Viena expedition

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Viena expedition
Part of Heimosodat

Initial Finnish Advance
Date21 March – 2 October 1918
Location
White Karelia
Result Failure of the expedition
Territorial
changes
Porajärvi
joined Finland
Belligerents

White Guard (Finns)[Notes 1]
Royal Marine Light Infantry
Karelian Regiment
Commanders and leaders
Kurt Martti Wallenius
Carl Wilhelm Malm
Toivo Kuisma		 Oskari Tokoi
United Kingdom Philip James Woods
Strength
Finland 1,500 Red Guards and Karelians 1,550
Royal Marines 130
Casualties and losses
122 dead Red Guards and Karelians 100-150

The Viena expedition (Finnish: Vienan retkikunta, Swedish: Vienaexpeditionen) was a military expedition in March 1918 by Finnish volunteer forces to annex White Karelia (Vienan Karjala) from Soviet Russia. It was one of the many "kinship wars" (Heimosodat) fought near the newly independent Finland during the Russian Civil War. Russian East Karelia was never part of the Swedish Empire or the Grand Duchy of Finland. and it was at the time mostly inhabited by Karelians. However, many advocates of a Greater Finland considered these Karelians a "kindred" Finnish nation and supported the annexation of Russian East Karelia to Finland.

Northern Group

The expedition was made up of two groups. One group was

Finnish Jäger troops led by Lieutenant Kurt Martti Wallenius. Initial operations in Northern Finland were successful and the Red Finns were forced to withdraw to Eastern Karelia. Wallenius and his light infantry crossed the border at Kuusamo, but got bogged down in fighting the Finnish Red Guards
. Low level of training and the low morale of his conscripted troops made any advance impossible, and only withdrawal of the defending Red Finns allowed the White Finns to advance a small distance until the troops again mutinied, the goals of the operations having passed the state border. In the end the force was withdrawn back within Finnish borders and performed only small incursions into East Karelia.

Southern Group

Initial Operations

Tribal warriors in Viena Karelia; the writer Ilmari Kianto is in the back riding on a horse

The other group was led by

Uhtua
, where he began defending western White Sea Karelia. The Finns now switched tactics and adopted a village-by-village strategy of persuading locals to join them.

When the Finnish troops arrived in White Sea Karelia, they noticed that the population was divided. Part of the population wanted to secede from Russia and form an independent

Captain Toivo Kuisma
was placed in charge of the Finnish troops. The Finnish government could not decide whether to recall the troops or to send reinforcements.

British Intervention

The situation became more complicated with the landing in

Royal Irish Rifles
who raised and led the regiment.

The situation of the Viena expedition began to deteriorate. The Karelian regiment stationed in Kem attacked the Finnish troops at

Vuokkiniemi in September–October. The Finnish troops withdrew to Finland on 2 October. Of these troops, 195 survived and made their way home; 83 were killed. The British forces withdrew in October 1919 and the situation of the Russian White Army
collapsed.

Outcome

In the end, the expedition failed due British efforts to prevent then German-aligned Finland from gaining access to the Murmansk railroad.

Treaty of Tartu
.

Two years later, after the last of the

an uprising
in an attempt to form their own state.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Group under Kurt Martti Wallenius consisted of conscripted soldiers initially ordered to clear Northern Finland from remaining Red Finns. Troops mutinied and were at very low morale after crossing the border.
  2. Finnish Jäger troops or part of the White Guard
    . However before taking part to the operation as volunteers they were required to resign from the military. Forces were however sponsored and to some extent supported by government.
  3. ^ The Republic of Uhtua was more of a Finnish puppet state than a unrecognized state.

References

  1. ISBN 978-91-7903-442-9
    .
  2. ISBN 1-85285-477-4
    . Retrieved 2010-08-15.

External links
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