The battle of Lappo

July 14 1808, R=Nikolai Nikolaievitsch Rayevskij S=Karl Johan Adlercreutz

During the Swedish Summer offensive, the Russian commander of the main army of about 4.100 troops, Nikolai Rayevskij, pulled back to the town of Lappo and there set up his defence. The positions he found there were certainly not to his advantage. On July 14, Adlercreutz with the main Swedish army, 4.700 men, went to attack. The goal for the Swedes was to outflank the Russians, surround them and annihilate their army.

At this battle, von Döbeln and his Björneborg regiment distinguished themselves. As they were marching up, over the open fields, against the town where Russian forces were entrenched, Adlercreutz gave the order to halt. Von Döbeln and his men were exposed to a brutal artillery bombardment. This was all too muche for von Döbeln, who gave the order for his regiment to advance. After heavy fighting among the houses, the Björneborg regiment finally cleared the town of all opposition.

Rayevksij retreated though and Adlercreutz' plan to surround the Russians came to nothing. Nonetheless, Lappo was a very impotant victory for the Swedish army, which now continued its summer offensive. As a direct result of the defeat at Lappo, Rayevskij was replaced as commander of the main Russian army by the younger, yet able, general Nikolai Kamenskij.

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