Battle of Helsinki

The 10,000-men-strong Baltic Sea Division attacked Helsinki with 6,000 men including two infantry regiments, one jäger 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. 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 ==

The Baltic Sea Division landed at Hanko, 120 kilometres west of Helsinki, on 3 April and started marching east. 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 Leppävaara village of Espoo, 10 kilometres west of Helsinki. The Battle of Leppävaara 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. On the next morning, general Rüdiger von der Goltz ordered a group of 500 men to attack Tikkurila, 16 kilometres north of Helsinki, in order to cut the Helsinki–Riihimäki 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. == Attack on the city ==

Battle in the suburbs 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. Battle in the city At 1.30 PM the Germans reached the Töölö district. As the Reds managed to stop the invading troops, the German Colonel Hans von Tschirschky und Bögendorff 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. 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.), 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 Hämeenlinna. == Aftermath and commemoration ==

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. 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. 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. Sirén and the White memorial by Elias Ilkka and Erik Bryggman. The Reds were laid to rest in the Malmi graveyard. Their memorial was placed in the Eläintarha 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 == See also ==