I have had the desire to visit Hanko for quite some time. Even in my distant childhood, I read V. Rudny’s book “The Gangutians” about the defense of the Hanko naval base - perhaps the only group of the Red Army and the Navy that did not yield an inch of Soviet territory in the first months of the Second World War. Around the same time, the Leningrad Naval Museum carefully examined exhibits and materials on the famous Battle of Gangut (last week was the 300th anniversary of this battle).
To fulfill this desire, it was necessary 1) to bring down the Iron Curtain (they did it without me) and 2) to have free time. There were certain problems with the second point, but they were also resolved - 2 days and 3 nights were allocated for the promotion. After careful study of all possible options After landing, we chose a night bus to Helsinki and booked a rental car from H. to Hanko and back. The return to St. Petersburg was planned in a more interesting way, but this is beside the point. Support along the way was provided by a specially trained friend (in in a good way this word).
Morning in Helsinki. There are still 3 hours before the car rental opens... I apologize for the quality of the photos - Nokia C7 is such a Nokia...
Everything is calm in Port X. 
We took the car and drove in 1.5 hours to the Front Museum (Hanko Front Museum / Hangon Rintamamuseo) - our main goal. It is marked on the map with a large red dot (in the area of the isthmus, near the town of Lappvik - on the former border and, subsequently, the front line). 
At the entrance there is a rather ancient cannon, caliber to the tired eye: 152 mm. Local vandals left their secret marks on the trunk. 
The area around the museum is quite front-line. 
Finnish anti-tank defense. The garrison of our naval base actually had several tanks. 
The museum itself is a neat barracks filled with interesting artifacts. It is clear that local enthusiasts are involved in the business. There are few visitors. 
On the walls there are handmade posters on the topic of Soviet-Finnish-German relations. Apparently, the Finns are unhappy that their country was then assigned to the Soviet zone of influence (according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact).
There are many photographs of our soldiers and sailors.
Scheme of the battle at the Bengtskär lighthouse (one of the few Finnish successes in island operations near Hanko). The Finns then managed to bring reinforcements to the island almost simultaneously with our landing force and destroy it, as well as inflict damage on the guards. Here is the story about that fight.
Soviet "secret" map with unit designations. 
Model of the TM-3-12 railway artillery mount, which took part in the defense of Hanko. The Finns captured it, repaired it (they spent a lot of effort and money), and then suddenly the summer of 1944 came, and they asked for the installation back. I had to give it up - without firing a single shot. Now the original stands in the St. Petersburg Museum of Railway Equipment. 
The museum has many displays that are not directly related to Hanko or even Finland. For example, a stand about the battleship "Marat", seriously damaged on September 23, 1941 as a result of a German air raid. According to German historiography, it was destroyed - which is most likely true, because the floating gun platform with the remaining three turrets was no longer a battleship. 
I strongly suspect that some of the stands were prepared by local schoolchildren as history assignments. Nevertheless, the museum is interesting and I recommend visiting it.
Address: Hankoniementie, 10820 Hanko.
How to get there: by train from Helsinki or by car.
Working hours: usually in the summer, this year from May 18 to August 31, daily from 11.30 to 18.30.
Ticket price: 4 Euro.
Official site: www.frontmuseum.fi (hasn’t been working for a while now, perhaps no one has noticed this yet - they’re Finns).
The next day we visited a Soviet military cemetery not far from the city. My expectation of finding the graves of the island's defenders there was not justified - it was a cemetery for prisoners of war who died on the peninsula after the Finns established a prisoner of war camp there. The condition of the cemetery is very well maintained, thanks to the Finns and, probably, the corresponding agreements with the Russian Federation/USSR. 
The town of Hanko itself (which shares the same name with the peninsula) is simply idyllic. Harbor view. 
Lots of cute coves with cottages. 
St. Petersburg weather on Hanko (this was on the second day of our trip, before leaving). 
A monument to the German participants of the Freikorps (German Baltic Division), who landed in the port in April 1918 to participate in the suppression of Red Finland (they suppressed it successfully, as well as their Bavarian Republic, which the Finns still do not regret). In 1941, Soviet political workers took revenge as much as they could: they threw the lions into the sea. After the evacuation of our naval base, the Finns apparently raised them and again put them in their rightful place. 
Fighting on the Peninsula
The guns of the Hanko railway batteries, in cooperation with the batteries of Osmussaar Island and the Tahkuna Peninsula, the island of Hiuma (Dago), provided reliable defense of the central mine-artillery position. Located on the main skerry fairway, the base did not allow enemy ships and vessels, mainly Finnish, to cross from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Gulf of Finland and back. Therefore, the Finns’ desire to capture Hanko as quickly as possible is understandable.
In the period from June 22 to June 29, the Finns were not active. There were flights of single aircraft that dropped bombs on the city and harbor; the damage from these bombs was minor.
On the Finnish side, explosions were heard and intensive construction of wire fences, forest debris, trenches, bunkers and pillboxes was observed.
By June 29, the Finnish army completed its concentration on the border with the USSR. On this day, an official message was received about the start of military operations by Finland. From that time on, the Finns began to conduct intensive mortar and artillery shelling of the Hanko Peninsula and nearby islands.
The enemy gradually brought his batteries into operation. He began with systematic shelling of the city, the port, the defense line of the 8th Infantry Brigade and the islands. Soon all the enemy batteries opened fire and the entire territory of the base came under fire.
As it turned out later, the enemy from different directions used 31 batteries of caliber from 76 to 203 mm against the Hanko garrison against our 17 batteries. In addition, 254-mm guns of Finnish battleships operated against the base for more than two months.
The former commander of the base, General S.I. Kabanov, recalled: “It is unbearable to fight when the rear of the base, roadstead, port, city are accessible not only to fire, but also to visual control of enemy observation posts located nearby - on islands and lighthouses. So, of course, it was impossible to select and determine the boundaries of the base. Even assuming that Finland would not fight against us, although such an assumption is unlikely, we should have thought about our flanks in the skerry area.”
The summer of 1941 was hot and dry. The forest, which covered more than four-fifths of the peninsula's territory, was burning from shelling. Thousands of soldiers, cut off from the construction of defense lines and other equally important facilities, extinguished these fires. The enemy acted insidiously: having caused a fire in a forest or city with incendiary shells, he immediately switched to shelling the burning areas with high-explosive fragmentation shells.
Each of our batteries had two observation posts. Observers sat on them around the clock, detecting enemy firing points. There were also observation posts in the divisions. As a rule, they were located on tall buildings, on specially built towers, on the tops of mighty trees. The observers were armed with binoculars and stereo scopes. All survey data were carefully recorded. A map of the coordinates of enemy batteries was created, indicating the caliber, range and rate of fire.
At the sector command post and on the batteries there were maps of individual areas of the front line. The squares marked with multi-colored pencils had conventional names. All these squares were sighted in advance. There were initial data for each goal.
The most active Finnish batteries were distributed among the SBO batteries, loaded guns were aimed at them in advance, and with the first salvo of the enemy, fire from several of our batteries instantly fell on them.
