Vidlitsa Operation of 1919

combat actions of Soviet ground forces and the Onega Military Flotilla intended to rout the White Finns and the White Guards during the defense of Petrograd. Delivering the main attack on Petrograd from the west and southwest, the interventionists and White Guards in April 1919 simultaneously organized an offensive of the White Finnish Olonets Volunteer Army of about 2,000 men between lakes Ladoga and Onega with the aim of cap-turing Petrozavodsk. On April 21 they captured Vidlitsa and on April 24, Olonets (which was soon liberated by the Red Army). The Vidlitsa Operation began on June 27 with a combined strike by the Onega Military Flotilla, which was rein-forced by two destroyers on Lake Ladoga and by units of the 1st Rifle Division together with the Soviet Finnish 1st Regiment on land. After neutralizing the enemy batteries with naval artillery, the flotilla landed troops at the mouth of the Vidlitsa and Tuloksa rivers; these forces liberated the villages of Vidlitsa and Tuloksa and then, together with units of the 1st Division, repulsed the White Finns beyond the state frontier. A great deal of matériel was captured in the battle.