27th Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion

The German command decided to send the Finnish ranger battalion to the Eastern Front . General E. Falkengine said that Germany had no need to use such a small combat unit at the front. Sending a battalion to the front was dictated not only by military considerations. The decision was of great political importance. Participation in the hostilities of the Finns was to be an example for other border peoples of the Russian Empire .

Jaeger battalion did not participate in significant operations. However, it proved itself on the positive side in local battles to protect the Riga seaside. During the fighting, he did not suffer significant losses (13 people were killed, 24 were injured).

In the early days of the front, 3 people passed to the side of the Russian army.

In September 1916, cases of disobedience became more frequent.

From September 1916 to March 1917, 175 people were expelled from the battalion, which amounted to 9% of its total number. The main reason was the contradiction between the desire of rangers to fight for the independence of their country and the obligation to serve the interests of another state. It was difficult for German officers to understand the doubts of Finnish rangers. The jaeger battalion for them was equated with an ordinary military formation without any right to politics.

Amid the desire to make a separate peace with Russia by any means, Berlin faced the problem of the future fate of the Finnish volunteers. On January 12, 1917, the head of the Loksted courses, Major Schwerin, turned to the German Foreign Ministry with a proposal on the resettlement of Finnish rangers in East Prussia or Pomerania . In his opinion, "the prospects for liberating Finland from Russian oppression were very small . " The German Foreign Ministry , and later the Ministry of the Interior, approved the idea of ​​Count Schwerin. The question of the resettlement of Finnish rangers was removed from the agenda after the February Revolution in Russia.

Germany

The Finnish historian M. Lauerma pointed out that for Germany the jaeger battalion was a convincing example of the Finnish independence movement and at the same time a hostage, guaranteeing the sincerity of his plans. Fascist Germany was looking for support in the natives of the 27th Jäger battalion. Hitler appealed more than once to the traditions of the ranger movement.

Russia

Jaeger movement had a definite influence on Russian politics in Finland. The course of the Russian government was correct in relation to the autonomy of the Principality, despite a number of contradictory steps.

Finland

The importance of the jaeger movement for Finland was that later it formed the core of the national army. Participants in the movement engaged in intensified agitation in favor of the idea of ​​independence. In the 1930s, almost 90% of the Finnish generals were former huntsmen.

• Novikova I. N. The phenomenon of the borders of the Grand Duchy of Finland (on the example of German-Finnish cooperation in the initial period of the First World War) // Russia and Finland in the XVIII — XX centuries. The specifics of the border. - St. Petersburg, 1999 .-- 46-67.