Until the WWII Tampere 1918 was the largest battle in the Nordic Countries

[Jopa79]

14 000 Finnish Red Guardsmen fought in the Battle for Tampere - 11 000 were taken as prisoners (left). After the battle came to an end, the fallen - both, the humans and the horses lied on the streets for days while the civilians did their daily business (right)

White victory - the Battle for Tampere was fought in 1918 from March 17th to April 6th. The fight for the city was a part of the Finnish Civil War - the White Guard of Finland with 16 000 of men attacked against the Red Guard in Tampere. Well-known of heavy city-fighting under bitter and acrid conditions. During the aftermath the Whites executed roughly 1 000 Reds for ideological reasons - in order to prevent the socialist and communist influence. Tampere 1918 was the largest battle in the Nordic Countries until the battles in the Winter -and the Continuation War.

The general offensive by the Red Guard failed in February and early March in all fronts. The White Guard proceeded to conduct for a decisive counter-attack. Mannerheim - recognizing the forthcoming German intervention - decided that a major and decisive victory over the Reds had to be gained only using Finnish force in order to forestall Finland becoming to a German protectorate or being a part of the German Empire. For the Reds Tampere was an important Headquarters City, a Front Base and a logistics center - an ideal objective for the Whites.

City center locations were partly badly burned and ruined during the battle (left). The most heaviest fighting, even in a venomous-style combat however was fought at Kalevankangas Ridge (near the city center) and the surroundings (right - Tampereen Museot).

Around the city the Whites pushed the defender and forced the Reds on retreat. Tampere and the Red Guard was surrounded in March 27th. Before starting the attack against the encircled defender in the city the Whites offered surrendering, but the Reds refused the offering twice.

The Whites' first serious attempt to attack and take the city turned to be "the Bloody Maundy Thursday" on March 28th. The battle of Kalevankangas and the surroundings around it - the Kalevankangas Cemetery and the hippodrome - is still considered so significant that the Kalevankangas Battle surely is part of the Battle for Tampere, but also a single and an unique battle in the entire Finnish Civil War. The ridge was a natural fortress for the Reds, but they also had fortified it having well-prepared trenches on the top of the ridge. At the dawn the Whites conducted a heavy artillery barrage against the Red line, but the effect was very limited without the Whites recognizing the proximity of the Reds' position on the ridge. Attacking the woody hill and facing the Red Guard opening-fire inflicted enormous casualties for the Whites, for instance the Swedish Brigade lost 25% of the total strength just in few moments - among the dead was Olof Palme - the uncle of the future Prime Minister of Sweden. When the evening came the White attack was concluded as inconclusive with high casualties ending to the starting position. Kalevankangas Battle was a Red defensive victory, postponing the Whites from capturing the city.

Middle Days are considered the days between the Kalevankangas Battle and the White's second attempt for capturing Tampere. Eino Rahja was a Finnish Red officer and the future bodyguard and a hitman of Lenin's. Rahja gathered 2 000 of Red Guardsmen around Tampere in an order to reach the surrounded comrades and relief the city, but failed. However, Rahja's maneuvers delayed again the Whites attack and the final push to the city - Middle Days and Rahja's last effort was as late as April 5th.

Battle for the city was fought from April 3rd to April 6th. This time Kalevankangas fell - the vanguard for this attack was formed of the units distinguished during the first attempt. The Whites artillery fire destroyed vast areas of the downtown and the persistent Red stand forced to fight for the city block by block. After the Whites captured the bridges leading to the downtown and being able to make a bridgehead there the resistance weakened and wavered. The Reds' last stand was assumed to take place at the town hall. There was no direct assault on it - instead every house around the town hall were captured first and by threatening to shoot with artillery at close-proximity the town hall surrendered.

- How long does the slaughter go on there before the people have freedom (Red Guard March) - Forward lads, never fear and haste to march ( White Guard March). The Reds (left) and the Whites (right) fought for the control of Tampere.

