Finland has commissioned an investigation to find out whether a Finnish volunteer battalion serving within Nazi Germany's notorious Waffen-SS committed atrocities during World War II.

The government says the investigation will be conducted by Finland's National Archives and is to be completed by the end of November.

It said Thursday the probe is being launched following a request in January by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem to Finland's President Sauli Niinisto.

Following the bitter Winter War during 1939-40 against the Soviet Union, Finland became part of an alliance with Nazi Germany.

Finnish troops fought alongside Wehrmacht soldiers following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

A volunteer Finnish SS battalion was formed in 1941 within the SS Wiking division and operated on the Eastern Front until 1943.