No. 8 machine gun bunker was a large, hardened field fortification made of reinforced concrete. It was equipped with a steel-cast machine gun cupola.

One of two maxim machine guns was placed in the machine gun cupola, and the other was mounted on the front wall embrasure. The bunker also had a sheltered post for an anti-tank cannon. The bunker had living quarters for 20 people, and it had a heating system, water hole, air conditioning and sewer. The construction of the bunker required 580-600 cubic metres of concrete and some 50 tonnes of reinforcing bars.

The bunker was built by Rakennustoimi Oy from Luumäki, supervised by K. Rautkari, at he end of 1940. The contractor had 775 labourers at their disposal,and by summer 1941, the concrete bunkers of the fortification area were completed.

After the Moscow Armistice of 19 September 1944, the German 20th Mountain Army began withdrawing from the Kiestinki area in the direction of Kuusamo. On 26 September 1944, after the Germans had withdrawn from the area, the Red Army arrived and started the occupation of Kuusamo. Before their retreat back over the national border on 18 November 1944, the Soviets blew up all the Salpa Line hardened field fortifications (concrete bunkers) in Kuusamo.