Our division crossed the frontier and pushed the Russians eastward -
but our company was held back on the Finnish side for half a week -
though others fought in the wilds of Viena.
Many of my men had also taken part in the Winter War -
so they knew what awaited them.
Another legacy of the Winter War -
was that we knew how to live the soldier's life.
This included not being afraid until there was something to be afraid of.
Jump, Tauno! - Go ahead, jump.
Jump, Tauno!
It's not all that high. - Come on.
Tauno, Don't do it. You'll drown.
Come on down, Pa.
There's nothing to it.
How're you at swimming?
I'm no Weissmuller.
We'll toss you down from here.
Goddamn it, no, boys. - You bet.
That's the system!
Oh, hell...
Somebody go help him. - Lend a hand, boys.
Let's get a few more in the photo.
You too, Tauno, come on.
The order to report to my unit came to my home.
I left Helsinki before midsummer.
Kaarina saw me to the station.
She didn't know where she was being ordered.
War was in the air.
I had written many letters to Kaarina -
but I had received no reply and I didn't know if they had reached her.
Missing your fiancée, Lieutenant?
What do you expect, Corporal?
We're taking a picture, sir.
Close it up, boys.
That's right. Here we go.
Orders from unit command.
Acknowledged.
So we're to proceed eastward.
We departed Lieksa in the afternoon -
and crossed the border early that evening.
We were preceded by the 10th Infantry Regiment.
There were no objectors among us at the border.
The men felt that it was time to take back with interest -
what the Russians had plundered from us in the Winter War.
We officers were read Mannerheim's order of the day.
The commander-in-chief said:
"We know what Stalin's promises are worth."
"We are strong enough to uphold our liberty" -
"and defend our brothers in Eastern Karelia."
"We shall not sheathe our swords until law and order prevail."
"We need not accept as charity that land" -
"which by blood bond belongs to us."
We're too late to join in.
The enemy's withdrawn.
I have this feeling Eero's nearby. I have to ask if he's here.
But we can't leave the gear. - You go on ahead.
Mist hangs o'er the shining shore...
Excuse me...
Has a Lieutenant Eero Perkola been brought here?
Quit yammering.
I can't even hear my own voice.
Second Light Infantry. He's my fiancé.
We don't have time for names here.
That's enough of that whining!
Hell, even more of them.
Haven't you seen the dead before?
Winter before last I stacked frozen corpses at Kollaanjoki.
What is it?
Almost everything's been burned.
I guess our village looks like this, too.
They said our own men burned it, withdrawing in the Winter War.
Our house too. Ma still grieves, remembering the apple trees.
When they blossomed, folks said the garden was as white as rapids.
You'll plant new trees when the war is over.
If they don't order us elsewhere, let's set up the canteen together.
Lieutenant...
Where do we bivouac, sir?
Continue on with the platoon.
You'll be shown there where we'll spend the night.
Hannikainen's detachment has gained Pohjoisranta. - Yes, sir.
Lieutenant Perkola reporting.
I'll be damned. I've been expecting you.
Welcome aboard.
The division's attacking toward Rukajärvi.
All we know is that the enemy has fallen back beyond Lieksajärvi.
Light Infantry will take point position.
Paasivirta, your company has the honor of leading off.
How far do we go?
Belomorsk, the Murmansk line, the shores of the White Sea -
even the Urals if they let us.
It's planned that far, is it?
What is it?
I keep having the same dream.
I was sure you'd be among the wounded or dead.
I've often dreamed you were dead.
I was sure I'd never see you again.
It's no good talking like that.
We've got to get you back across the Finnish border.
Let's go away together.
We will. Just as soon as all this is over.
Do what you did before.
May I speak with you, Major?
Regarding what?
The women's auxiliaries here.
They should be sent back.
There are auxiliaries at the front?
They were ordered to Kolvasjärvi -
but they were brought all the way to Repola.
What has that to do with you?
One of them is my fiancée.
What is your name? - Lieutenant Perkola, sir.
I understand. I'll see to it.
I'm much obliged, sir.
Perkola, I need a group of volunteers for a special mission.
My platoon will go if requested.
You will advance from Repola to Porajärvi and this creek.
Dig in there and await further orders.
I'm going to say this to you alone and it mustn't go any further:
We have no information on the flanks of the enemy division.
We cannot advance until we know how many of them the woods hold.
There's a hundred-kilometer breach in the front.
They could put a hundred thousand men through it.
That's a mere Russian per meter.
They won't bring up that many.
You just hold along that creek.
If the Russians attack, hold them there and inform me.
Otherwise, await further orders. - Understood.
Any questions? - No, sir.
A convoy's leaving soon for Lieksa. It'll take you away from here.
Promise me one thing...
No, forget it.
Keep this with you.
Order of march: second squad starts at point.
Then first and third.
I'm on point with first squad.
What's our mission, Lieutenant?
We advance toward Porajärvi and establish defenses there.
That's all I'm at liberty to say.
You two take point first, and keep your distance.
Lieutenant, they're sending us off alone into the jaws of death?
I wouldn't call it that.
Let's hump it, Karppinen.
We're the jaws of death here. It's time we wolfed some Russians.
I'm supposed to escort that maniac..?
My darling, I will wait for you.
It has long been clear to me that our future together -
does not depend on the final outcome of this war -
on whoever wins or loses.
Our future together depends only on the two of us -
on our hopeful wishes.
