German Army lands in Finland at the request of the Finnish Parliament

Gustav Adolf Joachim Rüdiger Graf von der Goltz, German infantry commander.  He'd remain in the region until June 1919, leading elements of the Freikorps that were very closely connected with Germany against the Reds, and others,  in Finland, Latvia and Estonia.

The Finnish parliament had been driving out of Helsinki by Finnish reds.  That resulted in its request for German assistance.  Accordingly, on this day in 1918 German troops landed on the Finnish mainland and would soon commence advancing on Helsinki.  The German force consisted of the : 95. Reserve Infantry Brigade and 2. Guards Cavalry Brigade, augmented by additional German support, naval and artillery forces.  About 10,000 troops in all.

This demonstrates how the Germans remained capable of being diverted at the same time they were suffering devastating losses in the West.  Perhaps this commitment made more sense, however, in that Finland falling to the Reds would have been a disaster for the Germans, and ironically the world as well.

Which shows us how complicated things had become by this point. The Germans would actually fight on in the region after World War One ended, with troops who had volunteered to do so in a thin guise of their being Freikorps.  Things were, by this point, really confused.