Svensk Militärhistoria / Swedish Military History

Georg Henrik Jägerhorns view on some episodes during The war of King Gustav III in 1788-1790.

1789 campaign in Savolax, Finland

The outpost in Pihlajanlax

The outpost in Liansari

The Swedish raid on Suomenniemi

The events in Kyro

The first battle at Porosalmi

The second battle at Porosalmi

The retreat to Jockas

The Counter attack

The attack on Parkumäki

The attack on Pumala

The show at Suomenniemi

The Russian counter attack at Laitasilta

Go back to the campaign of 1788

To the campaign of 1790

 (Source: G H Jägerhorn i fält för Gustav III, Petra och Pertti Hakala, Helsingfors and Stockholm 2004 and the Finska arméens och Finlands krigshistoria, Julius Mankell, Stockholm 1870)

 The outpost in Philajanlax (Pihlajanlahti)

In the autumn of 1788 the Swedish units pulled back and both sides went in to winter quarters. The frontier was watched by postings of various strength. Usually such a posting was manned by no less then 25 men but never to exceed company strength. The postings where most of the time reinforced by a handful of dragoons for recognisance. The posting smaller detachments was sent further out to watch the actual border and to warn the posting in case of attacks. In Swedish the older term for this kind of postings are "Fältvakt". I'm not aware of any specific name for such of posting in English. Please let me know if there are any better words to use.)  

The postings in the village of Philajanlax in the parish of Sulkava was in all aspect a very typical posting. It was under the command of an officer and manned by one NCO, 24 men from the Savolax infantry regiment and two dragoons. There were a similar posting on the Russian side. That posting was manned by a Jaeger company, 30-40 regular infantry men, 8 Cossacks, all in all about 200 men.

However the corporal sends out three men to outflank the Russians. They were instructed that "on laud calls from the house" they where to open fire from various places. When the Russians were set for the final assault on the farm house the corporal shouted "Jaeger battalion move forward!" and the three men starts to shoot. The Russian commanders falls for the trick and they hastily withdraws to their base, leaving a few dead and wounded behind.

The Corporal is rewarded with 20 Riksdaler and he is also promoted to Sergeant. The officer is on the other hand punished for his lousy scouting by three month in prison.

The Russian force is said to have been accompanied by G M Sprengtporten, the former Swedish general who created the Savolax brigade. After a dispute with the Swedish king Sprengtporten resigned and was later enrolled by the Russians as an expert on Finland. It is quite obvious that Jägerhorn has no sympathies for the man who has abandoned his country and now assaults his own former unit. Jägerhorn makes some malicious comments on the traitor being fooled by a pitiful Corporal and thus punished by fate. (We are going to see more of G M Sprengtporten later on, and he is to suffer even more...)

Also an outpost in the western parts of Savolax was attacked, this more successfully. In the village of Liansari an outpost was watching a small road close to the border.

The outpost was manned by an officer, Nymansson an his crew of 20 jaegers and 30 men from the Savolax infantry regiment. Ensign Nymansson was quite new on the post and the "hand over" procedure by his predecessor lacked some vital information's. Despite having a position at a regiment in Savolax, Nymansson doesn't understands Finnish. This is something that Jägerhorn points out as something that should be mandatory, and it will also have serious consequences for the outpost.

The former commanding officer, Ensign Hartman had recruited some "Russian Finnish" peasants as informers. On the 30th of April these informers shows up at the outpost with the news of some hundred Russian jaegers and a cannon was on the move from Suomenniemi towards the outpost. The informers are taken for Russian spy's, are arrested and sent to St Michel. The very same night the outpost are attacked. Nymansson and the crew has to abandon the outpost, leaving one dead Jaeger and all their baggage behind. The Russians loots and burns Liansari and some other small will ages in the area before they heads back to Suomensalmi.

The raide on Suomenniemi

The plan was that here in Kyro,  the party would be joined by some additional units. These were the two companies of the Björneborgs infantry regiment winter camping in Menduharju (Mäntyharju)  and some 50 jaegers that initially had been sent to support the re-establishing of the outpost in Liansari.

In spring the conditions of the roads are often very poor. The combination of wet and muddy roads and week ices made it impossible fore these extra men to show up on time. The force available in Kyro counted 228 men, but von Stedingk who was observing the operation on location decided to carry on. At 8 am the same day the party are on the move again. Captain von Sticht and his 50 jaegers forms the avant garde.  

