Lauri Sutela

{{short description|Finnish military officer}}

{{Infobox military person

|name =Lauri Sutela

|image =

|caption =

|birth_date ={{Birth date|1918|10|11|df=yes}}

|death_date ={{Death date and age|2011|11|08|1918|10|11|df=yes}}

|birth_place =Äänekoski, Finland

|death_place =Helsinki, Finland

|placeofburial =

|placeofburial_label =

|placeofburial_coordinates =

|nickname =

|birth_name =

|allegiance ={{flagicon|Finland}} Finland

|branch = {{Finnish Army Seal}}

|serviceyears =1939–1983

|rank =General

|servicenumber =

|unit = 12th Jager Engineer Regiment.

|commands =Chief of Defence

|battles =

{{tree list}}

• World War II
• Winter War
• Continuation War

{{tree list/end}}

|battles_label =

|awards =

|relations =

|laterwork =

|signature =

}}

General Lauri Johannes Sutela (11 October 1918, Äänekoski – 8 November 2011; surname until 1929 Schroderus) was a Finnish military officer.{{cite news|url=http://www.kaleva.fi/uutiset/puolustusvoimain-entinen-komentaja-sutela-on-kuollut/917847|title=Puolustusvoimain entinen komentaja Sutela on kuollut|date=2011-11-08|publisher=Kaleva|language=Finnish|accessdate=8 November 2011}} He served as an officer in the engineer corps during World War II.{{cite news|url=http://www.abounderrattelser.fi/news/2011/11/general-lauri-sutela-har-avlidit.html|title=General Lauri Sutela har avlidit|date=2011-11-08|publisher=Åbo Underrättelser|language=Swedish|accessdate=8 November 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415034040/http://www.abounderrattelser.fi/news/2011/11/general-lauri-sutela-har-avlidit.html|archivedate=15 April 2012}}

Sutela worked his way up the Finnish Army and finally became the Chief of Defence from 15 April 1974 until 11 October 1983. His appointment was controversial since he was the first (and last) non-combat arms officer to be appointed as the Chief of Defence, but he was appointed solely on the basis of seniority. He was considered to be acceptable and a consensus candidate to both Sweden, Soviet Union, West Germany and East Germany, i.e. the main foreign players with influence in the Finnish defence establishment.{{cite news|title=Kenraalit ovat tervaskantoja|author=Jaakko Salmela|url=http://www.mil.fi/ruotuvaki/index.dsp?action=read_page&pid=138&aid=2099|newspaper=Ruotuvaki|date=September 2009|accessdate=25 December 2010}} As a Staff Colonel in the early-to-mid 1960s, he had authored several books on doctrine and tactics on how to adapt Soviet weapons systems to Western/Finnish doctrine and tactics.