Second Red Offensive of The Finnish Civil War (Mink's World)

The Second Red Offensive was the beginning of the end for the Reds - starting August 12th and ending later in October the same year: 1918. During this offensive the Reds made little ground for the cost of so many men. This was the largest use of men throughout the whole war.

Background and Planning
In early August the plans to ratify what would be the second Red offensive were slowly going into affect. Many Red garrisons were being reinforced.

After the much success of the first Red offensive plans for another were put into the drawing board. With the Americans arriving the Reds saw few windows of opportunity to break the already hardening White lines. This would be an attempt for a knockout blow of the White command therefore, winning the civil war.

Ali Aaltonen, the Supreme Commander for the Reds, knew this offensive was a huge gamble. Ivan Alferov, the Soviet commander, advised against it and tried to sit out the civil war.

Planning
Planning started at the end of the first Red offensive. Plans included taking many reserves of the Red Army. Many garrisons were pulled from crucial towns. Ivan advised to attack the White lines in the center with a large supply route.

Other plans included taking much land on the Karelian Isthmus and connecting the center front and Isthmus front encircling the forces in the center. Those other plans were nothing but a fantasy.

All of the foreign support the Whites had gained is really unknown but some conclude that without all of the foreign support the Reds could have crushed the Whites.

Mannerheim planned that there should be an attack by the Reds and then counterattack quickly after the offensive. All of the foreign legions agreed to wait for a Red offensive then quickly counter attack. For the whites, also, in early August they started to move troops from unneeded towns in the north to the-then front lines to prepare for a defense.

Whites
The Whites had defenses set throughout the lines for prepared for an attack by the Reds. Their troops numbered somewhere between 20 and 40,000. The main divisions would be scattered all around the front.

The Whites finally saw a use for the five AV7 tanks just sitting around. They formed what would be known as the Mannerheim formation.

Russians
For the Russians they would be situated closely behind the Whites for quick reinforcements. They were composed mostly of infantry.

Americans
The Americans were situated far behind the Russians and Whites in case there was ever any need for heavy reinforcements or for a fallback line.

Germans
The Germans were scattered some were in the back and others were on the front lines. The Germans mainly used Jäger and shock troops to clear out any Reds.

Reds
The Reds just planned for a full on assault - under orders of Ali just to attack the Whites head on.

Soviets
The Soviets were weary and stayed behind the Reds. The Soviets were always prepared to attack if needed by the Reds.

Second Battle of Kuopio
The Second battle of Kuopio was the last and Final Red attempt to gain Kuopio. This also ruined the surprise for the offensive. This was not ordered but started and ended on the 12th. The real offensive wouldn't come until three hours after this ended.

Prelude
Nestor did not see an attack coming. He thought that the Reds decided to not attack anymore. Nestor was one of the leaders of the garrison at Kuopio after the battle of Kuopio. Kalle thought the offensive had already started so he thought he was doing the best to attack Kuopio.

A message was intercepted by the Whites and gave numbers on the composition of the troops and 3994 was much more than the standard Red garrison. This should have been a Red flag but it did not click for Nestor. Nestor also had two artillery guns in placed outside his town which would become useful during the battle.

The Battle
On August 12th at 6:00 AM the Reds started their attack on Kuopio with Kalle (The Red commander) leading the fight. Nestor finally put together the pieces and readied the men. At 6:20 AM the first Reds started to attack. The men already dug trenches because after the first battle defenses were raised, the Germans were in the back awaiting the signal to pop out and attack.

At 7:00 AM fighting continued between the two armies. By 7:14 AM the Soviet volunteers were called to hopefully breach while they could. A distress signal was put out by 7:21 AM when the artillery started to fire. For the next 40 minutes all that was happening was the artillery firing onto the Reds and Soviets. By 8:00 AM the Reds pushed their attack again. A breach was made but then the Whites finally called in the German Shock troops. With the Germans coming in by the tens Kalle almost called a retreat but fighting continued for another hour.

By 8:30 AM the White artillery started to run out of shells leaving the Germans and Whites doing the rest of the work. At 8:35 AM the final push was attempted with the Soviets trying to flank the White positions. The Soviets tried an outside the town flank. At 8:43 AM cover was blown because a sergeant could make out the figures of Soviets running outside the town. Nestor immediately ordered the German troops to ambush them. When the Germans ambushed them many of them fled. Without any Soviet support the Reds fled at approximately 9:01 AM.

