Commander-in-Chief of the Karelian troops in the War of Independence from 12, February till 18, April; Commander of the Group Sihvo from 18, April till 16, May, 1918. General Sihvo being a highly successful soldier of Finnish origin, he was applauded in the Great Parade of the whites in Helsinki in 1918 by nationalists, who claimed that all "unnational" officers should be removed from the higher staff of the army. Sihvo gave an enthusiastic statement to the press, "It is time for the old gentlemen and for those who have served in Russia to step aside, because the organization of the army cannot be left to the men of the so-called retreat system." His relationship with Mannerheim, however, never came to a head.