When we parted, I tried to say -
that whatever happens to you in this war, I will wait for you.
I will wait for our life together:
A life we will not share with anyone.
Not even the fatherland.
"You have not crushed our resolve nor our will to victory."
"Throw down your weapons and return home to your families."
Not a hair turns here without the Lord knowing.
Hopefully not.
Your squad can take point now.
Tell the men to fix their gear to the bicycles properly -
so as not to make that infernal racket. - I'll see to it.
Ville and Lukkari out front. - Get a move on.
There was no need to put your son on point first.
There are no sons here, only Finnish soldiers.
If you say so.
Lieutenant Paasivirta. Orders from the chief of staff.
We're to leave at once.
This very minute? We can't just go.
We have fifteen thousand men attacking Russia.
I'm not going to quibble about this.
Louhela, take the girls with the wounded to Lieksa.
You're to be gone by afternoon. Is that clear? - Quite clear.
May I leave this letter with you? - Better send it from Lieksa.
It's for my fiancée. Lieutenant Perkola, Second Light Infantry.
Make it quick, the convoy's just leaving.
Remember that you represent a grand patriotic organization.
Avoid doing anything that...
There's Russkies. - They're evacuees.
Like hell they're refugees. They've all got to be searched.
Let's take a look first.
Let's just take it real easy now.
Do you speak Finnish? - No understand...
We're Karelian folks, all of us.
We don't mean nobody any harm.
You seen any Russians?
Far off gone to White Sea.
Search the men's belongings.
What you got there, old man?
What would he have, an old geezer like that?
We search everyone. No exceptions.
Hold your fire!
Goddamn it, hold your fire!
Just look what he was hiding.
Come here, Karppinen.
Come here.
Look me in the eye. Look me in the eye, soldier!
This won't happen again?
No, it won't, Lieutenant.
Dismissed.
He got a pretty bad case of shell shock during the Winter War.
He's had time to recover.
Snicker's lot's covering the creek and mine are backing up, as ordered.
Good. Rotate the men so they all get some rest.
Any word from supply on rations?
The men had nothing but dry bread on the way here.
They said provisions would follow. They won't let us starve here.
Care for some, Lieutenant? - What it is?
Me and the boys boiled some water.
You boys make strong soup.
Orders from division headquarters.
Acknowledged. - They include this map.
I have another message for you.
A report to Repola said -
that partisans attacked the convoy on its way to Lieksa.
And the auxiliaries? Was there anything about them?
They were all killed.
All of them?
So I was told.
What was that all about?
What do you want, Corporal?
I though I'd come for a chat.
About what?
Sir, if you want to talk, I'm here to listen.
I'm no stranger to sorrow.
I'm reminded of words of solace from the gospel of Matthew.
No words are needed here.
Assemble the men for a briefing.
The hamlets run around the lake.
First Tusenya, then Tscholky.
That's Koroly, where we're headed.
From there we send information to HQ. - What information would that be?
Whether there are Russians beyond the lake.
The division will attack toward Rukajärvi from the north.
That's Virta, where our boys should be let through to attack.
We hold at Koroly and await orders.
The Russians are already a long way off by now.
If the village is empty, signal us and we'll follow.
Have you got that? - Yes, sir.
What's up? Is there somebody in there?
Tell the men to prepare to enter the village.
Goddamn it.
Let's go. There's Russians there all right.
We'll wait a while.
There's no food around.
Someone's just been here. The ashes are still warm.
What's with Ville?
There's a bride made ready there, but she won't do for him.
There's a dead woman in there.
Why blubber over one carcass?
You'll see a deal worse in war. Get up from there.
There you have our Russkie.
So it's a foal stoking the stove.
Eero?
Don't you get it? I'll cook the meat. It'll feed all of us.
You won't shoot a horse's child! - Calm down.
So shoot both of us, damn it. - Just back off, Jussi.
Step back! - You are not shooting this foal!
I'll shoot both of you! - Go ahead!
You're not shooting anyone! - Help us out, sir!
Lukkari. That'll do.
So, you can shoot all the people you want to.
You're ordered to.
Then you cry over a single foal. - Someone ought to clobber you.
Right, strict order on duty, otherwise it's orgies.
Damn it, now he stumbled.
Watch where you stick your feet.
I've got other things to do besides looking after you. - Let the kid be.
Don't you tell me how to raise my son, you Red Guard whelp.
I beg your pardon.
My father raised me differently, before your kind executed him.
So this is where you mean to draw the border?
Where the hell are these pyromaniacs?
Waiting on the other bank, I reckon.
One guess what this means, gents.
I figure this is as far as we go.
We can't cross that, can we?
If this is as far as we go, let's all set up house here.
We have to get across. I need two volunteers.
Count me in.
Me, too. - Let's get going.
Who's burning these bridges?
Whoever gets there first. I thought that was obvious.
I guess they know who they're up against.
What's it look like?
They're building a plank bridge.
It's like the woods over there are crawling with Russians.
Death lies in ambush there. - Just keep moving forward.
For Christ's sake, don't stop here!
What's holding things up? - It's that goddamn Karppinen.
My bike fell in the water, sir.
Goddamn it! - Move it!
It just slipped out of my hands. I didn't mean to...
Return to Repola on foot.
By myself? - Let Moilanen and Leinonen accompany him.
We can't spare an escort for chickenshit like him.
You'll have to walk back.
And while you're at it, think about what really happened to the bike.
I could run along behind.