Aftermath
Kuopio would not see any fighting after this battle. Kalle, the Red commander, was executed for unknown reasons. The town was still almost in pristine condition. Many of the Whites fighting there would continue a push in late December and would be some of the first people to see combat during the White counterattacks.

Battle of Pihtipudas
Pihtipudas was a small town housing parts of the American volunteer Legion. When the Americans arrived earlier that year they were spread out due to fear of losing the whole legion at once which would be devastating for the Finnish cause.

Background
As mentioned Pihtipudas was a small town housing about one-tenth of the American legion stations in Finland. Otto Ojard was assigned to the American legion at Pihtipudas after the battle for Vaasa. His job was to train the recruits stationed there for the month of August.

Red Planning
For this specific battle the Reds assigned Yrjo Sirola of the Red Army. The Reds reconnaissance planes showed a high concentration of American troops in Pihtipudas. So Pihtipudas became a high target to wipe out parts of the American Legion.

White and American Defenses
The town was jointly occupied by both the Americans and Whites. Pihtipudas was supposed to support the Reds but instead the Whites kicked them out and executed a couple of the Red sympathizers. Defenses were mainly supplied by the Americans but the Whites pitched in a little here and there.

For one thing the Americans brought a couple goodies with them According to some documents the Americans had a huge stockpile of ammunition and Artillery shells. The Americans supposedly turned Pihtipudas into a fortress but those were just roomers set up by the Whites to discourage any attacks.

August 12th
On August 12th Pihtipudas was moderately defended that day it was assumed that if there was an attack Pihtipudas wouldn't be the first target. So mid day rolled around there was the normal with training American and Finnish troops. On the Reds side Yrjo ordered the attack he got commands to attack at 1:00 PM by Ali the Supreme Commander for the Red Army. When the Americans and Whites were caught off guard on 1:30 PM Otto ordered the defense of the town (Although the Americans were on Finnish soil in case of emergency the Americans were put in charge).

August 13th-17th
The Americans had little experience with dealing with the Reds so between the 12th to the 14th the Americans fell back ever so slightly. By the 15th the Americans called for reinforcements but no one responded. On the 16th the Finns under command of Oskar Wilkman were ordered to take command of the American troops. These orders came from C.G.E Mannerheim himself. Oskar was more strategic for attacking the Reds. Yrjo noticed the attack to be slowing down by the 15th. Yrjo ordered a special division to flank on the right hand side of the town on the 16th. At first the flank was going well for the Reds. This was before Oskar was put in charge, though. By late day the order was given to put Oskar in command. Instead of the constant fallback order given by Otto Oskar held ground which cost many American lives.

August 17th-19th
When Oskar was put over command of Otto some Americans defected to the Reds giving away valuable info of weak spots and the importance of the town. On the 17th the Reds ordered an attack of the Left flank this ended in a huge failure resulting in over 400 dead Reds. On the 18th a constant attack of Pihtipudas was ordered. Oskar responded with sending parts of the American legion to flank through the left. These recruits were untrained and were not used to the Red tactics. The Americans were put under charge of Otto who tried his best to counter attack. By the 19th the Reds were reaching inside of the town and every hour a fallback order was given to the troops. A desperate counter was ordered but apparently only a fraction of the ordered troops got the order resulting only in more Finnish and American deaths. At 3:00 PM on the 19th the Whites and Americans were kicked out of the town of Pihtipudas.

Aftermath
The Reds immediately gained control of the large stash of ammunition and Artillery shells in Pihtipudas. Otto was striped of his position as a commander and was demoted. Historians say that if Oskar was in charge from the beginning the Reds would not have gained the town. To put in perspective for how large this victory was to the whites this extended the war another four months. Oskar on the other hand was promoted and was put on the front lines more. Yrjo was promoted but that wouldn't last due to how many men he lost.

Siege of Korppinen
The Siege of Korppinen was a two-day siege between a combination of American Finnish and Russian troops defending the town of Korppinen. The siege lasted two days with the Reds and soviets gaining the town of Korppinen.