The Russians were estimated to be about 4-500 men and were defending the bridges of Myllysilda and Härkäsilda, a few kilometres north to Suomenniemi.

After some hours on the road von Sticht reaches the first bridge and are ordered to attack. Without "too much hinder" as Jägerhorn puts it, he takes the bridge and drives the defenders of the islet. He then takes up positions on both sides of the road by the second bridge and open fire on the defenders on the other side.

The cannon is placed on a small height behind the jaegers, and the infantry forms a line on the jaegers left flank. The jaegers takes the bridge so that Ehrnrooth and the infantry can clear out some hundred meters of the forest on the eastern bank of the stream. 20 men are then left to cover the northern flank. Ehrnrooth now attacks the hill by the road. It is defended stubbornly but finally he reaches the top. The defenders are pushed back but are still fighting back.

From the top of the hill Ehrnroot gets a good view of the situation and he doesn't like what he sees. The Cannon and the arrier garde that's suppose to cover his back is gone. Later he finds out that they has been pulled back across the first bridge. He also se a Russian force advancing over the ice clad lake of Suomenjärvi and taking positions by the road on the islet. He is about to be encircled.

He abandon the hill they just fought for and the top is immediately retaken by the Russians. Down by the bridge he runs into the retreating flank defence, who also has been ordered to pull back. To get back to the first bridge the Swedes has to run through some severe fire and suffers considerable casualties.

During the raid the Swedes casualties are three officers and 50 men in dead or wounded (23 %). The Russian casualties are described as "many more".

Jägerhorn praises von Sticht and the jaegers for their boldness and skilfulness, and he also gives a lot of credit to Ehrnrooth. He's over all criticism is that "one should finish what one have started" and he is very angry about how the second phase was executed.

He admits that he has no knowledge of on what grounds the Cannon and the arrier garde was pulled back, but he believes that they should have had a good chance to hold back the Russian counter-attack. If he is correct is hard to know since the strength of the Russian are not mentioned, but I can agree that sole purpose with an arrier garde is to cover the back or to holding an escape-path open. By moving the arrier garde, Ehrnrooth was put in a dangerous position.  

The events in Kyro

The Swedish forces where still in their winter quarters along the border. In the Nyslott area were about 700 men watching the two incoming roads. At Pumala were some 6-700 men with some smaller gun-boats, and in Kyro were some 500 men. The few reserves that were at hand were stationed in St Mickel. Here von Stedingk, the new brigade commander had 50 men of the Savolax vargering ("the vargering" was the reserve personnel of the regiment) 37 dragoons and a company from the newly formed Savolax freicops. The gap between Savolax and the main front at Kymene was covered by parts of the Björneborgs regiment, stationed in Meduharju.

The events that took place in Kyro were the starting point of the only serious Russian offensive during the entire war. The attack was to be launched while the parliament where gathered in Stockholm. The idea was to exploit the fact that the king and most of the senior Swedish generals were absent, and that the Swedes should be unable to put up any organised defence. The plan was to make a powerful attack in Savolax and to out-flank the Swedish main army. By combining the out-flanking with extensive lootings, the Russians hoped for a pro-Russian revolt.

Secretly the Russians gathered most of the troops they had available in Russian Finland. According to Jägerhorn there were some 9-10000 men at Villmanstrand. General Schulz got a few thousand and were to make an attack from Nyslott, Colonel von Knorring with a smaller force were to attack Pumala. The main body, some 7-8000 were to advance on St Mickel through Kyro. Since the roads were in a poor condition they were split up in two echelons with two days separation.

The village of Kyro lays on the road leading from the Russian border to St Mickel. The area are hilly and mostly covered by forests. About one kilometre south of the village is a lake, Kaitajärvi. The eastern end of the lake is connected by a small stream to the larger lake Myllilax. The stream is about 200 meters long, two meter wide and a meter deep. Jägerhorn describe it as "easy to ford across".

On the 10th of June, the Russians made some reconnaissance along the main road. A large force is risible on the hills across the stream. All though the Swedes fired several cannon shots, they remains there for almost an hour. When the Russians pull back some Swedish jaegers are positioned on those hills.

At half past five in the morning of the 11th of June the Russians attacks. The Swedish jaegers are quickly driven back across the stream and the Russians brings some eight cannons in position to start firing at the Swedes, especially the flanking fire across the lake has some good effect. Soon the Swedish commander, major von Knorring decides to pull back to Kyro.

