Salpalinja – Finland’s Latch

A huge part of the war effort was a defence line called Salpalinja (Finland’s Latch), which was built between 1940-1941 and 1944. It runs nearly the whole length of Finland’s eastern border, from the Gulf of Finland to the province of Petsamo. Salpalinja is made of hundreds of kilometers of 3-ton boulders, 728 stone bunkers, and 3000 wooden ones. In Ruokolahti Syyspohja, you can see many of Salpalinja’s fortifications including finished, unfinished, and collapsed out dugouts as well as water-filled dugout trenches. You can also walk between the 3-ton boulders that formed the tank barrier. To build the defence line, stone was cut from grandiorite rocks in nearby Haukkavuori. Salpalinja was never used in the war, as the enemy was stopped before they got that far.