The aftermath of the Battle for Tampere involves many of the events present throughout the Finnish Civil War and post-war. Not only the casualties of the both sides, but the terror - this included also the civilian population. Immediately after the Red surrender, the Red officers and the Russians among the Finnish Red Guardsmen were liquidated. The 11 000 captured Reds had to stand 24-hours at Tampere Market Square before the transition to the compounds where many of them died of hunger or mistreatment and diseases.

Mannerheim couldn't fully execute his plan of a decisive Finnish White victory in the war before the German intervention. The German Baltic Sea Division made an invasion at the southern coast of Finland just before the Red surrender in Tampere, the Germans advanced along the coastline, capturing Helsinki and advancing deeper to the inland. For the Reds' Tampere signified the beginning of the end, they only faced defeats in the battlefields, the desperate escape and evacuation to the Soviet-Russia and the ultimate surrender in May 1918 at the Fellman Fields.

Thousands, even tens-of-thousands Finnish Reds evacuated to the Soviet-Russia. The Finnish Red Guard and those whom didn't make to the Soviet Russia surrendered and were gathered at the Fellman Fields, near Lahti. (Right picture - Työväenmuseo Werstas)

Edit: Added the last picture of civilians at the Fellman Fields

 

[Minodrin]

In that war my maternal great-grandparents fought for equality and justice and against the "slaughterers".
They lost.
The republic of Finland did not invite them or their descendants to join WW2. They just had to work in factories instead. Sad.

 

[Kenttäharmaa]

Ignoring most of the blatant nonsense (I could use a stronger word here, but I'll be civil) written by mccarty.geoff, I'll just drop in to note that for the better part of 1918, most of Finland was in practice ruled as a dictatorship under the German general Rüdiger von der Goltz. Additionally the Germans wanted to staff the Finnish army with German officers, among many other things that would strengthen their influence, or outright control over Finland. Mannerheim wanted to counter this foreign influence, and keep the strings of power in Finnish hands, so to speak.

 

[Jopa79]

Just to get at the meaning; Mannerheim of the Swedish noble family traitors against Gustav III foresaw some kind of German conspiracy to annex Finland during the Russian and Finnish civil war against the Bolshevik (literally, Social Democrat) party which was financed by (((German, British, Swedish and New York))) bankers? Net result being Finland "wins" the civil war only to lose against Stalin's USSR and is now ruled by Social Democrats. Russians bad, Germans bad, Finns totally independent victors and not controlled by the New York stock exchange while being invaded and ethnically cleansed to this very day. The Valhallaorden has come full circle and I'll see you at Ragnorak. ;]

Maybe it's in my reading comprehension, but I have serious difficulties to understand your main purpose in the above post.

The German intervention in the Finnish Civil War happened after asked by the first Senate - de facto Government of independent Finland. It was also a natural continuum and the next step during the creation of the Finnish Foreign Affairs influenced by a German tendency. Already the Finnish Jäger Movement was supported by Germany to enable the creation of the Finnish state and an army for it. Jägers returned to Finland and delivered their effort for the Whites - soon after the Jägers' homecoming also the Germans followed making the intervention having their own interest as well.

I wouldn't say Mannerheim's distrust about German interests and the fear of possible German occupation (making Finland a protectorate, even a colonial German state) very far-offs. After the civil war Finland committed herself with Germany closely in the politics, the economy and the military. The Finnish government proposed and wished that the "German-stay" would be prolonged - Germans accepted the request and stayed in Finland until the end of the WWI - for this reason Mannerheim resigned himself from all the state tasks. The German-influenced Finnish government didn't mention Mannerheim in the victory declaration considering the Finnish Civil War - rather the government praised the German influence affecting the outcome of the war. Mannerheim was deeply offended about the government acts. He didn't accept Rudiger von der Goltz (the German Baltic Sea Division Commander) as the 2nd head of the Finnish state, neither Mannerheim didn't like to share the supreme command with von der Goltz.