At the same time, some 400 Cossacks and a Jaeger battalion attacks along the path on the the other side of the lake. The defenders has no defence works, so after a while they are also forced to pull back.

The Swedish commander von major von Stich sends several units to reinforce the southern flank, but its too late. Soon the Russians were close to the village and the retreat turned into a general flight.

By 11 o clock the fighting's were over. The Swedish losses were two officers and about 20 men dead. Seven officers, among them von Stich and von Knorring, and 30 men were taken as prisoners. Jägerhorn states that the Russian losses were much greater.

The road to the heart to Savolax were now opened up. After a couple of hours of rest the Russians were again on the move towards Kristina, 20 km further north.

As mentioned above, Jägerhorn is very critical on how the defence of Kyro was prepared. The defence, witch obviously was planned in details by a higher commander, was laid out according to rules that applies for other countries, not according to the rules in Savolax.

The first battle at Porosalmi

On the 11th of June Jägerhorn is on location in St Mickel, when the word about the events in Kyro reaches the brigades headquarter. The commander, von Stedingk, is away watching the situation in Pumala,  leaving LtCol Aminoff, the oldest officer in charge. Jägerhorn portraits Aminoff as confused and undeceive, while he himself is bold and hungry for battle. Jägerhorn states that he was ready to take on the Russians with only four men if necessary. After some discussions Jägerhorn gets his will. The same afternoon he is on his way with the few troops that can be gathered in St Mickel. Jägerhorn heads for Porosalmi and arrives at 8 o clock that evening. With only two small cannons and some hundreds of men, he starts to prepare the defence. As the scattered units from Kyro showed up, they were incorporated in the defence.

Porosalmi is located just about 10 kilometres south of St Mickel. It's a narrow strait where the road passes between the lakes of Saimen and Surujärvi. The strait is just about 15 metres wide and not more then 10 metres across. The bed is firm and it's possible to walk across at any time of the year. Still, it's the only possible place in the area that's suitable for taking up a defence.

On the northern side of the strait, Jägerhorn erects a wall across the road. From this position, the cannons and muskets can reach anyone that tries to cross the strait. He also removes as much of the vegetation as possible on the southern side.

While the infantry was preparing the defence, Captain Adlerqreutz and the few dragoons were sent further south to seek contact with the Russians.

The next day, Colonel Gripenberg with 60 dragoons and the battalion of the Björneborgs regiment that has been stationed in Menduharju arrives to Porosalmi. The Colonel takes command but makes no changes to Jägerhorns plan. The Swedish defenders now counts about 500 men. There are four companies of half manpower of the Björneborgs regiment, one company from the Savolax regiment and one company of the Savolax rifles. There are also the Savolax Freicorps and some 90 dragoons.

At 8 o clock that evening reports comes that the entire Russian army are on the move and that the dragoons were engaging them. All of the dragoons and some of the rifles were sent out to take part in the delaying actions. The action was successful and it wasn't until 11 o clock that the Swedes was forced to withdraw behind Porosalmi.

It's about midnight when the Russian artillery open fire, and after a while some jaegers who crawls forward behind ditches and fences joins in. The bombardment lasts until 6 o clock in the morning, when the first assault takes place. However, the Swedish main force that has been hiding in the woods further back launches a counter attack, forcing the Russians back across the strait.

The Russian side notes what's going on and launches another attack, and this is when Jägerhorn steps forward and saves the situation.  He shouts to the running troops in Finnish "Don't run, the enemy is retreating! Chase him and take the loot!" Even those that has gone more then 300 meters turns back to fight. The two forces meet by the wall, and after some bloody hand to hand fighting's the Russians are once again thrown back into the water. Jägerhorn reports of more then 300 dead Russians in this clash. One of the wounded, shot by a rifled bullet is G M Sprengtporten, the founder of the Savolax rifles, but now in Russian service. When he sees the bullet he is said to have exclaimed "It's your own dogs that gives the worst bites". True or not, it's a good story.       

For the third time the Russian bombardment starts up again. 12 hours of intense bombardment, two assaults, hungry, thirsty and tired, this time the Swedes are on the edge of a total breakdown. The officers tries to encourage the troops by informing about reinforcements, but no one shows up. It's not until half past five, when a three-pounder and a six-pounder arrives. The new artillery quickly sweeps away the Russian jaegers that has been harassing the Swedes the whole day.

Finally, the Russians decides to pull back to Kristina and at 8 o clock it's all quiet. Later the same evening the reinforcements finally arrives. An artillery company and parts of the Österbottens regiment shows up.

