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Pyotr Bagration
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===Battle for the Åland Islands=== In 1809, the Russian command had decided to take the war to the territory of Sweden to finally crush her army. The Russian army was divided into three operational groups commanded by Bagration, [[Barclay de Tolly]] and {{ill|Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov (1776–1823)|lt=Pavel Shuvalov|ru|Шувалов, Павел Андреевич (1776)}}. Bagration's 17,000-strong corps consisted of 30 infantry battalions, four cavalry squadrons, 600 Cossacks and 20 guns. The main assault was to be carried out by a daring march across the frozen Gulf of Bothnia from [[Turku]], reaching and capturing the heavily fortified [[Åland]], which were garrisoned by about 10,000 Swedish troops, before continuing on the frozen Sea towards Stockholm. Bagration carefully planned his campaign and managed to supply his troops with fresh food, warm clothes, ammunition and weapons. The expedition was ready on 26 February (10 March) 1809 and began the next day. The offensive against the Åland was carried out in five attack columns: four engaged in a frontal assault while the fifth bypassed Åland from the south. The Swedish troops did not put up much resistance, preferring to retreat to the major Åland island, from where they intended to stop Bagration's advance. To do so, the Swedish commander-general [[Georg Carl von Döbeln|Carl von Döbeln]] proposed negotiations for an armistice. Bagration refused, convinced that the sole purpose of von Döbeln's offer was to delay his movements. After completing negotiations, he ordered his troops to advance at an even faster pace. Fearing an encirclement, General von Döbeln abandoned Åland. Pursued by Bagration's troops, the retreat quickly turned into a devastating rout, leaving ammunition, weapons and equipment behind. To intimidate the Swedes, Bagration ordered a 400-man cavalry detachment under Major General [[Yakov Kulnev]] to pursue the Swedes to their own shores. Kulnev managed to take the Swedish town of [[Grisslehamn]], which was just 70 km away from Stockholm. This unexpected turn of events brought shock and confusion to the Swedish leadership and population, who were surprised to hear of Russian troops on Swedish soil. Stockholm was fortified and an army quickly put together and sent to intercept an enemy that was not actually there. The plan worked beyond Bagration's expectations as the psychological impact of Kulnev's incursion into Sweden was decisive for the course of the entire war. Simultaneously the other Russian corps also reached their goals so that the Swedish side found itself forced into peace talks after losing all its claims in Finland. Bagration was highly praised for his conduct of the campaign and was promoted to full general of infantry.<ref name="militera.lib.ru"/>
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