This method of suppression forced the enemy to change their firing tactics. He began to fire with 8–12 batteries simultaneously, firing no more than 2–3 salvos from each battery, without following any sequence. But by the second salvo, the SBO duty batteries were already opening fire back.
The situation on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War was changing quickly. On June 29, our troops left Libau. On the same day, the Finns launched an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus. On June 30, Nazi units reached the river line. Daugava and took Riga. The Baltic Fleet lost two naval bases.
As early as June 28, aerial reconnaissance established that the enemy was concentrating troops in the Västervik area on the Podvalandet Peninsula, probably for a landing on the island of Horsen.
The lack of reliable defensive fortifications, continuous fires, the small number of the garrison, the presence of nearby enemy islands and convenient crossings for capturing them forced the base command to decide to remove the garrison from Horsen and transfer it to the island of Meden, which was done on the night of June 29-30. As it turned out later, this was a wrong decision by the base command. The island of Horsen was immediately occupied by the Finns.
The plan for ground and anti-landing defense, built on deep echeloning of defensive structures and troops operating there, was correct and ensured the rigidity of the defense and the difficulty of overcoming it by the enemy.
Its disadvantages include the small number of garrisons and the weakness of the islands’ engineering equipment, which in the first period of the war did not provide not only reliable protection these islands, and even reliable surveillance of the enemy. The hasty abandonment of the island of Horsen and the capture of the island of Älmholm by the Finns were the result of this lack of defense.
The base command had information that regiments of the 17th Finnish Infantry Division, as well as individual unknown units, were standing in front of its front. It was urgent to find out the composition of the enemy group; it was necessary to take prisoners. The head of reconnaissance of the 8th OSB, Captain I. I. Trusov, had already prepared a plan for conducting an reconnaissance operation, but it was not necessary to carry it out.
On the night of June 30 to July 1, the enemy attacked the base from the isthmus for the first time. After powerful artillery preparation, the enemy launched an offensive on the right flank near Lappvik station. In this place there was a junction of both roads leading deep into the peninsula - the highway and the railway.
He delivered the main blow in the sector of the 2nd battalion of the 335th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Captain Ya. S. Sukach. Having a significant superiority in forces, the enemy rushed forward, regardless of losses. But none of the Soviet soldiers flinched. The company of Lieutenant I.P. Khorkov especially distinguished himself in this battle.
The company was supported by two batteries and a machine gun company of the regiment. The attack on enemy batteries followed immediately. The shelling of our battle formations stopped, but machine-gun and machine gun fire increased. The enemy infantry, despite heavy losses, continued to fiercely attack the firing points located on the front line.
Battalion commander Ya. S. Sukach sought to destroy the advancing enemy soldiers without revealing his fire system. The commander of the platoon of 76-mm guns, Lieutenant D.F. Kozlov, was given orders to roll out one of his guns from cover and, shooting direct fire with shrapnel, hit the advancing infantry. This gun, which fired over two hundred aimed shots, was commanded by Sergeant F. Gnatenko.
After a two-hour battle, the enemy battalion, which had suffered heavy losses, began to retreat. Up to 40 of his corpses remained at the wire fence. When interviewing prisoners, it turned out that a specially equipped enemy reconnaissance detachment was supposed to break through the defenses of the defenders of the peninsula at the junction of the 2nd and 3rd battalions and capture the village and the Lappvik railway station. After this, a special group of enemy troops was supposed to enter the breakthrough with the task of breaking into the depths of the peninsula and capturing the port and city of Hanko.
The fighting on the isthmus of the peninsula lasted more than six hours. The offensive, on the success of which the enemy obviously had high hopes, completely failed. Two companies of Shyutskorites, who, despite heavy losses, managed to overcome the wire fence and wedge into our defenses, were destroyed. The captured soldiers from the Swedish volunteer battalion confirmed that their unit was part of the 17th Infantry Division of the Finnish Army.
In this defensive battle, the commander of the 335th regiment, Colonel N. S. Nikanorov, and the chief of staff of the regiment, Major S. M. Putilov, thoughtfully and clearly led the military operations. Both of them knew well the capabilities of their troops and the personal qualities of all the commanders subordinate to them, skillfully organized the interaction of units and managed them.
The enemy's plan to break through to the peninsula from land was thwarted thanks to the courage and steadfastness of Hanko's defenders. In this battle, Red Army soldiers Pyotr Sokur and Nikolai Andrienko from the 4th company of Lieutenant I.P. Khorkov distinguished themselves. Being hidden near a wire fence, they were the first to discover the advancing enemy and opened fire with rifles. The attackers, not paying attention to the secret, rushed to the wire, cut it and rushed into the depths of our defense. P. Sokur and N. Andrienko remained in the rear, both fighters held a perimeter defense in their trench. When the 4th company, reinforced by reserves, launched a counterattack, the Finns began to retreat. P. Sokur and N. Andrienko met them with grenades and fire from rifles and a captured machine gun. Moreover, they managed to capture one officer and four soldiers.
For the heroism and courage shown in the first battle, many soldiers and commanders of the 8th Separate Rifle Brigade received orders and medals. A soldier of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 335th rifle regiment, P. T. Sokur, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The successful repulsion of the attack was greatly facilitated by the SBO artillery, which had pre-targeted lines on the land sector and accurately fired at the enemy.
At 04.26 on July 1, a small group of Finns, numbering up to half a company, landed on the island of Krokan under the cover of mortar fire. This small island was separated from the neighboring island on which the Finns were located by a strait twenty meters wide. There was a tiny garrison on Krokan - 22 soldiers and sergeants of the 8th rifle company of the 3rd battalion of the 335th regiment and the command of the SNiS post. It was impossible to build any fortifications on the rocky island. Hiding behind the rocks, the island’s defenders opened aimed fire at the enemy, and grenades were thrown at the enemy soldiers from above. The enemy paratroopers wavered and ran back to the water, to the boats, leaving nine dead in place.
During these days, a sniper movement began along the entire land border, which played a large role in the defense of Gangut. The best shooters of the brigade and the border guards who remained in the defense on the land sector acquired sniper rifles with optical sights. Changing positions every now and then, they successfully hunted for enemy soldiers and officers. In just one day, July 1, 22 enemy soldiers were killed by snipers. The famous Gangut sniper Grigory Isakov killed 118 enemy soldiers and officers during the defense of the base.
In the defense sector of the 270th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel N.D. Sokolov, the enemy fired artillery at the battle formations on July 3. The positions of Captain V. S. Polyakov’s battalion were subjected to the heaviest fire, but as soon as the Shyutskorites rose to attack, the regiment’s firing points came to life and destroyed the enemy soldiers who had broken through.
The naval base was still officially called Hanko, but the defenders of the peninsula themselves called themselves Ganguts, and the base was increasingly unofficially called Gangut. Even the basic newspaper “Boevaya Vakhta” changed its name to “Red Gangut”.
