For the post of chief of staff of the air armies In October 1955, a group of generals of the armed forces was sent to the PRC under the leadership of the deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff, Colonel-General Gryzlov, with the task of determining

Winzer Bruno Soldier of the Three Armies

Position of Army Group G When Balck assumed command on September 21, the troops of Army Group G were positioned as follows: 1st Army of General von Knobelsdorff - in the Metz area, Chateau-Salen; 5th Panzer Army of General Hasso von Manteuffel covered the Northern Vosges

Position of Army Group G When Balck assumed command on September 21, the forces of Army Group G were positioned as follows: - General von Knobelsdorff's 1st Army - in the Metz-Chateau-Salen area; - General Hasso von Manteuffel's 5th Panzer Army covered the Northern

Extract from the combat schedule of the forces of the armies of Lieutenant General P.N. Wrangel for October 28, 1920 1st Army Commander - General A.P. Kutepov 1st Army Corps - General P.K. Pisarev. ... Drozdovskaya Division - General of the Spacecraft ... Kellner. The composition of the division: 1st Drozdovsky Rifle

Winzer Bruno.

Soldier of three armies

The word "on a personal matter"

These notes were by no means intended as a life story of a soldier, although I am telling here about what I had to experience during the years of service in the Reichswehr, the Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr. Books and films, imbued with a false soldier's romance, contributed a lot to my decision to devote myself to this profession, because of which the best years of my life were pointless and fruitless.

I intend to describe these years for certain as I have experienced them; to recreate events exactly as I saw them; to draw from them the lessons that I consider necessary for our common benefit. Therefore, it would be completely inappropriate to gloss over the deformities of military education, or even more so to sugarcoat front-line battles. It was only very late myself that I realized that the reactionary Reichswehr, the Hitlerite Wehrmacht and the pseudo-democratic Bundeswehr differ from each other only in external attributes; the nature and purpose of the Bundeswehr have not changed. Therefore, the purpose of my book is to show by all means the enduring contradiction between militarism and a truly military spirit.

Thousands of times I said “so sure” in three armies, until I said my immutable “no”, shaking off the power of pernicious traditions. To the false pathos of retired generals, who have never learned anything from history, trying in their memoirs and commemorative speeches to idealize the way of the cross of the soldiers whom they sent to their deaths, I oppose the word of a former war participant who sincerely strives for truth and peace. The sometimes brutal pictures I paint of the events of that time were inspired in me by my duty to all women and men who were doomed - in the rear or at the front - to bear the great hardships of the war; before those whose trust was deceived by the criminal political regime and who, at the cost of tremendous efforts, achieved victory over fascism.

To deny the selflessness of some would be to underestimate the victory of others.

Many witnesses of the First and Second World War are still alive, who, like me, serving militarism, were used for purposes hostile to the interests of both their own people and other peoples. Both of these military generations must consider it their first task, day in and day out, to prevent by all means from the flames of the third world war. But some people in the FRG are still hindered from taking a progressive position by false traditions, social differences, capitalist interests and prejudices inculcated by education. The idea of ​​peace and the slogan "never again" have not yet taken root there; but the path of development from the initial unconscious "rejection" to the extra-parliamentary opposition that has arisen today, proves that an increasing number of citizens of West Germany are beginning to understand in which direction the development of the FRG is now going. Obstacles to peace must be removed. My work should also be a modest contribution to this cause.

May this book help to ensure that the necessary dialogue between fathers, witnesses of the recent past, and sons, who embody the future, continue in the future for the benefit of both.

"Did Major Winzer take the tapes with him?"

This day, May 1960, was no different from all the previous ones. I could tell the time without looking at my watch. My balcony faced south, and it was about nine in the morning when the sun slowly came up from the left corner of the house.

The stream of cars has entered its usual course - before the start of the working day, it expands, resembling the flooded Rhine after the rains, which is just a stone's throw from here. The people thrown into the city by this stream of cars had already been in factories and shops for several hours, or sat on stools in numerous institutions. A day that was no different from all the previous ones.

The hubbub and laughter of children ceased in the streets, who, whistling and calling each other, walked from all ends and merged into a multicolored line running to school. Somewhere near from the window a woman's voice was heard, and nearby was music from the radio. The air was filled with the incessant, but not seemingly boring, hum of the busy, busy, toiling city, which was strangely combined with the delightful freshness of spring. It was a May day, indistinguishable from other days in May.

