Customer Reviews

A Soldier Under Three Flags: The Exploits of Special Forces' Captain Larry A. Thorne

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Soldier Under Three Flags relates the story of Larry Thorne (Lauri Torni) a Finnish soldier who emigrated to the US and had a distinguished career in Special Forces. One might imagine this would be a great subject for a biography but unfortunately, this book does not do justice to its subject. Thorne's Finnish military service is rife with inaccuracies, reflecting some poor research. For instance we read that during the Winter War, "the Scandinavian midnight sun lowered Russian (sic) soldiers morale", and "they disliked the forests...which they called the 'White Death' [Byelo Smert]." Well, "midnight sun" refers to the almost continual sunlight during the SUMMER. No one who's been to Finland in the winter could possibly mistake the almost permanent darkness for the midnight sun. Also, "Byelo Smert" refers to the white uniforms of the SOLDIERS not the forest. Finally, the author is less than fully forthcoming in Torni's association with the Waffen SS. He did attend training as the text describes, but he also fought in the Finnish SS battalion, which was part of the "Nordland" SS Division. In describing Torni's subsequent SF career the author appears more comfortable with the subject matter. However, battles are discussed very generally, with no details on his combat leadership, and there are no stories by those who knew him best-his troops. At best we get variations on, "he was a great soldier, and a great guy" nothing more. Finally, the author needlessly complicates his narrative by referring to Thorne/Torni's by the pseudonyms he used as he changed his name throughout his life; confusing to say the least. As a cursory account of this fascinating character's life this book may be acceptable, but it's basic errors regarding the Winter and Continuation Wars make it suspect for any more than the most basic background.

Gill is really superficial in this book. The overall story is quite fascinating, to say the least, but there are so many inaccuracies in the book that it should not have been published at all. I personally found the book unpleasant to read, because Gill had used the Finnish words for the most important terms. And mostly wrong. As a Finn, I find it troubling and makes reading uneasy. It also makes me wonder about other facts which have been presented in this book. I also did not understand why there was a photo of the former president Mauno Koivisto presented but no story attached. Maybe there was a reason?

"Soldier Under Three Flags" attempts to portray the life of US Army Captain Larry Thorne (Lauri Torni). This man is a legend in both the Finnish and American armies; his exploits definitely deserve documentation. Unfortunately, this isn't it. The book is written in a, well, superficial style. Battle scenes on the Eastern Front that would be excellent vehicles to show Torni's maturing leadership and command style are only sketchily covered, and numerous inaccuracies detract from the subject at hand. For example, we read that due to the "Scandinavian (Finland is not technically Scandinavia) midnight sun, dense forest" etc the Russians suffered low morale during the Winter War. Well, I've been in Finland during the winter and there ain't NO sun at all. "Midnight Sun" actually refers to almost continous daylight during the summer. Also, the author can't get simple German phrases accurate: "zu Befehl" does not mean "at once"-that word is "sofort", it literally means, "at (your) orders, and "werewolf" in German is simply "werwolf" not "werwulf". When Captain Thorne emigrates to America, and joins Special Forces, the author seems to be on more comfortable ground, with better flow up to the end of the book. All in all, for a very generalized, and inaccurate in spots, accounting of a Finnish and American patriot, and combat leader this may suffice. The historian however, needs to look elsewhere.