Both sides had taken heavy casualties. The Swedish side counted 34 dead and 140 wounded, of which one quarter died later on. The total in dead and wounded was 34 % of the Swedish manpower. Jägerhorn states that they buried about 300 dead Russians after the battle. In total the Russian losses were about 1000 men in dead and wounded.

The second battle at Porosalmi

The Swedes decides to stay at Porosalmi and to strengthen the defence works. On the evening of the 15 of June, a rather large force are sent forward to investigate the Russians whereabouts, and if possible take some prisoners for future interrogations. The force is lead by Jägerhorn and are made up by some 150 men from the Österbottens regiment, 50 rifles, 40 dragoons and 2 smaller cannons.

The infantry and the cannons set up an ambush at Såkola, while the rifles and the dragoons scouts along the road towards the border and towards the Russian camp at Kristina. The posts at the camp are engaged, but the Russians are reluctant to send out any hunting force, so the trap set at Såkola doesn't get the chance to make any capturing. Jägerhorn is however not sorry for this since he get all the information he wants from the local population.

Von Stedingk, the head of the Savolax brigade, is now at the scene and he has the over all picture of the actions in the area. He knows that he has the Russian main force on the southern side of the strait. He also knows  that a smaller Russian force stands at Pumala, but they are far too weak to cause any problems. The situation in the Nyslott area are more troublesome. The initial Russian attacks has only partially been successful, and so far no follow-up attacks has been reported. He realises that if the defence at Pumala or Nyslott cracks and the Russians take control of Jokkas, northern Savolax and Karelia will be cut of from the rest of Finland, and if the brigade are on the wrong side of Jokkas they would be facing the risk of being surrounded.

The coming days, von Stedingk will be keeping his attention on the situation in the east, while Jägerhorn will be focused on the situation at Porosalmi.

The defence at Porosalmi was now much stronger. The wall by the bridge was enforced and the three-pounder gun was now companied by two six-pounders. In the forest behind the wall was one company of the Savolax rifles and six companies from the Österbotten regiment waiting for the Russians.

On the evening the 18^th of june, the Swedish posts reports that the Russians were once again on the move towards Porosalmi, and at nine the same evening all Swedish units were pushed of the southern side of the strait and the Russians were back in their old positions. A Russian trumpeter and two officers approaches the bridge. They requested for a speech with any officer from the Björneborgs regiment. The talks that eventually took place were described by Jägerhorn as a talk over "nothing real" but just an excuse for the Russians to have a better look at the Swedish positions and to gain time for their own works.

By midnight the working on the Russian artillery positions were spotted. They were immediately put under Swedish bombardment, and soon after the Russians started to shoot back. The bombardment lasted for the rest of the night.

On the morning of the 19^th Russian light troops attacks the Swedish rifles stationed in Vatila. After two hours the Swedes were forced to withdraw to the positions of the Björneborgs regiment. At ten, a small Russian howitzer placed in the village open up fire towards the Swedes, but no damage were made according to Jägerhorn.

The lack of activity on the Russian side worries von Stedingk, who gets more and more afraid of being caught in a trap. At 11 o clock he first asks Jägerhorn and then a lieutenant if its possible for the Russians in Vatila to reach St Mickel by marching through the woods. They both reply that there is a poor track, but neither guns or wagons can be brought through that way. They both regards the risk of being outflanked as nonexistent.

Despite this, von Stedingk gives the order for a complete retreat from Porosalmi. Jägerhorn and Lieutenant colonel Aminoff are protesting about giving up without almost mo fighting, but in vain. They end up by administrating the retreat, an operation that according to Jägerhorn is performed without any Russian interference.

Julius Mankell gives a completely different picture of the retreat. According to him the retreat were very close to go terrible wrong. As soon the Russians realise that the Swedes are pulling out the attacks. By a mistake the poorly trained Björnebogs vargeringsbattalion are ordered to halt the attack, but the only result is that the battalion immediately shatters. On top of this, the Swedes on the right flank starts their retreat too soon, before the units from the straits are out, and they are saved only by Russian incompetence.

The retreat to Jokkas

The Russian army follows close behind the Swedes. There is time for just a short halt in St Mickel for picking up some of the supplies, the rest are destroyed before the Russians arrive. Here Jägerhorn persuade von Stedingk to give him permission to ride as a messenger to the King while the brigade continue the withdrawal toward Jokkas.

