Karelia Brigade

Karelian Brigade
Country  Finland
Branch Finnish Army
Type Combined arms
Role Readiness brigade
Size Wartime size unknown, peacetime size 600 career personnel,[1] 2,400 conscripts[2]
Garrison/HQ Vekaranjärvi, Finland
Commanders
Brigadier General Jari Kallio
Insignia
Headdress Green beret with lion's head pin

Karelia Brigade (Karjalan Prikaati) is one of the three Finnish Army readiness brigades. It is located at Valkeala. With some three thousand soldiers it is the second largest brigade in Finland. Karelia Brigade is currently commanded by Brigadier General Jari Kallio. Timo Kivinen served as commander until July, 2014.

Composition

History

Karelia Brigade was founded on January 1, 1957 when the 5th Brigade was renamed. 5th Brigade itself was the successor of the Infantry Regiment 8, which became famous by Väinö Linna's novel The Unknown Soldier. Karelia Brigade maintains the traditions of the Karelia Guard Regiment, which used to lie in Vyborg. The anniversary day of the Karelia Brigade is May 6, as on that day in 1618 the king of Sweden, Gustav II Adolf, gave the order to renew the Finnish military and when the Karelia Regiment was founded.

References

  1. Karjalan Prikaati. Finnish Defence Forces 2015-01-02. Retrieved 2015-08-06.(Finnish).
  2. Vekaranjärven varuskunnassa ruokitaan yli 2400 varusmiestä päivittäin. Ruotuväki 14/2015, citing newspaper Etelä-Saimaa 27 July 2015. P. 5. (Finnish)
  3. Karjalan Huoltopataljoona. Finnish Defence Forces. 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2015-08-06. (Finnish)

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.