Meth Fueled Finn

It is March 18, 1944. Finnish soldiers are skiing at high speed through the trees, deep in the snowy forest behind Soviet lines. Aimo Allan Koivunen, from the 4th company of the 4th detached battalion of the Finnish special forces, prepares the track in the snow for his companions who follow him. Not far behind is a much larger Soviet force pursuing them. He is trying to go faster, but the Finns have been on the 3-day mission and it has taken its toll, his body begins to fail him at the most crucial moments. Feeling tiredness overcome him, he hears "Aimo, don't sleep!" According to one of his comrades behind him, he is giving his all, but it is simply not enough, the Soviet soldiers are getting closer and closer by the second.

Desperate, he pulls out a bottle of Pervitin. A supposed wonder drug supplied by the Germans, intended to increase combat ability when exhausted, but very dangerous and addictive if abused. We know it today as

meth

amphetamine. He knows the risks but he doesn't have time to think about it, he thinks that if there is any moment that should be taken advantage of, it is now. When he pours the contents of the bottle into his gloves while he is moving, the pills come out in a pile. Out of time, he eats the entire group. Aimo feels full of energy when the pills take effect.

He feels him speed up and get faster. He now runs through the trees with dizzying speed and fearless commitment. Soon they leave the Red Army soldiers behind in the snow. The company stops to weigh its options, but Aimo is unwell, acting erratically, looking in all directions, stumbling, and apparently hallucinating. His comrades are completely bewildered. Even in danger, they cannot remain still for long. Platoon commander Heikki Norri orders his men to disperse and regroup elsewhere. The men obey and blend into the trees. Heikki looks worriedly at Aimo, taking the ammo bags from him as Aimo continues to hallucinate, knowing that he could shoot one of his own.

Then Aimo flees from him into the desert. With the Russians still on their tail, Heikki has to choose between protecting Aimo or regrouping with the rest of the platoon, with no real choice he chooses the latter and reluctantly leaves Aimo behind. Time passes and he begins to recover. When he opens his eyes he finds himself in the middle of nowhere, lying on the snow. He has no food, no ammunition and no idea where he is. On his feet, Aimo is still delirious but starts skiing. He wanders aimlessly through the forest when suddenly so

meth

ing moves among the trees.

Soviet soldiers emerge from the foliage, weapons in hand, Aimo turns to flee, but he only trips and falls to the snowy ground. He is determined not to be captured... But there are no Soviet soldiers. Just the wild life of the forest. The appearances are repeated over and over again. Several times he saw people, he heard the Russians shouting and moments later he found himself alone. Despite everything, he keeps going, skiing wherever destiny takes him. Emerging from the trees, he sees a base with smoke rising above it. He runs towards it, delighted to finally find civilization, until it too vanishes into thin air.

Where he could have sworn he saw a Finnish camp, there was now nothing but snow. Heartbroken, he continues his journey. He can't stop skiing and keeps going. On the top of a hill he sees figures gathered around a campfire. Germans! He is saved! Filled with happiness, he skis down the hill towards the camp. But as he gets closer, he sees better. Those are not Germans… Those are Soviet soldiers! He now goes too fast to stop, so he speeds up. The Soviets see the approaching skier. Thinking that he is some kind of messenger, they continue to rest at his camp.

Aimo runs into the camp and flies through it, the amazed Soviets watch him pass and suddenly realize that Aimo is wearing Finnish equipment. Jumping up, they run to their weapons and give chase. Aimo finds himself once again on the run, running through the forest without aim or direction, fleeing from Soviet troops who might be behind him. He keeps it up for a full half hour, skiing non-stop as the wind and snow pick up. Aimo faces increasingly worsening weather, even as it turns into a full-blown blizzard. He can barely see two meters in front of him and his pace slows, but

fueled

by methamphetamine he continues, climbing the hill blind as a bat.

This goes on for two grueling hours. The blizzard slowly subsides, revealing his surroundings. Looking around he realizes. The hill he was standing on! He recognizes it! He's 100 kilometers from where he last saw his comrades, but it was something. Night was falling over the forest but now with renewed determination he took out his compass and set out again, this time, with a purpose. He moved through the forest all night until his energy ran out. When the sun rises, he finds a place to sleep. When he wakes up, the sun begins to set, he had slept all day.

Thirsty and hungry, he gathers pine shoots and lights a fire, making an improvised porridge from the shoots. It's been two whole days since he last had a sandwich for breakfast, so he finds the sour porridge strangely delicious. He feels tired while he eats, and everything starts to get dark, he falls asleep in the snow. He comes to his senses at the base, his friends greet him happily and take him to a great feast, he eats everything, delighting in the selections to the delight of his comrades. Then, he wakes up. It's night. The forest is silent, the fireplace is almost out and his bowl is on the ground with some porridge still in it.

