Northern Front of the Finnish Civil War (Mink's World)

The Northern Front of the Finnish Civil war was the most northern front of the civil war where small amounts of troops. Saariselkä was the most northern town under White control. The route take was from Saariselkä to Inari then to Njurkulahti followed by Kaamanen with the last battle being at Utsjoki.

Background
Before the war started most of the north were Monarchist other than northern most parts of Lapland. On January 10th an issue was seen in the Red High command when the civil war would start there would be no real way to get supply and troops to northern Finland. Many of the Civilians in the north were willing to join the Red cause and join the Red army.

In the White high command many ideas were thrown around on how to deal with the north. The conclusion was if it was left alone it could be threatening to the Whites. So on January 15th 1918 a garrison of 5,000 Whites were sent to Saariselkä (The Northernmost Monarchist supporting town).

Prelude
The Prelude to the first battle was a lot of preparation by the Reds. The Reds were outgunned. Very few supplies got there. Throughout the war in the north the Red army would be seen out gunned sometimes whole Company's would be seen having no real weapons they would have to use shovels and knives.

The Reds dug in Putting men with guns in the front and in the back they would be awaiting some sort of weaponry. For weeks the north would see no battles due to the whites expecting a first strike. For 3-5 Weeks White command bickered about what to do. On February 19th a Attack was ordered to by the Reds to attack Saariselkä