1918 Finnish Civil War Battle
This article is about battle of the Finnish Civil War. For about battle of the Great Northern War, see
Battle of Helsinki (1713)
.
The Worker's House on fire
The
Battle of Helsinki
was a 1918
Finnish Civil War
battle, fought on 12?13 April by 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 three major urban battles of the Finnish Civil War. The Germans invaded Helsinki despite the opposition of Finnish White Army leader
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
who wanted to attack the capital city with his own troops after Tampere had fallen on 6 April. However, the Germans had their own interest in taking Helsinki as quickly as possible and then moving further east towards the
Russian
border. The city had been under Red control for 11 weeks since the beginning of the war.
The German
Baltic Sea Division
landed in Finland on 3 April and entered the Helsinki area eight days later. In the city centre, the defending Reds did not have defensive lines or barricades but were fighting inside single buildings and blocks, which the Germans then had to take one by one. During the battle, life in Helsinki went on as usual. The shops and restaurants were open, the public transportation functioned and factories were running. Curious spectators were wandering so close that the Germans had to tell them to move back. The White supporters considered the Germans liberators and handed them flowers as well as tea, coffee and snacks to eat.
Nearly 500 people were killed in the battle. The number includes about 400 Red Guard fighters who were killed in action or executed after capitulation, 54 Germans and 23 White Guard members. The number of executed Reds is unclear, but it is estimated between 20 and 50.
[1]
After the battle, from 4,000 to 6,000 Red Guard members or supporters were arrested.
The units
[
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The 10,000-men-strong Baltic Sea Division attacked Helsinki with 6,000 men including two infantry regiments, one
jager
battalion, an artillery battery and some supportive troops. The
Imperial German Navy
landed 400 Matrosen to the
Katajanokka
district, where they entered the downtown and joined the Baltic Division. The Germans were supported by 2,000 Helsinki White Guard members, who had been active underground during the Red control of the city. However, the Whites did not have any important role as they joined the battle in its late stage.
The Red Guard units defending Helsinki were mainly composed of inexperienced reserves. At the time, the main combat forces of the
Helsinki Red Guard
were fighting on the
Tavastia Front
. They were led by the bricklayer
Edvard Nyqvist
, who had served as the city's militia chief, and the industrial worker
Fredrik Edvard Johansson
because the Red Guard general staff, as well as the
Red Government
, had left Helsinki on 8 April and fled to the city of Vyborg in Eastern Finland.
[2]
There were still some Red supporting Russian troops in town, but under the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
, signed between the
Soviet Russia
and the
Central Powers
, they did not take part in the battle.
Battle outside Helsinki
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The Baltic Sea Division landed at
Hanko
, 120 kilometres west of Helsinki, on 3 April and started marching east.
[3]
The first battle between German troops and the Finnish Reds was fought three days later in the town of
Karis
. The Germans lost nine men but took over this important railway junction, then closing Helsinki by the
Coastal Railway
and the
Turku
?Helsinki highway. After minor skirmishes in
Lohja
and
Kirkkonummi
, the Germans finally entered foregrounds of the
Krepost Sveaborg
, a Russian-built system of fortifications around Helsinki, in the
Leppavaara
village of
Espoo
, 10 kilometres west of Helsinki. The Battle of Leppavaara was fought on 11 April. The Germans attacked the Red defensive posts, and managed to force them to flee. Red Guard's losses were 13 men while the Germans had only two men killed in action. As the Reds retreated, the Germans had an open road towards the suburbs of Helsinki.
[4]
[5]
On the next morning, general
Rudiger von der Goltz
ordered a group of 500 men to attack
Tikkurila
, 16 kilometres north of Helsinki, in order to cut the
Helsinki?Riihimaki railway
and close the way out of the city. The Germans fought against local Red Guard members who defended from their own houses and yards with some support of an
armoured train
. The Baltic Sea Division finally took the
Tikkurila railway station
at 5 PM and soon entered the
Malmi railway station
, 3 kilometres south of Tikkurila. The poorly equipped Reds had at least 25 men killed in Tikkurila, according to some sources even 100, but the Germans lost only two.
[5]
Attack on the city
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Battle in the suburbs
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The Baltic Sea Division entered the northern suburbs of
Pikku Huopalahti
and
Meilahti
in the early morning of 12 April. Troops marched towards the downtown via the
Turku Highway
, which today is known as
Mannerheimintie
, the main street of Helsinki. The first clashes were fought around 6 AM in the rocky hills of
Tilkka
, which the Germans took three hours later. The next defensive line was only a half kilometre ahead. As the Germans broke through the second line around 10 AM, the Reds attacked their left flank from the
Pasila
area. After two hours of fighting, the Germans pushed the Reds back and took the
Pasila railway station
, located three kilometres north of the
Helsinki railway station
. Now they were finally able to enter the city.
