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Operation Stella Polaris was the cover name for an operation in which Finnish
signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...
records, equipment and personnel were transported into Sweden in late September 1944 after the end of combat on the Finnish-Soviet front in the Second World War. The purpose was to enable the signals intelligence activities against the advancing Russians to continue in Sweden and to prevent the equipment falling into the hands of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. A Soviet invasion was considered likely and plans were made to support guerrilla warfare in Finland after a possible occupation. The operation had its base in the small fishing village of Nämpnäs in Närpes, Ostrobothnia region, from where the archives were shipped to Swedish ports. The leaders of the operation were Colonel Aladár Paasonen, chief of Finnish military intelligence, and Colonel
Reino Hallamaa Reino Henrik Hallamaa (12 November 1899 – 11 August 1979 in Churriana, Málaga, Spain) was a Finnish Colonel and developer and head of the Finnish Radio Intelligence during World War II. Early life Reino Henrik Hallamaa was born in Tamp ...
, head of the Finnish signals intelligence section.


Transportation to Sweden

On 20September 1944 a large part of the Finnish signals intelligence unit was moved to Sweden. From the Swedish side Major Carl Petersén, head of the Defence Staff's intelligence section
C-byrån C-byrån ("C bureau") was a Swedish secret intelligence agency established in 1939, sorting under the Swedish Armed Forces. It was led by Major Carl Petersén. During World War II C-byrån organized operations in the German-occupied Norway and O ...
, was responsible for the operation. Approximately 750 people were transported across the Gulf of Bothnia: by three ships from Närpes to
Härnösand Härnösand () is a locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 17,556 inhabitants in 2010. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just a few miles north o ...
; and one ship from
Uusikaupunki Uusikaupunki (; sv, Nystad, ) is a list of towns in Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland regions of Finland, region, northwest of Turku and south of Pori. The municipality ...
to
Gävle Gävle () is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th most populated city in Sweden. It is t ...
. The ships also carried boxes of archives and signals intelligence equipment. After the Soviet Union was ceded parts of Karelia and Salla from Finland on 19September 1944, in accord with the
Moscow Armistice The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of mod ...
, the majority of the Finnish personnel and their families returned home, except those hired by Sweden's National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA). They crossed the border at the
Torne River The Torne, also known as the Tornio ( fi, Tornionjoki, sv, Torne älv, , se, Duortneseatnu, fit, Tornionväylä), is a river in northern Sweden and Finland. For approximately half of its length, it defines the border between these two countr ...
in secret. Sweden offered to take over the equipment and some of the documents. The FRA thus had access to technical equipment and seven boxes of files, which became important in the newly established activities of the FRA. Operation Stella Polaris led to Sweden gaining access to a large amount of high quality intelligence. It also learnt signals intelligence techniques from the Finnish personnel, some of whom the Swedes hired. For Finland, the operation resulted in domestic political entanglements as a result of the Finnish People's Democratic League's strong influence in government. These included action against several of those involved in the operation for so-called "anti-Soviet" activities, resulting in prison sentences.


Processing in Sweden

From October 1944 the intelligence material was moved to the basement of the Hotel Aston in Stockholm. There, the Finnish operations leader Reino Hallamaa microfilmed the material, which he sold to several countries' intelligence agencies. Later the material was removed by the FRA. Large parts of the material were then stored by Carl C:son Bonde at
Hörningsholm Castle Hörningsholm Castle ( sv, Hörningsholms slott) is a manor house and former castle in Sweden. It is located on a cliff by an inlet of the Baltic Sea some kilometres from Södertälje. The castle was most probably built by the Sture family during t ...
, and twenty-nine boxes by at Rottneros Manor from 20March 1945. Seven boxes of material had previously been submitted to the FRA. In the early 1960s, the secret documents from Operation Stella Polaris were burned at Lövsta garbage dump in Stockholm on the instruction of the then Director-General of FRA, Gustaf Tham, and the now-retired general Carl Ehrensvärd. The Finns involved in Operation Stella Polaris were persecuted and arrested after their return to Finland by the Communist-dominated
State Police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction ...
. It was not until the early 1950s that the Finnish Chancellor of Justice declared those who participated in Operation Stella Polaris would not be subject to war crimes proceedings.


Later events

In the village of Nämpnäs there is a memorial to the operation. 15–20 Finnish signal technicians who travelled to Sweden in Operation Stella Polaris were immediately made Swedish citizens and remained as FRA employees in Sweden. The Finnish military intelligence chief Aladár Paasonen, who together with Reino Hallamaa had the main responsibility for the operation, worked with the American forces in Germany in the mid- '50s Personal knowledge. Neil P. Albaugh and later lived until the 1970s in the United States. Reino Hallamaa moved to Spain, where he started a construction company.


See also

*
Operation Gladio Operation Gladio is the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (alliance), Western Union (WU), and subsequently by NATO and the CIA, in collaboration with several European Int ...
* Weapons Cache Case *
Viestikoelaitos The Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency (, PVTIEDL; ) is the combined signals (SIGINT), geospatial (GEOINT) and imagery intelligence (IMINT) agency of the Finnish Defence Forces. Operational since 2014, its responsibility is to support the defence ...


References


Further reading

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External links


Operation Stella Polaris
by ''
P3 Dokumentär ''P3 Dokumentär'' is a Swedish radio show broadcast by Sveriges Radio P3 created by Kristofer Hansson and Fredrik Johnsson. The show looks back in history by digging into archives and interviewing people who were present at the time and place o ...
'' {{Authority control Military history of Finland during World War II Intelligence of World War II Military history of Sweden Cryptography organizations Stella Polaris Stella Polaris