The most damaging agreement for Finland was the trade and shipping agreement with Germany - giving Germany the authority and the control of the Finnish foreign trade, guaranteeing the right of first refusal for the German companies and enterprises. The military agreement allowed and gave the Germans a right to establish and build military bases anywhere desired in Finland. The Finnish King Project is not nonsense, the Finnish Army was a subject of the German Army. All this together largely invalidated the fresh Finnish declaration of independence. The Finnish state men and the military leadership didn't need to be instructed - they voluntarily asked the German commands.

The Finnish King Project or the Kingdom of Finland was a concept, an idea and an event which came true as a short-term case shortly after the Finnish Civil War. A dispute of the polity and the form of the government in Finland. During the declaration of the independence the Finnish Senate selected republic as the form of government. However, after the civil war the King Project gained wide support influenced by the Finnish monarchists and affected by the German Empire. The monarchists - as the majority in the Finnish Senate ran their case and monarchy was re-selected as a new Finnish polity. In October 1918 the Senate declared the King of Finland - Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse. However, the new King never took the position and Germany's defeat in the WWI abolished the Kingdom of Finland. Replica of the Crown of the King of Finland. The actual crown was never crafted. The replica was made in 1988 from the original drawings.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

If Germany had it's way the Finnish and Russian civil wars would have been over in March. I dispute Mannerheim's motivation for attacking Tampere being to forestall German assistance for the new state. That assistance was already supplied. Without German-RSFSR armistice and German expeditionary forces in southern Finland the Russian soldiers would have remained. The Red Finns would have received munitions and their continued offensive would have liberated more territory from the White Guards. Germany's involvement was instrumental in securing Finland's independence.

 

[Jopa79]

If Germany had it's way the Finnish and Russian civil wars would have been over in March. I dispute Mannerheim's motivation for attacking Tampere being to forestall German assistance for the new state. That assistance was already supplied.

Yes, the assistance was already supplied and decided - I already said in the beginning in this thread - "Mannerheim - recognizing the forthcoming German intervention". Actually, as early as the first week of March 1918 the Germans invaded and occupied the Finnish Åland Islands.

In addition, I never claimed that attacking Tampere was Mannerheim's vision of forestalling the German assistance. Neither was the Whites' attack to Tampere an absolute objective, but a resolution of consideration to capture an important Reds' center. There was no option for Mannerheim to prevent the German intervention, but his concept was to achieve a decisive victory over the Reds by using only Finnish military instead of being supported by the Imperial German Army. Mannerheim considered - as well-grounded - that relying only the foreign arms would look like Finland couldn't make on its own to a sovereign and independent nation. Shortly said, Mannerheim didn't want Finland to be a puppet state.

Without German-RSFSR armistice and German expeditionary forces in southern Finland the Russian soldiers would have remained. The Red Finns would have received munitions and their continued offensive would have liberated more territory from the White Guards. Germany's involvement was instrumental in securing Finland's independence.

Even after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Germany supported the independence-tendency of the states on the Russian western-border, this included Finland and the intervention there. The leader of the German war effort, Ludendorff wanted to keep up the pressure and threat Petrograd - this was possible by using the Finnish territory. The British also recognized the German threat on Petrograd and made their intervention in the Russian Civil War via Murmansk and Archangel. There was a risk that Finland would had fell into a battleground of several foreign nations - at least Germany, Soviet-Russia and the British. The German effort and affect to the outcome of the Finnish Civil War was indirect, minor. The German Army made progress in the southern Finland, but only facing outnumbered Finnish Red Guard. After the White decisive victory the Red's front line was broken. The Red Guard was routing in panic, running to south or evacuating to the Soviet-Russia. Mannerheim had his decisive victory. The Germans were in Finland, but not taking a part to the Battle for Tampere. The German intervention didn't resolve the war, but shortened it having maybe the most important effect in psychologically - already only the German presence increased the fighting morale of the Finnish White Guard and simultaneously decreased the combat value already the broken and desperate Finnish Red Guard. The Finnish socialists and communists had the advantage and the Soviet support during the first two months of the war but they couldn't utilize it. The tide of the war had turned already against the Finnish Red Guard even without the German intervention - and it's not reliable to rely the sustained Soviet support for the Red Guard making the conclusive for the Finnish Civil War - the Soviet's were very busy during their own turmoil and the Russian Civil War.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