[6]
Battle in the city
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A Red fighter waving a white flag
At 1.30 PM the Germans reached the
Toolo
district. As the Reds managed to stop the invading troops, the German Colonel Hans von Tschirschky und Bogendorff formed two units. One unit continued the attack along the Mannerheimintie as the other one evaded through the
Hietalahti
district to the southern parts of the city. At the same time, a third squad was entering the city from Pasila along the railway. By the
National Museum
the Germans were hit by heavy fire around 4 PM. The shooting came from the
Turku Garrison
, which was located near the present-day
Lasipalatsi
building. Germans now had to evade the Turku Garrison from west along the street
Fredrikinkatu
of the
Kamppi
district. The garrison was later taken over by setting the building on fire.
[6]
At 5.30 PM the Germans reached the
Erottaja
square where they took the
Swedish Theatre
by using capitulated Reds as
human shields
. Another known case where the Germans used human shield was later in the same evening as they marched over the
Pitkasilta
bridge behind 300 capitulated Reds.
[1]
According to a German officer, interviewed by a Finnish journalist, they had learnt the method from the British.
[7]
At this time, there was also hard fighting at the Helsinki Railway Station as well as in the nearby
Kluuvi
district. A squad of German Navy Marines landed Katajanokka at 7 PM and soon entered the
Kruununhaka
district.
[6]
On the next morning the Germans attacked the Red Guard headquarters at the
Smolna
building in
Kaartinkaupunki
area. The 400?500 Reds of the Smolna finally capitulated at 7 AM. The last fighting Reds were now at the northern worker districts of
Kallio
and
Hakaniemi
, where heavy artillery fire was aimed. Among other buildings, the
Workers' House
was hit and damaged severely. Finally at 2 PM, a white flag was raised on the tower of the
Kallio Church
and the battle was over.
[6]
After the conquest
[
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After losing Helsinki, the Red Defense Command moved to
Riihimaki
(which also involved the
Battle of Hyvinkaa
[8]
), where it was headed by
painter
and
congressman
Efraim Kronqvist
. The Germans troops, on the other hand, attacked Helsinki north on 15 April and conquered
Klaukkala
four days later, continuing from there to
Hameenlinna
.
[9]
At the same time in
Loviisa
, the German
Detachment Brandenstein
proceeded from
Eastern Uusimaa
to
Lahti
where the Reds fled from the
Helsinki region
also ended up. Helsinki and Finland remained under German occupation until the fall of Emperor
William II
and the end of the
First World War
. Rudiger von der Goltz was the official representative of the country in Finland, initially staying at Hotel Kamp and then at
Kesaranta
.
[10]
Aftermath and commemoration
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Captured Reds
Officers of the
Baltic Sea Division
in front of the
Smolna
building after their troops had taken the Red Guard headquarters in Helsinki.
After the battle, 4,000?6,000 Red Guard supporters were arrested and transferred to the
Helsinki Prison Camp
in the
Suomenlinna
islands.
[2]
Over the course of the battle, more than 10,000 Reds and their families fled the Helsinki area. Most of them were captured during the aftermath of the
Battle of Lahti
as tens of thousands of Red refugees fell into the hands of Germans and Whites. Contrary to the fate that befell the cities of Tampere and Vyborg, there were not mass executions in Helsinki. That was most likely because of the Germans who prevented Whites from killing their prisoners.
[1]
However, in the summer of 1918, more than 1,400 Red prisoners died at the Helsinki Prison Camp as a result of executions, hunger and disease.
The German commander, Rudiger von der Goltz, decided to have a victory parade on Sunday 14 April, a day after the battle was over. It was held at the
Senate Square
, where von der Goltz was hailed by the mayor
Johannes von Haartman
and the governor
Bruno Jalander
. During the parade, there was still some shooting around the city by single Red Guard gunmen.
[11]
The German fleet was also fired upon by various Russian ships. Even the Admiral
Hugo Meurer
's boat had to turn back and, as a result, was unable to participate in the parade.
[9]
The Germans and Finnish Whites who were killed in action were buried in the graveyard of the
Helsinki Old Church
. The German memorial was designed by the Finnish sculptors
Gunnar Finne
and
J. S. Siren
and the White memorial by
Elias Ilkka
and
Erik Bryggman
.
[12]
The Reds were laid to rest in the
Malmi
graveyard. Their memorial was placed in the
Elaintarha
park, but it was not unveiled until 1970. The monument is a work of the sculptor
Taisto Martiskainen
and includes verses of the poets
Maiju Lassila
,
Elmer Diktonius
and
Elvi Sinervo
[13]
See also
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References
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