Here, on the outskirts of Karlsruhe, in Baden, is the village of officers and non-commissioned officers of the Bundeswehr. Six three-storey modern light buildings stand in the middle of the forest. You can get here only by a special motorway or a fenced-in path for pedestrians. The highway ends in an arched dead end, adapted for parking, and the arrangement of houses around is reminiscent of the barrage of carts used by our ancestors, or, perhaps, even the "all-round defense" that became famous in the last war. Ordinary civilians bypass this village. In all the garrisons, they are joking - and quite bitingly - about the Bundeswehr "silo towers".

I had a wonderful spacious apartment on the top floor of one of these buildings. A kitchen, a bathroom, two toilets, a nursery, a bedroom, a dining room and an office — these were the rented possessions of my family. This small, closed from the world, abode of joys was completed by a balcony almost nine meters long, to which the doors of two rooms opened.

The forest approached the houses so close that the branches of the trees almost rested against the windows. Playful auburn squirrels scrambled over boxes of flowers and dragged the nuts hidden for them from there.

On that morning, May seemed to want to show himself in all his charm. The sun was shining and it was so warm that my wife and I had breakfast on the balcony. In the dining room, my son Ulrich lay in his wicker carriage and slept in a peaceful, sound sleep, like a man sleeps in the twelfth month of his earthly existence. And before that I played with him on the carpet. This little joy rarely fell out to me: I spent my days in the service outside our village. But now my vacation has begun, and my wife and I have not yet decided whether we will go on a trip with the baby. We had no plans yet, I just wanted to relax.

I had no premonition that this day would have a very special meaning in my life, although I was extremely worried about one not entirely clear circumstance, because of which I even, despite my vacation, visited the service.

I was the press liaison officer of the Air Force South. Disagreements arose with Minister Franz Josef Strauss about a press conference I recently organized in Karlsruhe. I was expecting at least some kind of response from my senior management, and it was clear to me as daylight that nothing good could be expected from him. Strauss has heard that many officers are in opposition against him, and he will undoubtedly react to this.

At about ten o'clock I left the village for the headquarters of the "South" group. It was located in the city center, opposite the main station, in the Reichshof Hotel, which the Bundeswehr rented and adapted for its needs.

In front of the building, on the right side, where there was a parking lot for official cars, there were several jeeps, many standard bluish-gray Bundeswehr private cars, a large general's Opel-captain. Fortunately, I found a place for my Volkswagen on the left, between the cars belonging to the staff officers.

When I entered the Reichshof, the sentry saluted me and let me in without asking for my ID, even though I was in civilian clothes. He knew me, and besides, almost all of us then wore civilian clothes and only in the office did they put on the uniform that was kept in the closet. By the end of the class, everyone changed again. "Citizen in military uniform"We, so to speak, opposed the" soldier in civilian clothes. " Under this guise, it was impossible to recognize Bundeswehr officers in us and start an undesirable argument with us somewhere on the street, in a restaurant, on a train, etc. We often had to “defend” our profession: the majority of the people strongly disagreed with the remilitarization, despite the fact that every project related to the Bundeswehr was invariably accepted by the Bundestag.

Answering the sentry's greeting, I walked across the lobby to the wide staircase. On the fourth floor was the personnel department of the headquarters, and at the end of the long corridor was my department, whose function was to liaise with civil organizations in order to involve young people in the Bundeswehr. One of the four rooms occupied by the department was my office, where Captain Nebe now worked, who replaced me on vacation. The busy station square was visible from the window. There was a desk in the office, along the walls of the room there were shelves for folders and newspapers, and in the middle - round table and four comfortable soft chairs. True, they were not very suitable for a military establishment, but my visitors were mainly journalists, whom I educated, explaining to them the advantages of the Bundeswehr. And sometimes you listen patiently in an easy chair.

Bruno Winzer.

Bruno Winzer

Memoirs of a German officer, in which the author talks about his service in the Reichswehr, Hitler's Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr. In 1960, Bruno Winzer, a Bundeswehr headquarters officer, secretly left West Germany and went to the German Democratic Republic, where he published this book - his life story.

Bruno Winzer. Soldier of three armies.

The word "on a personal matter"

These notes were by no means intended as a life story of a soldier, although I am telling here about what I had to experience during the years of service in the Reichswehr, the Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr. Books and films, imbued with a false soldier's romance, contributed a lot to my decision to devote myself to this profession, because of which the best years of my life were pointless and fruitless.

