[2] As the Civil War broke out in late January 1918, the frontline soon formed in the southern part of Finland and Varkaus became the last remaining Red spot behind the White lines.

[1] The Whites made their first attempt to take Varkaus on 6 February but the Reds managed to hit them back.

[2] On 18 February, the local White Army staff met in Pieksämäki where they made final plans for the coming second attack.

It was commanded by the general Ernst Löfström with the junior officers C. W. Malm and Johan Sainio and the Austrian corporal Karl Müller as his subcommanders.

The corporal Müller was a fraudster who had enlisted the White Army claiming to be the German lieutenant Karl von Zedtwitz zu Hackenbach.

The Varkaus Red Guard was led by the newspaperman Matti Autio who had come to town as an agitator during the 1917 General Strike.

Although, the later studies have shown that the executed were actually not picked randomly they were mostly Red Guard or trade union activists.

Dozens of more Reds were shot as the Whites started cleansing the surrounding Leppävirta municipality.