Background
The town of Korppinen was a White town at the beginning of the war. Korppinen was little to no fighting every now and then there would be a skirmish between the local Reds and Whites.

Korppinen was not expected to be a target due to how little the importance was. Gunnar Visapuu was the commander of the town for the war. Gunnar had little to no previous military experience.

Reds
Some rumors circulated around the Red camps how Korppinen was turned into a fortress. So for the Reds the employed the tactic of bombarding the town for two days.

The Siege
The Siege started the 12th and ended the 14th due to high amounts of artillery coming from three angles. On the 12th the Siege started with Gunnar ordering defensive positions. On the Reds' side, Gustav ordered the artillery to pound the town for two days while his troops attack through a weakened hole in the closest portion of the town - the left side. By the later hours of the 12th Gunnar realized that Red soldiers were pouring through a weakened hole in the towns defenses. Gunnar ordered the hole to be patched and deal with the Reds insurgents.

By the early hours of the 13th the Red insurgents were all killed. That was the least of the worries the artillery fire was starting to take a toll on the White defenses. Gunnar ordered the 500 Russians there to be defended the right side of the town. Sadly that was the area where the Reds would push through. The Russians defended All throughout the night of the 13th into the 14th. Gunnar called for reinforcements from the central White command. The White command ordered the Whites to get out of the town due to fear of the help not arriving.

Aftermath
Once the siege ended the Reds flooded into the town. With 40% of the buildings there destroyed Korppinen became of little importance of the Reds and would be taken in the prelude of the White counter attacks.

Battle of Peräkylä
The battle of Peräkylä was a Red attempt to gain the town of Peräkylä. This ended in a failure after 15 days of attempting to gain the town.

Background
Karl Mandelin was the White Commander for the town of Peräkylä. Peräkylä was a town with little to no importance. Peräkylä was aligned with the Whites during the whole of the civil war.

Onni Aukusti was tasked with Gaining Huge amounts of ground during the Second Advance. None of these lands were taken due to his incompetence.

The Battle
On August the 15th Karl Mandelin spotted Red Army soldiers heading towards Peräkylä. Karl sounded the alarms.

Karl was ordered to hold off the whole town for ten days. Onni failed the first assault which was from the 17th-20th. Karl held on to the town only being inflicted minimal casualties. Onni knew the first assault would be a failure. Unlike other battles and fronts they were usually supported by some form of a Soviet legion. Karl added defenses occasionally everyday.

Minor Skirmishes occurred from the 21st-25th. These skirmishes usually occurred because Onni wanted a group of Reds usually 20-40 strong to sabotage any form of defenses the Whites may have. All of them turned up as a failure.

On the 26th-30th the battle started to close. Onni ordered another assault on the town. As a last ditch resort. On the 27th Karl defended the town and was ordered by C.G.E Mannerheim to hold out the ground. On the 29th the Reds started to pullout. On the 30th Onni finally pulled out and many of the people used in the offensive were used in other portions of the front.

Battle for Munakka
The Battle for Munakka was the battle for the Reds to gain the small town of Munkka. The sides were composed of Finns and Russians for one side and just Finns for the other. This was a failure for the Reds due to the inexperienced Red Commander.

Backround
Kaarlo Viljanen was assigned to Munakka in Late April 1918 with his Russian counterpart Verkhovskoy, Roman Nikolayevich. They intended to defend Munakka during any attack. Munakka was defended by a small garrison of 500 Finns and 100 Russians.

Kaarlo and Verkhovskoy has always been friends and when they were assigned to Munakka in April they made an agreement to defend the town during any attack during the civil war.

The Reds needed a Moral booster and gaining some small towns like Munakka would help out the moral of the troops.

The Battle
On August 25th the attack was ordered by Vlademar Sammalisto. A swift victory was expected but was not gained. Kaarlo and Verkhovskoy had the upper hand. August 25th was a slow day only minor clashes started the battle. This day ended in only two deaths for the whites and over 20 for the Reds.

Days 26-31 Minor clashes fueled theses days. The Red Army was ordered by the high command to continue the attack although only 75% of the troops had guns and only 50% were actually trained. These days were slow due to a unknown pandemic ravaging the camp. The Reds pushed on through these hard times. The largest clash was on the 30th where an attack was ordered by Valdemar on the White left flank. This clash was nothing more than just a pathetic excuse for an attack. All Whites made it out without a scratch.