I intend to describe these years for certain as I have experienced them; to recreate events exactly as I saw them; to draw from them the lessons that I consider necessary for our common benefit. Therefore, it would be completely inappropriate to gloss over the deformities of military education, or even more so to sugarcoat front-line battles. It was only very late myself that I realized that the reactionary Reichswehr, the Hitlerite Wehrmacht and the pseudo-democratic Bundeswehr differ from each other only in external attributes; the nature and purpose of the Bundeswehr have not changed. Therefore, the purpose of my book is to show by all means the enduring contradiction between militarism and a truly military spirit.

Thousands of times I said “so sure” in three armies, until I said my immutable “no”, shaking off the power of pernicious traditions. To the false pathos of retired generals, who have never learned anything from history, trying in their memoirs and commemorative speeches to idealize the way of the cross of the soldiers whom they sent to their deaths, I oppose the word of a former war participant who sincerely strives for truth and peace. The sometimes brutal pictures I paint of the events of that time were inspired in me by my duty to all women and men who were doomed - in the rear or at the front - to bear the great hardships of the war; before those whose trust was deceived by the criminal political regime and who, at the cost of tremendous efforts, achieved victory over fascism.

To deny the selflessness of some would be to underestimate the victory of others.

Many witnesses of the First and Second World War are still alive, who, like me, serving militarism, were used for purposes hostile to the interests of both their own people and other peoples. Both of these military generations must consider it their first task, day in and day out, to prevent by all means from the flames of the third world war. But some people in the FRG are still hindered from taking a progressive position by false traditions, social differences, capitalist interests and prejudices inculcated by education. The idea of ​​peace and the slogan "never again" have not yet taken root there; but the path of development from the initial unconscious "rejection" to the extra-parliamentary opposition that has arisen today, proves that an increasing number of citizens of West Germany are beginning to understand in which direction the development of the FRG is now going. Obstacles to peace must be removed. My work should also be a modest contribution to this cause.

May this book help to ensure that the necessary dialogue between fathers, witnesses of the recent past, and sons, who embody the future, continue in the future for the benefit of both.

"Did Major Winzer take the tapes with him?"

This day, May 1960, was no different from all the previous ones. I could tell the time without looking at my watch. My balcony faced south, and it was about nine in the morning when the sun slowly came up from the left corner of the house.

The stream of cars has entered its usual course - before the start of the working day, it expands, resembling the flooded Rhine after the rains, which is just a stone's throw from here. The people thrown into the city by this stream of cars had already been in factories and shops for several hours, or sat on stools in numerous institutions. A day that was no different from all the previous ones.

The hubbub and laughter of children ceased on the streets, who, whistling and calling each other, walked from all corners and merged into a multicolored line running to school. Somewhere near from the window a woman's voice was heard, and nearby was music from the radio.

The air was filled with the incessant, but not seemingly boring, hum of the busy, busy city, which was strangely combined with the delightful freshness of spring. It was a May day, indistinguishable from other days in May.

Here, on the outskirts of Karlsruhe, in Baden, is the village of officers and non-commissioned officers of the Bundeswehr. Six three-storey modern light buildings stand in the middle of the forest. You can get here only by a special motorway or a fenced-in path for pedestrians. The highway ends in an arched dead end, adapted for parking, and the arrangement of houses around is reminiscent of the barrage of carts used by our ancestors, or, perhaps, even the "all-round defense" that became famous in the last war. Ordinary civilians bypass this village. In all the garrisons, they are joking - and quite bitingly - about the Bundeswehr "silo towers".

I had a wonderful spacious apartment on the top floor of one of these buildings. A kitchen, a bathroom, two toilets, a nursery, a bedroom, a dining room and an office — these were the rented possessions of my family. This small, closed from the world, abode of joys was completed by a balcony almost nine meters long, to which the doors of two rooms opened.

The forest approached the houses so close that the branches of the trees almost rested against the windows.

Playful auburn squirrels scrambled over boxes of flowers and dragged the nuts hidden for them from there.

On that morning, May seemed to want to show himself in all his charm. The sun was shining and it was so warm that my wife and I had breakfast on the balcony. In the dining room, my son Ulrich lay in his wicker carriage and slept in a peaceful, sound sleep, like a man sleeps in the twelfth month of his earthly existence. And before that I played with him on the carpet. This little joy rarely fell out to me: I spent my days in the service outside our village. But now my vacation has begun, and my wife and I have not yet decided whether we will go on a trip with the baby. We had no plans yet, I just wanted to relax.

