Finnish Civil War - Battle of Rautu

DATE: 05/01/2025

TIME (GMT): 18:00

ERA: WW2

MAP(S): Ihantala

TYPE: COOP

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Jarvis for Brothers in Arms

SLOTS: 55 / 72

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RATING: (15)

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The Battle of Rautu was an extended battle fought during the 1918 Finnish Civil War in the Rautu region of Finland, modern day Sosnovo of the Russian Leningrad Oblast, between the Finnish Whites and the Finnish Reds supported by the Russian Bolsheviks. Due to the proximity to the Russian border, and city of Saint Petersburg, the Battle of Rautu was distinctive by the large amount of Russian Bolshevik troops present during the battle.

The battle was fought around the Rautu railway station, taken by the Finnish Reds in February, then, from the start of March, laid to siege by a small force of 500 soldiers led by Jäger Captain Evert Ekman and then from March 8th, Rittmeister Georg Elfvengren who arrived with reinforcements from the Karelian Army.

Weeks of trench warfare took place with little result, the Whites lacked the offensive power to dislodged the numerically superior Finnish Reds and now Russian Bolshevik troops gradually building in strength; this was despite the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Soviet Russia and the German Empire on the 12th of March, until the arrival of the 8th Jäger Battalion under the command of Jäger Major Lennart Oesch, whereby the Finnish Whites now grew to an estimated 2,000 troops versus around 3,000 Red and Bolshevik soldiers.

With renewed effort, and with the railroad towards Saint Petersburg blocked by a derailed armoured train carrying supplies desperately needed by the Reds, the Whites launched its final attack against Rautu on April 4th with its full force of conscript soldiers and veteran Jägers - to the South West, a large force of Reds had broken through the Whites lines in an attempt to flee the slaughter within the Rautu box but were soon caught in the open valley by White machine guns. The machine guns were indiscriminate, cutting down around 400 Reds - including women and children, with few escaping. Several reds committed suicide to avoid capture, including the Bolshevik commander, Prigorovski.

The Whites victory was a total one, Rautu fell on April 5th with the Reds taking incredible losses as a result - the Whites had taken around 270-400 casualties, with the majority of losses taking place in the last two days of the battle, whilst the number of Finnish Red and Russian Bolshevik dead is unknown, an estimated 860 Reds were buried in a mass grave within the Death Valley but the Whites Commander, Major Lennart Oesch, claimed to have buried up to 1,200 Reds, furthermore, some sources claim that hundreds of captured Reds were executed by the Whites after the battle.

4th April 1918, Rautu, Finland - The reinforced 8th Jaeger Battalion under Major Lennart Oesch renews its offensive towards the Rautu railway station held by the Red Guard.