Background

'Finnish Legion' refers to Finnish Reds, who faught against Whites in the country's civil war. The Reds fled to the Viena region of Karelia in the spring 1918, during the war. There were Finnish workers in Viena who also joined the Reds. At first they formed a 'Norhern Red Front' in order to attack Whites' lines from the North. This attempt failed. The Allied Powers had led an invasion into North Russia, and conducted negotiations with the Finnish Reds, Royal British Navy at the helm. An agreement was made for the Reds to join His Majesty's Navy as one unitary group, that was named Finnish Legion. Lenin gave his approval to the Legion, only later to condemn it. Communists, whom the Legionnaires had left behind in Finland, followed suit. In Viena the Legionnaires faught White Finns. One of their aims was to secure the Murmansk railway line, important to the Allied as the primary access route to St Petersburg. The Legionnaires' return to their home country was again complicated by political decisions made across Europe.