Artillery School celebrated its Heritage Anniversary

The Heritage Anniversary of the Artillery School is celebrated on 7 February. This February, the Artillery School celebrated its Heritage Anniversary on a small scale in the absence of guests as a precautionary measure due to the pandemic. In the following, you may read more about this 104-year-old service branch school and access a selection of photos, courtesy of the Artillery School’s photo archive, illustrating the school’s history:

On Monday 7 February 2022, the Artillery School celebrated its Heritage Anniversary to mark its 104th year of operating.

Founded in Pietarsaari on 7 February 1918 with the proposal by Lieutenant Colonel Vilho Petter Nenonen, the first students were recruited by a notice in a newspaper encouraging ”matriculated students, polytechnicians, young men with technical skills, machinists, and telephone technicians to start serving the Fatherland to meet the need for technical personnel in the artillery”. 

The notice was signed by Supreme Commander Mannerheim. Initially, the recruits undertook training to be sent to the front as, at the time, the civil war was ongoing in Finland.

The oldest of the service branch schools in Finland, the Artillery School has operated in a number of localities including Pietarsaari, Tampere, Lappeenranta, Vaasa, Suvi-Kumsa, Helsinki, and Tuusula. As of 1969, the Artillery School operates in Niinisalo.

The photo pictures students on the course of 1918: Students of the Artillery School at the artillery camp of Kaukjärvi in July 1918.

The photo features the Main Building of the Artillery School in Suvi-Kumsa, Eastern Karelia, in 1943 – 1944.

The photo illustrates studying relating to ordnance and ammunition: Students of what was then called the Higher Officer Course 4 examining ammunition back in 1958.

The photo captures an image of the Higher Officer Course 4 attending a terrain box forward observation exercise at the Artillery School in 1958. The class room premises were located on Maurinkatu, downtown Helsinki.

To mark the Artillery School’s 50th Jubileum, the nailing of the Artillery School Colour took place in 1968 as the Artillery School received its Colour. The Colour nailing ceremony was conducted by Minister of Defence Sulo Suorttanen with the assistance of Captain Matti Koskimaa.

 The Artillery School’s Colour continues to be trooped in festivities and events. As the Colour ages, it is promptly replaced by a new Colour that is nailed and fielded. The retired Colour finds its rest at storage in the Military Museum.