The Battle of Pyhäjoki was a retreating action fought on 16 April 1808, at Pyhäjoki in

Northern Ostrobothnia North Ostrobothnia (; ) is a region of Finland. It borders the Finnish regions of Lapland, Kainuu, North Savo, Central Finland and Central Ostrobothnia, as well as the Russian Republic of Karelia. The easternmost corner of the region between ...

during the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n– Swedish war of 1808–09. The winter made the operations more difficult and the battle of Pyhäjoki became one of the first skirmishes to be fought after the Swedish retreat stopped. The Russian army had been following the Swedish army to the north. At the same time, they had left large portions of Finland to be occupied by the Russians. Yakov Petrovich Kulnev led a vanguard of 1,300 men — his army counted 4,000 men in total — and caught up with the rearguard of the retreating Swedish main army at the village of Ypperi. Skirmishes occurred all the way to Pyhäjoki, where the Swedes made a brief stand, before

Wilhelm Mauritz Klingspor Count Wilhelm Mauritz Klingspor (7 December 1744 – 15 May 1814) was a Swedish noble military officer and one of the Lords of the Realm. He is probably best known from his time as field marshal of Finland during the Finnish War, where his command ...

gave orders to von Döbeln and Gripenberg to continue the retreat to follow the original strategic plan. The Swedes had checked Kulnev's attack with about 2,000–2,500 men (out of around 7,000), however, as the Swedes fought a retreating battle, only one battalion at the time could go up against the Russians for most of the fighting. They had lost 183 men in killed, wounded and captured (among the latter, adjutant general Gustaf Löwenhielm). Kulnev had lost 71 men at Pyhäjoki alone but probably around double that number when applying the losses from the fighting at Ypperi towards Pyhäjoki.

Swedish regiments and losses

* Tavastehus Infantry Regiment (3 battalions); 63 killed or captured, 35 wounded * Nyland Infantry Regiment (1 battalion); 2 killed * Åbo Infantry Regiment (2 battalions); 1 killed * Nyland Jägers (1 company) * Finnish Artillery Regiment * Nyland Dragoon Regiment (3 squadrons); 14 wounded and 9 captured and wounded

Citations and sources

Citations

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Pyhajoki Military history of Sweden Pyhajoki Battles in 1808 1808 in Finland Pyhäjoki Pyhäjoki History of North Ostrobothnia April 1808 Pyhäjoki