Unknown 1918 Finnish Cross

[Aussie1980]

All,

I am hoping somebody can help me identify the second medal from the left. These are my Greatgrandfathers and after many hours on the web, I still can't find anything to Id this one. If anybody has any extra interesting facts about any of the others I would love to hear them.

[StuG III]

According to its ribbon it's a medal for "Battle of Vilppula Commemorative Medal" 1918

Tom

[Aussie1980]

Tom,

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure that's the one as this one is a cross and the "Battle of Vilppula Commemorative Medal" was a round medal. Thanks all the same.

Scott

[StuG III]

Sorry Scott, even after getting the name of the medal from looking at ribbons, I was unable to find a photo of the medal to compare.

Tom

[HPL2008]

Sorry Scott, even after getting the name of the medal from looking at ribbons, I was unable to find a photo of the medal to compare.

Best do a Google image search for the term "vilppulan risti"; you'll find several examples.

[StuG III]

This is what I found....
Tom

[HPL2008]

Here's another site with the cross and what appears to be background history:

Finlande - Vilppula

(It's in French, which I admittedly don't speak.)

[Aussie1980]

Great! Thanks a heap guys. The most informative so far.

[Aussie1980]

From the Finlande - Vilppula site, Google Translate gave me this: "This medal commemorates the defensive battles conducted by the White forces between early February and mid March 1918 on what we might call the 'front' of Häme. But in fact there was no real front lines due to insufficient number of personnel of both sides, but only concentrations of troops in strategic locations."

Thanks again!

[StuG III]

Andreas saves the day.

Tom