I had no premonition that this day would have a very special meaning in my life, although I was extremely worried about one not entirely clear circumstance, because of which I even, despite my vacation, visited the service.

I was the press liaison officer of the Air Force South. Disagreements arose with Minister Franz Josef Strauss about a press conference I recently organized in Karlsruhe. I was expecting at least some kind of response from my senior management, and it was clear to me as daylight that nothing good could be expected from him. Strauss has heard that many officers are in opposition against him, and he will undoubtedly react to this.

At about ten o'clock I left the village for the headquarters of the "South" group. It was located in the city center, opposite the main station, in the Reichshof Hotel, which the Bundeswehr rented and adapted for its needs.

In front of the building, on the right side, where there was a parking lot for official cars, there were several jeeps, many standard bluish-gray Bundeswehr private cars, a large general's Opel-captain. Fortunately, I found a place for my Volkswagen on the left, between the cars belonging to the staff officers.

When I entered the Reichshof, the sentry saluted me and let me in without asking for my ID, even though I was in civilian clothes. He knew me, and besides, almost all of us then wore civilian clothes and only in the office did they put on the uniform that was kept in the closet. By the end of the class, everyone changed again. To the "citizen in military uniform" we, so to speak, opposed the "soldier in civilian clothes". Under this guise, it was impossible to recognize in us the officers of the Bundeswehr and start an undesirable argument with us somewhere on the street, in a restaurant, on a train, etc. We often had to “defend” our profession: the majority of the people strongly disagreed with the remilitarization, despite the fact that every project related to the Bundeswehr was invariably accepted by the Bundestag.

Answering the sentry's greeting, I walked across the lobby to the wide staircase. On the fourth floor was the personnel department of the headquarters, and at the end of the long corridor was my department, whose function was to liaise with civil organizations in order to involve young people in the Bundeswehr. One of the four rooms occupied by the department was my office, where Captain Nebe now worked, who replaced me on vacation. The busy station square was visible from the window. There was a desk in the office, along the walls of the room were shelves for folders and newspapers, and in the middle was a round table and four comfortable soft armchairs. True, they were not very suitable for a military establishment, but my visitors were mainly journalists, whom I educated, explaining to them the advantages of the Bundeswehr. And sometimes you listen patiently in an easy chair.

In my office hung a map of the world with NATO military bases, a map of Europe, where Germany was represented within the borders of 1937 - albeit with the peculiarity that the territory of the GDR, painted over with crimson paint, was called the Soviet zone - and a big picture. She depicted the Wehrmacht motorized infantry rushing at full speed, when she took by storm some Soviet position - the artist captured the moment of the offensive here. Paintings ...

How to name a person who devoted his whole life exclusively to war and military service? Someone who showed himself to be a good soldier and a worthy officer with a heightened sense, though not quite standard, but still justice? A fighter who managed to fight under the flags of three countries in three wars? Probably, he would be called a hero if we lived in a world where the perception of history does not depend on the fact of victory in the war of one side or the other. But we live in the real world, and therefore Lauri Törney, although praised by some of his compatriots for steadfastness and courage, for the majority (and especially for the inhabitants of our country) remains a war criminal, racist and Russophobe who tarnished his biography by serving in the Finnish army during the Winter war and in the SS during World War II.

This article is not intended to clean up the hot Finnish guy's reputation, nor is it aimed at belittling his dignity. This is just a biography of a man who loved to fight and followed his inner code of honor. Read it, and perhaps you will have your own opinion about who should be considered Lauri Turney: a hero, a criminal or a typical product of his time?

Choice of vocation and the first war

Lauri Allan Törni was born on May 28, 1919 in the then Finnish city of Viipuri (now the city of Vyborg, Leningrad Region) in the family of a naval captain. Like most of his peers, he loved skiing and hunting. Upon entering the school, Lauri began to show an interest in military affairs, and then joined the ranks of the Shutskor (Guard Corps), a paramilitary organization that took over the functions of law enforcement after the dissolution of the Finnish police in 1917. After that, in 1938, Turney volunteered for the army, where they noticed potential in him and sent him to courses, from where Lauri returned with the rank of junior sergeant.

