February 24th 2025:
Today is the three year anniversary of Putin's "three day special military operation" against Ukraine...
February 24th 2024:
Today is the two year anniversary of Putin's "three day special military operation" against Ukraine...
February 24th 2023:
Today is the one year anniversary of Putin's "three day special military operation" against Ukraine...
February 28th 2022:
On February 24th 2022 the Russian Federation illegally invaded Ukraine. A united world stands together with Ukraine against Putin and his war criminals. Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava!
September 5th 2020:
Added more pictures of the repainted Ps.231-4 T-34. Thank you Heikki Jäntti.
August 24th 2020:
Added pictures of the repainted Ps.231-4 T-34. Thank you Jarmo Lindgren.
July 3rd 2020:
A quick update after only a mere 6 years... Added pictures of the restored Ps.531-6 StuG.
October 13th 2014:
Added some detail pics of the T-34-85s located at Camp Degerö.
September 8th 2014:
Added some detail pics of the Renault FT-17 stored at the Parola Armour Museum.
August 7th 2014:
Added some detail pics of Ps.531-30 and some brand new pics of Ps.164-31.
August 6th 2014:
Went over to Estonia to get some pictures of Ps.531-22 located at the Estonian War Museum in Viimsi (close to Tallinn) since 2008. They have a nice collection of heavy stuff, and a very nice guide too (who's name I didn't get, sorry about that). Highly recommended!
February 25th 2014:
Made some long over-due changes and corrections to my Sturmi article.
Oh, as you probably can see from my frontpage, the SA-kuva wartime Finnish Army pictures are now free for anybody to download and even publish. You only need to mention the magic word "SA-kuva". More info can be found here.
October 8th 2013:
Added some new pictures of my all time favourite: Ps.531-8 "Aili". Looking as sweet today as she did 10 years ago!
February 3rd 2013:
Added a couple of modern tanks, the BMP-2 Ps153-154 and the Leopard 2 A4 Ps273-166 in a nice winter camo.
October 15th 2012:
Finally got around to take some pictures of my own: More pictures of the StuGs # Ps.531-12 in Kalkku and Ps.531-48 in Parola are now added.
August 22nd 2012:
Mr. Kari Tapio sent me some reference pictures of the T-26 tanks at Parola. Thanks Kari!
June 10th 2012:
Mr. Heikki Honkanen sent me some new pictures of Ps.531-31. Thanks Heikki!
January 15th 2012:
Mr. Heikki Honkanen sent me some new pictures of Ps.531-34. Thanks Heikki!
November 26th 2011:
Mr. Johnny Pedersen sent me some new pictures of Ps.221-12 and Ps.531-59 and Mr. Bob Grimster sent me some brand new picures of Ps.163-8 and some more pics of Ps.531-44. Thanks guys!
July 27th 2011:
Mr. Bob Grimster sent me some new pics of Ps.531-42. Thanks Bob!
October 29th 2010:
Mr. Anssi Juutilainen sent me some pictures of various tanks that has been in Finnish service: Pictures by Anssi Juutilainen. Mr. Bob Grimster sent me some new pics of Ps.531-39 and Ps.531-44 Thanks guys!
June 30th 2010:
Added some new and / or updated pics for the following vehicles: T-26 m1937, Ps. 163-16, Ps. 163-28 and Ps. 163-33.
December 30th 2009:
Mr. Heikki Jäntti gave me some pictures of the ISU-152 in Finnish service: Ps 745-1. Thank you Heikki!
July 2nd 2009:
Mr. Jarmo Lindgren sent me some pics of the StuGs # Ps.531-18 and Ps.531-21. Thank you Jarmo!
June 30th 2009:
Mr. Jukka Purhonen sent me some pics of the StuG # Ps.531-21. Thank you Jukka!
February 7th 2009:
Added a few more pics of the StuG # Ps.531-4.
October 19th 2008:
Mr. Jukka Purhonen sent me some pics of the StuG # Ps.531-31. Thank you Jukka! Now I finally have all the Finnish StuGs on my homepage!
October 9th 2008:
Added a few more pics of the T-34 m1941 # Ps.231-1 taken by yours truly. Enjoy!
September 28th 2008:
Mr. Mauri Nieminen sent me some pics of the StuG # Ps.531-34. Thank you Mauri!
