Virolahti

Before the Finnish Winter War, Finland had built a line of defence (Mannerheim line) that crossed the Karelian isthmus as a defence against a possible attack from Soviet Union. Finland lost the war in March 1940, and as a result of the peace treaty this line of defence ended up in Soviet Union. Therefore the finns began construction of a new line of defence along the new border with Soviet Union. This line was called Salpa line and is located about 200 kilometres east of Helsinki and stretched 1200 kilometres from southern to northern Finland. However, the Salpa line was never used for its purpose ’cause the finns hade already surrended to the russians in september 1944 before the fighting reached Salpa line. This ended what has been called the Continuation war that Finland fought against Soviet Union between June 25, 1941, and September 19, 1944. A war that aimed to recapture the territories lost to Soviet union after the Winter War.