Oy Insinööritoimisto Ratas

Oy Insinööritoimisto Ratas (engineer office Ratas Inc.;in English ratas means gear) was a front (posing as an engineering consulting firm) through which about 1,200 Finns were recruited for military service in Germany during the spring of 1941, in the interim period of peace between the Continuation and Winter Wars.

About 400 of this number were sent to the Eastern Front as part of the 5th SS Division (motorisierte) Wiking in the summer. The rest were sent out in December that same year. Most of the Finnish volunteers were withdrawn in the summer of 1943 after heavy battles in Caucasus and Ukraine.

See also: Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS

References

• Wikberg, Olli: Dritte Nordland (2001). Barbarossa Press. ISBN 9519750649.