Campaign of 1808
For the war with Sweden, 24 thousand soldiers were formed. army under the command of General of Infantry FF Buxgewden. The army was small, since at this time the Russian army continued to wage war with the Ottoman Empire. In addition, despite the peace with France and the seemingly friendly relations of the two great powers, Alexander was hostile to Napoleon, and the bulk of the Russian army stood idle on the western borders of the Russian Empire, in case of war with the French.
The Swedes in Finland at this time had 19 thousand troops, under the temporary command of General Klerker, who were scattered throughout the region. The commander-in-chief, Count Klingspor, was still in Stockholm. When Count Klingspor finally left for Finland, the essence of the war plan given to him was not to engage in battle with the enemy, to hold the Sveaborg fortress to the last extreme and, if possible, to act behind Russian lines.
Commander of the Swedish army Count Wilhelm Moritz Klingspor
On February 9, 1808, the Russian army crossed the border on the Kyumen River. On the night of February 15-16, Russian troops defeated the Swedish detachment near the town of Artchio. Then the news was received that the enemy was gathering troops at Helsingfors. It was misinformation, in fact, the Swedes were concentrated at Tavastgus. Buxgewden formed a mobile detachment under the command of Orlov-Denisov to capture Helsingfors. The detachment advanced on a forced march to the enemy city, following the coastal road, and in some places just across the ice. On February 17, Orlov-Denisov's detachment defeated the Swedes on the outskirts of Helsingfors, 6 guns were captured. On February 18, Russian troops occupied Helsingfors. 19 guns and a large amount of ammunition were captured in the city. On February 28, Russian troops, despite the severe frost, occupied Tammerfors. Buxgewden ordered Prince Bagration to pursue the Swedes in the western part of Finland, and General Tuchkov to try to cut off their retreat in the east; Buxgewden himself decided to begin the siege of Sveaborg.
General Clerker was confused and lost control of the troops. He was replaced by General Wilhelm Moritz Klingspor. However, he was unable to rectify the situation. On March 4, Swedish troops were defeated at the city of Bierneborg. Thus, the Russian army reached the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Most of the Swedish army withdrew along the coast north to the city of Uleaborg. On March 10, Major General Shepelev's brigade occupied Abo without a fight. After that, almost all of Finland was in the hands of the Russian army.
Only after that, the Russian Empire declared war with Sweden. On March 16 (28), 1808, the declaration of Alexander I was published: “His Imperial Majesty proclaims to all European powers that from now on the part of Finland, which hitherto was called Swedish, and which the Russian troops could not otherwise occupy, as having withstood various battles, is recognized as a region, subjugated by Russian weapons, and forever joins the Russian Empire."
On March 20 (April 1), the emperor's manifesto "On the conquest of Swedish Finland and on its annexation to Russia forever" followed, addressed to the population of Russia. It said: "This country, conquered by Our arms, We attach from now on forever to the Russian Empire, and as a result, We have commanded to take from the inhabitants its oath of allegiance to the Throne of Our citizenship."The manifesto announced the annexation of Finland to Russia as a Grand Duchy. The Russian government pledged to preserve its previous laws and the diet. On June 5 (17), 1808, Alexander I issued a manifesto "On the annexation of Finland."
Meanwhile, the war continued. Vuich's detachment occupied the city of Aland. Bagration ordered to leave the Aland Islands. However, in Petersburg they ordered to seize the islands. On April 3, Colonel Vuich again occupied the archipelago with a battalion of gamekeepers. However, with the approach of spring, Buxgewden, realizing the danger of the position of the Russian troops on the Aland Islands, planned to bring them back. Moreover, their very stay there with the opening of navigation lost its meaning. In winter, Russian troops on the Aland Islands were needed to prevent the movement of Swedish troops on the ice from Stockholm to Abo. However, at this time in St. Petersburg it was planned to send a corps through Aland to Sweden. Vuich's squad was not evacuated and was doomed to defeat.
