Mannerheim's secret envoy to Berlin who brokered the German-Finnish military pact that led to the Continuation War
When Himmler asked him to lead Finnish armed resistance after the 1944 ceasefire, Talvela replied he would do so only 'on the orders of Marshal Mannerheim.'
A product of the Jäger movement, Talvela rose to prominence during the Winter War when his Group Talvela destroyed two Soviet divisions at Tolvajärvi, securing Finland's first major victory. In the autumn of 1940, Mannerheim dispatched him as a personal envoy to Berlin, where he negotiated secret military coordination between the Finnish and German general staffs: the diplomatic bridge that brought Finland into the Continuation War alongside the Wehrmacht. After the war he worked as a businessman and served on the Helsinki city council; the second recipient of the Mannerheim Cross, he was promoted to general of the infantry in 1966.
Career Timeline
- 1916Jäger volunteer, 27th Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion
- 1918Battalion commander (Whites), Finnish Civil War; major
- 1919–1922C-in-C, Aunus expedition; battalion commander, Viena expedition
- 1926–1927Commander, Savo Jäger Regiment
- 1939.12–1940.04Commander Group Talvela (Tolvajärvi victory), then III Corps; major general
- 1940.09Mannerheim's personal envoy to Berlin; negotiated German-Finnish military coordination
- 1941.06–1942.01Commander, VI Corps, Army of Karelia; Mannerheim Cross (3 Aug 1941)
- 1942–1944Finnish army representative at German High Command; lt. general; commanded Aunus Group 1944