They keep marching the whole night. By noon on the 20^th they reach Kilpikoski, about 25 km from St Mickel. This is a place where the road crosses a lively stream between two lakes. Von Stedingk orders a halt to give his exhausted units some rest. The cannons are deployed and camouflaged together with the infantry close to the bridge, while the rifles are dispersed in the forest. A forward post were deployed about 5 kilometres ahead of the main force.

By 4 o clock the next morning, the forward post were driven away by some advancing Russians. They moves forward towards the stream without any "avant garde". On not more then 50 meters shooting distance, the Swedes open fire with muskets and cannon. Mankell claims that the Russian side loses more then 100 men in dead and wounded, while there is no casualties on the Swedish side. The Russians pulls back and waits for their main force.

At this stage von Stedingk is informed that the Russian units at Nyslott are once again on the move towards Jokkas. Again the Swedes has to abandon a good defensive position. However, when they reaches Jokkas, they find that the village are already in the hands of the Russians. Luckily the main road passes just outside the village and it takes the Russians a while to realise that the Swedes are not intending to attack. Not until the Swedish rear guard passes the village they attacks. Never the less, the only loss is one small gun that has to be left behind. The rest of the march to Jorois is made without any incidents. Eventually the rest of the units of the brigade makes their way back from Randasalmi and Pumala and joins in. The brigade is now not only summoned, but also reinforced by the Bjorneborgers and the Österbottnians, manpower that would prove to be valuable in the coming counter attack.

The Counter attack

The Russian offensive in Savolax runs out of energy in Jokkas. The Russians in Jokkas can not do anything about the Swedish defence in Jorois without pulling resources from the unit in St Mickel.

On the 23rd of June the Swedish main army are finally launching an offensive across the river of Kymene and the Russians in Savolax are pulled back from most parts of the conquered area.

The 5^th July Jägerhorn once again joins the brigade in Jorois. The very same day a force of 600 men are sent forward to try to retake Jokkas. From this force, a smaller detachment are later sent to St  Mickel as a rumour tells that the Russians have been withdrawn.  The Russians are nowhere to be found.

The attack on Parkumäki

The village of Parkumäki is made up by four to five farms and a number of small cottages. They are all scattered out along the main road, with several hundred meters in between. There are several small hills that runs through the area, and this are were the farms are placed. Most of the terrain is covered with forest and marshland. About 5 km further north, at Puiko, the main road crosses a deep and swampy stream. On a dominating hill on the southern side of the stream, there are some 4-500 Russians and some artillery.

The attack is to be carried out from three directions. All of the heavy artillery and a smaller infantry unit are to advance along the main road to Puiko. They should make sure that the Russian attention is drawn to the north. A detachment of jeages is to advance through the terrain east of the road in order to attach the Russian main camp from the northeast. The Swedish main force is to encircle the Russian western flank in order to launch their attack on the camp from the south.

On the evening of the 20^th, the brigade commander leaves Rantasalmi with 920 infantry, 80 rifles, 60 dragoons and 6 smaller cannons. They march to the village of Hildula, where they start to cross the wilderness on the trails that Jägerhorn has scouted out earlier. A few hours later some 100 rifles, some 200 men from the Savolax regiment and all the heavy artillery moves out for their objectives at Parkumäki or Puiko.

The march from Hildula to the main road just south of Parkumäki is done on some small trails and crosses some small streams.  At several places the troops and some locals have to clear the passages to be able to get the artillery through. The final part is the most critical. Here they have to do some field works to get the cannons across another small stream, and then right up onto a small road. This road is however patrolled by Cossacks, so on advice from Jägerhorn, a small detachment of rifles is sent out to keep any patrols away and to make sure that they can’t see what’s going on. Soon the Cossacks shows up, but they are driven away without detecting the cannons and troops in the forest. Finally they makes it to the main road. Here, close to a small cottage, there is a Russian outpost. The Russians fires some shots but are then quickly moving back to the main camp.

The Swedes are now on the main road some 400 metres south of the Russian camp and starts to advance. As the battalion of the Björneborgs regiment pours out on the road, the Russians on the hill start to realise what’s going on, and soon there are cannon shots flying down the road. The Björneborgers are forced to advance on the road for a while before they can make it into the woods on the eastern side. Here they can safely advance to the far end of the field and form a line on the Russian left flank. The Björneborgers starts to advance and are soon engaged in an exchange of fire with the defenders. 

