The development of the garrison area
Vähä-Luolaja is one of Hattula’s oldest villages, with the earliest documents dating from 1329. The part of the military training area closer to Hämeenlinna was probably originally called Parolannummi, and the area on Hattula's side was called Luolaistennummi. Later the entire area began to be called Parolannummi.
Luolaistennummi, today Parolannummi, in 1767
The Lion of Parola: This monument was erected at the south end of the airport to commemorate the visit of Czar Alexander II to Parolannummi in 1863. The monument, unveiled in 1868, was created by sculptor Enas Sjöstrand and raised by Finnish officers. Photo: Hattula municipal photo archive / Erkki Kivikari
The Parola exercise area in 1944. Photo: from the book Tapparasta tankkeihin (‘From the Battleaxe to Tanks’)
The barracks of the Detached Engineer Company beside the ‘sacred road’ in the late 1940s. Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin
Quarters of the Parolannummi barracks in 1951 – seemingly tidy, but cramped and in poor condition. Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin / Huvudstadsbladet
Photo: Armour School photo archive
Excerpt from the Armour School Commander’s morale report, 15 December 1948: ‘The morale and service spirit of the students is high, but our commonly known poor living conditions are causing discomfort. There are no complaints concerning food or equipment. However, small goals, such as obtaining sleeve badges for students, seem to be unattainable, but we will make good for them by using our imagination.’
Expansion of the Parola Garrison area between 1945 and 1981. Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin / © Maanmittaushallitus (survey administration)
The sauna built in 1952 was the Armour Brigade’s first brick building (at the corner of the Häme Air Defence Battalion). Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin / Olli Tikka
The first brick barracks facility of Parolannummi, building 108, was complete in 1952. Building 109, completed in 1954, and two years later the barracks of the Motor Transport Company were the same building type. Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin / Olli Tikka
Washroom types in barracks renovated or built after the war. On the left is a washroom from the 1960s with its ‘V-8’ washbasin, on the right the washroom of the artillery barracks built in the mid 1980s. Photographs: from Tapparasta tankkeihin / Olli Tikka
Soldiers’ lockers. On the left is a model from 1926, which was in use for about 50 years. Uniform designs changed, but the order in the locker stayed the same. If necessary, the gear of two men was fit into one locker. On the right are fixed lockers in barracks built in the mid-1980s. The locker of a section commander in the Jaeger Battery (nowadays the Jaeger Artillery Regiment) from 1988. Photographs: from Tapparasta tankkeihin / Olli Tikka
This building from 1922 served as the Parolannummi Soldiers’ Home from 1945 to 1956, after which it was home to the garrison co-operative shop. Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin
The Soldiers' Home at the airport, 1940–1957. Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin
Soldiers’ Home Sisters serving and chatting with conscripts in the ‘Old Soldiers’ Home’ (sotku 2). Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin
The ‘New Soldiers’ Home’ was built in autumn 1988 in the middle of the Parolannummi Garrison area. Photo: from Tapparasta tankkeihin
The new armoured vehicle depot of the Armour School was built in 1986. Some of the school’s equipment in the depot is shown here (from the left): T-72 M1, MT-LB, BMP-1, and PSAJON-83 (‘Pasi’). Photo: Armour School photo archive
Anti-tank defence
‘Cannon on the move!’ The German wartime 75 K/40 anti-tank gun was long in training use. The gun weighed 1,425 kilograms, and a gun emplacement involved 11 men. Photo: Armour School photo archive
Our country acquired its first missiles from England, in 1963. The Vickers Vigilant anti-tank missile was the Finnish Ground Forces’ first type of missile. Photo: Armoured Brigade Headquarters photo archive
In addition to domestic heavy and lightweight rocket-launchers, light anti-tank weapons were acquired, from abroad. Thus, all soldiers were trained to master the field of anti-tank combat. Photo: Armoured Brigade Headquarters photo archive