July 17th 2008:
Long time no nothing... Added a few pics of the T-34 m1941 # Ps.231-1 taken by yours truly. Enjoy!
October 7th 2007:
Mr. Heikki Jäntti gave me a total of 239 (twohundredandthirtynine!) pictures of the following tanks: BMP-1K # Ps 152-83, Charioteer # Ps.251-7, T-54 # Ps 261-26, T-72 # Ps 264-202, T-72 # Ps 264-231 and MTU-20 # Ps 731-4. Thank you Heikki!
October 3rd 2007:
Mr. Sten Johansson sent me some pictures of the Komsomolets # Ps.756-40 and of a Kübelwagen Staff Car that has been in Finnish service. Thank you Sten!
September 1st 2007:
Added the Chassis numbers to all the StuGs on my Assaultguns -page.
August 31st 2007:
September 25th 2007 the Finnish Army is having a tank auction where they are selling 14 pcs Charioteer Mk VII Model B, 4 pcs A34 Comet Mk I Model B and 3 pcs Sturmgesch tz III Ausf hrung G. Here is a link to their official auction catalogue (a PDF-file around 4 MB).
I went to the first of their guided visits and took pictures of Ps.531-27, Ps.531-55 and Ps.531-58 that now are to be sold. Now we can only hope that these vehicles get the attention they deserve!
August 21st 2007:
Mr. Jouni Koski gave me a few of pics of the Ps.531-14 -StuG. Thank You, Jouni!
August 19th 2007:
The Finnish War-veterans (Suomen sotaveteraaniliitto ry) celebrated their 50 year anniversary at the Senate Square in Helsinki this weekend.
I took a few pics of Ps.531-18 that was displayed among other vehicles. While I was in the city I also visited the Military Museum of Finland and took some more pics of Ps.531-30. Enjoy!
July 12th 2007:
Mr. Jaakko Pihlaja sent me a few of pics of StuG # Ps.531-4 and of the StuG # Ps.531-18. Both vehicles are dressed up like filmstars... Jaakko also sent me some detail pics of the Komsomolets # Ps.755-38. Thank You, Jaakko!
July 8th 2007:
Just in time for Cyber Hobby's T-34/76 STZ Mod.1941. Mr. Heikki Jäntti sent me some newer pics of Ps.231-2. The kit looks like a "shake & bake" kit for us Finns. Mr. Jäntti also sent me some pics of the Landsverk Anti II # R-906. Thank you, Heikki!
June 28th 2007:
I went to the Finnish Armoured Brigade's (rainy) parade in Parola and took some pics of the rear turret box on the Leopard 2 A4 # Ps.273-140. I also added the measurements I took of the box.
June 27th 2007:
Mr. Jaakko Pihlaja sent me a couple of pics of Ps.231-4 with it's turret on. Thank You, Jaakko!
April 8th 2007:
Mr. Sampo Mikkola sent me some photos of Ps.531-11 and Ps.531-42 taken when they were beeing shipped of to Germany. Now we know how the tanks looked before they got (more or less) restored in Germany. Thank you, Sampo!
(Please note that any discoloration in Mr. Mikkolas pictures are due to my crappy scanner, not the original photos.)
April 7th 2007:
Today I had the opportunity to visit the Finnish Armour Museum's storage area. I took some more pictures of Ps.164-32 and Ps.231-4.
I actually did take more pictures, but first it was typical Parola weather (low sun and pitch-black shadows) and then my camera gave up because of the cold. Well, maybe another time.
March 17th 2007:
Today I added a color drawing of Ps.531-8 "Aili" based on the black & white drawings made by Mr. Jukka Purhonen in 1998.
January 12th 2007:
Mr. Jyrki Helin sent me some very nice pictures of Ps.221-12, Ps.241-? and Ps.531-59. Thank you, Jyrki!
October 22nd 2006:
Added more picture-links, changed existing pictures and made some corrections to my The Sturmgeschütz in Finnish service -article.
And while I was at it I added a few more "stray" pictures of Ps.163-33, Ps.164-7, Ps.164-32 and Ps.231-7.
October 21st 2006:
It is a well known medical fact that a man can not have too many detail-pics of a StuG. Therefore I added another 62 pics to the Ps.531-45 -page.