The cannons are forced to stay on the road. Here they start a slow advance while at the same time shooting back on the Russians up front. For some reasons, the brigade commander and the battalion from Österbottens regiment doesn’t move forward. Not until the Bbjörneborgers battalion commander in person talks to the brigade commander by the small cottage, the advance starts.  The Österbottningers have to advance in columns along the road, and soon the front takes severe casualties. The battalion takes cover in the woods on the left side of the road. The battle is now moving into a decisive situation. The Björneborgers are still on advance, and their jaegers have already cleared out some small buildings on the outskirts of the village. However, if the Russians can put enough manpower to their left flank and launch a counter attack, it’s likely that the Swedes would have to abandon the whole operation. Once again Jägerhorn steps in and “saves the day”. He has been watching the battle from the back of his horse, and now he rides over to the Österbottningar that are still hiding in the woods. He shouts, “The Russians are retreating! The Björneborgers are taking all of the honour for this, hurry up and get your share!” When they hear this the rushes up and launch their attack while still in disorder.

The Russian defence breaks and the troops start to retreat to the north, leaving all of the cannons and the entire camp behind. The Swedish dragoons are now ordered to take up the pursue, but the terrain is difficult with a lot of woods and fences. Soon the dragoons clash in a narrow passage with some Cossacks. The Cossacks manages to kill several of the dragoons, including the commander. Not until the dragoons have managed to tear down a fence and fallen in their flank, the Cossack’s disappears into the forest. Meanwhile the retreating Russian infantry are moving through a valley just north of the Swedes, but when the Swedish artillery starts up the fire the Russian force is finally scattered.

When the Russian force at the Puiko bridge becomes aware of the battle at the main camp, they abandon their strong position by the bridge in order to come to the aid of the main force. This makes it possible for Major Gahn and his force to, without any resistance marsh across the bridge and to continue along the road. Soon he can take up positions on the highest in the village and open up fire on the retreating Russians. The troops that are still in the valley, mostly the units from Puiko, find them selves caught in the crossfire and surrenders immediately.

The Swedish losses are 39 dead and 147 wounded. They take 449 prisoners, 5 cannons, 600 rifles and muskets, 16 ammunition carts and the entire baggage train. On top of this there were 210 dead Russians left on the battlefield.

The rest of the Russians fled through the wood towards Nyslott. The pursue started too late and was carried out with just a small force, so no further contact was reported.

As usual, Jägerhorn praise the Swedish officers for their good performance, but he hands out a special recognition to Lieutenant Colonel Ehrnrooth, the commander of the Björneborgs battalion. He praises him for the brave advance, the rapid deployment and attack on the Russian flank. But the main credit comes for his situation awareness, that he notice that the attack isn’t supported, and the actions he takes to get them to join in. Further more he hands out some special recognition to the artillery crew. They have spent most part of the battle shooting and advancing on the narrow road, without any cover and despite some heavy casualties (13 men and 11 horses). Jägerhorn states that they played a vital role in securing the victory.

Once again he criticise the brigade commander Colonel von Stedingk for his passiveness, a critique that is indirectly aimed to the majority of the Swedish generals as well. He makes a point regarding the general lack of ability to exploit victories like this one.  After this battle, all Russian forces between Parkumäki and Nyslott are beaten and on the run through the woods.

 If, shortly after the battle, a force had been sent to occupy the straits of Laitasilta near Nyslott, it’s likely that they would have been able gain even more. There were some 1000 Russian troops running for safety in Nyslott. A rapid reaction would have given the Swedes a great opportunity finish of the job by capturing not only the Russian commander general Schultz but also the main body of his force. Now von Stedingk rests in Parkumäki for a day before he moves on. They do take control of the strait of Laitasilta, but the Russians can make it to Nyslott.

The attack on Pumala

(A special thanks to Anu Kiljunen at the  Tourist information of Puumala for the assistance in helping me to on putting all those tiny villages on the map) 

Late in June, the King open up his campaign by an attack across the Kymmene river. One of the purposes is to lighten the pressure on the troops in Savolax. Facing the risk of getting cut of from their bases, the Russian force pulls back. Jokkas, St Mickel and Rantasalmi are abandoned and new positions are taken. General Schultz sets up his defence in Parkumäki, while General Rotenfelt takes up his at Routila.

