Antti Isotalo (13 January 1895 – 17 March 1964) was a Finnish Jäger lieutenant, military recruiter, farmer and activist. He served in the German Empire's battalion of Finnish volunteers on the Eastern Front of World War I and briefly in the Finnish Civil War (1918) on the Whites' side. He repeatedly evaded capture by authorities while recruiting men for the battalion in 1915 and 1916. After recovering from wounds sustained in the civil war, he recruited volunteers for the Estonian War of Independence and then joined the Aunus expedition as one of its commanders during Finland's "tribal wars" in 1919.
Later, after spending three years as a migrant worker in Australia in the mid-to-late 1920s, he returned to Finland and was an active member of the far-right Lapua Movement and its successor, the Patriotic People's Movement. He was involved in the failed Mäntsälä rebellion (1932), ran for parliament and spent most of the Winter War as a commandant on the homefront. He then served in Karelia during the Continuation War, where his presence inspired the younger enlisted men. Lastly, he was the local leader of Alko (the Finnish alcohol monopoly) in Seinäjoki from 1945 until 1958. After withdrawing from partisan politics, he described himself as a political "nihilist" and "nonpartisan anti-communist." His reputation was described in "Kuularuiskulaulu", a song first recorded in the 1930s which remained popular during the Continuation War.
Early life
Isotalo was born into a farming family in Alahärmä, Western Finland. He had to take charge of his family's 120-acre farm at the age of 13 after his father was stabbed to death while collecting a debt in 1908. His grandfather, the famous knife-fighter of the same name (who had previously spent 13 years in prison and turned to faith), instructed him with the running of the farm until his own death three years later. Rather than turning to crime at an early age like his father and grandfather, Isotalo was active in youth clubs and helped build a sports field in his home village.
In the Jäger Movement
Isotalo was introduced to the Jäger Movement through his youth club activities in October 1915, became interested in it and decided to join the 27th Jäger Battalion, a Finnish volunteer battalion in the Royal Prussian Army consisting of young men intent on fighting for their nation's independence from Russia. He crossed the Kvarken to Sweden by motorboat with a group of other volunteers, reached the city of Umeå after a two-day voyage in the midst of a storm, traveled to Southern Sweden by train and sailed to Germany from there. He signed up at the Jäger Battalion and its 1st Company on 20 October and entered basic training at Lockstedt.
After a month of training at Lockstedt, Isotalo was ordered to recruit more men from his native region, Southern Ostrobothnia. He was sent to Stockholm with a forged passport and returned to Finland by land in late November. He met with local activists and used his false identity to appear in public and encourage men to join the Jäger Movement. He personally recruited dozens of men in the region, and up to two hundred Jägers were said to have stopped by at his home on their way to Germany. The Russian authorities initially interpreted these men's departure as emigration to America but soon learned that Isotalo had been recruiting men for the Germans (who were at war with Russia at the time). He became a regular target of the police and military police.
The first attempt at arresting Isotalo was made in December 1915. He was armed with a handgun and intimidated the police into backing down. He continued recruiting; among his possible recruits at this point was Taavetti Laatikainen, later a general in World War II. Another attempt at arrest was made on 9 July 1916. After a long shootout in which a policeman was wounded and the coastal guard was called in, Isotalo managed to escape, hid for a week, returned to Germany and was sent to the Eastern Front. The Jäger Battalion reached its membership goal during the seven months Isotalo was active as a recruiter.