October 18th 2006:
Mr. Matti Tirkkonen gave me permission to publish his pictures of Ps.531-12. Thank You, Matti!
October 10th 2006:
Finally! Added pictures of a new vehicle, the T-34 # Ps.231-3 that have been missing from my collection of T-34's. The pictures (all 112 of them!) are taken by Mr. Ari Husu. Thank You, Ari!
September 27th 2006:
Added pictures of a new vehicle, the A34 Comet -pictures taken by Mr. Kai Mehtomaa. Thank You, Kai!
August 31st 2006:
Today I added a to the homepage. I have absolutely no idea if this is going to work, i.e. if people are willing to take their questions to the forums. I do get quite a lot of questions concerning Finnish AFVs so I thought that it would be a good idea to share both the questions and - of course - the answers with the public.
The forum will be public (=no user registration) for now, but if the forum is abused, user registration will be mandatory. And of course if the forum is constantly abused it will be taken down completely (likewise if nooooobody ever uses it...). Now let's see how things work out!
July 27th 2006:
A major update today: Added pictures of these new StuGs: Ps.531-15, Ps.531-20, Ps.531-21, Ps.531-22, Ps.531-35, Ps.531-43 and Ps.531-52.
July 2nd 2006:
Added pictures of a new vehicle, a T-70 located at the Armour Museum in Parola, Finland. I only put up the pics of this non-Finnish vehicle to show that the turret really is assymetrical.
May 6th 2006:
Our Suomalaisten rynnäkkötykkien kohtalot -book is finally available from WSOY.
February 21st 2006:
Added a link to promote the upcoming Suomalaisten rynnäkkötykkien kohtalot -book by Lieutenant Colonel Erkki Käkelä and humble old me.
February 12th 2006:
Changed the "Oldtimers" page into Old & New. Added pictures of three Finnish Leopard 2 A4's: Ps273-37, Ps273-93 and Ps273-94.
January 12th 2006:
Added pictures of a new vehicle, the T-26 m1933 Ps.163-45. The pictures were sent to me by Mr. Aripekka Kärnä. Thanks Aripekka!
September 28th 2005:
Added a link to promote a new book by Lieutenant Colonel Erkki Käkelä. I highly recommend the book!
July 28th 2005:
I made a few changes to and put my The Sturmgeschütz in Finnish service -article back on-line. I still have to do some changes to it. The homepage have been on the back-burner for a while as I have been busy studying (at my age!) and co-writing a book about the Finnish StuGs. Same old, same old... I hope to get more time for the pages soon. Meanwhile, here is a teaser on some stuff that I haven't had the time to put up:
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December 14th 2004:
Mr. Mika Lammassaari sent me a picture of Ps.531-25 "Sinikka". Thank you Mika! The picture is taken in the 1960's.
December 11th 2004:
Changed the pics for the T-34 # Ps.231-1, the T-34-85 # Ps.245-2 and the ISU-152 # Ps.745-1 (1212).
October 4th 2004:
Added pictures of a new vehicle, the Komsomolets Ps.756-67 located outside the Finnish Artillery Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland. The pictures were sent to me by Mr. Martti Kujansuu. Thanks Martti!
August 18th 2004:
Added pictures of a new vehicle, the T-34-85 Ps.245-7 located at the Hämeen Rykmentti in Lahti, Finland. I would like to say thanks to Captain Haverinen for arranging the photo-opportunity.
July 1st 2004:
Re-newed the pictures of the Vickers Ps.161-7 and added a new tank, the T-26 m1939 Ps.164-32. The T-26 is restored to running condition and is a fine example of real life "weathering". Check out the running gear and tracks.
May 21st 2004:
I have bought myself a digital camera, a Canon Powershot A70. I have managed to take some decent pictures, but I still have to do some training before I am totally pleased with the result. The good things about the digital camera is of course that the prize per picture is much lower than with an analog camera, but the small lens and the errors in the pictures caused by the zoom is less good.
Added pictures of a new vehicle, the AA-tank Landsverk Anti II R-903, and some new pictures of the Panzer IV Ps.221-6, the T-34-85's Ps.245-1 and Ps.245-3, and of the StuG's Ps.531-6 and Ps.531-10.
February 24th 2004:
Added pics of Ps.531-12 "Lea", the StuG with the second highest kill-score in the Finnish Army. The pictures are taken by Mr. Janne Mäenpää and they are sent to me by Mr. Marko Mäkinen. Thanks guys!
