Battle of Oravais The Battle of Oravais ( Finnish : " Oravaisten taistelu " , Swedish : " Slaget vid Oravais " ) is sometimes regarded as the turning point of the Finnish War : the last chance for Sweden to turn the war to her advantage . It was the bloodiest battle of the conflict , which some historians attribute to the exhaustion , resignation and desperation of the Swedish army : it was losing the war . Prelude . At the beginning of the war , Swedish forces had retreated to Oulu . They had then managed to repel the Russians and reach Savonia despite the capitulation of the fortress of Sveaborg by the end of summer 1808 . Russia recuperated quickly , and by the end of August the Swedish army was again retreating northwards along the coastal road . To avoid being encircled , colonel Georg Carl von Döbeln was sent in advance to Nykarleby with a brigade . The threat of encirclement was exaggerated , but the Swedish army was at this point showing signs of panic and collapse . On September 13 the army left for Oravais and it halted to await news from von Döbeln , who was fighting the Russians at Jutas . The sound of a cannon was heard in Oravais , and a brigade was sent to reinforce von Döbeln . The Russian main army had marched from Vasa in furious pursuit of the Swedish forces . The night before September 14 was spent in bivouacs along the road between Vörå and Oravais . The impulsive General - major Yakov Kulnev ' s troops had taken the lead and were the first to make contact with the Swedes . Battle . At dawn the first shots were exchanged between Kulnev ' s troops and a Swedish outpost by a bridge in the forest . Firing intensified , the Swedish position was reinforced continuously while the remainder of the Russian forces behind Kulnev arrived . Fighting continued with heavy losses on both sides until the situation became untenable for the Swedes , who retreated to their defensive positions at 10 a . m . The retreat was covered by a single artillery piece commanded by the fifteen - year - old sublieutenant Wilhelm von Schwerin . The Swedish main position was deployed along a ridge which was protected to the north ( on the Swedish right wing ) by an inlet from the Baltic , and the Fjärdså stream with its south to north flow provided added defensive potential . The forest in front of the ridge had been cleared to afford the artillery a better view of the arriving Russians , who were regrouping at the edge of the forest . Artillery bombardment then began between the two forces , and continued for an hour until the Russians mounted a frontal assault against the Swedish positions . Kulnev , on the Russian left wing , struck the Swedish right , but was repelled when his force became bogged down in the Fjärdså stream . The Russians now reinforced their right wing , under Nikolay Demidov , and another assault was made . It was also repelled , but this time the Swedish unexplainably left their positions and counterattacked ; Adlercreutz had issued no order to that effect . The Swedish counterattack met overpowering fire and was forced to withdraw with heavy losses . At 2 p . m . the battle was far from decided . The Russians made a second attempt at turning the Swedish left flank . This thinned the Russian center , and Adlercreutz ordered a forceful attack to exploit the weakness . Despite the intensive Russian fire , the attack proceeded swiftly , and the whole Swedish line was carried along by the movement . The entire Russian line was forced to retire back into the forest where the battle had begun earlier in the morning . However , Russian numerical superiority and dwindling of ammunition frustrated Adlercreutz ' attempted decisive stroke . As Russian reinforcements arrived , the spent Swedish army retired to their defensive positions again . At this point the battle was still undecided , but General Kamensky ordered Demidov ' s right wing to make yet another attempt on the weak Swedish left wing . When this maneuver started night had fallen and the battle had raged for fourteen hours ; it became too much for the Swedish army , which hastily retreated to the north . Aftermath . The Swedish lieutenant Carl Johan Ljunggren retold the retreat from Oravais like this : " The darkness was such that despite continuous shovings one could not recognize the shover . . . Hundreds of noises came out of the night ; everywhere the wounded wailed , each in his own language ; artillerymen and coachmen yelled at their exhausted horses and bellowed scores of curses each time they became stuck , which happened all the time ; wheels and weapons rattled , soldiers bellowed ; all staggered from tiredness and hunger . Thus came the army finally to Nykarleby . The Russians hadn ' t followed , for their forces were also completely spent . The battle of Oravais had shown that the Swedish army was not tactically inferior to the Russian counterpart . It was the Russian numerical superiority that shifted the balance in the end . However , the Swedish strategic situation was hopeless : allied only with Great Britain , it faced the overmight of Napoleon ' s Europe and its Russian ally . Oravais was merely one battle on the road to final Swedish defeat . A page ( in Swedish ) about the battle