I simply disagree. Without Brest-Litovsk and German intervention Finland would have gone to the Reds easily. Russians withdrew support from the Red Guard and even Lenin had to escape St. Petersburg. If the Whites halted their attack on Tampere there may have been a ceasefire in Finland instead of constant skirmishes for several months. Battle of Tampere was not productive. Without German intervention and the armistice Mannerheim should have withdrawn to Sweden rather than engage the more numerous Red Finns and Russians.

 

[Minodrin]

I simply disagree. Without Brest-Litovsk and German intervention Finland would have gone to the Reds easily. Russians withdrew support from the Red Guard and even Lenin had to escape St. Petersburg. If the Whites halted their attack on Tampere there may have been a ceasefire in Finland instead of constant skirmishes for several months. Battle of Tampere was not productive. Without German intervention and the armistice Mannerheim should have withdrawn to Sweden rather than engage the more numerous Red Finns and Russians.

Really. Didn't the Russians have their own wars to fight in early 1918, like their own civil war with fighting like everywhere...

And the Finnish White side had numerical parity with the Reds, but they fought better (my family also has a proud history of always fighting on the losing side of wars).

Fun fact: A company published a board game about the Finnish civil war for the christmas-market of 1918, which you may notice as being the same year the war was fought. Back then there was no such thing as too soon https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punaisten_ja_valkoisten_taistelu_Suomessa_1918 When will Paradox publish their fun game about the Syrian civil war?

 

[Jopa79]

If the Whites halted their attack on Tampere there may have been a ceasefire in Finland instead of constant skirmishes for several months.

Why would the Whites halt the attack? Only a person of unsound mind would do so. And of course it would be only skirmishes or a ceasefire if not a White attack - the Reds certainly didn't have any resources for offensive - they depleted the reserves and their units wore out during their failed offensive in February and March.

Without Brest-Litovsk and German intervention Finland would have gone to the Reds easily.

The Finnish Jäger Movement was far more decisive than the German intervention.

Battle of Tampere was not productive.

How come? It was the most significant military maneuver of the Finnish White Guard and the turning point of the war. As the result the Finnish Red Guard entered on retreat. The will to fight for the cause, the morale and the combat ability - all the prerequisites for a unit to gain military success started to gradually decrease leading eventually resisting and the Guardsmen shooting the officers, the Red units disappeared - the soldiers simply went home and stayed there during the Red retreat, the army routed and with the civilian population tried to evacuate to the Soviet Union. Saying that Tampere was not productive means the same that Gettysburg wasn't either...any war and any battle cannot be productive in any way, only by making the war effort, but I know already, you disagree, surely there was something more bigger and pivotal and I would like to hear it very much.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

I've already stated my point that if the Bolshevik Russians stayed the Red army would grow and remain supplied. The Red January-March offensive was totally successful and nothing would have stopped them taking control of Finland. Then the Germans negotiated an armistice and showed they meant business so the Russians withdrew. The Reds still had military supplies but, the Whites were baseless without German armament. March attacks on Tampere were unsuccessful and should have not happened because it strengthened the Red Guards resolve to fight on without RSFSR support. After the Germans chased the Reds from southern Finland to Petrograd in April then all of a sudden the Tampere front broke open and the communists could be rounded up and shot. Which should have been avoided with a ceasefire after Tampere was besieged from the south with German forces.

 

[Jopa79]

I've already stated my point that if the Bolshevik Russians stayed the Red army would grow and remain supplied. The Red January-March offensive was totally successful and nothing would have stopped them taking control of Finland. Then the Germans negotiated an armistice and showed they meant business so the Russians withdrew. The Reds still had military supplies but, the Whites were baseless without German armament. March attacks on Tampere were unsuccessful and should have not happened because it strengthened the Red Guards resolve to fight on without RSFSR support. After the Germans chased the Reds from southern Finland to Petrograd in April then all of a sudden the Tampere front broke open and the communists could be rounded up and shot. Which should have been avoided with a ceasefire after Tampere was besieged from the south with German forces.

