Vilho Koskela

Vilho Johannes "Ville" Koskela is a fictional character in Väinö Linna's 1954 war novel The Unknown Soldier and the Under the North Star trilogy (1959–1962). In The Unknown Soldier, Koskela's military rank is initially that of a sergeant major, but he later rises to lieutenant. According to Väinö Linna, Vilho Koskela's role model was Nilsiä-born Einari Kokkonen. Another officer who provided material for Koskela's character was a lieutenant named Niemelä, who fell in the aftermath of the Battle of Pertjärvi, and whom Linna also valued as a leader.