The last ten days from September 1st-10th were just a bunch of recover days where the Reds attempted to recover for the first half. By the second half on Days Six through Ten were the days where Kaarlo had to attend personal matters in the north. This left the Russian commander in control of all of the troops. On the 7th a full on attack was ordered by the Reds Verkhovskoy defended without any budge. On the 10th one last attack was ordered where all some 2000 Reds would come out of the forests surrounding the town. The Whites and Russians held desperately then a distress call was received where 200 Artillery shells pounded the Red positions leading to a retreat by the Red Army.

Battle for Nurmo
The battle for Nurmo was a White counter attack only lasting 3 days from September 4th-7th 1918. This ended in a success for the Whites due to superior command structure. This was the first of the White counter attacks witch overlapped in real White counter attacks that wouldn't happen for at least another couple of months. This would set how the rest of the war would be played on Red soil not White.

Background
Nurmo was a small border town that chose the side of the Whites during the Finnish civil war but however was taken by the Reds in the beginning months of the war.

Unio Sarlin was assigned to the attack on Nurmo in Mid August. Unio would also be collaborating with Rudiger Von Der Goltz for this attack. This attack was essentially a way to draw some of the Reds and Soviets attention so other border and near border towns can prepare for the Incoming Red Offensive.

A number of towns were targeted and many of the White command realized that troops wouldn't get there in time so a plan was quickly drawn with commander Unio Sarlin to hopefully draw some of the Red attention back to their soil.

Red Defenses
Red Defenses were relatively light for the town of Nurmo. Many of the Reds that were meant to be defending were preparing to attack on other fronts. But the Reds also had 2 Armored cars there for an unknown reason those were a side objective of the battle.

The 2 Armored cars were assumed to be used on a upcoming battle. The Reds also had a few old artillery laying outside of the town. This shows that the Reds were hanging on a desperate thread and they had just about enough. Frans Koskien was assigned to the town. Due to his little experience with military he Was not much use to the Red Command.

The Battle
In September 4th the order was received by the white army to attack the small town of Nurmo. That day Nurmo was lightly guarded. When the first Whites reached the border of the town the Defense order was made by the Red commander to defend the town. A distress order was sent to any nearby Red and Soviet troops to come to the town. Frans ordered the 2 Armored cars to be mobilized. Resistance was expected by Unio so he then called for the Russians to reinforce each flank. The First day ended in minor skirmishes.

On September 5th the Red and Soviet reinforcements arrived in small numbers though. The first real part of the battle started at 4:00 in the morning where the Reds risked half of their force into a attack on the White and Russian encampment. The Whites were caught off guard leading to many deaths. Also the Reds attacked with one of their armored cars witch drew much attention of the Whites. The Russians new a counter that was exploited that was shooting at the turret rendering the gun and vehicle useless. The Armored car and the rest of the Reds retreated but at the cost of the Armored car. This lead to low moral among the Red troops and few wanting to turn. Later the same day at about 12:00 PM the danger the Reds posed to the Whites and Russians was pretty big so the American and Germans were called for the next day.

On September 6th the Reds started to get reinforced in larger numbers and the Soviets arrived in large numbers as well. The Whites finally got the Americans and Germans in the camp for the attack the next day. With the coalition of volunteer troops at the camp outside of town a real attack was planned against the town. Rudiger von der Goltz stopped by to help plan on the 6th. The plan was to attack Nurmo on the seventh.

On the 7th of September the attack was ordered to attack Nurmo. Withing minutes of the first Whites arrival the Armored car was mobilized. The car devastated the foreign legions forces. The Russians focused firepower on the turret. This destroyed the car but the Soviet foreign legion retreated before taking too many causalities.Within an hour of the soviets retreat the Red defending Nurmo capitulated.

Battle for Laihia
The Battle for Laihia was a major operation for the White Army to gain Laihia. The main purpose of this battle was for the Whites to gain Laihia making a bulge for the Reds lines forcing them to divert troops from other sides of the front. This battle is cut up into 2 parts the first part is the Whites attacking Laihia the second part is the Reds attempting to take back Laihia within the weeks.