Battle of Syrjäntaka was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle fought 28–29 April in Syrjäntaka, Tuulos, between the German Baltic Sea Division and the Finnish Red Guards. Thousands of Red refugees were fleeing east, while they were blocked by a small unit of Germans in a highway crossing in the small village of Syrjäntaka. After hours of desperate fighting, the Reds managed to break through and continue their journey. Battle of Syrjäntaka and the preceding battle in Hauho were the only battles the Germans lost during their one-month military campaign in Finland. They were also the last Red victories of the Civil War. The battle itself was totally unnecessary. It had no effect to the result of the war and either side gained nothing as the Reds were captured only a couple of days later.
Background
After the city of Tampere had fallen on 6 April, the Red Guard general staff ordered their troops to retreat to the eastern part of Red controlled Finland in order to form a new front behind the river Kymijoki. The Reds first started fleeing from Tampere, Pori and Turku and were soon joined by Reds from the Helsinki area as the Germans took the city on 13 April. In the three weeks, tens of thousands of Red Guard fighters, their family members and other Red supporters were marching east. About 25,000 travelled through the town of Hämeenlinna in the southern part of Tavastia province. As the Germans were closing Hämeenlinna in 25–26 April, there was still up to 4,000 refugees in town. The road heading east from Hämeenlinna was now blocked, so the Reds had to make their way through a new route: first 30 kilometres north, then across the small river of Alvettula and back southwards to Hauho and Tuulos.
Battles in Alvettula and Hauho
The Red column reached the Alvettula river, 30 kilometres north of Hämeenlinna, in the early morning of 26 April. The Finnish Whites were in defensive positions on the east side of the river with their machine guns aimed to the brigade. The Red artillery started firing at 5:00 am, but the Reds did not make their first effort to cross the river until the evening. After ten hours of fighting, they managed to cross the bridge in the next morning and finally made their way through the White lines in the afternoon. Nearly 150 Reds were killed as the Whites lost only 11 men. The column then headed 6 kilometres south to Hauho where the Reds stayed for the night. They were now joined by 1,000 more refugees who had come from the north.
At the same time, the Germans had taken Hämeenlinna. General major Konrad Theodor Wolf then sent a unit of 400 men to Syrjäntaka, a village and highway crossing 25 kilometres east of Hämeenlinna. The German unit was commanded by the major Godert von Reden. He was not aware of the approaching Reds and therefore did not expect any fighting. Reden decided to scatter his men to the nearby villages and finally there was only less than 150 men left in Syrjäntaka. Late in the evening of 27 April, two White officers informed Reden of the Reds in Hauho. For some reason, Reden then ordered an attack against the village. The operation was carried out early next morning with only one German bicycle company (Radfahr-Kompanie) and a small unit of Finnish Whites. The attack failed totally as the Reds stroke the enemy back, causing them nearly 50 dead while only 14 Reds were killed. After the battle, the Red column started marching towards Syrjäntaka, about 20 kilometres southeast of Hauho.
Battle in Syrjäntaka
After being informed of the failure in Hauho, Reden realized his men were soon to face an overwhelming enemy. At 3:00 pm, Reden ordered his men to dig into defensive positions. The Germans formed a 1.5 kilometre-long line of trenches in the fields surrounding the village. Reden also called for additional forces and General major Wolf decided to send a unit of 200–300 men, under the command of major Lothar von Brandenstein. His troops never reached their destination as they were stuck in a fight with the Reds by the small lake of Pannujärvi, 3 kilometres west of Syrjäntaka.