![Patterinmäki 1918](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Patterinm%C3%A4ki_1918.jpg)
The Battle of Viipuri was a 1918
Finnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...
battle, fought 24–29 April between the
Finnish Whites against the
Finnish Reds in
Viipuri. Together with the
Battle of Tampere
The Battle of Tampere was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Tampere, Finland from 15 March to 6 April between the Whites and the Reds. It is the most famous and the heaviest of all the Finnish Civil War battles. Today it is particularl ...
and
Battle of Helsinki
The Battle of Helsinki was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in 12–13 April between the German troops and Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds in Helsinki, Finland. Together with the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, it was one of the ...
, it was one of the three major urban battles of the Finnish Civil War. The battle is also remembered because of its bloody aftermath, as the Whites executed up to 400 non-aligned military personnel and civilians of Russian and associated ethnicities.
Background
At the time of the Finnish Civil War, Viipuri was the fourth-largest city in Finland, with about 30,000 people. The surrounding
Viipuri Province
Viipuri Province ( fi, Viipurin lääni'', commonly abbreviated'' Vpl, sv, Viborgs län or Wiborgs län, russian: Выборгская губерния) was a historical province of Finland from 1812 to 1945.
History
The predecessor of the ...
was the largest Finnish province with a population of 540,000. Viipuri was also the most multicultural city in Finland with a large minority of Russians and smaller minorities of Swedes, Germans,
Tatars
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different and
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. Its location at the
Karelian Isthmus
The Karelian Isthmus (russian: Карельский перешеек, Karelsky peresheyek; fi, Karjalankannas; sv, Karelska näset) is the approximately stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern ...
near the Russian capital
Petrograd
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
made the city an important center of transport and trade. During the Civil War, Viipuri was under Red control from its beginning in late January. Since 9 April, Viipuri was the capital of
Red Finland
The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (FSWR), more commonly referred to as Red Finland, was a self-proclaimed Finnish socialist state that ruled parts of the country during the Finnish Civil War of 1918. It was outlined on 29 January 1918 by t ...
as the
Red Government and the Red Guard general staff left Helsinki.
The units
The White Army formed a new unit for the offensive. The 18,300-men-strong
Eastern Army (''Itäarmeija'') was under the command of the former
Savo Division
Savo may refer to:
Languages
* Savo dialect, forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savonia
* Savo language, an endangered language spoken on Savo
People
* Savo (given name), a masculine given name from southern Europe (includes a list of people ...
leader general major
Ernst Löfström
Ernst Löfström (31 May 1865 – 5 January 1937) was a Finnish general in World War I and the Finnish Civil War. He fought on the side of the whites. He died in Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and m ...
. It was composed of three regiments; the Western Unit was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel
Aarne Sihvo
Aarne Sihvo (22 November 1889 – 12 June 1963) was a Finnish general and politician.
Biography
Sihvo was born in Virolahti to a family of school teachers: Antti Adolf Sihvo and Minna Elisabeth o.s. Nyman. He graduated from a high school in 1910 ...
, the Northern by General Major
Karl Fredrik Wilkman and the Eastern by the German Colonel
Eduard Ausfeld
Heinrich Eduard Ausfeld (27 May 1850, Schnepfenthal bei Gotha – 4 April 1906, Magdeburg) was a German archivist and historian.
Following studies at several German universities, he obtained his doctorate in 1880 at the University of Marburg. Su ...
.
[
The defense of Viipuri was first led by the head of the Red Government ]Kullervo Manner
Kullervo Achilles Manner (, Russian Куллерво Густавович Маннер, ''Kullervo Gustavovich Manner''; 12 October 1880 – 15 January 1939) was a Finnish politician and journalist, and later a Soviet politician. He was a membe ...
. After Manner fled to the Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
on 25 April, he was followed by Edvard Gylling
Edvard Otto Vilhelm Gylling (30 November 1881 – 14 June 1938) was a prominent Social Democratic and later Communist politician in Finland, later leader of Soviet Karelia.
He was born in Kuopio. He was a member of Parliament of Finland for ...
. The Red Guard leader was Oskar Rantala Oskar Rantala (1869 - 1918) was a Finnish soldier. He was the regimental commander of the Helsinki unit of the Finnish Red Guards; and he was also the commander of the Eastern front of the reds during the Finnish Civil War. At the end of the war, h ...
, with the Russian colonel Mikhail Svechnikov
Mikhail Stepanovich Svechnikov (30 September 1882 – 26 August 1938) was a Russian military officer in the Imperial Russian Army and the Red Army. He is best known as one of the military leaders of the Red Guards (Finland), Red Guards in the 1918 ...
as his military advisor. On the days of the battle, there were more than 12,000 Reds and their families in Viipuri. About 10,000 were refugees who had fled from the western parts of Finland. The combat units had up to 5,000 fighters, including forces retreating from the Karelian Front
The Karelian Front russian: Карельский фронт) was a front (a formation of Army Group size) of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, and operated in Karelia.
Wartime
The Karelian Front was created in August 1941 when ...
and some members of the Viipuri Women's Red Guard.[
]
Encirclement of Viipuri
The offensive against Viipuri was launched on 19 April when colonel Ausfeld's unit marched to south from Rautu, in order to block the Reds' connection to Russia. On 23 April Ausfeld cut the Petrograd railroad in Raivola
Roshchino (russian: Ро́щино; fi, Raivola), Raivola before 1948, is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, and a station on the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad. It is situated on ...
