Help! I serach the photos of armoured car of civil war in Finland. I have this (all ex-russian in service of white and red finish army and karelian white army):
1. Peerless Armstrong-Vickers "Pohjan Poika" (Bad boy) - finish volonteur in Estonia. 2. Izhorski FIAT 55 (no picture). 3. Armstrong-Whitworth FIAT 15. 4. Russki Austin (Austin Poutiloff) - also no picture.
Lenin donated for Finnish Red Guards some Russian armoured cars in the winter 1918. They were transported from St. Petersburg to Finland. The maximum number of these cars seem to be six. It is said that two of them were Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworths and two were Fiat-Izhorskys, but I think that there had to be three English-made Fiats and only one Fiat-Izhorsky or perhaps none of them. Two were Austin 3rd series cars.
Sources of the civil war tell about four armoured cars, used in the defence of the biggest cities in Finland, Tampere, Helsinki and Vyborg. So far I have seen photos of five cars, two Austins and three different English-made Fiats, so this seems to be more right number of the armoured cars in Finland.
One Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworth was used in the battle of Tampere on end of march 1918 by the Red Guards and it caused great worry among the White Guards attacking against Tampere in the village of Messukylä. During this counter-attack the Reds used also armoured train. Fiat was captured by the White Guards in this its first battle on 27th March 1918 in Kalevankangas, Messukylä.
Another Fiat was used in Vyborg and the Whites captured it in the end of April, when the town surrendered.
Two Austin 3rd series armoured cars were used in the battle in capital of Finland, Helsinki. They offered support to Red Guards infantry in the fierce quarter battles in the 12th April 1918. When the White Guards (and the German Ostsee division) managed to win the battle and conquered the central of the city, these armoured cars fell on the hands of them in the same day.
The Finnish army used one or two Fiats, which were usually said to be Fiat-Izhorskys, and one Austin-Putilov until the beginning of twenties. These cars were marked with the letters SA (meaning Suomen Armeija - Finnish Army) and car number: SA P 1 (photo of mine shows it to be Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworth, so there is some misinformation about this subject that no one has ever seemed to properly study so far) and SA P 2 (Austin). If there was third one, it must be SA P 3, but I havent seen any photo so far. National insignia, mirrored swastika used in this cars was blue coloured in white backround - almost similar to those used in the airplanes used by the Finnish Air Force.
Two Fiat-Armstong-Whitworths were given to the Suojeluskunnat (Civil guards). After the civil war these were used by the Civil Guard distrcit of Helsinki, which formed Armoured Car Detachment. Some sources say that these cars was also used in Vyborg and Tampere Civil Guard districts, but perhaps only during some manouvers. The cars were used in parades and manouvers until the beginning of 1920s. These cars were marked with the letter S inside the circle (from the word Suojeluskunnat), with the car number: S P.A. 1 and S P.A. 2.
Some sources include one Peerless also for Finnish army inventory, but this must be the one used by the Finnish volunteers fighting in Estonia, car named Pohjan poika.
About Ivans pictures:
1. Peerless, Pohjan poika (Son of North). Photo taken in Tallinn in the spring 1919. The front shows the symbol of volunteer regiment, Pohjan poika regiment, commander by rude Estonian colonel Hans Kalm: polar bear. This car was captured from the Viljandi communist regiment in 14.3.1919 in the battle of Vastseliina. The regiment was dispersed in the beginning of April 1919 and the armoured car was then given to the Estonian army.
2. Pohjan poika in the service of the Estonian army, under name Pisuhänd. The Russians captured it back in autumn 1919 on the front of Pihkova.
3. White Guard soldier posing with captured Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworth.
4. White Guard soldiers posing with captured Fiat-Armstrong Whitworth in Tampere, in april 1918. Front part of the car is painted white when rear part is (olive?) green.
5. S P.A. 2 Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworth of the Civil Guard in manouvers in autumn 1920.
My pictures:
1. Austin SA P2 of the Finnish army in Helsinki in 1919. Another pair of rear wheels is taken off.
2. Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworth SA P1 in manouvers. This must be Finnish army Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworth according to the numbering system. This is a rare photo which I havent seen elsewhere, except in my collection. I bought it from a collector some ten years ago, with no information with it, except backround text: FIAT. It is a copy, so there is an original somewhere.