During the February Revolution, NikolaiII abdicated not only the Russian throne, but also the title of the Grand Duke of Finland, which, in turn, allowed the Finnish government to declare the country's independence. One of the government's innovations was the dissolution of the police. During this period, the spontaneous emergence of law enforcement units - Shutskor - was noted throughout the country. In the countryside, as well as among the workers, the Punakaart (Finnish Red Guard) detachments took over the same functions. On the basis of ideological contradictions, Shutskor, where anti-communist sentiments were strong, quite often entered into armed confrontation with the detachments of Punakaart, and in 1918 the Guard Corps took an active part in suppressing the "Finnish revolution".

Lauri Turney received the rank of sergeant coincided with the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war. Under the command of Major Matti Armas Aarnio, nicknamed "Motti Matti" (Matti boiler master), he participated in the operation to encircle and destroy the 18th rifle division under the command of Colonel Kondrashov in the infamous Death Valley. During the hostilities, Lauri was noted by the command as a fighter capable of decisive action. Therefore, he was sent to an officer's school. For Turney himself, this was another confirmation that he was not mistaken with the choice of a vocation. By the end of the Soviet-Finnish war, Lauri Turney came with the rank of second lieutenant and with three awards on his chest (Bronze Medal of Freedom, Silver Medal of Freedom and Medal for the Winter War).

Together with the final choice of a profession, it was during this period that the young Finn became an ardent anti-communist, nationalist and Russophobe. However, compared to other Europeans with similar views, Lauri had good reasons for this. The fact is that the result of the war was the Moscow Treaty of 1940, according to which The Soviet Union departed about 40,000 square kilometers of Finnish territory, and among these lands was the small homeland of Törni, the city of Viipuri. The young lieutenant lost his home and parental home, and, judging not biasedly, one can understand why in the upcoming world conflict, Lauri Turney, like many young Finns, chose the side of the Reich.

Finnish rematch

In May 1941, Lauri Törney, with a company of nearly 1,300 Finnish volunteers, went to Germany, where he undergoes military training for service in the SS forces. Later, from the trained Finns, the SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost volunteer battalion is formed. As part of this battalion, Lauri receives the rank of Untersturmführer, which is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the Wehrmacht. The German attack on the USSR in June 1941 probably saw Turney as an excellent opportunity to settle scores with the Soviets, but the SS headquarters had their own views on its fate. In July of the same year, the young Finnish Untersturmführer and several other officers were demobilized and sent back to Finland. The reason for this was that the number of officers in the SS battalion "Nordost" was exceeded. In a word, there was simply no suitable position for Lauri Turney.

The creation of the Finnish volunteer battalion differed in its procedure from the formation of similar units in other countries. Back in early 1941, the German military attaché reported that there are many Winter War veterans in Finland who would like to take revenge on the USSR. However, the territory of Finland was not occupied by the Germans, and therefore, two sovereign states were to be involved in this process, in one of which (Finland) this kind of service was considered mercenary and fell under the relevant article of the criminal code. At the same time, Finland did not want to spoil relations with the Reich with its refusal, so it took several months to settle all aspects. As a result, the recruitment was carried out in secret and under the guise of sending volunteers to work at industrial enterprises in Germany.

Since August 1941, Törny, commanding the 8th Light Special Detachment of the 1st Division of the Finnish Armed Forces, entered the war with the USSR. His detachment began its combat path from the Karelian fortified area, then took part in the occupation of Olonets, Petrozavodsk and Kondopoga, as well as in the capture of Medvezhyegorsk and Pindushi. After the Finnish troops managed to block the railway communication with Murmansk and stabilize the situation at the front in the Medvezhyegorsk area, Lauri and his special detachment are involved in reconnaissance raids.

In March 1942, Lauri Turney was promoted to lieutenant, but a few days later, during one of the reconnaissance operations in the area of ​​the same ill-fated Medvezhyegorsk, Lieutenant Lauri Turney steps on a mine and receives a portion of the fragments. He, partially paralyzed, is sent to a military hospital. However, together with the wound, the Finn receives the next rank of senior lieutenant. By the time Lauri, who had recovered from his wounds, returned to the war, she had already passed the phase of active hostilities and became positional. The unit of Senior Lieutenant Turney was disbanded as unnecessary, and he himself was sent to the 56th Infantry Regiment, which, by a lucky coincidence, was commanded by the same Matti Aarnio.