, 75 kilometres east of Viipuri. During the following evening, his troops took the villages of Terijoki and Kuokkala by the Bay of Finland
The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
. Terijoki Red Guard, commanded by the infamous Heikki Kaljunen, was the last Red unit to escape and cross the border. On the same day, the Northern Regiment headed towards Viipuri from Antrea, which is located 30 kilometres north of Viipuri.[
In the evening of 23 April, the Red general staff in Viipuri ordered all forces of the Karelian front to retreat to Viipuri. The Reds of ]Joutseno
Joutseno () is a former town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the South Karelia region.
The municipality was unilingually Finnish. Joutseno was consolidated with Lappeenranta on 1 Jan ...
, Antrea and Taipalsaari
Taipalsaari is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the South Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Nei ...
first marched to Lappeenranta
Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...
and were then transported to Viipuri by train on the night of 24–25 April. At the same time, most of the Red Government fled to Petrograd by sea. Edvard Gylling was the only Red leader to stay in Viipuri. Gylling had negotiations with the German colonel Ulrich von Coler
Ulrich von Coler was an '' Oberleutnant'' in the Imperial German Army during World War I and an ''Oberst'' in the Finnish White Guard and ''Wehrmacht Heer'' in World War II. During the Finnish Civil War, he was one of 38 German officers in Fin ...
, but von Coler did not promise to treat the Reds by the Hague Convention. The Reds then had a meeting at the Viipuri Castle, where they decided to defend the city. Red units were divided into three units; the Northern Battalion was commanded by the worker Otto Vuoristo, Eastern by the Lappeenranta Red Guard leader Viktor Ripatti and the Western by the actor Jalmari Parikka
Hjalmar Fabian Parikka (16 October 1891 – 27 March 1959) was a Finnish revolutionary soldier, actor and artistic director.
Life
Jalmari Parikka was born in the Eastern Finnish town of Sortavala and went to school in the Russian capital Saint ...
.[
On 24 April a company led by von Coler took the Tali railway station 10 kilometres north of Viipuri, cutting the Viipuri–Joensuu railroad. His unit then evaded Viipuri and took the two nearest railway stations of the Petrograd railway. In the evening, von Coler defied his orders by attacking the city, but could not break through the Red defense on the eastern side of the Papula Bay. As the Sihvo's regiment blocked the city from the west, Viipuri was now encircled by the White Army and the only way out was by the sea.][
]
Battle in the city
On the night of 23–24 April, the underground Viipuri White Guard was activated. The Guard took the artillery fort in the Patterinmäki Hill, but in the morning they had to surrender, as the Whites could not hold the governmental buildings. The White Army made its first efforts to enter the city on 25–26 April but the Reds managed to push them back. The Whites had great losses, as they used conscripted units without former combat experience. Some of the men even had sympathies for the Reds.[
]
The Whites launched their decisive attack on 27 April at 12 noon. It was preceded by hours of artillery fire, which destroyed the Patterinmäki Fort and the working-class neighbourhood of Kolikkoinmäki. The conscripts were now mostly replaced by White Guards who had been fighting at the Karelian Front and White Army soldiers from the Savo Front.[ On the night of 27–28 April, a group of Reds entered the Viipuri Prison, where leading Whites had been kept for several weeks. After hours of heavy drinking, they shot more than 30 prisoners. Among the victims were two members of the Finnish Parliament, Leander Ikonen and ]Matti Pietinen Matti Pietinen (3 March 1859, in Sumiainen – 27 April 1918, in Viipuri; original surname ''Pitkänen'') was a Finnish schoolteacher, factory owner and politician. He was a member of the Diet of Finland from 1904 to 1906 and of the Parliament of F ...
.
The Whites finally took the city after heavy street fighting on the morning of 29 April. 1,000 Reds managed to break through the siege and headed west but they were soon captured. 500 of them were found shot dead.[ Some of the Reds were also evacuated to Petrograd by sea.][
]
Aftermath
As the Whites took Viipuri under their control, they conducted mass executions of Red Guard soldiers. Some 1,200 people were shot, including up to 400 Russians. The largest mass executions were carried out in the Annenkrone
Annenkrone (''St Anne's Crown'', russian: Анненские укрепления, ''Annenskiye ukrepleniya'', fi, Pyhän Annan kruunu) is an early 18th century fortification in Vyborg, Russia. It is located outside the town in the island of Tve ...
fort on the western side of the city. Red Guard soldiers remained in the city and hid in the civilian population. The Red Guards joined the ranks of those celebrating the liberation of the city. However, speech, behavior, and clothing usually deceived them. Most of those arrested were shot immediately. The acts of revenge were further fueled as dead bodies of White Guards and other bourgeois that had been killed prior to capturing the city were discovered.[
On the next few days after the battle, more than 10,000 Reds were captured. During the next five months, more than 800 Reds died in the Viipuri Prison Camp of executions, hunger and disease.][
]
See also
* Battle of Helsinki
The Battle of Helsinki was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in 12–13 April between the German troops and Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds in Helsinki, Finland. Together with the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, it was one of the ...
* Battle of Lahti
Battle of Lahti was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought from 19 April to 1 May between the German troops and Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds in Lahti, Finland. Together with the Battle of Vyborg, from 24 to 29 April, it was the la ...
* Battle of Tampere
The Battle of Tampere was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Tampere, Finland from 15 March to 6 April between the Whites and the Reds. It is the most famous and the heaviest of all the Finnish Civil War battles. Today it is particularl ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Vyborg
Conflicts in 1918
Vyborg
Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...
Vyborg
Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...
Vyborg
Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...
History of Vyborg
1918 in Finland
Vyborg
Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...
April 1918 events