Prolific Finnish writer, who published 21 novels, mostly focusing on the events of World War II in Finland, Russia, and Germany. Niilo Lauttamus's best-known book is Vieraan kypärän alla (1957, Under a foreign helmet), roman à clef, which tells of Finnish Waffen-SS volunteers fighting with Germans at the Russian front. During the post-war decades, Lauttamus gained a faithful and wide circle of readers, who had been at the front like the author himself.

"Suomalainen mies on luonteeltaan toisenlainen kuin saksalainen. Suomalainen luonne on hitaasti syttyvä, mutta kun se kerran on syttynyt, se ryhtyy tekoihin. Suomalainen vaatii itselleen enemmän vapautta kuin saksalainen, ja juuri siinä on eräs tärkeä tekijä. Suomalainen alistuu kuriin vaikeasti ja jos alistuu lainkaan preussilaiseen kuriin, se tapahtuu hitaasti ja aiheuttaa tapahtuessaan monia vastareaktioita, kuin kokeiluja ja tunnusteluita, että onko todellakin pakko alistua." (Vieraan kypärän alla: romaani by Niilo Lauttamus, Jyväskylä: Gummerus, 12th imprint, 1988, p. 73)

Niilo Lauttamus was born in Sakkola, the son of Jussi Lauttamus, a master sergeant, and Elvi Paakeli. He was a member of the generation, which lost its best years in the two wars, which Finland and the Soviet Union had between the years 1939 and 1944. His family was forced to leave Sakkola, which was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944.

Lauttamus was too young for the Winter War (1939-40), but he served in the army during the Continuation War, two years in Germany, mostly at the front. After a cease-fire with the Soviet Union, he fought against the German troops in the northern part of Finland. Miraculously, he was wounded only once, in the leg. From 1948 to 1956, Lauttamus served as a non-commisioned officer, well-liked and respected by his men, not by all of the officers. After divorcing in 1952 his first wife, Laura Musakka, Lauttamus married Meeri Rämänen, a nurse.

Väinö Linna's Tuntematon sotilas (1954, The Unknown Soldier) created a growing demand for books, which told about the war from the viewpoint of an enlisted man. Inspired by Linna's example, Lauttamus bought a typewriter on hire-purchase and produced with his two-finger system a 76-pages long manuscript. Although this first effort was rejected by the Gummerus Publishing Company, Lauttamus eventually made his debut as a novelist in 1957 with Vieraan kypärän alla, brought out by the same publishing house.

The book, which was partly based on his own experiences in the Waffen-SS, sold immediately 50,000 copies. For a newcomer it was a record. Reviewers pointed out that the novel had an autobiographical nature: "Vaikkakaan lukijalla ei ole käytettävissään vertailuun asiakirjoja eikä historiallista teosta, tuntuu hänestä kuvaus perustuvan pääosiltaan nähtyihin, kuultuihin ja koettuihin tosiasioihin, eivätkä muutamat jälkiviisauden merkitkään mainittavasti häiritse aidon tunnelman muodostumista. Oikeastaan Lauttamuksen kirja onkin jokseenkin läpinäkyvä naamiopukuun verhottu muistelmateos, jolla sellaisena on tiettyä dokumenttiarvoakin. Tämä ei estä sitä olemasta samalla pirteä ja sujuva seikkailuromaani, sillä tekijällä on ilmeiset kertojan lahjat." ('Suomalainen SS-seikkailu' by Pauli Marttina, Helsingin Sanomat, No. 334, 11.12.1957, p. 15)

The protagonist is the seventeen-year-old Johannes Aihela – Lauttamus's second name was Johannes and at school he was called Aihela – who joins the international Wiking Division, a part of the Waffen-SS organization. The story follows Aihela from his home in Karelia, eastern Finland, to the training camp in Gross-Born in East-Pomerania, and to the battlefields in Ukraine. Aihela's motivation to enlist is not ideological but individual: to have an adventure. "En oikein itsekään tiedä miksi lähdin. Ehkä seikkailemaan . . ." (Ibid., p. 14)

After two years Aihela returns to Finland to continue his war on the Finnish front. Lauttamus depicted also such real-life soldiers as the battalion commander Hans Collani (in the book Collan), the friendship and rivalry between brothers-in-arms, not forgetting the sadistic non-commissioned officers in delinquent company.