Soviet-Finnish War 1941–1944 in Russian historiography is considered to be part of the front of the Great Patriotic War, in Germany it is treated as part of the Barbarossa plan and part of the Second World War. Most Finnish historians call it the "Continuation War", since the inhabitants of Finland themselves saw in this conflict a chance to take revenge from the USSR for the Winter War and regain the territories lost under the Moscow Treaty.

Remembering the merits of Lauri Turney in the last war, "Motti Matti" in December 1942 instructs him to recruit volunteers from among the soldiers of the 1st Division in order to create on their basis a separate company of rangers. This company was needed to carry out special missions, including behind the front line. By January 1943, the special jaeger unit was completed. All the fighters of the special unit of rangers, which in unofficial circles was called "Turney", wore blue stripes on their uniforms, where a large red letter "T" stood against the background of a yellow lightning bolt.

The largest victories of this unit can be considered work in the rear of the Red Army in Karelia. Among other achievements, in March 1943, the huntsmen were able to prevent the transfer of Soviet saboteurs from the front line to the rear to the Finnish troops. From July 26 to August 13, 1944, Lauri Turney, who had already received the Mannerheim Cross by that time, took part in the battles at Ilomantsi. It is noteworthy that it was during this period that the future President of Finland Mauno Koivisto fought in his squadron. In August of the same year, Senior Lieutenant Turney becomes a captain, but already on September 19, 1944, Finland concludes an armistice with the USSR and the war between the Finns and the Russians ends again.

As the Huntsman Turney special squad conducts more and more successful operations both on the front line and beyond, various mythical details begin to weave into Lauri's biography. For example, the most common myth–that for Lauri Turney, "dead or alive," the Soviet command set a reward of three million Finnish marks. Most experts claim that this is a myth, since in the USSR, in principle, there was no tradition to assign rewards for people from the enemy's camp.

A matter of principle

After Finland concluded an armistice with the USSR, under pressure from the new "allies" she turned her arms against Germany. Lauri Turney remained true to his principles. At that time, he had no choice but to refuse to take part in the Lapland War and go to the reserve, but "chance" brought him to the pro-German resistance movement, whose members actively collaborated with the Abwehr and prepared a number of sabotage in case the Soviet troops will enter the territory of Finland. Thanks to these people, Törney sailed to Germany in January 1945 in a German submarine. There he trained German soldiers in winter warfare, while at the same time taking a "refresher course" at the SS-Jagdverband sabotage school. After some time, it became obvious that the USSR was not planning an invasion of Finland. It was against the moral principles of Lauri Turney to participate in sabotage operations against his country, so the German command sent him to fight on Eastern front... In April, for services to the Reich, Lauri received the extraordinary rank of SS Hauptsturmführer, which is equivalent to the rank of captain, and the Iron Cross of the 2nd class.

A few days before the end of the war in Europe, Turney surrendered to British-American forces and was placed in a prisoner of war camp in Lubeck. In the post-war confusion, he managed to escape and return to Finland, but there in 1946 he was charged with treason, followed by a 6-year prison sentence. In 1948, Turney received a presidential pardon, despite three attempts to escape during his incomplete two years behind bars. Even after his release from custody, Turney was seriously afraid of another arrest, so in 1949 he fled to Sweden, where, using forged documents, he recruited a sailor on a ship to Caracas.

Christmas 1949

In Latin America, fate brings him back to the former commander Matti Aarnio. It is not known for certain what topics they talked about, but after a very short time, Turny enlisted on another merchant ship. When his ship passed through the Gulf of Mexico, the Finn jumped overboard and, reaching the coast, set off for New York. The Finnish American Community helped Lauri get a job. He first worked as a carpenter and then as a janitor. In 1953, he was issued a residence permit in the United States.

Those who served in the SS had special distinctive tattoos on the armpit or on the shoulder, sometimes there were people with a tattoo on the palate. Such a sign, including a blood group, provided the wounded SS man with an advantage over the Wehrmacht soldiers in terms of providing first aid. After the war, victors could use inspection to separate potential war criminals from ordinary enemy soldiers. According to some reports, Lauri Turney, after arriving in the United States, cut off his tattoo with his own knife.