Von Stedingk has his focus on recapturing Pumala, and to put some pressure on the Russians at Routila, Major Ehrenstolpe are sent with 200 men towards Sulkava and Pumala. Even though the Swedish force is outnumbered by the Russians, Rotenfelt senses that his back once again is threaten and decide to withdraw to Pumala. The Swedes stops a few kilometres away. After the victory at Parkumäki and the capture of the banks at Laitasilta, the forces that have been withheld in Rantasalmi are sent to the Pumala area. Lieutenant colonel Gripenberg becomes the officer in charge. He has been tasked to make a serious attempt to take control of the straits of Pumala. Access would be of strategic impotence. The possession of the straits would cut of the Russian supply routes between Nyslott and Villmanstrand. It would also allow the Swedish gunboats to expand their operations on the lake Saima. At his disposal Gripemberg has one battalion of the Tavastehus regiment, most of the Savolax infantry regiment, parts of the Carelian dragoons, parts of the rifle corps from Savolax and Carelia and some artillery.

Just as the attack on Parkumäki, this operation is planned to be carried out simultaneously from several directions. Three smaller forces are to draw of the attention and to tie down Russian forces, and leave the front more vulnerable for the main assault. On the 14^th of august, Major Morian sets out from Pirtimäki. Under his command there are 200 men from the Savolax regiment, two light cannons 13 dragoons and a smaller detachment of rifles. Morian has the toughest task in the operation. His job is to encircle the Russian right flank, cut of their communications and then attack in the rear. It’s a rough way to go. It’s about 40 km through road less terrain and across stretches of waters; the only way to get across is to build rafts. The first target is the village of Aufvila, from where they are to advance along the main road.

On the next day, Captain von Essen and 100 men from the Tavastehus regiment sets out. His order is to head for the outpost in Mietula, where he shall pick up the Captain Munck and his 100 men. Together they are to follow the western shore of the peninsula, slip past the artillery on the flank and then attack the batteries in the rear. Early on the morning of the 16^th Captain Freitag moves out with 115 men. By boats they should encircle the defenders left flank and land just a few hundred metres from the church. Finally at 8 o’clock on the morning of the 16^th Gripenberg and the main force starts to move from the camp in Pirtimäki. The plan is that all these four attacks are to be launched at 10 o’clock.

Major Morian gets through as planned. Along the main road he runs into a Russian convoy with 30 men, two howitzers including crew and their ammunition carts. All are taken by the Swedes, but soon they face the Russian main force and have to retreat to the village of Sikonleuta (todays Leukoi). Here they take up their defence and hold the village the whole day with “good firing”. The Swedish main force doesn’t show up as planned, so in the dark they gets away and heads back the same way they came, bringing all the loot and the prisoners.

All the other smaller forces reach their targets on time and starts up their attack as planned. Also Gripenbergs force starts to drive of the Russian forward posts and manages to take control of some important heights along the road. Jägerhorn states that at this moment the Russian defence was badly shaken and that the baggage train was already on the move backwards. However, Gripenberg’s advance is so slow that the Rotenfelt can drive of the three minor Swedish forces on the left flank, and then face Gripenberg. When Gripenberg finally reaches contact with the Russians, he faces the entire Russian force. He immediately abandons the operation and heads back to the camp “Without dared anything and lost nothing” as Jägerhorn puts it.

The show at Suomenniemi

In august, Jägerhorn gets promoted to Leutenant colonel. At the same time he is sent to St Mickel in order to gather and train all the wounded troops in that area and try to form some kind of defence force. He ends up with a rather mixed unit of 36 dragoons, 20 rifles and some 2000 men line infantry. He also manages to form a small artillery section, 20 men serving two 3-pounder cannons.  

In early September the King get’s informed by his spies that there are 3000 russian troops gathering to make another try for St Mickel. One battalion of the Älvsborgs regiment is sent to reinforce Jägerhorns small corps. However, Jägerhorn has his own web of spies, and soon he can calm the worried king that the whole thing was just a rumour planted by the Russians in order to neutralise any Swedish offensive plans in Savolax and to draw attention away from the coming attacks across the Kymmene river.  In order to remove some pressure from the main front, Jägerhorn are in the first days of October given a royal order to perform some kind of demonstration from the Savolax direction.

On the 6^th of October he leaves St Mickel with some 400 men and two cannons. “They left the town so quiet that no one knew were they gone”. The first stop was the village of Kyro, right on the border. To “prepare” the Russians for what was coming, Jägerhorn relied on an ancient trick. The outpost in Kyro was ordered to perform daily patrols to the bridges of Härkesilta. The patrols should be made with rather large manpower, but with strict orders to not engage in any kind of combat. The idea was to have the Russians to get used to see strong Swedish patrols, without sounding the alarm.

