From All Things Interesting:
Meet Aimo Koivunen, The Soldier Who Survived WWII Thanks To Accidentally Overdosing On Meth
In 1944, Finnish soldier Aimo Koivunen got separated from his unit and survived for weeks inside the Arctic Circle without food or shelter — fueled by a dose of meth large enough for 30 men.
Over the course of World War II, Finland staved off a Soviet invasion, allied with Germany to invade the Soviet Union, and then fought with the Allies against Germany. And soldier Aimo Koivunen’s meth-fueled survival story breathtakingly embodies that chaos.
While fleeing a Soviet ambush, Koivunen took a near-lethal overdose of methamphetamine. The drugs helped Koivunen cover hundreds of miles of ground – but they nearly killed him in the process.
Aimo Koivunen’s Fateful Ski PatrolHeavy snow covered the ground in Lapland on March 18, 1944. Finnish soldiers had been fighting for their country for over four years of nearly uninterrupted war. Deep behind enemy lines, one Finnish ski patrol found itself surrounded by Soviets.
Gunfire broke the silence. Men scrambled for safety. The ambush turned into a race for survival as the Finnish troops fled on skis.
Aimo Koivunen led the Finnish skiers through deep, untouched snow. Koivunen’s fellow soldiers relied on him to cut the tracks for the rest of the troops to glide across. The grueling work quickly drained Koivunen — until he remembered the package of pills in his pocket....
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"Look sarge, I can ski backwards. On my hands. Up a 60° grade. In my underwear."