The first commander of the Wiking Division, General Felix Steiner, was held in high esteem by the Finnish volunteers. He is mentioned a couple of times. "Kenraali Steinerin maastoauto ohitti heidät. Kenraali heilutti oikeaa kättään ja painoi vasemmalla kädellä nenäliinan suulleen. Ruumisröykkiöt jäivät jälkeen, ja he suuntasivat marssinsa kohti Malgobekin kaupungin oikeanpuoleita laitaa, josta kantautui tykistöottelun ääniä." (Ibid., p. 350) Aihela is awarded with an iron cross – like Lauttamus – and promoted to sergeant. (Ibid., p. 339) Moreover, Aihela's comrade Laitavaara is given an iron cross: "Sotilaat! Adolf Hitlerin nimessä palkitsen teidät rautaristillä! Minun ei tarvitse eritellä teidän jokaisen tekoja. Te tiedätte tekonne itse. Esimiehenne ovat tekonne nähneet ja minun miellyttävä velvollisuuteni on kiinnittää risti rintaanne!" (Ibid., p. 373) Lauttamus's books have not given any evidence to link the author to possible war crimes committed by members of the Wiking Division.

Following the success of his first novel, Lauttamus devoted himself entirely to writing. As well as novels he published short humorous pieces, which appeared in the Seura magazine.

Hiljaiset sotilaat (1959) looked at the Winter War (1939-40) from both sides of the front. Lauttamus tried to avoid idealization typical for popular Finnish novels dealing with this war. A bestseller, Hiljaiset sotilaat sold 20,000 copies, but some reviewers were less impressed. "Ei voida kieltää, etteikö hänen toisessa teoksessaankin olisi monia ansioita, mutta ero on kuitenkin ilmeinen omakohtaisten kokemusten ja muilta kuullun kuvaamisessa." ('Jälleen tarinaa tarvisodan päiviltä' by M. P., Helsingin Sanomat, No. 279, 15.10.1959, p. 16) The literary manager of Gummerus, Ville Repo, made Lauttamus to rewrite one of the chapters over ten times. "The first version was published," recalled Lauttamus. He never again tried to see the war from the Soviet point of view.

In the 1960s Lauttamus published 11 war novels. He never sought acceptance of the cultural elite, who considered his work unfashionably conservative and commercial. At worst, his plots did not rise above the level of the Korkeajännitys (Finnish edition  of the British Commando Comics) comic books. What the critics ignored was that Lauttamus did not dehumanize the Russians as the far-right had done in the 1930s.  

Sotapoliisit (1961) focused on military polices. The central character, Lieutenant Mauri Kelo, witnesses the execution of a desant named Vladimir Korkia. He feels pity for him: "Mauri ajatteli vielä desanttia. Tämän vanhemmat ja nuorin veli eivät tienneet mitään. Tuskin tulisivat koskaan tietämäänkään enempää kuin että Vladimir viipyy. Vladimir ei tule. . . . Epätietoisuus jää kalvamaan äitiä, isää ja veljeä hautaan asti. Se kaikki ei ole muiden syy kuin sodan, komentavien upseerien ja Vladimirin itsensä." (Sotapoliisit, Jyväskylä: Gummerus, 6th imprint, 1981, p. 63)

Saappaat edellä (1963) was a grotesquely humorous novel about medical orderlies. "Jo tottuneena sodasta kertojana Lauttamus on kiitosta ansaitsevalla tavalla pyrkinyt suoran kerronnan sijaan näkökulmanasetteluun, mikä merkitsee lähinnä sitä että hän eräänlaisena ajanvietteen tahon Veijo Merenä pyrkii osoittamaan sodan mielettömyyttä hirtehishuumorilla." ('Sotaa sotaa' by P - a P - o [Pekka Piirto], Helsingin Sanomat, No. 337, 13.12.1963, p. 23)