This led to the fact that as soon as the ice began to melt, the Swedish fleet landed troops. The Swedes, with the support of local residents, attacked Vuich's detachment. Swedish galleys supported the offensive with cannon fire. Vuich had no guns at all. After a four-hour battle, the Russians surrendered. 20 officers and 490 lower ranks were captured. The Aland Islands became the operational base of the Swedish fleet and a staging area for amphibious operations.
On March 5, the fortress of Svartholm surrendered. The siege of Sveaborg itself, a powerful Swedish fortress in Finland, was successfully completed. The fortress was called "Gibraltar of the North". The garrison of the fortress numbered 7, 5 thousand people with 200 guns (in total there were more than 2 thousand guns in the arsenals). The fortress had various supplies with the expectation of a many months siege. The defense was led by the commandant of the Sveaborg fortress and the commander of the Sveaborg skerry flotilla, Vice-Admiral Karl Olaf Kronstedt. Sveaborg was besieged on February 20. However, the lack of artillery, which was transported from St. Petersburg through deep snow very slowly, shells, tools and soldiers did not allow to quickly begin a correct siege and decide to storm the Swedish fortress. Only on April 22, after a 12-day bombardment, Sveaborg surrendered.
Plan of Helsingfors and Sveaborg fortifications in 1808. Source: Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky A. I. Description of the Finnish War on the dry road and at sea in 1808 and 1809
The morale of the garrison was low, the Russians weakened it by letting numerous immigrants from Sveaborg, including the families of the commandant and officers, through their outposts, supplying money and dismissing the defectors to their homes. As noted by AI Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, "the power of golden gunpowder weakened the military spring." There were even rumors that Kronstedt himself had been bribed, although no direct evidence of his bribery was subsequently found. After the war, the Swedish military court sentenced Kronstedt and a number of senior officers of the Sveaborg garrison to death, deprivation of the nobility, awards and property. Kronstedt took Russian citizenship and lived on his estate near Helsinki; he was awarded a pension by the Russian authorities and compensated for the loss of his property.
In Sveaborg, a Swedish rowing flotilla, 119 warships were captured: including 2 rowing frigates (28 guns each), 1 half-hemama, 1 turum, 6 shebeks (24 guns each), 1 brig (14 guns), 8 yachts, 25 gunboats, 51 gunboats, 4 gunboats, 1 royal barge, 19 transport ships and many other military equipment. In addition, with the approach of Russian troops in various ports of Finland, the Swedes themselves burned 70 rowing and sailing ships.
Swedish Vice Admiral, Commandant of the Sveaborg Fortress Karl Olaf Kronstedt
The first failures of the Russian army
Swedish King Gustav IV decided to launch an offensive against Danish forces in Norway. Therefore, the Swedes were unable to gather significant forces for the operation in Finland. Nevertheless, the Swedes were able to achieve a number of local successes in Finland, so that it was associated with the mistakes of the Russian command, the initial lack of troops for the full occupation of Finland and the development of the offensive, as well as partisan actions of the Finnish population, which diverted additional forces of the Russian army.
6 (18) April 1808 2-thous. An advance detachment under the command of Kulnev attacked the Swedes near the village of Sikajoki, but, having stumbled upon superior forces, was defeated. Swedish troops won their first victory in the campaign. From a strategic point of view, this battle did not matter, since the Swedes could not build on their success with a decisive pursuit and continued their retreat.
After the success at Sikajoki, the commander of the Swedish troops in Finland, Field Marshal Klingspor, relying on his numerical superiority, the weakness and isolation of General Tuchkov's Russian forward corps, decided to break it up in parts. At first, he decided to attack the 1,500 troops stationed at Revolax. detachment of Major General Bulatov. The Swedish attack began on April 15 (27). The superior forces of the Swedes overturned Bulatov's detachment. Bulatov himself was twice wounded and surrounded by the enemy. Wanting to break through, he struck with bayonets, but, shot through the chest, fell and was captured. This completed the defeat of the Russian detachment, its remnants made their way to their own. The Russian detachment lost about 500 people, 3 guns.
