amount of effort. The site and memorial are at the end of the Kuivalantie Road, 8.2 kilometres (5.1 miles) from the junction of Road 912. The Kuivalantie Road is a dirt road in varying condition depending on the season. The yard and buildings behind the memorial are private property.
Address: Kuivalantie 815, 88900 Kuhmo, Finland
Talvisotakierros Kuhmossa
