Eero Rahola (15 January 1897 – 22 May 1975) was a Finnish

Counter admiral Counter admiral is a military rank used for high-ranking officers in several navies around the world, though the rank is not used in the English-speaking world, where its equivalent rank is rear admiral. The term derives from the French . Dependi ...

and civil servant. Eero Rahola was born in

Mänttä Mänttä is a former town and municipality of Finland. It was merged with the municipality of Vilppula to form Mänttä-Vilppula on 1 January 2009. The place name ''Mänttä'' comes from an old house which Tuomas Niilonpoika Mäntsä (1570–1 ...

. He participated in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

on the side of the

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

and took part in the

Battle of Helsinki The Battle of Helsinki was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought on 12–13 April by the German Empire, German troops and White Guard (Finland), Finnish Whites against the Red Guards (Finland), Finnish Reds in Helsinki, Finland. Together wit ...

. Subsequently, he fought in the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the ...

. Between 1919 and 1921 he was stationed as a Finnish officer in Italy, where he also served three months aboard the

Italian cruiser Francesco Ferruccio ''Francesco Ferruccio'' was a armored cruiser built for the Royal Italian Navy (''Regia Marina'') in the first decade of the 20th century. The ship made several deployments to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant during her career. At the b ...

. He stayed in Italy and studied at the

Italian Naval Academy The Italian Naval Academy (Italian: ''Accademia Navale'') is a coeducational military university in Livorno, which is responsible for the technical training of military officers of the Italian Navy. History The Hospitals The Hospital of St. Jame ...

; he graduated in 1925. Upon his return to Finland he served as a naval officer in several high positions. Between 1936 and 1940, i.e. also during the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, he was commander of the coastal navy, and commander of the

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( , ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short for "Finnish Navy ship", but ...

1940–1945, i.e. also during the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

. In 1943 he was promoted to Counter admiral. He resigned in 1945 and was 1945-1964 head of the Finnish Maritime Administration. He died in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, aged 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahola, Eero 1897 births 1975 deaths People from Mänttä-Vilppula People from Häme Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish admirals People of the Finnish Civil War (White side) Finnish military personnel of World War II