Heartbroken, he shakes it off, summons his Sisu (a Finnish concept of toughness and perseverance), puts his skis back on, and gets moving. In the forest he runs into a good friend, they greet each other and chat pleasantly as they move through the fir trees. They sat down to take a short break before continuing. As he walks, he suddenly realizes that he can no longer hear his friend. Lucidity hits him and he turns around, his friend is gone, as is his gun and his backpack. He controls himself and takes stock of what he still has left. His compass is still with him, as well as the empty tube of Pervitin.

He doesn't remember taking the 30 pills, but he can't think about it for long. He gets moving again. Hours later he sees a light, a window with a light inside! Hope! He runs towards it, pushing aside the branches as he runs towards safety, but the images of the houses slowly fade away, leaving him staring at a tree with a bright star shining through its branches. He breaks down, he is angry, heartbroken, he screams into the air and cries, cursing his luck and his drugs. Suddenly he is pushed to the ground! A wolf bites his arm trying to get to Aimo's throat.

He panics and pulls out the knife, desperately stabbing the wolf as he fights for his life. Then he once again wakes up. There is no wolf or knife, he is hitting a tree with something in his fist, his compass is now broken. Aimo stands there, dejected. But he can't just sit back and die, he must move on. He recovers and once again continues his journey, determined to find friendly forces. The next day he stumbles upon an abandoned cabin but at least it's real. The door is open as is tradition in that part of the world. Tired and still delirious, he starts a fire in the middle of the cabin, lights it, and goes to sleep.

He feels hot, it's hot here, he must be too close to the fire. He walks away a little and falls asleep again. Some time later he feels warm again, moves again, eyes still closed. Then it happens again and again. He hears the crunch of falling logs and finally opens his eyes to check what's happening. Aimo barely escapes hell and can do nothing but watch as his shelter burns to ashes in the dead of night. The next day he sets off again and finds an old snow-covered road heading west. He follows him until he finds an abandoned German camp.

He is excited and heads back to the entrance, this time shouting greetings in German. No one responds much to his disappointment and he decides to enter. He puts down his skis and enters the compound when suddenly an explosion sends him flying through the air, he has just stepped on a land mine. His foot is seriously injured. Using a ski pole as a crutch, he limps toward a shelter. He opens the door and another bomb explodes. He flies through the air and lands 30 feet away. He comes to, the shelter is destroyed and there are pieces of wood scattered around him.

He tears his shirt with a nail he found in the snow and uses the cloth to wrap his mangled foot. Picking up wood chips from the explosion, he lights a fire. Then, he lies down in the snow, observing his surroundings. The reality of his condition hits him and he cries, there is nothing left to do but wait for rescue or death. After hours of lying in the snow, he decides to make a fire. Aimo reaches out to grab as much firewood as possible scattered around him for the campfire, and on it he boils enough snow to have some water.

As he melts, he uses a board he saved to clear the snow around him. Once the snow was clear, he used the board as a bed. He spends several days lying in the snow, surviving on boiling water. A Siberian jay landed next to him and examined him. Aimo raises his ski pole and hits the bird, killing it. He plucks its feathers and eats them raw. Days later he hears an explosion and Finnish voices. He cheers up and shouts for help. One of the soldiers sees him. "Our patrol commander is injured and you are in the middle of a minefield!" the soldier informs him: “We will first bring our commander back and then tell the headquarters about you!” Aimo can't believe what he hears, they can't just leave him there!

The soldiers carry their commander and leave, their voices and footsteps becoming quieter and quieter. They just left it there. Aimo thinks they let him die. But some time later he hears something else: a plane! He places the hat on the ski pole and waves it, the plane flies by and disappears. Aimo stays in the snow again. He doesn't know it, but the pilot has seen it. Later he hears more voices, the Finns are defusing the landmines to get to him. Overcome with emotion, Koivunen knows that his “bad trip” is over and that he will live. He was found an astonishing distance of 400 kilometers or 250 miles from where he left his comrades.

On April 1, 14 days after taking the pills, Aimo Koivunen was admitted to the hospital. Weighing only 43 kg, he still had an incredible heart rate of 200 beats per minute. His injuries were serious and he was in a hospital bed until the end of 1944. He eventually left the army due to his injuries, having lost some toes on his left foot. Despite the hardships he endured, he lived a long life and died peacefully on August 12, 1989, at the age of 71. If you haven't already, subscribe to the channel and watch more of our videos. Thank you!