Battlefield tourism by Hanna & Adam
In case you notice errors, inaccuracies or can fill in missing information, email hanna.vehkamaki_at_helsinki.fi
Visited |
Battlefield |
Where |
War |
Battle date/year |
Who fought whom |
Commanders |
Strength (+casualties) |
Result |
Remarks of the battle/site |
1992 (H) |
Jämärä/Lätäseno |
Western Finnish Lapland, near Karesuvanto |
II World War |
1.10.1944-25.4.1945 |
Germany vs. |
Lothar Rendulic, Matthias Krautler, August Krakau vs. |
214000 (4300-4500 dead, 2300 wounded, 1300 captured) |
German retreat |
numbers and commanders related to the whole Lapland war |
2000 (H) |
Raate road |
Eastern Finland, near Suomussalmi |
II World War |
4.1.-7.1.1940 |
Finland vs. |
Hjalmar Siilasvuo vs. |
3600(250 killed) vs. |
Decisive Finnish victory |
|
2001 (H) |
Lützen |
Germany near Leipzig |
Thirty Years' War |
16.11.1632 |
Sweden+Protestant German States |
Gustaf II Adolf of Sweden, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, Dodo Knyphausen vs. |
12800 infantry, 6200 cavalry, 60 guns (3400 dead, 1600 wounded/ |
Swedish+ protestant victory,Gustaf II Adolf and Pappenheim |
|
2001 (H) |
Breitenfeld |
Germany near Leipzig |
Thirty Years' War |
I 17.9.1631 |
I Sweden+Saxony |
I Gustaf II Adolf of Sweden, Gustaf Horn, John George I, Robert Munro, Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg, Johan Baner |
I 23500Swedes+18000Saxons(deserted) |
I Decisive Protestant victory |
II General Torsten Stålhandske, who led the Finnish Hakkapeliitta Cavalry, seriously wounded |
2001 (H) |
Battle of Nations |
Germany near Leipzig |
Napoleonic |
16-19.10.1813 |
French Empire (Italy, Naples,Duchy of Warsaw, Saxony) vs. Sixth Coalition (Russia, Austria,Prussia,Sweden, Saxony) |
Napoleon I, Jozef Antoni Poniatowski, Frederick Augustus |
195000 men+700 guns |
Decisive sixth coalition victory, Poniatowski killed |
|
2002 (A&H) |
Leningrad siege |
St. Petersburg, Russian |
World War II |
8.9.1941-27.1.1944 |
Germany, Italy, Spanish Volunteers |
Wilhelm von Leeb, Georg von Küchler, Emilio Esteban Infantes |
725000(125000) vs |
Soviet victory |
|
2003 (A&H) |
Hastings |
England, East Sussex |
|
14.10.1066 |
Normans, Bretons, Flemings, French |
William of Normandy, Odo of Bayeux vs. |
8400(3000) vs. 7500 (5000) |
Norman victory, conquest of England, Harold Godwinson killed |
|
2003 (A&H) |
Somme |
France |
World War I |
1.7.-18.11.1916 |
United Kingdom, France,Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa vs. German Empire |
Douglas Haig, Ferdinand Foch vs. |
(Britain 420000, France 195000 dead wounded, missing&captured, 100 tanks, 782 aircraft) |
Indecisive |
First tanks used in war 15.9.1916 near Pozières |
2003(A&H) |
Ypres/Ieper, Passchendaele/ |
Belgium |
World War I |
I 19.10-22.11.1914 |
United Kingdom(I, II,III, IV,V), France(I, II,III,V),French colonial forces(II) Belgium(I, II,V), Canada(II,III), India(I, II,III) , Australia(III, IV), New Zealand(III), South Africa(III) , Portugal(IV), United States(V) vs. German Empire |
John French(I), Ferdinand Foch(I) |
(I Britain 58000, France 50000) |
I Decisive allied victory |
II Gas attack on Gravenstafel |
2003 (A&H) |
Waterloo |
Belgium, south of Brussels |
Napoleonic wars |
18.6.1815 |
French Empire vs. Seventh Coalition (Prussia, Britain, Netherlands,Hanover, Nassau, Brunswick) |
Napoleon I, Michel Ney vs. |
72000 (25000 killed or wounded, 7000 captured, 15000 missing) vs. |
Decisive Coalition victory |
|
2003 (A&H) |
Agincourt |
France, Azincourt |
Hundred Years' War |
25.10.1415 |
England vs. France |
Henry V of England vs. |
5900 [or 7000-9000?] (at least112 dead) vs. |
Decisive English victory, d´Albret killed |
|
2003 (A&H) |
Operation Market- Garden |
Netherlands, |
World War II |
1944 |
United kingdom, United States, Poland, Dutch resistance, Canada vs. Germany |
Bernard Montgomery, Lewis H. Brereton, Miles Dempsey, Frederick Browning vs. |
(15130-17200) vs. (7500-10000) |
German victory, allied operational failure |
|
2003 (A&H) |
Dunkirk |
France |
World War II |
26.5-4.6.1940 |
Britain, France, Belgium, Poland vs. |
Lord Gort, MaximeWeygand |
400000 (338226 evacuated,30000 killed or wounded, 34000 missing or captured) |
German victory, allied evacuation |
|
2004 |
Normandy landing beaches |
France |
World War II |
6.6.1944 |
Britain, USA, Canada, Free France, Poland, Norway |
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, |
156000(10000 killed, wounded or missing) vs. |
Allied victory, allied beachhead gained |
|
2004 (H) |
West wall |
near Aachen, Germany |