Lauri Torni (Larry Thorne) was a superb soldier whose name crops up in many of the books on the russo-finnish winter war / continuation war (as WW2 is known in Finland). Lauri Torni was born in 1919 in Viborg (a part of Finland occupied by Russia since the end of WW2) joined the Finnish army in 1938 and served as a patrol NCO during the Winter War (1939-1940). He was promoted 2/LT (9 May 1940). After that war ended, he went to Germany and Austria, where he was among the early volunteers for what became the Finnisches Freiwilligen SS-Bataillon "Nordost" - and Torni became an SS Untersturmführer (2/LT; 8 May 1941). By the end of July 1941, Torni was back in the Finnish Army for the Continuation War (1941-1944). As a leader of small units operating behind soviet lines he was by all accounts a truely inspiring leader who made a significant contribution to Finland's war effort - significant enough that as commander of Detachment Törni, which operated behind Soviet lines, the Russians put a price of 3,000,000 markka on his head. Among his jääkärit in this "Lightning Bolt" unit, was Mauno Koivisto, future President of Finland (Interestingly enough, Koivisto, in his own biography, is rather critical of Törni - he felt that Törni's "daring and soldierly behaviour sometimes confused his own men and put their lives at risk". Gill, incidentally, while he mentions Koivisto's membership of Detachment Torni, does not make any mention of Koivisto's comments). Torni was awarded the Mannerheim Cross (9 Jul 1944), the equivalent of the US Medal of Honor / British Victoria Cross, and was promoted CPT (28 Aug 1944).

After Finland under Field Marshall Mannerheim made a seperate peace with the Soviets, Torni travelled to Germany, rejoined the Waffen SS; and fought on the Eastern Front - as an SS Hauptsturmführer (CPT; 15 Apr 1945,), leading a detachment of German Marines who fought thru to the war's end (and after, as they had to fight their way thru the Russians to reach American Lines and surrender). Gill very much understates Torni's SS membership. Torni was interned but escaped to Finland where he was indicted and sentenced to 6-years as an "enemy of the state" (for fighting with the Germans after Finland changed sides and signed an armistice with the Allies). By then, the Finnish government was "pro-", if not actually, Communist. By the end of the War, Torni had been awarded every Finnish medal of valor including the Mannerheim Cross. While fighting with the Germans, Torne was awarded the Iron Cross.

Pardoned in 1948 (but losing his Finnish rank in 1950), Torni fled to Sweden and then onward to end up in New York by 1951. Befriended by other Finnish officers who had joined the American army (and by "Wild Bill" Donovan, OSS head in WW2), the 1951 Lodge Act enabled Torni to enlist in the U.S. Army - as PVT Larry A. Thorne (28 Jan 1954).He became an NCO instructor in winter warfare and special operations; was promoted to 1/LT (9 Jan 1957) and CPT (30 Nov 1960); and commanded Special Forces A-Teams in operations. Torni served two tours in Vietnam (1963-1965), first as an A-Team commander; and then as a staff officer on a B-Team (part of the MACV-SOG "Studies and Observation Group", in charge of clandestine ops in Laos and Cambodia). He disappeared just over the Laotian border (18 Oct 1965) on a CH-34 "KINGBEE" helicopter from the 219th Vietnamese Air Force Squadron while performing a C&C mission out of Kham Duc for the very first OP-35 cross-border reconnaissance mission (RT Iowa) being conducted with all on board lost. Torne (recipient of the Bronze Star and 5 Purple Hearts) was promoted after death to MAJ (16 Dec 1965). His remains were recovered by a joint American-Finnish effort in July 1999; positively identified in 2003; and buried with the remains of his South Vietnamese air crew at Arlington Cemetey (26 Jun 2003).

Gill's biography does an adequate job of presenting the above in 200 odd pages. It's the only english-language book available on Lauri Torni, so unless you read Finnish, this is it and, regardless of the failings of this book, you may as well buy it coz there ain't nothing else available (correction Feb 08- see my comments about Cleverley's book below). Which is a shame, because there's the material for a superb and enthralling biography here. The fact that Thorne (Torni) is so well remembered in the US SF community, and has an SF building named after him as well as being played by John Wayne in the movie "The Green Beret's" - as well as being credited as the insipiration for a graduating class of officers from the Finnish Military Academy a number of years ago is no small tribute to the man. Gill may have been interested in the man for 23 years before writing this book, as an SF man himself he had access to sources who knew Torni, as well as access to members of Torni's unit and family in Finland. In addition, there's far more source material in Finnish and Swedish available. As well as many a well-written military biography on which to model a book such as this. Considering all of which, this is a pretty poor biography that outlines the man's life but which lacks any significant details and which does not illustrate his personality to any real degree.