Thus, the offensive of Tuchkov's corps was thwarted, the Russian troops were forced to retreat. Considerable territory was ceded. The Swedish army recovered from the severe defeats of the initial stage of the war, the morale of the Swedish army increased significantly. The Finns, convinced of the possibility of defeating the Russians, began to conduct partisan actions everywhere, making armed attacks on Russian troops. The Russian writer and participant in the Swedish campaign, Thaddeus Bulgarin, wrote: “All Finnish villagers are excellent shooters, and in every house there were guns and spears. Strong crowds of foot and horse were formed, which, under the leadership of pastors, landmans … and Finnish officers and soldiers … attacked weak Russian troops, hospitals, and killed the unmercifully sick and healthy … Outrage was in full force, and the people's war was in full swing with all its horrors.
As already noted above, due to the errors of the command, a strong Swedish flotilla appeared near the Aland Islands and, with the help of the rebellious Swedish inhabitants, forced the detachment of Colonel Vuich to surrender. On May 3, Russian Rear Admiral Nikolai Bodisko, who occupied the island of Gotland, surrendered, his detachment laid down their arms and went back to Libava on the same ships on which they arrived in Gotland. Russian 2 thous. a detachment, embarked on chartered merchant ships, came from Libau and took possession of the island of Gotland on 22 April. Now he has given up. Bodisko was put on trial and on May 26, 1809, expelled from service "for the removal of the ground forces under his command from the island of Gotland and the position of weapons without resistance", sent to live in Vologda (he was forgiven and reinstated in service in 1811) …
Detachments of Russian troops operating in northern Finland were forced to withdraw to Kuopio. Klingspor did not complete his successes with persistent pursuit, but stopped at a position near the village of Salmi, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Sweden and the result of the landing on the western coast of Finland.
Reflection of the Swedish landings. The transition of Russian troops to a new offensive
On June 7-8, the detachment of General Ernst von Wegesack (up to 4 thousand people, with 8 guns) calmly landed near the town of Lema, 22 miles from the town of Abo. At first, the task of the Swedish troops under the command of Vegesak was to recapture Abo (Turku), but later the task of the landing was to join up with the Klingspor army.
The Cossack patrol discovered the enemy. Count Fyodor Buxgewden was in Abo, he sent a battalion of the Libau musketeer regiment with one gun under the command of Colonel Vadkovsky to meet the enemy, and also ordered all Russian troops in the vicinity of Abo to hurry to the city. The battalion sent to meet the Swedish landing, suppressed by the superiority of forces, was forced to retreat, suffering heavy losses from the fire of enemy riflemen. However, soon several battalions of infantry, a squadron of dragoons and hussars, and an artillery company came to the aid of Vadkovsky's detachment. The arrival of General Baggovut and General Konovnitsyn with reinforcements changed the situation on the battlefield. First, the Swedes were stopped, and then they began to push them to the landing site.
Under cover of naval artillery fire, the Swedish landing force was evacuated. Russian gunboats, sent to attack the enemy, were late. The Swedes sailed to the islands of Nagu and Korp. Both sides suffered almost equal losses: 217 Russian soldiers and 216 Swedes.
In the summer of 1808, the position of the Russian army in central Finland became complicated again. July 2 6-thous. the detachment of General Raevsky, pressed by the Swedish army and Finnish partisans, retreated first to Salmi, and then to the town of Alavo. On July 12, Raevsky was replaced by N. M. Kamensky, but he was also forced to retreat to Tammerfors. On August 20, Kamensky's corps was able to defeat the Swedes near the village of Kuortane. On August 21, the Swedes were defeated at Salmi, Klingspor retreated in the direction of Vasa and Nykarlebu.
Soon Klingspor left Vasu and moved 45 versts north to the village of Orovais. The Swedes decided to give battle to the 6-thous. to the Kamensky building. The 7,000-strong army of the Swedes entrenched behind the swampy river, resting on the right flank against the Gulf of Bothnia, where several Swedish gunboats were located, and with the left flank against the cliffs surrounded by dense forest. The battle took place on September 2 (14).
