Finnish War - June - July 1808

July 1808

Swedish battlefleet which had been expelling Russians from Gotland had been ordered to blockade the Hangö Peninsula and reached the cape on 10 June. Due to bad weather and bad visibility the fleet under Admiral Cedeström however chose to stay relatively far from the coast. After approaching coast on 21 June Cedeström learned that Russians had already passed the cape some time earlier. Attempts to stop the Russians deeper in the archipelago did not succeed either. Failure to stop the Russians led the king to relieve Cederström from his duties and replace him with Admiral Nauckhoff.

Major General Eberhard Ernst von Vegesack was chosen to lead the first Swedish to Finland. He was to lead his force of 2 600 men and land somewhere between Nystad and Åbo and then capture the latter. Von Vegesack chose to land his force to Lemu manor house just few kilometers south of Åbo. Landing began on 19 June and was initially successful. Surprised Russians garrisoned to Åbo however reacted quickly and deployed force of over 3 000 men to stop the landing force. By the morning of 20 June Swedes were forced to withdraw. Swedish force also performed landings near Vasa but with similar results. Under Colonel Johan Bergenstråhle landed 1 100 Swedes just few kilometers north east of Vasa and managed to quickly advance to the town. Russians however managed to gather together a force of 3 000 men which managed to force the ill-trained Swedes with withdraw.

Advance of Russian coastal squadron beyond Hangö created difficulties for the Swedes since after the loss of the archipelago fleet at Sveaborg even that detachment equaled in strength the Swedish coastal forces deployed to Finnish archipelago. To prevent Russian from gaining strength in numbers the Swedish coastal fleet's unit under Hjelmstjerna tried to engage the Russians first at battle of Rimito Kramp on 30 June and after Russians withdrew closer to Åbo at battle of Pukkisaari on 4 July. Fighting ended to a stalemate but could be understood as a Swedish failure since they failed decisively defeat the Russians.

Being alerted to the approach of additional Russian coastal units from Sveaborg Swedish moved to intercept them before they could link up with the Russian coastal unit now bottled up at Åbo. Learning that Russians intended to go around the island of Kimoto Swedish force of gunboats was deployed to the narrows. They met Russians first at Tallholmen on 21 July and already on 2 August in Battle of Sandöström. Swedish attempts to land troops and artillery in support of the gunboats at Vestanskär on 2 August ended in failure though the attempt came very close to capturing General Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden. While none of the fights ended with decisive winner the overall strategic victory went to Russians who by managing to link up their separate coastal units gained advantage in the Finnish archipelago.

Swedes did several small landings along the coast near Kristinestad and Kaskö managing to raise local men to oppose the Russians. First took place on 3 July with several other taking place soon after. Altogether the Swedes had several hundred local men in arms. However Russians were able to send reinforcements to the area which were in addition to being numerically superior both far better trained and equipped than the peasants and militia Swedes had raised. By the end of July the small forces Swedes had landed and the men that had supported them were either beaten or withdrawn back tot their ships.