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Battle stations and concrete dugout on the eastern side of the railroad

  • Battle stations and concrete dugout on the eastern side of the railroad. Photo: A. Torvinen

    Battle stations and concrete dugout on the eastern side of the railroad. Photo: A. Torvinen

Battle stations and concrete dugout on the eastern side of the railroad

Remains of numerous man-made earthworks can be found alongside Ounasvaara railroad, including both trenches and machine-gun nests as well as auxiliary trenches related to guard activities. At least some of these probably date from the Lapland War. On the side of the hill, next to the railroad, there is a long trench, machine-gun nests and foxholes. No actual fighting took place in this area, however. In the Ounasvaara area, there are also battle stations on the north side and even here and there on the top of the hill. Apparently, trenches used to run along the sides of the hill all the way from the area next to the present-day golf course to Tottorakka and Välirakka and from there towards what is today the sports institute. Perhaps some of the gunshots and traces of battle stations from the Lapland War are still visible in the terrain, but some are probably overgrown with vegetation.

The Germans also made use of the caverns and rock formations found naturally on the hill. The concrete dugout is about three by four metres long and two metres tall. The doorway is concrete, and the walls have been made of natural stones. The roof of the dugout has partially collapsed, but otherwise the building is fairly intact. Nearby and a little further away is an old heteka steel-frame bed or parts thereof and a wooden door, which may also date from a later period. This dugout was probably used by German guards as a resting place and for keeping warm in the winter. The dugout was heated with an iron stove.

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  • Viewed: 930
  • Latitude: 66.504647217747
  • Longitude: 25.7535408286753

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