That was the downside. The upside - well, Gill cared enough to write the book and while it's not a masterpiece it's a creditable job. After reading the odd comment about Torni in books on the Winter War and Finland in WW2, I was interested enough to buy and read this and it certainly answered a few questions about Lauri Torni. But it could have been so much better..... In summary, this book is it in english so regardless of it's flaws (and there are many, as almost every other reviewer has commented) if you're interested in the man, buy it. Or learn Finnish and read the Finnish books (and that's hard believe me - I've been trying and it's a slow and painful experience......). Or try and find a copy of Cleveley's book "A Scent of Glory - see note below)

For those interested in further reading on Törni, try the following:

English language
Finland at War - Koivisto Remembers
The Green Berets by Robin Moore 1965 / USA / New revised version 1999 / ISBN-13: 978-0312984922 (Torni is written up as Sven Kornie)
U.S. Army SF in Southeast Asia 1956-1975, the green berets at war by Shelby L. Staton 1985 / USA / ISBN 0-8041-1884-1
SOG-the secret wars of America's commandos in Vietnam by John L. Plaster 1997 / USA / ISBN 0-684-81105-7
SOG-A photo history of the secret wars by John L. Plaster 2000 / USA / ISBN 1-58160-058-5

In Finnish or Swedish (and good luck...)
Legenda: Lauri Torni by Kari Kallonen, Petri Sarjanen (Language=Finnish, 397 pages, published Jan 2004, ISBN-10: 9525170381, ISBN-13: 9789525170382)
Lauri Törni - Syntynyt sotilaaksi by J. Michael Cleverley 2003 / Finland / ISBN 951-1-18853-4
Note: You won't find these books on Amazon but I ordered the above two from a Finnish online book shop called Bookplus dot fi - they have english pages for ordering which is a bonus. My Finnish isn't quite good enough to figure out how to order without a bit of help :) - yet. Hopefully, working my way thru these books translating them as I go will improve my Finnish. And they were delivered from Helsinki to Canada far faster than books from Amazon.com in the US take to get to Canada.

Added this comment as of Feb 2008: J Michael Cleverley's book was first published in English in 2003 under the title "A Scent of Glory: The Times and Life of Larry A Thorne." It was translated into Finnish and is a bestseller in Finland. You may be able to find an English language copy if you do a search - it's not listed on Amazon - having worked my way thru the Finnish version with the aid of translation software, a Finnish-English dictionary, a grammer and a couple of Finnish websites where people were very helpful, and then having picked up a second hand English version, I have to say it's a far far better book about Lauri Torni than Gill's. Worth looking for it. Both Legenda and Cleverley's book include a great collection of photo's - again, far better than Gill's. And "Legenda" is printed on the most amazing glossy paper. Haven't seen a book with this quality printing for years outside of coffee table stuff.

Paalun Divisioonan taistelujen tie by Arvo Ojala 1974 / Finland / ISBN 951-9272-07-0
Lauri Törnin tarina by Jukka Tyrkkö 1975 / Finland / ISBN 951-9272-16x (sid.) / 951-9272-17-8 (nid.)
Marttisen miehet by Paavo Kairinen 1987/ Finland / ISBN 951-0-14664-1
Lauri Törni ja hänen korpraalinsa by Antti Lindholm-Ventola 1988 / Finland / ISBN 951-9429-42-5 (Lauri Torni and his Corporal)
Jr 56 1941-1944 by Kaino Tuokko 1989 / Finland
Törnin jääkärit Lars Rönnqvist-Anssi Vuorenmaa 1993 / Finland / ISBN 951-0-19056-x
1. Divisioona 1941-1944 by Kaino Tuokko 1995 / Finland / ISBN 952-90-6970-7
Purppurasydän 1949-1965 by Kallonen-Sarjanen 1997 / Finland / ISBN 952-5170-01-2
Vaarallisilla teillä by Niilo Lappalainen 1998 / Finland / ISBN 951-22665-3
Leijonamieli 1919-1949 by Kallonen-Sarjanen 1998 / Finland / ISBN 952-5170-00-4
Ristiretki 1965-1999 by Kallonen-Sarjanen 1999 / Finland / ISBN 952-5170-09-8
Permanent patrullverksamhet by Harry Järv 2000 / Sweden / ISBN 951-8902-80-1
Maanpetturin tie by Juha Pohjonen 2000 / Finland / ISBN 951-1-16994-7
Karhumäestä Ilomantsiin by Matti Koskimaa 2000 / Finland / ISBN 951-24831-2
Sotasankarit by Robert Brander 2000 / Finland / ISBN 952-5170-11-X
Vastuunkantaja by Matti Lukkari 2000 / Finland / ISBN 951-1-16051-6