In the naval defense sector in the first months of the war, the main enemy was the Finnish coastal defense battleships Ilmarinen and Väinemäinen. On July 3 and 4, while in the area west of the island of Ére, they shelled the city and port, firing 18 main caliber (254 mm) shells. As a result of the shelling, there was destruction and fires at the base, and four houses burned down.
Not only were the armadillos not visible, but their location was also unknown. From the flashes it was only possible to determine the direction from which they were firing. Our BO batteries, due to ignorance of the battleship’s mooring location, could not return fire, and there were no torpedo boats in the base to attack it, since they were recalled to the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. There were no bombers in the base that could bomb the battleships. Thus, the enemy carried out these attacks with complete impunity.
It was not possible to detect the battleship immediately. Repeated attempts by groups of 4–6 fighters to comb the skerries were unsuccessful. Then the pilots noticed several unusual shape and the color of the northern shoreline of Bengtskär Island.
A couple - L. Belousov and P. Biskup - flew to the island to check the suspicions. They approached the target at low level. The Seagulls met anti-aircraft fire. At this moment, the coastal defense battleship Ilmarinen was spotted. It stood near a steep bank, covered with nets the color of pine crowns, eight 105-mm anti-aircraft guns, four 40-mm and eight 20-mm machine guns of the battleship opened fierce fire on the scouts. However, having descended to the water itself, they escaped unharmed.
The base command asked the naval air force to bomb the battleship. On July 5, 14 SB planes took off to bomb the battleship. Not finding a ship in the skerries, they dropped bombs on a reserve target - in an area where enemy troops were gathering on the isthmus.
In order to counter possible attempts to break through by light forces and to strengthen the anti-landing defense of Hanko, mine laying was carried out. In the database for this there were 400 small German mines from the First World War.
The base command gave the OVR the order to mine all the approach channels to the peninsula. Only the secret fairways for the passage of our ships should have been left untouched. The mine laying was supervised by the flagship miner of the OVRA A. N. Bashkirov.
Unfortunately, the naval base did not have special ships either for laying minefields or for carrying out minesweeping operations. An ordinary barge was adapted to lay mines.
Late in the evening of June 28, to the west of the peninsula, the first minefield was laid from the R-55 barge towed by the Volna GISU. The staging was provided by two boats - PK-237 and MO-311. The next day, the I-17 tug and the P-55 barge, accompanied by boats, laid an anti-landing minefield in Grossarsbukten Bay. On June 28 and 29, 100 small German mines with a depth of 3 feet (about 1 m) were deployed.
On July 1, the OR-1 tugboat laid two mine cans, 5 minutes each, southwest of the Hanko Peninsula, where the movement of enemy watercraft had previously been observed.
On July 8 and 9, in order to protect the approach to the base from the sea, a minefield was placed south of Russare Island. The mines were placed from a barge towed by the Volna GISU.
20 days later, on July 29, the OR-1 tug and the PK-239 boat laid out several mine cans. In total, the base's boats and auxiliary vessels laid 367 mines.
The enemy did not resist the laying of minefields. All minefields were well covered by fire from BO batteries.
The ship's patrols monitored the enemy. At the same time, the “small hunters” boats, which carried out patrols, carried out anti-submarine defense on the approach fairways to Hanko.
However, using the entire stock of mines in the base only for anti-landing defense in the form of laying mines directly off one’s shores was not enough. It was necessary, using torpedo boats and MoD boats, to place some of the mines on the routes of the enemy’s military and merchant ships, as well as in the areas of his skerry maneuver bases. Due to the absence of active minelaying, the enemy fleet was not constrained in its actions and carried out both shelling of the base and assistance to the garrisons of its islands with impunity.
The OVR sailors not only laid mines. Was placed in front of them new task- destroy floating mines driven by waves from the Baltic. During fairly frequent storms, mines placed in the throat of the Gulf of Finland by German, Finnish and Soviet ships often broke loose from their anchors and, drifting in the gulf at the will of the wind and currents, posed a threat to ships stationed in the port. As a rule, after each storm, one or two drifting mines appeared in the area of the Khankov raid. They created a serious threat to ships stationed in the roadstead and in the port. The water area adjacent to the island of Gustavsvern was carefully monitored. The same observation was carried out from other OVR observation posts. A special demolition team was created to destroy the discovered mines. It was headed by Sergeant Major Andreev. On the raid boat KM, with a boat in tow, the demolition men went out to carry out a combat mission. To destroy a mine, you need to shoot it from a cannon. A machine gun and rifle are not suitable for this task. Through bullet holes, water can enter the body of the mine, and then it, acquiring zero buoyancy, will remain hidden under the surface of the sea and create an even greater threat to shipping. There were no guns on the "kaemkas". Therefore, there was only one way left: to approach the floating mine on a boat, hang a demolition cartridge on its horns, then light the fuse fuse and row as quickly as possible to a safe distance.
Control trawling of the fairways was carried out by KM boats. However, their limited seaworthiness made it possible to combat mines only on fairways located inside the skerry area. But since there were no other watercraft, the “kaemki” also dared to trawl the exit fairways outside the skerry area.
Due to the enemy's precise knowledge of the main fairways and navigational signs in the Hanko area and in order to hinder his possible actions, all peacetime navigational signs were destroyed, the beacons were extinguished, and minefields were placed on the fairways.
In this regard, the base's hydraulic department was tasked with laying new fairways and providing them with reliable fencing for the navigation of their ships both day and night.
For night navigation in the closed area of the Hanko base, handling points were equipped on the islands of Stura-Stenscher and Lindskär, and a buoy with a fire was installed at the 5-meter Sytin bank, which fenced off the bank and the southwestern edge of the minefield.
On the inner fairways, the standard night lighting was not turned on at all, and the daytime fencing was removed and replaced with conditional pokes. Manipulation points were turned on only by order of the operational duty officer (OD) of the naval base headquarters. The order was transmitted by radio using conventional signals directly to the aid stations, which were serviced by the personnel of the hydraulic district. To enter the base, ship commanders were required to inform the base headquarters OD in advance by radio. Having received permission, the ships had to approach the approach point, where they were met by a special ship, in the wake of which they followed to the base, or they accepted a pilot from this ship and, under his guidance, proceeded independently to their destination.
Three new fairways were laid from the approach point, accessible for the passage of ships with a draft of up to 8 m. The newly laid fairways were examined by control sounding and trawling. The main turns were fenced off with conditional bumps.
The entry, exit and placement of ships according to disposition were entrusted to the base's flagship navigator S.F. Menshikov, who was assigned personnel of the military pilot service. Pilotage service was provided by an MO boat or tugboat, and later by the gunboat Laine, which went to the approach point for receiving and escorting ships.
In those conditions when the opening of control points was undesirable, to orient their ships (by prior agreement) they used the illumination of searchlights at the zenith, the firing of the Russare and Heste-Busset batteries, as well as the exit of a guard ship with sector colored fire.
By implementing these measures, the free navigation of our ships was achieved and the navigation of enemy ships was made difficult.