Not explaining which was more crucial battle or event than Tampere.

I've already stated my point that if the Bolshevik Russians stayed the Red army would grow and remain supplied.

The Soviet-Russia was present nearly to the end of the war, particularly in the battles on the Karelian Isthmus due to having concerns about the security of Petrograd. The Soviets fought alongside the Red Guard for instance during the Battle for Vyborg in the last two weeks of the war - the White victory there ended the battles in the Karelian Front. The support by the Soviet-Russia for the Red Guard was never going to be enough to provide the victory for the Reds - maybe in that case if both - the WWI and the Russian Civil War didn't ever occur.

The Red January-March offensive was totally successful and nothing would have stopped them taking control of Finland.

Please, provide a link to a source with a statement(s) or other evidence supporting or claiming the Red Guard offensive was a successful. Or is this a theory, or an assumption - based on something I can't understand? Maybe the Soviet support? The Red Guard really had difficulties to achieve success and victories in the civil war battles. Very hard to name a significant battle in which the Reds achieved an attacking victory. Cynically said, the Finnish Red Guard gained victories nearing the end of the war, for instance at Hauho and at Syrjäntaka while defending the refugee columns, own relatives and families during the evacuation.

Then the Germans negotiated an armistice and showed they meant business so the Russians withdrew. The Reds still had military supplies but, the Whites were baseless without German armament. March attacks on Tampere were unsuccessful and should have not happened because it strengthened the Red Guards resolve to fight on without RSFSR support. After the Germans chased the Reds from southern Finland to Petrograd in April then all of a sudden the Tampere front broke open and the communists could be rounded up and shot. Which should have been avoided with a ceasefire after Tampere was besieged from the south with German forces.

I really can't understand is this an alternative theory? At least it is not any existing or prevailing understanding, study neither real history. What means the Germans negotiated the armistice and the Russians withdrew? Certainly the Russians stayed in Finland until the Reds defeat in Vyborg.

How the defeat at Tampere could have strengthened the Reds? They lost 14 000 of their total men, the Reds' Western Front was running scared. The German intervention in the southern Finland didn't broke Reds' front - the White decisive victory in Tampere did.

Actually, the Germans didn't chase the Reds from the southern Finland to east and Petrograd, but to north and Lahti. The White Guard pushed the Red Guard and the refugee columns southwards from Tampere, the German Baltic Sea Division advanced to north from Helsinki. The Reds and the refugees ended between the White Guard and the Germans. Two major battles emerged at Hauho and Syrjäntaka between the Germans and the Red Guard and the refugees with the Reds desperately fighting gained two victories. It's significant, that the White Guard was not present in Syrjäntaka Battle.

A ceasefire was an unrealistic option after Tampere. The general nature of a civil war, deep anger, acridity and venom, lies and disappointments, the excessive mental temperament was strongly present. At least I cannot tell a major civil war ending in a ceasefire or White Peace.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

https://b-ok.cc/book/2608163/cb422d
Here, do your own research. Pay particular attention to mentions of German support and the dates when the Reds lost control of the industrial centers and 2/3rds population of Finland. Coincidentally, it happened when the Germans arrived. 10k out of 14k captured at Tampere because the telegraphs told them to surrender. Doubtful if 5,000 survived through the year. Those men would have returned to their families and work despite losing the war.
Even in this book, when the facts are laid out it is obvious, none of the authors conclude; 'if it were not for the Germans we would have been a socialist republic'. Finns are always so full of their convoluted war history. Mannerheim was not a great military officer and doesn't deserve hero worship. Linux is the best thing that ever came out of Finland. ;]

 