3. Two Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworths of the Armoured Car Detachment of Helsinki Civil Guard district in parade in Helsinki in 1920.
I shall continue studying this subject, so there might come some new findings some day. The truth is out there
I just happen to live three kilometres from the battlefield of Messukylä, on the old fields where white General Mannerheim commanded his troops and the White gun batteries bombarded Tampere, exactly 92 years ago.
This site offers the best article ever published about this subject:
http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/ARMOURED_CARS1.htm
-- Edited by MTorrent on Friday 2nd of April 2010 11:58:02 PM
-- Edited by MTorrent on Friday 2nd of April 2010 11:59:15 PM
Sure. General Mannerheim, then head of the state, ordered in 1919 that Finnish army must establish tank troops. In 15th July 1919 a Tank Regiment was established in Helsinki.
For it the Finns acquired 34 FT-17s from France, 14 gun tanks and 18 armed with machine guns.
In autumn 1919 General Nikolai Judenitsh prepared an attack against St. Petersburg. France pressed Finland to give military aid for Judenitsh, so finally Finland decided to give little help, allthough the Finns were not so interested in this matter. Two of the brand new FT-17 tanks - numbers 68348 and 67072 - were transported to Tallin 17.10.1919. From there they moved to Narva in 20.10.1919. The leader of this small tank detachment was French Lt. D'Arcier and tanks had either French or Russian crew.
These two tanks participated in five battles during the withdrawal of Judenitsh's army. When the Estonian government disarmed the army, they took these tanks also. They were returned in bad condition to Finland 9th April 1920. This adventure was much discussed Finland and no one seemed to be too happy for doing this. Later on France gave two FT-17s more for free to the Finns to cover the expenses of this lending.
This was the only time when Finnish FT-17s were used in tank battle. They were still used during the Winter war 1939-1940, but they were digged on the ground and used as fixed MG or Gun positions. All except 4 were lost for Soviets. Rest four tanks were used for practicing until 1942. One is still preserved in Parola tank museum.
Here is a photo of another tank (NdM 67072) lent for Judenitsh. It is taken in Finland in 1920's. So far I haven't seen any photos of their service in Estonia and Russia.
-- Edited by MTorrent on Monday 5th of April 2010 10:42:31 AM
About the Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworth used by the Red Guard in Tampere:
It was used on 16th March 1918 for reconnaissance task on the frozen lake of Näsijärvi, when the red commanders Eino Rahja and Vastén drove long night patrol to north of Tampere to see the catastrophic situation on the front.
On 27th March it supported counter-attack of the Reds in Messukylä against two advancing White battalions, but was soon lost because of manouvering of White troops. I suppose the place wasn't so good for operating it, because the place was hill side on the edge of forest and the road, which was only useful place to move for armoured car, was very narrow.
Source: Suomen Vapaussota V, Published in Jyväskylä 1925.
"Pisuhänd", or Para, meaning the half-god and holder of treasures, looks like cat or fox in old Estonian and Finnish tradition...
All Estonian armoured cars and armoured trains had so nice names, mostly taken from old Fenno-Ugrian pagan religion or from Kalevipoeg, Estonian national epic, similar to Finnish Kalevala.
The best are "Toonela" (Land of dead) and "Vanapagan" (Old devil).
I checked the history of Helsinki civil guard district.
In 1919 the armoured car unit of Helsinki civil guard was formed. It had four AC's, which were owned by the army, but given for use of civil guard. Two of them were Austin and two other Fiat-Armstrong-Whitworths. The troop had something like 60 men total.
In 1923 this armoured car unit lost it's independence, when it became a part of the Helsinki civil guard Motor company, which was mainly a transport company using lorries etc.
So, for sure there were only those four armoured cars, although in photos there are five different, according to register numbers. The explanation may be that the register number system was changed when the cars were moved from the army to the use of Helsinki civil guard.
