CROSSING BORDERS

Previously published as Crossing Borders: From Refugee to Freedom Fighter and Beyond by Toivo Waske
Soviet Ingria Toivo was born in an era of tumult and change in both Finland & Russia that affected the circumstances of his family members and determined the course of their lives. His story is not only one of war, but that of his family's fate as impacted by Stalin's persecution of the Finnish Ingrian people. Arrests of family members and banishment to Siberia were common. During collectivization, his family's yearly portion of the harvest lasted only for a few months. All Ingrian villages were eventually cleared out. During German occupation of the border area in 1943-44, Toivo's father and brother were part of the mass transport of Ingrians to Finland during which the sister travelling with them was lost. Toivo had fled alone to Finland earlier as a teen. On meeting his father again, he learned that his mother had died in hospital during the German Blockade of Leningrad.
In Finnish Special Forces Battalion ErP4 Toivo Waske's ten-reconnaissance patrolman's story is in a class of its own. It is his own very personal experiences and views recalled. He brings forth the ordinary patrol member's view of the war's events, often telling in great detail about various routines such as skiing in deep snow and roaming in the wilderness and swamps. Viktor Hyyrönen, Kivekäs