January 18th 2004:
Re-newed my Ps.531-34 -page with new and excellent photos sent to me by Mr. Tomi Mynttinen. Thank you, Tomi!
January 10th 2004:
Made some long overdue changes and corrections to my The Sturmgeschütz in Finnish service -article.
December 31st 2003:
No real update this time. I just want to wish all my visitors a Happy New Year 2004.
November 27th 2003:
Mr. Kai Mehtomaa sent me some more pictures of Ps.531-25. Thank you Kai! The new pictures are shown on the lower part of the page. This StuG is in a very sorry state after beeing used as a shooting-ground target.
September 20th 2003:
Yesterday it was six years ago I started my homepage as "The IPMS Fi-1877 Page!" back at GeoCities. Six years later I have my own domain, more than 100.000 visitors and hundreds and hundreds of more photos.
Today I added two whole new sub-pages about Ps.221-6 and Ps.531-58. Nothing much, but they are there. I also added new pictures to the Ps.231-4 -page, the Ps.531-18 -page and to the Ps.531-47 -page.
September 18th 2003:
I added new pictures to the Ps.531-19 -page, to the Ps.531-57 -page and to the Ps.221-3 -page.
August 16th 2003:
I added new pictures to the Ps.531-8 "Aili" -page showing the StuG in it's new re-painted condition.
I also got some more interior pics of Ps.531-26 sent to me by Mr. Kai Mehtomaa and Mr. Esa Muikku provided me with the chassis number for Ps.531-10.Thank you Kai and Esa!
June 30th 2003:
Mr. Kai Mehtomaa sent me some interior pics of Ps.531-26. Thank you Kai!
June 13th 2003:
Got accurate information that the StuG that I thought to be Ps.531-18 actually is Ps.531-18.
May 31st 2003:
Added some more pics to the Ps.231-1 -page and threw out the old Parola pics of the same vehicle. As the vehicle is restored I will take more post-restoration pics and add them later on.
I also addes some more pics to the Ps.531-4 -page. According to my great fender-support theory (please see my The Sturmgeschütz in Finnish Service -article) I have believed that the vehicle in question is manufactured in the MIAG -factories. Now as I have a picture of the chassis-number I know that it is. Happy-happy me!
May 29th 2003:
Mr. Jukka Purhonen sent me some pics of Ps.531-8 "Aili" that have been re-restored this spring. The StuG is still painted all green, but will receive the three colour camoflage this summer. This time around a replica of the wooden box have been attached to the rear deck. Thank you, Jukka!
May 23rd 2003:
Messiers Jukka O. Kauppinen, Olli Väisänen and Matti Yrjölä had the opportunity to visit the Finnish Armour Museum's storage in Parola, Finland. They have kindly agreed to let me show their pictures on my homepage.
I have added pictures of Ps.531-14, of a StuG that could be Ps.531-18, of a StuG that could be Ps.531-47 and finally some more pictures to the Ps.531-48 page. Thanks guys!
May 5th 2003:
To remind us that war is never about glory - only about suffering - I added a link to ZNet along with the Iraq Body Count Project on the lower half of the front page.
I will keep this page about armour - not about politics! Stay tuned for some armour updates coming in May or early June!
December 30th 2002:
Corrected some HTML-errors on the pages.
December 29th 2002:
Made some cleaning up to the Ps.
531-10 -page and added a photo by Mr. Joni Virtanen to the Ps.531-26 page. Thanks Joni!
December 28th 2002:
Time to open my new "www.andreaslarka.net" -homepage. I
needed more space for my pics and I got tired of the old "The IPMS
Fi-1877 page!" -name that sounded sooo clever back in 1997.
So I got me a domain of my own - this time with my own name -,
re-scanned each and everyone of my pictures, watermarked them
(irritating to look at maybe, but believe me, it's more irritating
to have one's pictures turn up all over the web without permission
or credits...) reviewed and made some changes to my Sturmi-article and here we are now.
For the moment there are a little more than 1.100 pictures on the
page. I'm not such a very good photographer, but I do the best that
I can to get photographs that can be used as reference. As soon as
I am able to take more pics I will add them to the pages.
I will also try to add more text and info for each vehicle, but
that will come later. Enjoy!
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