And if I could identify these books, why couldn't Gill source and use them!!!!!!!! All I can say is, the definitive biography in english for Lauri Torni remains to be written. Sadly, the primary sources have largely passed away and any future biographer will have to rely on written sources. For a good example of what a biography of such a man could be like, take a look at "Paddy Mayne: Rogue Warrior of the SAS." Now there's an example of what this book could have been....

Just as an aside, if you go to Youtube and search on "The Legend of Larry Thorne", you'll find a song by Finland's top Bluegrass Band (Jussi Syren and the Groundbreakers) by that name which is a pretty good tribute to the guy. There's a few more clips about him on Youtube including a video of his funeral and other bits and pieces. If you're interested in the man, it's worth a look.

And a last personal note. It's men like Lauri Torni that fought the hard fight against totalitarianism in WW2 and the Cold War. They deserve to be remembered for what they did, their dedication and their committment. To quote the ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) prayer:

"They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.
We will remember them."

A basic narrative of the life of famed Special Forces man, Larry Thorne. The great epic of Thorne's life began in his native Finland, where he distinguished himself as a junior officer, in the defence of his nation against the communist invasion in 1939.
Thorne, originally named Lauri Torne in his homeland, volunteered for advanced military training in Germany during World War II, through the Waffen S.S. As Finland became a reluctant ally of Germany out of necessity for national survival, they conducted the Continuation War against the Soviet Union in 1941, in order to regain lost territory. Here Thorne gained fame and notoriety as a leader of a Finnish Jaeger (special operations) company).
They end of the Second World War found Thorne attending Werewulf training in Germany, where he ultimately volunteered to assist in the defense of Germany against the invading Soviet army.
As the pro-communist post-war government of Finland proved to be politically dangerous for Thorne, he eventually emmigrated to America. With the aid of other Finnish army veterans, he found a new life as an officer in Special Forces. One of the sponsors who aided him in this transition was none other than O.S.S. founder "Wild Bill" Donovan.
A veteran of three armies and four wars, Thorne's career is certainly among the most astounding in terms of vast and varied experience.

A well written and researched biography of a truly remarkable warrior and defender of freedom.

Gill's book deals with the life of Larry Thorne (Lauri Torni) who served in the Finnish Army during the Winter War, WW 2, and who later emigrates to America and joins the US Army Special Forces.Thorne serves in Vietnam and is listed as MIA (presumed killed in a helicopter accident).Thorne was one of Finlands most highly decorated soldiers.

I feel that this is a book that is long overdue and that America has forgotten some of the colorful characters who were members of SF during the early days of its founding.
Unfortunately the book is a bit superficial in it's detail on Thorne's WW 2 service and his later service in Vietnam.I am curious if that is because the author could not find more info on Thorne or that men who served with Thorne are still secretive about their activities conducting combat missions in Vietnam.

I do recommend this book for those who are interested reading about this Finnish American hero who was a legend in the SF community.

I really liked this book. It held my interest and was extremely easy to read. It is easy to understand the authors fascination with Larry Thorne. I appreciate the 23 years of effort the author made to bring this story to us.