Battle of Antrea

Battle of Antrea
Part of the Finnish Civil War in the Russian Civil War
Ahvola 1918
Date 11 February – 25 April 1918 (2 months and 2 weeks) Location Antrea and Jääski, Finland Result Red withdrawal
Belligerents
Finnish Whites	Finnish Reds Russian Volunteers
Commanders and leaders
Herman Wärnhjelm Aarne Sihvo	A. Backman
Strength
1,500–2,000	2,000–4,000
Casualties and losses
300 killed	324 killed

Battle of Antrea was a Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Antrea and Jääski, Finland in 11 February – 25 April 1918 between the Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds.

It was fought by the Viipuri–Joensuu railroad between Viipuri, the Red capital in Eastern Finland, and Antrea, an important railroad junction 30 kilometres north of Viipuri. The Reds targeted Antrea, but were stuck between the railway stations of Kavantsaari and Hannila and the nearby villages of Ahvola and Pullila. The most fierce battles were fought in Ahvola which was a highway crossing few kilometres west of the railroad. For the last nine weeks the warfare was mostly trench warfare. Therefore, the battles in Ahvola were called as the ″Verdun of Finland″, after the famous 1916 Battle of Verdun, although its size is not anything compared with the one of World War I. The battle ended in late April, as the Whites attacked Viipuri from further east and the Reds pulled back to defend the city.^[1]