Draft:North Ingria Regiment

The North Ingria Regiment (Pohjois-Inkerin Rykmentti) was a military unit composed of Ingrian Finns from 1919-1920. The unit fought on the behalf of the Kirjasalo Republic during the Revolt of the Ingrian Finns. The regiment was led by Georg Elfvengren, and the unit was established by the Pohjois-Inkerin Hoitokunta ('North Ingrian Caretaker Committee') in July 1919 and the unit was dissolved in December 1920.

Origins
The unit was originally founded as a battalion in July 1919 by Ingrian Finnish refugees from Ingria. The regiment was founded by the North Ingrian Caretaker Committee following the receiving of permission to organize militarily. The unit was originally 580 men strong later growing to the strength of around 1,700 men.

The unit was formed by refugees fleeing from Bolshevik persecution, as the Bolsheviks began to mass-mobilize Ingrian Finns. The Bolsheviks resorted to using coercive measures, forcing non-obliging Ingrian Finns to forced labour camps, mass-executions, confiscation of property and taking family members of non-obliging Ingrian Finns hostage. The Bolsheviks also began the confiscation of food, trying to start a famine, taking up to 10,000 cattle from Northern Ingria to Novgorod.

Georg Elfvengren was chosen to be the leader of the unit on July 17, 1919, following Paavo Tapanainen, a representative of the North Ingrian Caretaker Committee having gone to Helsinki to meet with Government officials. Georg Elfvengren was seen as acceptable as a leader to train the Ingrian Finns, and was approved by Finnish Government and the White Movement.

Summer offensive
On 26 July 1919, Georg Elfvengren, the leader of the regiment, decided to go on the offensive without prior approval from the Finnish Government. The unit was set to go in two directions, towards Ylä-Miikkulainen and towards Lempaala. the unit was divided into multiple detachments, one detachment had bypassed Lake Lempaalanjärvi through its western portion and forced the Red Guards to retreat to Vaskelovo. The same detachment entered Lempaala, defeating the local council and surrounded the Third Border Battalion at Nakkolovo. The other detachment had bypassed Lake Lempaalanjärvi through its eastern portion, and captured the settlements of Korosary, Soelovo, and Katumy.

On 28 July 1919, a detachment of North Ingrians captured Ylä-Miikkulainen and Ala-Miikkulainen, and on 30 July, Perämäki and Putkelovo were captured. However the despite the successes of the battalion, they were forced to retreat to Kirjasalo, the capital of the Republic of Kirjasalo, also known as North Ingria, which was the separatist state established by the military unit. Elfvengren was sacked on 2 August 1919 and replaced by Elja Rihtniemi on 8 August. The Foreign Minister of Finland, Rudolf Holsti, made a proposal to arrest Elfvengren, however it never came into affect, and in Bolshevik Russia, an Emergency Commission was organized and reinforcements were deployed to Northern Ingria.