At dawn, the Russian vanguard of Colonel Yakov Kulnev attacked the positions of the Swedish troops, but was repulsed. The Swedes launched a counteroffensive and began pursuing the retreating detachment of Kulnev. 2 infantry regiments of General Nikolai Demidov rushed to the aid of the retreating detachment, which stopped and overturned the advancing Swedes. In the middle of the day, Kamensky arrived at the scene of the battle with a battalion of gamekeepers and two companies of infantry. At 15:00, Swedish troops attacked again, but the approaching troops of General Ushakov (about 2 regiments) repulsed the attack, and the Swedes again retreated to their original positions. By this time it was already dark. At night, Demidov's detachment bypassed the Swedish positions in the forest. In the morning the Swedes, having learned about the possible encirclement, retreated to the north in an organized manner. In the battle, both sides lost about one thousand people.
Battle of Oravais. Source: Bayov A. K. Course in the history of Russian military art
New Swedish landings, with the help of which the Swedish command tried to stop the offensive of the Russian troops, were defeated. On September 3, the Swedish detachment of General Lantingshausen, numbering 2,600, landed near the village of Varannyaya, 70 versts north of Abo. The landing was successful, but the next day the Swedes stumbled upon Bagration's detachment and were forced to evacuate. Meanwhile, at the village of Helsinge near Abo, a new Swedish assault force of General Bonet was landed. The Swedish king himself on the yacht "Amadna" accompanied the ship with the landing party. September 14-15, 5 thous. Bonet's detachment pressed against the small Russian forces. On September 16, near the town of Himais, the Swedes were counterattacked by the main forces of Bagration. The Swedes were defeated and fled. About a thousand Swedish soldiers were killed, more than 350 people were captured. Russian artillery set fire to the village of Helsinge. The fire, fanned by a strong wind, began to threaten the Swedish amphibious fleet. Therefore, the Swedish ships had to leave before the evacuation of all the paratroopers. All this happened in front of the eyes of Gustav IV, who watched the battle from a yacht.
Thus, a decisive turning point came in the war, and after a series of setbacks, the Swedish commander Klingspor was forced to ask for an armistice.
General Nikolai Mikhailovich Kamensky
Truce
On September 12, 1808, the Swedish commander Klingspor proposed an armistice to Buxgewden. On September 17, an armistice was concluded at the Lakhtai manor. However, the Emperor Alexander did not recognize him, calling him "an unforgivable mistake." Buxgewden was instructed to continue fighting. Tuchkov's corps, which operated in Eastern Finland, was ordered to move from Kuopio to Idensalmi and attack 4,000 troops. Swedish detachment of Brigadier Sandels. Russian troops resumed their offensive: Kamensky's corps along the coast, and Tuchkov's corps to Uleaborg. In November, Russian troops occupied all of Finland. The Swedes retreated to Torneo.
In November Buxgewden, now with the consent of the emperor, again entered into negotiations with the Swedes. But Buxgewden failed to sign a truce - he received a decree on dismissal from the command of the army. Count Kamensky became the new commander-in-chief. He signed a truce on November 7 (19), 1808 in the village of Olkiyoki. The armistice was in effect until December 7, 1808. Under the terms of the armistice, the Swedes ceded to Russia all of Finland up to the river. Kemi. Russian troops occupied the city of Uleaborg and set up guard posts on both sides of the Kem River, but did not invade Lapland and did not try to enter Swedish territory at Torneo. On December 3, 1808, the armistice was extended until March 6 (18), 1809.
Kamensky was the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in Finland for only a month and a half. On December 7, 1808, instead of Kamensky, General of Infantry Bogdan Knorring became commander-in-chief. The new commander-in-chief Knorring was ordered to make the winter crossing over the Gulf of Bothnia and invade Sweden. However, the new commander did not show any special talents or decisiveness in this war. Considering the passage through the Gulf of Bothnia to Sweden planned by Emperor Alexander I to be too dangerous, he put off this operation in every possible way, and only the arrival of Arakcheev forced him to take action. Knorring provoked strong discontent with Alexander I and in April 1809 he was replaced by Michael Barclay de Tolly.
