April 1918 saw the final stages of the civil war. The Red guardsmen and women were retreating towards Soviet Russia (The Soviet Union wasn't founded until 1922) from Tampere where they had lost the Battle of Tampere. It was in Lahti about 125 km to the southeast of Tampere where the bulk of the retreating forces were routed and captured by a detachment of the Baltic Division of the German Empire that had landed in Loviisa about 70 km to the south of here. As you might guess, large numbers of captured Reds died of disease and executions during the summer of 1918.
Interestingly, the statue of Marshall Mannerheim, then acting head of state is right in the middle of the city in front of the railway station in Lahti but his statue in Tampere is in the middle of a forest in one of the outer suburbs.
I went cycling today and rode past an area surrounded by a hedge and wondered what it was. I soon discovered it was a memorial for the Reds who had fought for their cause and lost.
This is the entrance to the area. I had no idea what it was.
There's must be something in the center.
This is the memorial.
It says that the city of Lahti put up this memorial for the memory of the Reds killed in the "war between brothers" (it's one of the established terms for the civil war) in 1949.
"They sacrificed their lives for their cause in striving for a better future."
A lot of orphans were left behind.
