78 years ago on this day, the Continuation War by co-belligerents Finland and Germany against the Soviet Union began in coordination with Operation Barbarossa. The photograph depicts a Finnish soldier enjoying the spring sun with a reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) at an armoury in Finnish Lapland during the last year of the war on 4 May 1944. Reindeer were used by the Finnish Army to, for example, pull supply sleighs in snow conditions. The photographer's original Finnish caption is translated as 'Warriors of Lapland.'. Learn more.