Despite earning considerable royalties from his books, Lauttamus couldn't keep up with his mortgage payments. Eventually Pekka Salojärvi from his publishing company helped him to work out a payment plan with the bank. Lauttamus returned to the history of the Wiking Division in Rautasaappaat (1965), in which Aihela fights on the Karelian front and later in Lapland, to drive the German troops out of Lapland. (Perhaps the most ambitious novel of the Lapland War is Jussi Talvi's Ystäviä ja vihollisia from 1954.) Unable to adjust to civilian life, Aihela goes back to the army. Characters familiar from Vieraan kypärän alla were also featured in Haavoittuneet leijonat (1968) and Viikinkidivisioona (1970).

Rangaistuskompania (1971) told of a SS-soldier named Paavo Rajas, again a hero who has problems with his superiors, and with military discipline. "Niilo Lauttamus on "Rangaistuskompaniassaan" pääsemättömissä SS-miestensä kanssa, joiden kohtalot käyvät yhtä stereotyyppisemmiksi. Saksalaiset ovat entistä julmempia, suomalaiset entistä rämäpäisempiä ja uppiniskaisempia. . . . Lauttamus hallitsee sähketyylinsä iskevästi, mutta levy alkaa olla aika kulunut.  Eiköhän olisi aika jättää SS-muistot?" ('Sodan jälkikaikuja Kannakselta Lappiin' by Seppo Heikinheimo, Helsingin Sanomat, No. 313, 27.11.1972, p. 14)

In the 1970s Lauttamus poured out eight war novels. The last was Verikivi (1977), set in the years of the Continuation War, from the beginning to the Soviet breakthrough in the Karelian front in 1944. "Kirjan sankari on reservin aliupseeri, joka osoittautuu rauhan ajan palveluksessa heikon puoleiseksi, mutta todetaan sodan koetuksissa luontaiseksi taistelijaksi ja johtajaksi. Tämänkertainen juttu on jonkin verran parempi kuin useat Lauttamuksen aikaisemmista sotakirjoista ja eräät taistelukuvaukset ovat jopa varsin luistavia." ('Viimeinen Lauttamus' by J., in Kansa Taisteli, Vol. 22, No. 7, 14.7.1978, p. 258) During a dark point of his life in 1973, Lauttamus attempted suicide with a shotgun. His face was damaged severely. Lauttamus lost his nose and lips, but he still was able to smoke the pipe.

Niilo Lauttamus died in Muurame on May 8, 1977, at the age of 52. Four years earlier, he had been diagnosed with cancer. ('Niilo Lauttamus,' in Uskollisuus on kunniamme by Seppo Porvali, Tampere: Apali Oy, 2008, p. 89) It has been claimed that Lauttamus's final two books were ghostwritten – they have not been republished in book form.

Most of Lauttamus's novels have been reprinted, the 14th edition of Vieraan kypärän alla came out in 2009. From the beginning of his career, Lauttamus approached the war and military life with a sense of realism, but he didn't have any pacifist leanings at all. Nor had he read many books. Finnish soldiers were portrayed more or less in the traditional vein. A defining trait of Lauttamus's heroes is that they hate abuse of power. Humorous episodes served to highlight the absurdity of war. 

Although Lauttamus did not glorify war and wanted to give a picture of its madness, his novels also were highly entertaining. He was a natural story-teller whose style, easy-going but brisk, reminded the rhythm of a stroll. War veterans, Lauttamus's most faithful readers, were drawn to his stories because author had personal first-hand knowledge of the frontline realities. 