The closure of all known fairways, the destruction of peacetime landmarks and lights, the blocking of fairways with mines, the establishment of completely new fairways, strict regimes and navigation rules were the right measures and fully justified themselves.
An attempt by enemy torpedo boats to break into the base along peacetime fairways failed.
During the hostilities and until the end of the evacuation of Hanko, over 130 ships and vessels were brought into and out of the base, and among them there were ships of large displacement: the turbo-electric ship "Joseph Stalin", the minelayers "Marti" and "Ural", the floating workshop "Sickle and Molot" ", transports and destroyers.
At 8.00 on July 4, four transports from Tallinn arrived at the port - Vilsandi, Someri, Aegna and Abruka, escorted by the patrol ship Burya, BTShch-214 Bugel and four torpedo boats. Half an hour later, the warships left for Tallinn. The transports delivered ammunition, gasoline, food, engineering equipment and a machine gun company. Its 12 heavy machine guns were distributed between the island of Heste-Busse, which needed strengthening of defense, and the second combat area. The defenders of the base hastily strengthened the fire protection of the northern coast of the peninsula from landings.
During the day, the enemy fired at the airfield and the islands of Kuen, Meden, Hermanse and transports in the port.
On July 4, three enemy aircraft were destroyed in the sky over Hanko: one by anti-aircraft gunners and two by pilots. I-16 A.K. Antonenko and P.A. Brinko were on duty at the airfield. Two Yu-88 bombers appeared in the sky above the base. Antonenko and Brinko took off and shot them both down. Only four minutes passed from the moment of takeoff to the outcome of the battle. Alexey Antonenko and Pyotr Brinko were the first in the Baltic to establish the excellent maneuverability of a pair in air combat instead of a three-aircraft flight.
The gunsmiths placed PC missile launchers under the planes of the fighters. This significantly increased the firepower of the aircraft and their effectiveness when operating against ground and sea targets.
On July 5, the same pilots shot down another Yu-88; the air battle lasted only a minute. The crash site of the Junkers was spotted by anti-aircraft gunners. Divers recovered the pilots' bodies from the water. According to the documents found on them, it was established that the pilots fought in Spain, France, and flew over England and the Balkans. They flew in from an airfield in Latvia.
At 4.30 on July 5, a landing group of 45 people, supported by SBO artillery and MBR-2 aircraft, captured the island of Walterholm. The enemy retreated as the landing party approached. This was the first of the islands taken by the Khankovites (in total, they took 18 islands before October).
On this day, 15 DB-3 bombed a coastal battery on the island of Skogby in the Hanko area. At 19.40 three schooners with cargo arrived at Hanko.
On the night of July 7, the enemy attacked the front line on the left flank with significant forces, in the Sogars area in the defense zone of the battalion of Captain Ya. S. Sukach. And again, the barrage fire that opened in time helped: it was conducted by batteries of the 343rd artillery regiment and mortars of the 2nd battalion of the 335th rifle regiment. The attack was successfully repulsed, the enemy lost up to two companies.
The next day - July 8 - the enemy again, after strong artillery bombardment, attacked units of the 8th Brigade, but on the right flank, in the Lappvik area. And again, having suffered losses, the Finns returned to their original positions.
On July 7, MBR-2 seaplanes were used as bombers for the first time. Senior Lieutenant Ignatenko, Lieutenants P.F. Streletsky and S. Volkov bombed battle formations Finns, resulting in large forest fires. SBO artillery fired on the island of Storholm.
On July 8, A. Antonenko and P. Brinko flew to Tallinn. Along the way they shot down one Yu-88. While returning to Hanko, they noticed two Fiats heading towards the base and also shot them down. On July 14, A.K. Antonenko and P.A. Brinko were the first among the Baltic pilots to become Heroes of the Soviet Union. Comrades in arms called A.K. Antonenko “the Baltic Chkalov.”
Other Hanko pilots also fought heroically. On July 5, A. Baysultanov and A. Kuznetsov flew to reconnaissance of the Turku area on I-16. Noticing four Fokker D-21 fighters taking off from the airfield, they attacked the enemy at an altitude of 200–300 m and shot down two Fokkers, which fell on their own airfield. The other two avoided the fight. Returning to Hanko, A. Baysultanov and A. Kuznetsov discovered a boat with soldiers in the skerries, attacked it and sank it.
There were 15–16 aircraft at Hanko airfield and there was not a single shelter for them. Since the enemy fired at the airfield with guns of 152–203 mm caliber, the airfield after the shelling was covered with craters two deep and up to four meters in diameter. The Finns opened fire immediately after the planes took off. It was necessary to constantly maintain a construction battalion of 1,000 people at the airfield. His fighters, working under fire, managed to fill up the craters and keep the runway ready.
But the planes also suffered while parked. On July 6, an I-153 fighter was destroyed by a direct hit, and three similar aircraft were disabled.
The engineering service proposed building a second runway perpendicular to the main one. IN short term a kilometer-long strip was cleared of forest and huge boulders, leveled, and on July 9 it was tested on the I-153 by the squadron commander himself, Captain L. G. Belousov. Taking off from the new runway, he went into battle. The enemy, not yet figuring out where the plane had taken off from, opened fire on the main airfield. But a stray shell also landed on the reserve runway; it was not noticed in time and the crater was not filled up. When landing, L.G. Belousova's "seagull" capped and crashed. The pilot survived, having escaped with bruises.
The enemy spent two, three, four thousand mines and shells a day, and later reached six thousand. Hanko's artillerymen could not afford such luxury. The defenders of the base had little ammunition, and the position of the defenders forced them to think about the future. They spared no ammunition to repel the assault, but they could not return fire with fire. They tried to conduct each shooting accurately and prudently. One hundred, two, or at most three hundred shells and mines - this is our daily norm.
From the first days of the war, it was necessary to take into account the consumption of ammunition, and the headquarters strictly monitored this important matter. If they received anything from Tallinn, it was mainly for anti-aircraft and coastal batteries. The rifle brigade and other units received nothing. I had to save money.
According to the latest intelligence reports from fleet headquarters, the 163rd German division is concentrated in the Hanko area. The base commander asked the brigade commander what had been done to successfully repel an attack by an entire division. N.P. Simonyak reported: two rifle regiments of the brigade occupy a defense line up to three kilometers deep. The 94th and 95th engineering and construction battalions transferred to the brigade and the 219th engineer battalion were consolidated into rifle regiment. This regiment, together with the border detachment and the 297th separate tank battalion, form the reserve of the brigade.