Turney's last war

In 1954, the Finnish fugitive changed his first and last name, and now he was called Larry Alan Thorne. With new documents, he enlisted in the US Army. In the ranks of the American armed forces, he met former Finnish officers who fought on the side of the Reich. Some of them served in the special forces. Learning about the "exploits" of the recruit in the ranks of the Finnish army and the SS, they pulled him to themselves, and soon 35-year-old private Larry became a "green beret."

In the United States, there is the so-called "Lodge Law", thanks to which any emigrant with a residence permit in the United States of America can join the army. After serving five years, a foreigner can apply for citizenship. After World War II, many former SS and Wehrmacht soldiers took advantage of this, since in the United States they were treated more loyally than in Europe, and even more so in the Soviet Union.

For several years, Thorne trained American soldiers in winter combat tactics, skiing, guerrilla warfare and survival basics, while mastering parachute jumping himself. By 1957, Larry Thorne was already in the rank of first lieutenant. Between 1958 and 1962, he served in the 10th US Airborne Force, which was based in West Germany. In the 60s, he and his group successfully carried out an operation to evacuate classified documents from the crash site of an American spy plane in the mountains of Iran. This mission seemed impossible to the command, but it was thanks to Thorn that it ended successfully. Larry was promoted to captain, and his name became a legend in the US Special Forces.

In 1963, Thorn was sent to Vietnam. Larry, who fought against the Soviets for most of his military career, now went to Vietnam to fight the local communists, behind whom the USSR was secretly behind. In the six months spent in the jungle South-East Asia, Captain Larry Thorne sustained several wounds, as well as the Bronze Star, Purple Heart (with oak leaves for repeated injury), the Flight of Merit Cross, the Legion of Honor and several medals.

In 1965, Thorne, part of the top-secret US Special Forces unit Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), participates in Operation Shining Brass. (Shining Brass), the purpose of which was to discover and reconnoitre the Ho Chi Minh Trail. On October 18, 1965, during one of the operations, a helicopter carrying Captain Larry Thorne was caught in a thunderstorm and crashed 40 kilometers from Da Nang. The Finn's body was not found, but during the investigation, the command concluded that, most likely, he died. In this regard, in 1996, he was posthumously awarded the rank of Major of the US Armed Forces. In 1999, the remains of Larry Thorne were discovered. Until 2003, their identification took place, and when all the formalities were settled, Thorn and the Vietnamese helicopter pilots were buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery as heroes of the United States of America.

The death of Lauri Turney spawned more legends. So, some conspiracy theorists argue that the death of Captain Thorne was the result of a top-secret operation of the Soviet special services, which did not forgive the Finn for his exploits as part of the Turnie Jaegers and the SS troops. However, as in the legend with the bounty for his head, these rumors are difficult to both refute and confirm.

Life after death

Since the 90s, Lauri Turney has been increasingly talked about as a war hero, which has generated a lot of controversy. Some argue that Turney was an SS man, and the actions of the SS in the war were recognized by the Nuremberg Tribunal as criminal - therefore, the Finn is also a war criminal and a priori cannot be a war hero. It is also often recalled that in 1946 he was accused of treason. The defenders of Lauri believe that it is not entirely correct to hang the sins of the Sonder teams and SS units guarding the concentration camps on the SS troops. Lauri Turney himself was not convicted of any war crimes, except for serving in the SS as such, and all the charges against him are the intrigues of the Soviet and pro-Soviet special services.

All this hype has drawn attention to the persona Turny all kinds of pop culture figures. So, for example, in 1968 the film "Green Berets" was shot based on the work of Robin Moore, where the prototype of the main character was none other than Larry Thorne. According to the Finnish National Broadcasting Corporation's YLE vote in 2004, Törni was ranked 52nd on the list of the 100 Greatest Finns.

In his honor, a special model of the traditional Finnish puuko knife was released. Many museums in Finland have special exhibitions about his life. In 2010, for military service in Vietnam, he became the first foreign honorary member of the US Army Special Forces. In the state of Colorado, at the Fort Carson military base, the building of the 10th Special Forces Group is named in his honor. Last year, the Swedish power metal band Sabaton, whose work is almost entirely associated with military history, released the album "Heroes". This album contains a song dedicated to the national Finnish hero Lauri Törni called "Soldier of 3 armies".

In our country, where the memory of the war is too fresh, and most of them negatively perceive everything that is somehow connected with the Third Reich, this person will never become a hero, but no one can deny that, thanks to his unusual life path Lauri Alan Turney became one of the most interesting personalities v military history XX century.