Hitler's visit
On June 4, 1942, Hitler made a surprise visit to Finland in honour of Mannerheim's 75th birthday. It was less pleasing to Mannerheim and caused some embarrassment. Mannerheim did not want to meet him in his HQ in Mikkeli or in Helsinki, as it would have seemed like an official state visit. The meeting took place near Imatra, in south-eastern Finland, and was arranged in secrecy. During the visit, an engineer of the Finnish broadcasting company YLE,succeeded in recording secretly the first 11 minutes of Hitler's and Mannerheim's conversation in the train wagon, before being interrupted by SS bodyguards. It's the only known recording of Hitler speaking in unofficially. Before the meeting Mannerheim was told straight and quite rudely by Hitler's adjutant, that he must not smoke while the Führer is around (for Hitler's aversion to smoking was well known). Mannerheim supposed that Hitler would demand Finland for more active actions against the Soviet Union, which Mannerheim was unwilling to give. And during the conversation in the train wagon when Hitler brought up the situation of Finland, Mannerheim lit a cigar and intentionally blowed the smoke towards Hitler, to see his reaction. Hitler continued the conversation calmly, with no comment. In this way, Mannerheim could judge if Hitler was speaking from a position of strength or weakness. He was able to refuse Hitler, knowing that Hitler was in a weak position, and could not dictate to him.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://ww2incolor.com/gallery/finnish-forces/36126/hitler's-visit