World War II: The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The Lapland War and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end and the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph is taken.

During World War II, the Lapland War saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. Though the Finns and the Germans had been fighting together against the Soviet Union since 1941 during the Continuation War (1941–1944), peace negotiations between the Finnish government and the Allies of World War II had been conducted intermittently during 1943–1944, but no agreement had been reached. The Moscow Armistice, signed on 19 September 1944, demanded that Finland break diplomatic ties with Germany and expel or disarm any German soldiers remaining in Finland.

Finland participated in the Second World War initially in a defensive war against the Soviet Union, followed by another, this time offensive, war against the Soviet Union acting in concert with Nazi Germany and then finally fighting alongside the Allies against Germany.

Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn is a historic photograph taken on 27 April 1945, which was the last day of the Second World War in Finland. It depicts a Finnish Army patrol of Battle Group Loimu, Infantry Regiment 1, raising the Finnish war flag on the three-country cairn between Norway, Sweden, and Finland. As the cairn marked the westernmost point on the Finnish mainland, this symbolized that the last German troops were gone from Finland. The photograph was taken by the commander of Infantry Regiment 1, Colonel Väinö Oinonen. It became a widely circulated symbol of the end of World War II in Finland.