Battle of Lahti

Battle of Lahti
Part of the Finnish Civil War in the Eastern Front of World War I
Colonel von Brandenstein and Major Kalm greeting each other in the main street
Date 19 April – 1 May 1918 (1 week and 5 days) Location Lahti, Finland Result White victory
Belligerents
German Empire Finnish Whites	Finnish Reds
Commanders and leaders
Otto von Brandenstein Hans Kalm	Nestor Linnanen Teodor Huurre
Strength
800 Germans 3,000 Whites	800 members of the Lahti Red Guard ~10,000 armed refugees
Casualties and losses
64 Germans killed ~20 Whites killed	at least 200 killed ~30,000 captured[1]

Battle of Lahti was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought from 19 April to 1 May by the German troops and Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds in Lahti, Finland. Together with the Battle of Viipuri, from 24 to 29 April, it was the last major battle of the war.

The German unit Detachment Brandenstein, commanded by colonel Otto von Brandenstein, attacked Lahti on 19 April, taking the town by the next evening. At the same time, a column of tens of thousands of Red refugees was approaching Lahti from the west. On 22 April, the Reds launched a counterattack to break through the German lines and clear the way for the fleeing people. The attempt failed and the Reds finally surrendered on 1 May. As a result, the Whites and Germans captured about 30,000 Reds and their family members who were placed in a concentration camp on the outskirts of Lahti.