In the 1940s, in the village of Kuohu west of Jyväskylä, more was done than just chopping wood for gasifier cars.
At the end of World War II, Finland committed to organizing its defense in such a way that rapid mobilization would not be possible. The situation required creative solutions, especially regarding foreign intelligence: operations had to be shut down, but the capability to conduct them remained equally essential.
Former intelligence material was decided to be hidden and personnel bound to secrecy. Numerous cover companies were established across the country under the names of intelligence veterans. One of the most important, Kuohun Pilke Oy, operated in Jyväskylä rural municipality.
Establishing cover companies
It remains unclear where the initial capital for these companies came from, but the most likely source was selling intelligence gathered during the war. By the end of the war, Finnish military intelligence possessed some of the world’s best information on the Red Army. On the emerging Cold War fronts, such information was highly valued. Sometimes the same intelligence was sold to multiple buyers simultaneously, so that Western countries would not exchange information among themselves and thus obtain it for free.
Funds were managed at least by intelligence officers Reino Hallamaa, Hannes Vehniäinen, and Uljas Käkönen. Colonel Hallamaa had been head of radio intelligence, while Major Vehniäinen led long-range patrol units. It is possible that Finnish business circles also financed the founding of cover companies.
The material to be hidden consisted largely of radio equipment and vehicles. Thus, it was natural to establish companies in the electronics and transport sectors. At the same time, other materials were concealed: maps, cameras, explosives, and weapons.
A dozen or more transport and radio companies were founded. Besides Kuohu, locations included Oulu, Kajaani, Joensuu, Lappeenranta, and Helsinki. In northern Finland, companies also operated as channels for moving material and people westward. Among those hidden in Sweden were Soviet citizens who had served Finnish intelligence.
Almost all cover companies ran at a loss, covered by intelligence funds. An exception was Arvo Mörö’s transport company. His family had experience in the field from Karelia before the wars. The Knight of the Mannerheim Cross made his company profitable: construction sites along the Oulujoki rapids and power plants provided plenty of traffic to Oulu. Mörö’s trucks disappeared from Oulu’s streets only in 2007.
Kuohun Pilke Oy
In summer 1945, the Lampsila farm in Kuohu village was chosen as the site for the transport and firewood company. Its cover activities were transport services and producing chopped wood for gasifier cars. At the same time, it ensured the supply of fuel for the intelligence department’s gasifiers, should the Soviet Union attempt to occupy the country.
The company’s purpose was not only to store material. It was an active unit, assigned official intelligence tasks. With its establishment, the Statistics Office of the General Staff’s Foreign Department, previously prepared for long-range reconnaissance and special operations, was shut down.
Constant readiness
The managing directors, former long-range patrolmen Heikki Määttänen and Paavo Suoranta, were required to maintain one patrol in constant readiness. This patrol was a Finnish special forces unit – the ultimate fallback the military leadership would rely on if necessary. Requirements were wartime level: detailed maps, submachine guns, and trained, experienced, physically fit patrolmen.
All this was reserved for Kuohu. Määttänen and Suoranta’s “workers” – Muisto Lassila, Johannes Iivonen, Tauno Kirves, Matti Nuija, Yrjö Pärssinen, and Reino Sappinen – were all former long-range patrolmen of the General Headquarters. Their tasks are hinted at by the company’s funds, which included a thick bundle of captured Soviet rubles. Kuohun Pilke likely also knew of so-called “Matti caches” prepared when retreating behind the new border.
Weapons were tested at a nearby gravel pit, fitness maintained by chopping wood. Demand for the product was minimal: the Torasjoki sawmill, evacuated from Suojärvi to Kuohu, produced enough firewood as a by-product. Wages were paid from intelligence funds; other patrolmen reserved for the company received standby pay of 1,000 marks per month.
Operations wind down
Over time, conditions stabilized. The Allied Control Commission left Finland. After the arms cache case came to light, the threat of Soviet occupation diminished. In step with this, Kuohun Pilke’s funding weakened. The unprofitable company soon faced difficulties.
Its men gradually moved onto Cold War fronts. Nominally employed by Norwegians, their real employer was NATO, founded in 1949.
Managing director Määttänen disappeared on a patrol mission in the Soviet Union in 1950. Suoranta wound down the company and became a NATO agent. Among those he sent on espionage missions east were former Pilke men Sappinen and Lassila.
Kuohun Pilke’s operations ended with an auction of its assets. Only the state-owned trucks were sold elsewhere. The proceeds paid debts of Määttänen’s family, left without a father. Otherwise, intelligence leadership washed its hands of the company, and it was dissolved as quietly as it had been founded.
The world’s most wanted Finn
Kuohun Pilke’s managing director Heikki Määttänen put on his hat, gave his children a “strange” look, and stepped out into a March morning. His journey led from Kuohu to the eastern border. He had to cross, but the snow crust was not yet firm. He waited.
Much else had failed to hold in recent years. The company produced heavy losses. Gasifier cars needing firewood dwindled, intelligence funding had long since dried up. Old army trucks stalled on Central Finland’s steep hills.
Friends knew Määttänen’s mental health was faltering. It was no wonder, more a natural consequence. The war had taken the Karelian boy’s home and two brothers – one in the Winter War, the other drowned on a long-range patrol across the Vuoksi River. Alcohol flowed. Heikki was restless, sociable: a good storyteller and actor, even a decent poet. Kuohu’s firewood was in his eyes too; his marriage was breaking down.
When summer 1950 came, Heikki Määttänen vanished, reportedly across the eastern border. It is unknown whether he left on behalf of NATO or Finland – likely both. Shots were heard at the border, and the Security Police searched for him seriously thereafter. Assistance was sought widely. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover reported no sightings, nor did the British Commonwealth.
In practice, the man was sought worldwide: only Norway and the Soviet Union were not asked. The long-range patrol lieutenant, not yet 35, disappeared. Rumors spread. Perhaps captured. Perhaps suicide. Perhaps a vanishing act.