The village of Länkipohja is located by the Tampere–Jyväskylä highway, 60 kilometers northeast of Tampere which was the main base for Red Guards on the Tavastia Front.

As the Whites launched their offensive against Tampere, Länkipohja's location was strategically important as the village closed the way to the town.

[2] Preceding clashes occurred in 12 March, as 360 men of the Red Guards from Urjala, Jämsä and Hämeenlinna attacked the village of Eväjärvi, 9 kilometres north of Länkipohja, but the offensive failed.

The 2,500-men regiment was divided into three battalions which were led by the major Torsten Aminoff, rittmeister Oskar Wilkman and captain Aarne Heikinheimo.

The Red Guards came from the nearby villages of Längelmäki, Jämsä and Orivesi, and from the southern Finland from Urjala, Hämeenlinna, Tuusula, Kerava, Mäntsälä, Espoo and Helsinki.

They had felled a large number of trees, then piled the cut logs on both sides of the road and soaked them with water.

As the trees in the slopes were cut, the attacking Whites had to cross a wide open ground covered in deep snow.

[2] The Whites attacked Länkipohja from three directions; rittmeister Wilkman from north, major Aminoff from east and captain Heikinheimo from west.

The shelling destroyed several buildings in both Länkipohja and the nearby village of Vilkkilä where the Heikinheimo battalion was to strike.

Finally the Whites took the village at 3 PM as the Reds fled south across the frozen lake Längelmävesi.

Leander Viljanen, the commander of the Tuusula Red Guard, hid from the Whites and committed suicide the next day.

His images on the Finnish Civil War are featured in the book Fra den finske frihedskrig 1918: Vestarméen, published in late 1918.

In Länkipohja, Natvig also took a series of three photographs on the execution of 13 surrendered Red Guard fighters, who were found hiding in basement and shot on 17 March.