This text is an introductory fragment. From the book Nenets reindeer husbandry in the 20th - early 21st centuries author Kvashnin Yuri NikolaevichCHAPTER VI ON THE GYDAN PENINSULA On the right bank of the Ob Bay, in the northeastern part of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Tazovsky district is located. It occupies the Gydansky and Mammoth peninsulas, the northeastern part of the Tazovsky peninsula and the lower reaches of the river. Taz. The territory of the district is within
From the book Legends and Myths ancient Greece(ill.) author Kun Nikolay AlbertovichARGONAUTS ON THE KIZIKI PENINSULA When the Argonauts sailed along the Propontis, they landed on the Cyziku Peninsula along the way. The Dolions, descendants of Poseidon, lived there. They were ruled by King Cyzicus. Not far from Cyzicus there was Bear Mountain, where six-armed giants lived; only
From the book Chekists author Team of authorsMikhail Nikolaev ON THE SOIKIN PENINSULA The Leningrad front and the blockaded city daily and hourly needed accurate information about the enemy’s strength and his plans. And this task of learning the secrets of the enemy, along with army intelligence, was solved by military counterintelligence agencies
From the book Italy. Reluctant enemy author Shirokorad Alexander BorisovichChapter 34 The end of the war on the Apennine Peninsula Until now, we have talked about military operations in Italy that had nothing to do with the USSR, but an idea of which is necessary for us to understand subsequent events. How did the Soviet government react to the surrender?
author Manoshin Igor StepanovichOperations of Soviet troops on the Kerch Peninsula (January - April 1942) During 9 days of active combat operations in the Kerch-Feodosia operation, over 42 thousand troops were landed on a front of 250 km, which advanced 100–110 km. As a result of the landing operation there was
From the book July 1942. Fall of Sevastopol author Manoshin Igor StepanovichDefeat of Soviet troops on the Kerch Peninsula (May 8-20, 1942) The German command, planning a strike on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front towards Transcaucasia in the new campaign of the summer of 1942, decided in advance, before the onset of the main forces, to improve operational
From the book Decisive Wars in History author Liddell Hart Basil HenryWar on the Iberian Peninsula But Napoleon received a gift of two years to cure the “Spanish ulcer.” How Moore's intervention at one time thwarted Napoleon's attempt to stop " inflammatory process" on early stage, and in subsequent years to Wellington
From the book World History: in 6 volumes. Volume 4: The World in the 18th Century author Team of authorsFORMATION OF MONO-ETHNIC STATES ON THE INDOCHINE PENINSULA Three worlds, three systems, dating back to pre-colonial times, determined the characteristics of the local society. The first world of Southeast Asia - Confucian-Buddhist Vietnam. Socio-political
From the book History of the Baltic Slavs author Gilferding Alexander FedorovichXXX. Traces of Slavic settlements on the Jutland Peninsula These are the evidence of folk legends about long-standing clashes between the Baltic Slavs and their neighbors, the Germans and Scandinavians. It is difficult to decide to what extent the stories of Saxo Grammar and the Scandinavian
From the book History of Korea: from antiquity to the beginning of the 21st century. author Kurbanov Sergey Olegovich§ 3. Bronze and Iron Age on the Korean Peninsula Most scientists believe that bronze products, along with the technology for its production, appeared on the Korean Peninsula around the 10th century. BC. The Bronze Age lasted until the 4th century. BC, when it was replaced by the Iron Age.
From the book DECAY. How it matured in the “world system of socialism” author Medvedev VadimHow to end the confrontation on the Korean Peninsula The North Korean phenomenon Another source of tension in the region was on the Korean Peninsula. This is a confrontation between two states: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, behind which stood
From the book The Life of Count Dmitry Milyutin author Petelin Viktor VasilievichChapter 1 “THUNDER CLOUD” ON THE BALKAN PENINSULA The passing year of 1875 was calm for Milyutin, despite all his family troubles and worries, a cloudless sky reigned in the world, rulers of great states met, foreign ministers settled what
From the book On the Battlefields of the American Civil War author Burin Sergey NikolaevichPeninsula Campaign So, General McClellan spent the fall and then the winter preparing his army for a “crushing blow.” Trying to remain calm, Lincoln periodically reminded "Mac" of the need for active action. We have already discussed the general’s responses to such calls.
From the book History ancient world[East, Greece, Rome] author Nemirovsky Alexander ArkadevichWars in the Iberian Peninsula (197–133 BC) As early as 197 BC. e. on the conquered Iberian lands, the Romans created two provinces: Spain Near (that is, located closer to Italy) and Spain Far. They occupied the northeastern and southeastern regions, respectively.
authorTrojans on the Apennine Peninsula Many myths connect the Trojans with Italy. They founded cities immediately after the Trojan War: Alba Longa is an ancient city in Lazio, founded around 1152 BC. e., 30 years after Lavinium, Ascanius, son of Aeneas, who later accepted
From the book Book III. Great Rus' Mediterranean author Saversky Alexander VladimirovichEtruscans on the Apennine Peninsula The name of this people, adopted in historical science, taken from Roman authors. Latin writers called this people “Etruscans” or “Tusci”, as well as Lydians, Greek writers called them “Tyrrenians” or “Tyrsenians”, but they themselves were Etruscans
Hanko- a naval base of the Soviet Baltic Fleet on the Hanko Peninsula, which existed in 1940-1941.
History of creation
On March 12, 1940, the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed between Finland and the USSR, ending the Soviet-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940. Under the terms of the agreement, Finland leased the Hanko Peninsula, 22 km long and 3-6 km wide (area 115 sq. km), to the USSR for a period of 30 years, with an annual payment of 8 million Finnish marks to the USSR. The agreement provided for the creation of a naval base on the peninsula. With the obligation of the Finnish side to withdraw all its troops from the peninsula within ten days from the entry into force of the treaty, after which it passed into the possession of the USSR. In order to quickly accept the base, immediately after the signing of the agreement, an advanced team with the necessary cargo was urgently transferred by TB-3 transport aircraft from the Paldiski airfield. Due to the lack of a prepared airfield on Hanko, TB-3 aircraft landed near the shore on ice, which was still strong. Representatives of the Baltic Fleet command flew to the peninsula on the same planes.
Captain 1st Rank S.F. Belousov was appointed commander of the naval base on the Hanko Peninsula.
On April 2, 1940, the first caravan of ships with cargo, artillery equipment and other property departed from Leningrad for Hanko. The passage of the caravan was ensured by the icebreaker Ermak, but even with its help the transports made their way to the peninsula only on April 22.
Almost immediately, the construction of naval base facilities, as well as land and sea airfields, began there. At the same time, infantry, engineering, artillery and tank units and units began to arrive at Hanko by sea and rail (in transit through the territory of Finland). Naval and border units and air defense units arrived there for permanent deployment.
Location
The Hanko Peninsula became the first Soviet military base located outside the country. Geographically, it protrudes from the mainland into the Gulf of Finland and, together with the adjacent islands, occupies an advantageous position in the system of sea communications leading from the Baltic Sea. The choice of this place for the base was determined by the fact that Hanko is the southernmost point of Finland, at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. From the south, the entrance to the Gulf of Finland was to be controlled by the Soviet base in Paldiski, in the occupied territory Soviet Union in 1940 Estonia. The distance between Paldiski and Hanko is 80 km. The combat missions of the Soviet Hanko base were defined as the defense of the northern flank of the mine and artillery position at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland and the defense of the base itself from sea, land and air.It was planned that large surface ships (cruisers and destroyers), security ships, large and medium caliber artillery, aviation forces (fighters and bombers), air defense artillery, infantry forces (with tanks and artillery) would be based in Hanko.
