Harald Öhquist (1 March 1891 – 10 February 1971) was a Finnish Jäger and

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Biography

Öhquist was of Ingrian Finnish descent through his father, Finnish writer Johannes Öhquist, and of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

descent through his paternal grandmother. He joined the Jaeger Movement in 1915 and trained and fought in the Royal Prussian 27th Jäger Battalion. Known for events in the Vyborg massacre. "Orders for conducting the executions were mainly given by the officers of the Jäger Movement. For example, the Jäger Major Harald Öhquist admitted that his company had shot some 150 "Red Ruskies", but did not mention who had given the order. After the war, General Karl Fredrik Wilkama was considered to be responsible for the massacre, but neither he nor anyone else was ever convicted or even charged in a court of law. Wilkama himself described the massacre as a "little accident." During the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

he was promoted as

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, and Öhquist lead the White Guard battalion in the

battle of Viipuri The Battle of Viipuri was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought 24–29 April between the White Guards (Finland), Finnish Whites and the Red Guards (Finland), Finnish Reds in Viipuri. Together with the Battle of Tampere and Battle of Helsinki ...

. In 1930, he was promoted as Major General, and three years later he was the Commander of the Army on the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the we ...

. During the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, Öhquist was the Commander of the II Corps on the Karelian Isthmus. Öhquist had cold relations with Mannerheim, who did not provide responsible tasks after the war. In the begin of the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

, he was the Finnish Contact Officer with the

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Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Between 1942 and 1944, Öhquist commanded a military group on the Karelian Isthmus, and later he was the Supervisor of Military Training. In 1949 Öhquist published a book of the Winter War named ''The Winter War from my point of view'' (). Two years later he resigned from the army.

References

1891 births 1971 deaths Military personnel from Helsinki Military personnel from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish lieutenant generals Finnish military personnel of World War II University of Helsinki alumni Jägers of the Jäger Movement Finnish people of German descent People of Ingrian Finnish descent {{Europe-mil-bio-stub Perpetrators of the White Terror (Finland)