The Germans invaded Helsinki despite the opposition of Finnish White Army leader Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim who wanted to attack the capital city with his own troops after Tampere had fallen on 6 April.

In the city centre, the defending Reds did not have defensive lines or barricades but were fighting inside single buildings and blocks, which the Germans then had to take one by one.

The 10,000-men-strong Baltic Sea Division attacked Helsinki with 6,000 men including two infantry regiments, one jäger battalion, an artillery battery and some supportive troops.

The Imperial German Navy landed 400 Matrosen to the Katajanokka district, where they entered the downtown and joined the Baltic Division.

[2] There were still some Red supporting Russian troops in town, but under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed between the Soviet Russia and the Central Powers, they did not take part in the battle.

The Baltic Sea Division landed at Hanko, 120 kilometres west of Helsinki, on 3 April and started marching east.

[5] The Baltic Sea Division entered the northern suburbs of Pikku Huopalahti and Meilahti in the early morning of 12 April.

As the Reds managed to stop the invading troops, the German Colonel Hans von Tschirschky und Bögendorff formed two units.

[6] After losing Helsinki, the Red Defense Command moved to Riihimäki (which also involved the Battle of Hyvinkää[8]), where it was headed by painter and congressman Efraim Kronqvist.

The Germans troops, on the other hand, attacked Helsinki north on 15 April and conquered Klaukkala four days later, continuing from there to Hämeenlinna.

[9] At the same time in Loviisa, the German Detachment Brandenstein proceeded from Eastern Uusimaa to Lahti where the Reds fled from the Helsinki region also ended up.

Helsinki and Finland remained under German occupation until the fall of Emperor William II and the end of the First World War.

Rüdiger von der Goltz was the official representative of the country in Finland, initially staying at Hotel Kämp and then at Kesäranta.

Most of them were captured during the aftermath of the Battle of Lahti as tens of thousands of Red refugees fell into the hands of Germans and Whites.

The German commander, Rüdiger von der Goltz, decided to have a victory parade on Sunday 14 April, a day after the battle was over.

The monument is a work of the sculptor Taisto Martiskainen and includes verses of the poets Maiju Lassila, Elmer Diktonius and Elvi Sinervo[13]