Despite the strategically advantageous position of the peninsula and the terms of its lease, the naval base that was being created initially had disadvantages. Firstly, access to the database turned out to be very difficult. There were several routes: sea - along the Gulf of Finland, which freezes in winter; by land - by train across all of Finland to its southwestern tip; air - by plane via Paldiski. Secondly, the boundaries of the base limited the choice of more tactically advantageous positions and lines.
The position of the base was complicated by the reach of its objects to the entire depth even for field artillery, the firing range of which was 22-25 km, while the peninsula had a length of 22 km. The rented base was also available for Finnish coastal defense battleships.
Composition of base forces
Armaments
By the spring of 1941, the following were stationed at the Soviet Hanko base:
- 2nd railway division (305 mm caliber battery - 3 guns, 180 mm caliber battery - 4 guns)
- 29th artillery division (7 – 130 mm guns, 12 – 45 mm guns)
- 30th artillery division (3 – 130 mm guns, 3 – 100 mm guns, 12 – 45 mm guns)
- Torpedo boat brigade (20 G-5 type boats)
- Submarine division (8 M-class submarines)
- Patrol boat division (3 MO type boats)
- 13th Fighter Aviation Regiment (60 I-153 aircraft)
- 81st Air Squadron (9 MBR-2 seaplanes)
- 8th Rifle Brigade (two rifle regiments, an artillery regiment, a tank battalion, an anti-aircraft artillery battalion, an engineer battalion, a communications battalion, an automobile company)
- Three anti-aircraft artillery battalions
- Three construction battalions and two construction companies
- Border detachment (with a division of patrol boats - 4 types of MO)
- Hospital
In mid-June 1941, there were over 30 thousand military personnel and civilians on the Hanko Peninsula and adjacent islands.
Defensive works
On July 28, the Main Military Council of the USSR Navy reviewed and approved the defense plan in the Baltic states and Hanko, developed by I. I. Gren’s commission. The deployment of naval bases and coastal defense in the Baltic states in February 1940 - June 1941, Colonel V. M. Kurmyshov approved the plan for military construction work on the Hanko naval base. To carry it out, a third special construction department was created (headed by G.S. Dubovsky).
Behind a short time The Soviet military fortified the leased territory. Two large-caliber railway batteries with a caliber of 305 and 180 millimeters were redeployed to Hanko, and two coastal defense artillery battalions were also built and put into operation. A 305-mm tower four-gun battery was built on the island of Russaare, which, after commissioning, was to become the basis for the artillery defense of the base in the naval sector (by June 1941, only the pits for the towers were ready).
On the isthmus that connected the peninsula with the mainland, a system of ground and anti-landing defense was created, relying on pillboxes, bunkers and dots, densely located along the front and echeloned in depth (190 of them were built). An anti-tank ditch was dug and wire barriers were installed. The ground defense of the base consisted of a system of obstacles on the border of the leased zone, two equipped defensive lines and two lines of direct defense of the city of Hanko itself, one of which was facing the sea and was actually an anti-landing defense line. The size of the base territory excluded the possibility of achieving sufficient depth of the entire defensive system, but made it possible to create a significant defense density.
On the other side of the border, beyond the village of Lappohja, Finnish soldiers erected their line of defense. The purpose of this 40-kilometer Harparskog line was to prevent a Soviet breakthrough to Turku, Helsinki and Tampere.
In early June 1941, the condition of the naval base was checked by the commander of the Leningrad Military District, Lieutenant General M. M. Popov, the chief of staff of the district, Major General D. N. Nikishev, and the commander of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, Vice Admiral V. F. Tributs and representative of the military department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks N.V. Malyshev. The arrivals inspected the construction of pillboxes, a coastal battery on the island of Heste-Busse and a number of other objects.
At the beginning of the war, on the peninsula there was the 8th Infantry Brigade under the command of Colonel N.P. Simonyak, reinforced by an artillery regiment, an anti-aircraft artillery battalion, tank and engineer battalions, as well as a communications battalion. The coastal defense sector had several railway and stationary batteries with guns ranging in caliber from 305 to 45 mm. The base's air defense consisted of twelve 76 mm batteries and an air squadron (11 I-153 and I-15 aircraft). Directly subordinate to the base were 3 MO-4 patrol boats and several small boats. The total number of the base garrison was 25,300 people.
Despite the strategically advantageous location of the base, neither destroyers nor minesweepers had a permanent base there before the war. By the beginning of the war, there were only four submarines at the base: one was on patrol, the rest were being repaired in Tallinn.
The 13th Fighter Regiment, numbering 60 aircraft, based at the base in June 1941, left only one squadron of I-153s at Hanko, the remaining three squadrons near Leningrad received new aircraft. In addition, the 81st separate aviation squadron (UAE) of MBR-2 seaplanes was stationed at Hanko.
The Great Patriotic War
The first battles with the Finns on Hanko took place on July 1. The Finns conducted reconnaissance in force at the front line of the Soviet defense line on the isthmus of the peninsula. After two Soviet artillery batteries opened fire on them, the Finns retreated.
On July 7, the Finns again attacked Soviet positions on the isthmus, this time with units of the 55th Infantry Regiment of the Finnish Army. This attack was also repulsed by Soviet artillery.
On July 26, a transport with ammunition and food arrived at the port of Hanko. The transport was heavily damaged by Finnish artillery fire. In August, fighting continued for the islands around the peninsula - with varying success and losses on both sides. A second line of defense was built on the peninsula, which included 90 bunkers. Construction began on the third line of defense, in the middle of the peninsula.
On August 29, a transport with a construction battalion (1,100 people) on board, as well as the gunboat Laine (armed with two 75 mm guns and machine guns) arrived at the Hanko base from the Paldiski base (captured the day before by the Germans). On September 2, the Finns again conducted reconnaissance in force on the isthmus, in small groups, but along the entire length of the front (about 3 km). This reconnaissance was repulsed by Soviet artillery fire.
Since the supply of food, ammunition, fuel and other things to the Hanko base ceased, a strict economy regime was introduced on September 1. Thus, the daily portion of meat was reduced to 33 grams per person.
On October 18, daily rations at the Hanko base were again reduced. Now it included 750 grams of bread, 23 grams of meat, 60 grams of sugar. Savings on ammunition and fuel for aircraft and cars have also increased.
On October 20-22, the remnants of Soviet troops from the Estonian island of Hiiumaa - 570 people - were evacuated to the Hanko base.
On October 25, three minesweepers and three MoD boats arrived at the Hanko base from Kronstadt. They delivered a small amount of shells for 130 mm guns, gasoline and food, as well as an order to evacuate one rifle battalion from the Hanko base. This battalion (499 people), as well as senior command personnel from among those evacuated from the island of Hiiumaa, was delivered on October 28 to the Oranienbaum bridgehead.
