In the winter of 1944, during reconnaissance in the Soviet rear, a group of Finnish soldiers was ambushed. After a long firefight, only one of them, Aimo Allan Koivunen, managed to escape from the encirclement. A chase began through the virgin snow, during which the Finn remembered that in his breast pocket he kept a supply of pervitin for the entire reconnaissance group – 30 tablets. He managed to pour a handful of pills into his mouth, and with this doping he broke away from the chase.
Koivunen noticed that he began to have problems with his vision. For several days he fell into a trance state, alternating between short phases of sleep, wakefulness and hallucinations. During a short period of lucidity, Aimo realized his situation – he was alone 100 km from the front line, without ammunition or food.
For two weeks he tried to get through to his own people, bypassing the Red Army. During this time, Aimo Koivunen walked about 400 km in temperatures below 20 degrees, eating only pine buds and caught kuksha, which he ate raw. In the end, he was injured by running over a mine and lay in a snow hole for a week waiting for help. The Finns still found Koivunen and took him to the hospital. His pulse beat at a rate of 200 beats per minute, he lost weight to 43 kilograms.
Fennoscandia