World War II |
Constructed |
United Kingdom, USA vs. Germany |
|
|
|
|
2004 (H) |
Hürtgen Forest |
near Aachen, Germany |
World War II |
19.9.1944-10.2.1945 |
USA vs. Germany |
Courtney Hodges, Leonard T. Gerow, Joseph Lawton Collins vs. Walter Model |
120000(33000) vs.80000(12000) |
First phase inconclusive, |
|
2004 (H) |
Aachen |
Aachen, Germany |
World War II |
2.-21.10.1944 |
USA |
Leland Hobbs, Courtney Hodges |
unknown(estimated 5000) vs. |
Americsn victory |
|
2005 (A&H) |
Berlin |
Germany |
World War II |
16.4.1945-2.5.1945 |
Soviet Union, Poland vs, Germany |
Georgy Zhukov, Konstantin Rokossovsky, Ivan Konev vs. |
2500000 (81116 dead or missing, 280251 sick or wounded) vs. |
Decisive Soviet Victory. German surrender |
|
2008 (A&H) |
Oravainen/Oravais |
Finland, Ostrobotnia, near Vaasa |
Finnish War |
14.9.1808 |
Sweden vs. Russia |
Carl Johan Adlercreutz vs. |
5000(740 dead,200 wounded,100 captured) vs, |
Russian victory, as result of the war that Sweden lost Finland(earlier part of Sweden) became part of Russia |
|
2009 (A&H) |
Troy |
Turkey, |
Trojan war |
sometime between 1135 BC and 1334 BC, lasted 9 years |
Greeks vs. Trojans |
|
|
Greek victory |
|
2009 (A&H) |
Gallipoli |
Turkey, near |
World war I |
25.4.1915-6.1.1916 |
United Kingdom, Australia,British India, Newfoundland, New Zealand,France, French West Africa vs. Ottoman Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary |
Sir Ian Hamilton, Lord Kitchener, John de Robeck vs. |
410000 British+commonwealth,79000 French(Australia tot 26094/killed 7594, New Zealand tot 7571/killed 2431, Rest of British Empire tot 171335/killed 119696,French tot 47000/killed 27000) vs. |
Decisive Ottoman victory, allied evacuation |
|
2009 (A&H) |
Bomarsund |
Åland, Finland |
Crimean War |
13.-16.8.1854 |
United Kingdom, French Empire vs Russian Empire (Finland as a part of it) |
Sir Charles Napier, |
12000 (unknown) vs. |
French/British victory, destruction of the fortress |
Acting Mate Charles Lucas received the first ever Victoria cross for picking up a live shell on board Steam sloop Hecla and dropping it overboard |
2009 (A&H) |
Siege of San Sebastian |
Donostia/San Sebastian, Basque country, Spain |
Peninsular war |
7.7.-8.9 1813 |
United Kingdom, Portugal vs. French Empire |
Marquess of Wellington vs. Brig-Gen Louis Rey |
5300 (1200 killed, 3800 wounded, 300 missing) vs. |
First stage French victory, |
British troops burned and pillaged the City of San Sebastian (31st of August) |
2009 (H) |
Bombing of Gernika/Guernica |
Gernika/Guernica,Basque country, Spain |
Spanish Civil War |
26.4.1937 |
German Luftwaffe "Condor Legion" and the Italian Fascist Aviazione Legionaria in support for the Spanish Nationalists led by Franco vs. Republican Forces, Basque Army, civilians |
Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, Corrado Ricci |
1654 civilians killed, 889 wounded -or- 200-400 killed, |
3/4 of Gernika's buildings completely destroyed, most other damaged. Nationalist forces overrun Gernika |
"Dres rehearsal”for terror bombings of Second World War, |
2012(H) |
Lockstedter Lager |
Hohenlocstedt north of Hamburg, Germany |
|
Used 1870-1927 |
|
|
|
|
German army training area, where also Finnsh volunteers in Jägerbataillon Nr. 27 Trained 1915-1918 |
2015 |
Hadrian’s wall |
North England, close to Scottish border |
|
Building started AD122, aboandoned by AD410 |
Roman empire vs Picts |
|
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|
|
2016, 2020 |
Suomen Salpa (Bolt of Finland) |
Virolahti, Miehikkälä, Finland |
Second word war 1941-1944 |
Never seen battle |
Finland vs Soviet Union |
|
|
|
55km Salpapolku 2020 (H) |
2022 |
Underground tunnels & Drop redoubt & Fan bay sound mirrors
|
Dover, England |
Napoleonic war, First world war, Second world war |
Barracks 1781-, Zeppelin listening posts in first world war, headquarters for Dunkirk evacuation in second world war |
Great Britain vs France /Germany |
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Information gathered mostly from Wikipedia, other web pages and the following books:
* Major&Mrs Holt's Battlefield guide: Gallipoli, by Tonie and Valmai Holt, Leo Cooper, 2000
** Major&Mrs Holt's Concise Battlefield Guide to the Ypres salient, Tonie and Valmai Holt, Second edition 1996.
*** Major&Mrs Holt's Battlefield guide to the Somme, by Tonie and Valmai Holt, Leo Cooper, Revised edition 2003.
**** Bomarsund The Russian Empire's Outpost in the West, by Graham Robins, Håkan Skogsjö, Jerker Örjans, Skogsjömedia, 2006.