On the 8th Jägerhorn moves out from Kyro and heads for Härkesilta. The plan works out just fine. Before the Russians realises what’s going on, the bridge gets repaired and the Swedes invade the camp of the Cossack’s. The defenders can barely mount their hoses and escape towards Suomensilta. The Swedes chase the running Cossacks with such a speed that the Russians never get the chance to take up any defence. They are forced to abandon the village and all of their baggage's are captured.

The Älvsborgs battalion puts up their camp about one kilometre outside the village. Close enough to be visible, but far enough to make sure that no details can be observed. The tents were dispersed over a large area and in the dusk, a large numbers of fires are lit in order to give the impression of a force of three times the size. The rest of the Swedes stay in the village. The whether is hazy and in this time of the year its dark already at four o’clock in the afternoon. A large fire is made up in the village and soon most of the people from the village are gathered there.

Now, in front of everyone’s eye, Swedish troops are marching down the road and past the fire. Platoon after platoon moves by and disappears to the south. But this is just another cunning trick by Jägerhorn. Soon after the troops are back out in the darkness, they sneak back to the camp, reforms and once again start the march down the road. This show goes on for seven hours, to three o’clock in the morning. Finally, the Swedes quietly slip back to Kyro.

Jägerhorn consider this demonstration as a success. He states that there were several Russian informers present by the big fire, and that they, the very same night by boat, made it to the Russian stronghold of Savitaipale to report of the invasion. The word was that about 4000 Swedes with 8-10 cannons were on the move. Jägerhorn states that due to these information’s, several Russian regiments were diverted from other tasks at the main front and that the Russian supreme commander, General Muchin Puschin, comes to the area. The general interviews in person the priest of Soumensilta, in order to straighten out what’s actually happened and in order to figure out were that Swedish army have disappeared. When this mess is finally sorted out, it’s too late for the Russians to open up any actions on the main front, and the troops on both sides are soon sent to winter quarters.

The Russian counter attack at Laitasilta

When the Swedes had reached the straits of Laitasilta and fortified their positions, the fighting’s in the Nyslott area ended. There were once in a while some fire from cannons to harass the opposition, but no infantry actions were carried out. After the failures at Parkumäki, the rather old and sick general Schultze is replaced by general major Korsakov. Soon he will try to demonstrate that there is a new kind of man in charge.

The bridge across the strait was still intact and on several occasions, Russian parliamentarians came across to speak to von Stedingk. What the subjects for these discussions were are unknown, but Jägerhorn points out that this was a common Russian trick in order to get a closer look on a defence position. He also criticise the local commanders for not being firm enough on the visitors. On some occasions they were obviously allowed to pass through the Swedish lines without being blind folded.

On the 9^th October the Russians attack “with surprise and in great numbers”. Two boats packed with troops lands on the western banks and soon the Swedish left battery is captured. When this is done more troops comes pouring over the bridge and soon the second battery is under attack. This battery is almost in the hands of the Russians when the first reinforcements arrive. Some companies from the Savolax rifles, led by a captain Jägerhorn, are camping in the village of Säminge, just a few hundred meters away. The rifles are soon engaged in some fierce fighting’s. The close combat is fought with rifle butts and “some were in the hair of each other”. The rifles can’t hold for very long, but they manage to buy enough time for the next batch of reinforcements to arrive.

The two regiments of Bjorneborg and Österbotten, who were camping about 2 km behind the batteries, arrive to the scene. The Swedes lowers their bayonets and charges with a loud “Hurra”. Soon this is too much for the Russians and they starts to fall back across the bridge.

The Russian losses were 5 officers, 50 dead and 50 prisoners. The Swedes lost 2 officers, 13 dead and 35 wounded. Captain Jägerhorn of the Savolax rifles was one of the dead officers. During the retreat, the Russians tried to bring the captured cannons back to Nyslott. Three guns were dragged down to the bridge, were one was recaptured. The other two were dropped into the water and were lost for both sides.

Once again Jägerhorn hands out good words for the fast and brave actions taken by the Swedish officers during this battle. If the Russians had managed to take control over the second battery and been able to turn the guns around, it would have been a bloody affair to take it back. Instead “the enemy was so well punished” that no further activities were taken during the rest of this year.

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