Civil War in Finland and Colonel Svechnikov

Von der Goltz, frankly remarked: “.. .They compare the position of Mannerheim on a vast sparsely populated territory with the situation of Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich ... with the soldiers who had several years of combat experience; it is obvious that the Finnish commander-in-chief, with his untrained army, would probably not have made much progress” Gol'ts R. von der. Moia missiia. P. 54.. Svechnikov also noted the inability of the Whites to turn the situation in their favor without the German landing. He wrote with sufficient sarcasm that the appeal for help to Germany “was not very respectable for Messrs. Mannerheims and their ilk, but in this case the end justified the means” Svechnikov M. S. Revoliutsiia. P. 91.. Further, he said that for the Reds “only Germans could be considered a serious opponent” Ibid. P. 97.. This phrase clearly indicated the lack of reverence of the young Russian officer towards Mannerheim and his army. This, of course, is a serious blow to the cult of the Finnish marshal, which now exists in our country.

Paradoxically, there's some affinity between Svechnikov's and Mannerheim's thoughts in his memoirs. He could not hide the fact that he failed to create more or less organized troops at the time of the main battles with the Red Guards in February-March. So, he noted: “As far as possible, we tried to form from White Guard the units. which would submit to a single command, but soon realized that this process would take a very long time”. Further Marshal wrote: “Only in April we managed to gather ten regular regiments from White Guard” Mannerheim G. Muistelmat. S. 284-285.. Thus, the White army was formed as a well-structured military organization only when German troops had already appeared in Finland.

Indeed, the outcome of the Finnish Civil War was determined only after the landing of German soldiers on April 3, 1918 in the south of Finland in Hango (Hanko). Only after that did serious defeats of the Reds begin, and Svechnikov was forced to admit that “the moral impression produced by the German intervention was enormous”. As he further stressed, the landing of von der Goltz' troops “literally paralyzed the actions of the government [the Reds. -- Auth.], not to mention the masses, who after a great rise, unprecedented in the history of the labor movement, were beginning to feel nervous, uncertain of their success and started to panic” Svechnikov M. S. Revoliutsiia. P. 90.. As a result, the Red Guard couldn't dream of winning the Civil War See: Kuusinen O. V. Revoliutsiia v Finliandii. P. 53.. The head of the collegium of the Finnish Red Army command, Adolf Taymi, noted in his memoirs: “The Finnish Red Guard was not prepared for battles with a regular, experienced and well-equipped army ... of Germany” TaamiA. Stranitsy perezhitogo... P. 227..

Thus, we can say with all certainty that it was on April 3 that the Civil War was lost by Reds, and, above all, as a result of German intervention. Mannerheim recognized this fact. He immediately thanked the “brave German troops” and expressed the hope that “every Finn will realize the great sacrifice of the noble German people who are helping them at an hour when every man is needed on the western front” Finland 1917-1918. P 248-249.. This statement clearly aroused frank bewilderment in the diplomatic circles of the Entente See: Ibid., but it was understandable because at the time it “produced such a strong effect on the Finns that the previous modest activity of their organizations in comparison with the large scale of German operations left the impression of something miserable, unnecessary.. .” Smolin A. V. Russkie v Finliandii v 1918-1919 gg. (Raport leitenanta Dikhta morskomu attashe v Shvetsii V. A. Stashevskomu) (chast' I) // Trudy kafedry istorii Novogo i noveishego vremeni. 2011. N 7. P 128.

As for the finale, and real victims of this war, the Whites lost 3,200 people, which is slightly less than the Reds, who lost 3,500 people Hentilд S. Ot obreteniia. P 146. The death toll in the Finnish operation of German soldiers was 297 people (Seppдlд H. Itsenдisen suomen... S. 22).. At the same time, the Reds fought at the end of the war on two fronts at once, which clearly indicated that the Whites paid for their victory over the Reds a greater number of human lives. These victims were more than offset by the mass terror that the Whites organized in Finland after their victory. As a result, 27 000 Finns died at the hands of Whites Hentilд S. Ot obreteniia. P 144; See also: Paavolainen J. Valkoinen terrori. Helsinki, 1967. Moreover, nearly 2,000 people perished in Finland during the Civil War (Terashkevich A. S. Russkie v grazhdanskoi voine v Finliandii. Sankt-Peterburg i strany Severnoy Evropy. Vol. 17 (2). Thematic iss. Vyborg, 2016. P 72)., which apparently shows the incredible frenzy with which the army of Mannerheim consolidated its victory in the Civil War.

It should be noted that the assertion that it was the troops of Mannerheim that won this victory, and Germany only helped them or just “assisted” Dubrovskaya Ye. Yu. Rossiiskie voennosluzhashchie. P 115. it, is an obvious historical inaccuracy. The German army brought to a close the confrontation between the Whites and the Reds. They, in fact, took the capital of Finland Helsingfors on April 14 and ensured the defeat of the Finnish Red Guard. As far as the confrontation between Colonel M. S. Svechnikov and the future Finnish marshal, we can claim Russian commander was worthy of his opponent. It is regretful that later Svechnikov, like many other Soviet military leaders, was repressed. On December 31, 1937 he was arrested on charges of participating in a military-fascist conspiracy and shot in August 1938. The list of persons subject to the most severe conviction, which included Svechnikov, was signed personally by J. V. Stalin and V. M Molotov.

Perhaps, that is why in our country the name of C. G. Mannerheim is associated more with the period of the Civil War in Finland than that of M. S. Svechnikov.

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svechnikov finnish civil war

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