Clash at Lake Pyaozero

The British chronology of the war records under 3 October 1918 an “action near Lake Pyavozero” on the Murmansk front. This refers to Pyaozero (Finnish Pääjärvi), a large lake in northern Karelia, lying between the Murmansk railway and the Finnish border. Other available sources do not give an exact date. General Charles Maynard, commander of the Allied forces in the Murmansk area, wrote in his report to the War Office only that his troops had moved towards the lake in October.

The fighting here was done by a column sent out at the end of August from Kandalaksha. It was made up almost entirely of Red Finns of the Murmansk Legion, refugees from the lost civil war in Finland, whom the British had armed and trained. They were commanded by a Canadian, Major Burton, and their units were led by British officers and NCOs. For several weeks the column skirmished with the White Finns, who had held outposts in northern Karelia since the spring. According to Maynard, in these skirmishes the legionaries proved “more than a match” for their compatriots from the opposing camp. The Whites eventually withdrew across the border.

The column then turned south-west. It was to link up with the Karelian Regiment, which had been advancing west from Kem and on 11 September had beaten the Finns at Ukhta, and on the way to deal with the White Finns who, according to reports, were gathering at Pyaozero. Maynard described the clash on the western shore of the lake as “small but decisive”. The last organised enemy detachment in northern Karelia fled in disorder across the Finnish border. Neither the report nor the general’s memoirs give the number of combatants or the losses.

The campaign was fought in country without roads passable for a cart. Supplies were brought by boat along the lakes and rivers, and the rest of the way they were carried by porters. At the beginning of October the White Finns had to leave almost all of White Sea Karelia, including the south, where Toivo Kuisma’s detachment crossed into Finland on 2 October. Maynard judged that Murmansk was safe from the Finnish side for the time being. The Murmansk Legion, however, faced an uncertain future: its soldiers had fought for the British against their own compatriots, and in Finland they faced prosecution for their part in the red revolution.