Along with the novelist Kalle Päätalo, a war veteran too, Lauttamus was one of the best selling writers of Gummerus. With the novel Kuolema junailee (1961), published by Fennia, Lauttamus tried his hand as a mystery writer. After this first and last attempt to change the genre he returned to war stories. Lauttamus later revealed that he had composed the book in order to win a bet he had made with Marko Tapio. ('Noin yhden dekkarin ihmeitä: Onni Halla ja Niilo Lauttamus' by Tapani Bagge, in Ruumiinkulttuuri, No. 3, 2020)

When the New Wave director Maunu Kurkvaara made a crime film entitled of Kujanjuoksu (1971), Lauttamus sued Elokuva Oy Maunu Kurkvaara ja Väinän Filmi Oy for stealing the name of his 1960 war novel, Kujanjuoksu. Kurkvaara said that he had never heard of the book. Moreover, there already was a movie, Raoul J. Lévy's The Defector (1966), starring Montgomery Clift. It was titled in Finnish as Kujanjuoksu. Lauttamus lost his case at the court, and some money too in the process (2,500 marks). The film, retitled Maunu Kurkvaaran Kujanjuoksu, failed at the box office.

The Wiking Division: 'Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen SS in 1941–1943 and Related Finnish studies' by Jussi Pajunen, Finnish-German Yearbook of Political Economy, Vol. 2 (2019); Hakaristin ritarit: suomalaiset SS-miehet, politiikka, uskonto ja sotarikokset by André Swanström (2018); '"Soldated wie andere auch": Finnish Waffen-SS Volunteers and Finland's Historical Imagination' by Antero Holmila, in Finland's Holocaust: Silences of History, edited by Simo Muir and Hana Worthen (2013); Suomalaisten Waffen-SS vapaaehtoisten matrikkeli 1941-1943 (1999); Panttipataljoona: Suomalaisen SS-pataljoonan historia by Mauno Jokipii (1969, Pawn battalion: The history of the Finnish SS-battalion), this book was commissioned by an organization representing veteran Waffen-SS soldiers.

Selected works:

• Vieraan kypärän alla, 1957 (19th ed. 2009)
• Hiljaiset sotilaat, 1959 (9th ed. 2009)
• Kannaksen lapsia, 1960
• Kujanjuoksu: romaani sodasta, 1960
• Kuolema junailee: salapoliisiromaani, 1961
• Sotapoliisit, 1961 (7th ed. 2009)
• Korpipartio, 1962 (5th ed. 1981)
• Saappaat edellä, 1963
• Ilman kokardia, 1964
• Rautasaappaat, 1965 (7th ed. 1981)
• Rähinäremmi, 1966
• Me veteraanit, 1967
• Haavoittuneet leijonat, 1968 (6th ed. 1981)
• Poliisimiehet, 1969
• Viikinkidivisioona, 1970 (8th ed. 1994)
• Kuolemanleirin kautta, 1971
• Rangaistuskomppania, 1972
• Anatoli Kurkisen sota, 1973
• Raatteen tien paholaiset, 1974
• Hävittäjä-ässä, 1975 (4th ed. 1988)
• Panssarikiila, 1976
• Verikivi, 1977
• Karjalan korpipartiot, 2012 (contains Korpipartio and Saappaat edellä)
  
• Rautaristi, 2013 (contains Vieraan kypärän alla and Rautasaappaat)
  
• Vieraan kypärän alla, 2020 (E-kirja)
• Rähinäremmi, 2121 (E-kirja)
• Rautasaappaat, 2021 (E-kirja)
• Raatteen tien paholaiset, 2022 (E-kirja)
• Hiljaiset sotilaat, 2022 (E-kirja)
• Korpipartio, 2022 (E-kirja)
• Saappaat edellä, 2022 (E-kirja)
• Korpipartio, 2022 (E-kirja)
• Kujanjuoksu, 2023 (E-kirja)
• Panssarikiila, (E-kirja)
• Haavoittuneet leijonat, (E-kirja)
• Kuolemanleirin kautta, 2023 (E-kirja)
• Ilman kokardia, 2023 (E-kirja)
• Sotapoliisit, 2023 (E-kirja)
• Verikivi, 2024 (E-kirja)
• Hävittäjä-ässä, 2024 (E-kirja)
• Viikinkidivisioona, 2024 (E-kirja)
• Rangaistuskomppania, 2024 (E-kirja)