Evacuation
On October 28, the command of the Baltic Fleet determined common task: remove the personnel of the Hanko base garrison with small arms and ammunition; remove the maximum possible amount of artillery and small arms ammunition; remove as much food and equipment as possible; everything that cannot be removed must be destroyed.
In total, about 28 thousand people and about 3 thousand tons of food and ammunition had to be removed.
On November 2, a detachment of ships arrived at the port of Hanko - two destroyers, a minelayer, 5 minesweepers, 6 MO boats. They were loaded with 4,246 soldiers and commanders (one rifle regiment and two divisions of the artillery regiment of the 8th brigade, and a base hospital), as well as ammunition and food. On November 4, this caravan arrived safely in Kronstadt.
On November 14, a minelayer, a minesweeper and 3 MoD boats arrived in Hanko. These were the remains of another caravan from Kronstadt, the remaining ships - two destroyers, a minesweeper and a boat were blown up by mines. In addition, the Zhdanov transport and the leader of the Leningrad destroyers on their way to Hanko were previously blown up by mines.
On November 21, a caravan was sent from Hanko consisting of the Vahur transport, a minelayer and 6 minesweepers, with 2,051 soldiers and commanders on board (on the Vahur transport there were 18 T-26 tanks and 520 tons of food). The minelayer and one minesweeper were blown up by mines, killing their crews and 578 soldiers and commanders of the Hanko garrison.
On November 24, another caravan - the Minna transport, a patrol ship, 3 minesweepers and 4 MO boats - left Hanko with 2,556 soldiers and commanders, as well as 350 tons of food. On the way to Kronstadt, one minesweeper was blown up by a mine (150 people from the Hanko garrison and the crew of the minesweeper were killed).
On November 30, a large caravan arrived at Hanko: two destroyers, 6 minesweepers, 7 MoD boats and the turbo-electric ship Joseph Stalin. Vice Admiral Drozd arrived with the caravan. He informed General Kabanov that in a day two more minesweepers, a patrol ship, a gunboat, two MoD boats and a transport would arrive in Hanko. All these ships, according to the admiral, will remove the remnants of the garrison of the Hanko base completely.
General Kabanov ordered the destruction of all artillery pieces of the base, as well as the 7 T-26 and 11 T-38 tanks remaining there, and to mine all base structures.
On December 2, the last caravan left Hanko - the turbo-electric ship Joseph Stalin, two destroyers, 6 minesweepers, 7 motor boats, 4 torpedo boats - with 8,935 soldiers and commanders of the Hanko garrison.
On the torpedo boats, which had the highest speed and therefore quickly moved away from the caravan, were the head of the base, Lieutenant General Kabanov, his deputy, Major General Dmitriev, base commissar Raskin, commander of the 8th brigade, Major General Simonyak, brigade commissar Romanov, base prosecutor Korshunov, chairman of the tribunal Morozov, head of the special department Mikhailov.
On December 3, the turbo-electric ship Joseph Stalin was blown up by mines and lost power (5,589 soldiers and commanders were evacuated on it). According to Soviet data, 4 minesweepers and 5 boats allegedly managed to take 1,740 people from the Joseph Stalin. "Joseph Stalin" remained afloat and on December 5 drifted to the coast of Estonia. There, several thousand soldiers and commanders of the Hanko garrison, as well as the crew of the ship, were disarmed by the rear division of the German troops and transported to a prisoner of war camp.
During the evacuation of the Hanko base, 4,987 soldiers and garrison commanders were lost.
By order of the NK Navy dated December 10, 1941, the Hanko naval base was disbanded.
Results of the functioning of the Hanko base
Initial task: defense of the northern flank of the mine-artillery position at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland and defense of the base itself from sea, land and air.
- the base could not defend the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, since most of its sea and air force were withdrawn even before the start of the war and in the first days of the war. Moreover, even before the withdrawal, these forces were very limited. In addition, the German fleet did not enter the Gulf of Finland, so there was no possibility of shooting at it, or bombing or torpedoing it.
- There was practically no need to defend the base from sea, land and air, since it was practically never attacked. Finnish troops (one infantry regiment and units of border guards and militia) conducted only reconnaissance in force on the isthmus. Naval forces Finns (two coastal defense battleships) shelled the territory of the Hanko Peninsula four times in July, firing a total of 160 254 mm caliber shells across the area, but the base’s artillery did not return fire because it did not see the targets. The Finns had practically no aviation in the area near Hanko.
The subsequent task (set on July 10, 1941): “to attract as many enemy troops as possible, with your activity to force the enemy to strengthen the group opposing Hanko.”
Hanko (peninsula) Hanko (peninsula) 59°50′ N. w. 23°05′ E. d. / 59.833° N. w. 23.083° east. d. / 59.833; 23.083 (G) (I)Coordinates: 59°50′ N. w. 23°05′ E. d. / 59.833° N. w. 23.083° east. d. / 59.833; 23.083 (G) (I)
On September 19, 1944, in connection with the cessation of hostilities on the part of Finland on September 4 and on the part of the Soviet Union on September 5, 1944, an Armistice Agreement was signed in Moscow, according to which Finland undertook to withdraw its troops beyond the Soviet-Finnish border line defined by the Peace Treaty March 12, 1940. At the same time, the Soviet Union renounced its rights to lease the Hanko Peninsula, granted to it by the Peace Treaty of 1940, and Finland pledged to provide the Soviet Union with a lease for a period of 50 years of territory and water spaces for the creation of a Soviet naval base in the area of the Porkkala-Udd Peninsula .
see also
- Russarö (Finnish)
- Russarön majakka (Finnish)
Write a review on the article "Hanko (Peninsula)"
Links
Excerpt characterizing Hanko (peninsula)
Alpatych, having arrived in Bogucharovo some time before the death of the old prince, noticed that there was unrest among the people and that, contrary to what was happening in the Bald Mountains strip on a sixty-verst radius, where all the peasants left (letting the Cossacks ruin their villages), in the steppe strip , in Bogucharovskaya, the peasants, as was heard, had relations with the French, received some papers that passed between them, and remained in place. He knew through the servants loyal to him that the other day the peasant Karp, who had a great influence on the world, was traveling with a government cart, returned with the news that the Cossacks were destroying the villages from which the inhabitants were leaving, but that the French were not touching them. He knew that yesterday another man had even brought from the village of Visloukhova - where the French were stationed - a paper from the French general, in which the residents were told that no harm would be done to them and that they would pay for everything that was taken from them if they stayed. To prove this, the man brought from Visloukhov one hundred rubles in banknotes (he did not know that they were counterfeit), given to him in advance for the hay.Finally, and most importantly, Alpatych knew that on the very day he ordered the headman to collect carts to take the princess’s train from Bogucharovo, there was a meeting in the village in the morning, at which it was supposed not to be taken out and to wait. Meanwhile, time was running out. The leader, on the day of the prince’s death, August 15, insisted to Princess Mary that she leave on the same day, as it was becoming dangerous. He said that after the 16th he is not responsible for anything. On the day of the prince’s death, he left in the evening, but promised to come to the funeral the next day. But the next day he could not come, since, according to the news he himself received, the French had unexpectedly moved, and he only managed to take his family and everything valuable from his estate.
