Taipale at the eastern end of the Mannerheim Line (pre-1940 border).
The Karelian village Taipale (Тайпале) is situated on the shore of Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus, approximately 100 kilometers east-south-east of the post-Winter War border of Finland. River Vuoksi's eastern armlet empties in Lake Ladoga at Taipale.
Taipale at the Mannerheim Line, then approximately 20 kilometers from the Soviet border, became known for heavy fighting during the Winter War, and was held by the Finnish forces until the end of that war, when all of the Karelian Isthmus was ceded to the Soviet Union and had to be evacuated in haste.
The memory of Taipale represents, both in Russia and in Finland, the tragedy of thousands of young sons, brothers and fathers fallen in battle.
