In the Continuation War, Finnish artist Sakari Tohka was given an assignment to make statues of the Generals of the Finnish Army. Originally, they were made of gypsum, but the commander of the Finnish Army, Marshal Mannerheim, requested them to be made of bronze. This task was taken on by the director of the Military Museum but during wartime the requisition of bronze proved to be difficult. Problem was solved by demolishing a large statue of a Soviet party leader Sergei Kirov in occupied Soviet territory in Syväri, and using the bronze from that statue to cast the new ones. The head of the statue was taken in to the collections of the Military Museum as well as the nineteen statues of the Finnish Generals.