On March 18, 1944, 27-year-old Aimo Koivunen and his Finnish ski unit were in Lapland, Finland's northernmost region, when they were attacked by superior Soviet forces. Forced to retreat through deep snow, Koivunen found himself exhausted.
He remembered he had a supply of Pervitin, an early form of crystal meth used in World War 2. Unable to open just one pill while skiing away, he swallowed all 30 pills. This gave him an immediate burst of energy, allowing him to outpace the Soviets and his unit, before passing out.
When he woke up, he'd covered 100 kilometers (62 miles) alone and high, without food or ammunition. He kept skiing, encountering the Soviets multiple times but always escaping, even after an injury from a landmine.
He traveled 400 kilometers (250 miles) to reach Finnish territory. Upon arrival, he weighed only 94 pounds and his heart raced at 200 beats per minute. He survived until age 71, dying in 1989.
Aimo Koivunen, a Finnish soldier, was fleeing Soviets during Second World War
To avoid being captured he tried to take a Nazi meth pill for energy, but ended up taking an entire squad's worth of the drug
He began hallucinating, got lost, and spent two weeks skiing around the Arctic Circle with no food, ammunition, or any idea where he was
Aimo was eventually found half-naked, badly wounded, and eating a raw bird in a ditch but was miraculously rescued alive
As the days passed, Koivunen’s appetite slowly returned. While the mega-dose of meth had suppressed the soldier’s desire to eat, hunger pains eventually brought his situation in stark relief.
Winter in Lapland left few options for the soldier. He gnawed on pine buds to stave off hunger. One day, Koivunen managed to catch a Siberian jay and ate it raw. Somehow, Aimo Koivunen survived sub-zero temperatures, Soviet patrols, and a meth overdose. He eventually reached Finnish territory, where compatriots rushed their compatriot to the hospital.
In the absence of food, he resorted to eating pine buds and a single Siberian jay that he caught and ate raw.
By the time he was rescued, Koivunen had suffered from severe frostbite and lost half of his body weight.
He was found by a Finnish patrol and was subsequently hospitalized.
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