[Jopa79]

https://b-ok.cc/book/2608163/cb422d
Here, do your own research. Pay particular attention to mentions of German support and the dates when the Reds lost control of the industrial centers and 2/3rds population of Finland. Coincidentally, it happened when the Germans arrived. 10k out of 14k captured at Tampere because the telegraphs told them to surrender. Doubtful if 5,000 survived through the year. Those men would have returned to their families and work despite losing the war.
Even in this book, when the facts are laid out it is obvious, none of the authors conclude; 'if it were not for the Germans we would have been a socialist republic'. Finns are always so full of their convoluted war history. Mannerheim was not a great military officer and doesn't deserve hero worship. Linux is the best thing that ever came out of Finland. ;]

The info provided by the link is a well completed, a whole encyclopedia and a history research. But it doesn't support your earlier claims, for instance "the Red January-March offensive was totally successful and nothing would have stopped them taking control of Finland" neither "Battle of Tampere was not productive". Instead the book supports and promotes all other studies of the history, memory and legacy about the Civil War of 1918...and it's probably the largest and widest research of the topic I've ever seen in English.

About your claim the Red successful offensive the source states the following for instance:

• On page 101: "The operations carried out by the Reds–particularly compared to the warfare waged by the Bolsheviks in Russia–were fumbling and, luckily for the Whites, conservative".
• On the same page: "During March, the Red attempts to push north were halted,and the war turned into trenchwarfare. On the orders of General Mannerheim, the Whites did not try to push forward either; the intention was to conserve their strength and gather more troops for a decisive strike". *This decisive strike refers to the Battle for Tampere*

About your other claim, that Battle of Tampere was not productive the source states the following:

• On page 102: "The Collapse of the Red South".
• Also on page 102 : "In early April,the Whites launched an all-out attack in northern Häme towards the town of Tampere on the both banks of Tammerkoski rapids that ran through the town. From the Whites’ point of view, the occupation of Tampere meant a breakthrough in pushing forward to other southern Finnish towns".
• On page 104 about the Reds losing the city on April 6th: "The date of 6 April 1918 thus proved important to the Whites and fateful for the Reds".

Also, you have referred, that if the Reds would be supplied and supported well enough they would have won the war. About the Soviet support on the Karelian Isthmus the source says on page 104 also happening on April 6th:

• "On that day, the Whites also gained an important victory in Rautu on the Karelian Isthmus at the Russian border. Throughout most of the war, Russian revolutionaries, rather than Finnish Red Guards, assumed the responsibility for the front in Rautu".

Yes, the source claims that the German landings happened simultaneously with the Reds' disasters in Tampere and in Rautu further adding it sealed the Red defeat. It is true, but the Reds defeats in Tampere and Rautu would had happened without the intervention. The German landings happened 3rd on April and Tampere surrenderd on 6th of April. The Red Guard didn't send any forces from Tampere front to prevent the German landings, neither from the Karelian Isthmus. The German intervention sealed the Reds' defeat in the southern coast of Finland, but it didn't affect the Red's defeat in Tampere or on the Karelian Isthmus.

The link you provided proves the opposite of your claims, so why you keep insisting it supports you? I really can't figure out your purpose, admittedly giving me a mistrust and considering you are deliberately spreading false information and trying to frustrate me - in that case I should ignore you.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

I'm not going to repeat myself so, there are "historians" who claim that the American Revolutionary War was already won by the time the French intervened. They are also blathering fools. The continental army was a baseless disease ridden mob which had been decimated 5 times over. What are the zones of occupation, force compositions, and goals of the belligerents before the hypothetical event? In the colonies the British controlled every commercial center except Boston. The loyalist armies outweighed the rebels 2:1 and British and Hessian mercenaries were far more militarily competent than colonial militias. Revolutionary force goals were insurmountable compared with Britain's delay and strangulation of the remnant rebels. Without French intervention the congress and Virginian traitor would have hanged.
It's better to be loyal to the hard truth than patriotic rhetoric. 9 times out of 10 that historic truth won't correspond to how the victors dictate history.