The battle is also remembered because of its bloody aftermath, as the Whites executed up to 400 non-aligned military personnel and civilians of Russian and associated ethnicities.

Its location at the Karelian Isthmus near the Russian capital Petrograd made the city an important center of transport and trade.

The 18,300-strong Eastern Army (Itäarmeija) was under the command of the former Savo Division leader general major Ernst Löfström.

It was composed of three regiments; the Western Unit was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Aarne Sihvo, the Northern by General Major Karl Fredrik Wilkman and the Eastern by the German Colonel Eduard Ausfeld.

The Red Guard leader was Oskar Rantala, with the Russian colonel Mikhail Svechnikov as his military advisor.

The combat units had up to 5,000 fighters, including forces retreating from the Karelian Front and some members of the Viipuri Women's Red Guard.

[2] The offensive against Viipuri was launched on 19 April when colonel Ausfeld's unit marched to south from Rautu, in order to block the Reds' connection to Russia.

The Reds of Joutseno, Antrea and Taipalsaari first marched to Lappeenranta and were then transported to Viipuri by train on the night of 24–25 April.

[2] On 24 April, a company led by von Coler took the Tali railway station 10 kilometres north of Viipuri, cutting the Viipuri–Joensuu railroad.

In the evening, von Coler defied his orders by attacking the city, but could not break through the Red defense on the eastern side of the Papula Bay.

The White Army made its first efforts to enter the city on 25–26 April but the Reds managed to push them back.

The acts of revenge were further fueled by the discovery of dead bodies of White Guards and other bourgeois that had been killed prior to the fall of the city.