For about thirty years Bogucharov was ruled by the elder Dron, whom the old prince called Dronushka.
Dron was one of those physically and morally strong men who, as soon as they get old, grow a beard, and so, without changing, live up to sixty or seventy years, without a single gray hair or missing tooth, just as straight and strong at sixty years old , just like at thirty.
Hanko is a man and a steamship, a peninsula and a town (in Finnish terms, a city) in western Finland, and in addition its southernmost point. In Russian Hanko is called, imagine, Gangut. The famous Battle of Gangut, about which was my post yesterday, took place nearby.
In general, this part of Finland is definitely worth a visit, if only because it is ABSOLUTELY UNLIKE the Finland we are used to. The climate here is transitional from maritime to temperate continental and the nature, first of all, makes you wonder - a coastline rugged by the sea with numerous skerries, pine forests on sand dunes, but most importantly - oak forests! Numerous oak forests, which determined the name of the town nearby - Tammisari, which means “Oak Island”.
But even more remarkable is the city of Hanko itself, located on the peninsula of the same name.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, my great-grandfather rented a dacha in Gungenburg year after year. Gungenburg is located on the other side of the Gulf of Finland and is now called Ust-Narva. I went there last summer out of curiosity and was somewhat horrified, not understanding what good my great-grandfather found there. Now I think that the current Hanko is a kind of pre-revolutionary Ust-Narva, which was not brought by the Soviet government to its current deplorable state. But I will have to write a separate post about this.
However, Hanko also has a complicated history, and how, despite the circumstances, it was able to maintain its appearance as a 19th-century resort is a mystery.
From 1809 to 1917 Hanko was part of the Russian Empire, and since December 1917 it belongs to Finland.
On April 3, 1918, it was in Hanko that German troops came ashore. The landing of the Germans marked the victory over the Reds and the end of the CIVIL war in Finland (there was one, but it did not last long - only 3.5 months).
In honor of this event, a monument was erected at the site of the landing in 1921 using voluntary donations collected throughout Finland. Sculptor Bertel Nilsson created the monument, on which was carved a bas-relief of a German soldier, as well as the following text in Swedish, Finnish and German: " German troops landed at Hanko on April 3, 1918, to help our country in its struggle for freedom. Let this stone remind us of our gratitude in future times." The monument was solemnly opened with a large crowd of people.
But the peace treaty concluded after Winter War in 1940, Hanko, according to the diplomatic expression of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, was “leased by Finland to the USSR for 30 years, and a naval base was created on it.”
“From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 to December 1941, the garrison of the base heroically defended Kh. and the adjacent islands for 165 days. Before the attack on the USSR, the fascist German command demanded that the Finnish command quickly capture Hanko...
On the night of July 1, 1941, the enemy (that is, landlord) tried to take Hanko by surprise assault, but was repulsed and moved on to a long siege, systematically shelling Hanko with artillery and mortar fire. The enemy conducted an active defense, landing troops on the nearest islands; from July 5 to October 23, 18 islands were cleared of the enemy. ...
According to the 1947 peace treaty with Finland, the USSR renounced its rights to lease the Hanko Peninsula."
The border of the territory “leased” by the Soviet Union has been preserved, and currently there is a corresponding “Front Line” museum on the road leading to the city of Hanko.
But let's return to the monument in honor of the end of the civil war. Its fate turned out to be not as simple as that of the monument to Russian sailors who fell in the Battle of Gangut, which I wrote about earlier - the Finns and Swedes preserved the Russian monument, simply placing theirs next to it.
When the residents of Hanko returned to the city after its liberation from the tenants, the monument was dismantled. By 1943 it was repaired and reinstalled. This time they wrote the following text on it:
“The enemy desecrated and destroyed the monument in 1940-1941. It was restored in 1943 in confirmation of our steadfastness.
In 1946, the monument was dismantled at the request of the Soviet control commission.
It was returned to its place in 1960 without the bas-relief depicting a German soldier and without the original text. Now it simply says “For Freedom.”
Let's hope that the dark times of Hanko are forever in the past. Now it is a charming resort town, spread with its wooden villas on sand dunes and granite cliffs covered with pine forests. A city with 30 kilometers sea beaches in charming bays separated by granite headlands.
Villas are scattered along the coast and throughout the city.
Many of them have names, some are nameless. They are often used as boarding houses - in any case, you can see advertisements for rooms for rent.
On a sunny day, it’s hard to imagine that you are just a few hours drive from St. Petersburg to the north!
The town has many cafes and restaurants with open terraces and sell funny tourist souvenirs at ridiculous prices.
In the summer you hardly see people on the streets; it seems that everyone is on the beach, although there are plenty of free places on the cleanest sand.
In such bays it’s nice to drink a bottle of cool white and spend the day thinking about the eternal. Although I would probably start the morning with a cool brut.
But the attractions of Hanko are not limited to the monument described above. If you walk along the shore along a series of villas and pass through a pine forest, you can come to another remarkable site.
The history of the cafe, standing on a granite rock by the sea, is associated with the name of Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim, with the period of his life when in the 1920s he temporarily retired from government affairs.
Let us quote from Eleanor Joffe’s book “Mannerheim Lines”:
“Since 1921, [Mannerheim] has been renting, and in 26, buying from the municipality an island with buildings two kilometers from Hanko, renovating and furnishing a house there. On the neighboring island there was a cafe “Africa”, where visitors came with smuggled alcohol in their pockets (from 1919 to 1932, Prohibition reigned in the country.) In the end, Mannerheim got tired of the restless, motley public: he rented this island together as a cafe, renamed the establishment “Hut of the Four Winds” and brilliantly played the role of owner, receiving his people there guests, sometimes very noble - for example, the Dutch Prince Henrik. Carried away by the game of being the owner of the estate, Mannerheim tried to grow flowers, but without much success - the flowers did not take root on the rocky ground, and besides, the islands were really blown through by all the winds.
By the way, Mannerheim himself violated the law prohibiting alcoholic beverages several times. He even received an interesting letter about this. While looking through the correspondence, the general often left notes, which meant he read it carefully. This time, too, he underlined in red pencil the phrases that contained the main pathos of this anonymous message, and marked the climax with an exclamation point:
24.2.1925
Dear White General
Having read today that the presence of the White General at the Invalid Party aroused admiration among former soldiers, I cannot help but regret the circumstance due to which we, the mothers of Finland, cannot, as we fervently wish, make you an ideal of national dignity for our sons .
Namely: it is common knowledge that you do not honor some law established by the people, but appearing at social events so moved by strong drinks that the audience clearly notices. (!)
Our sons need ideal personalities whose example they would like to follow in life, and our parents also need them, but in the current situation they cannot tell their sons: accept the White General as your ideal in life - precisely for the above reason.
Is change possible in this truly regrettable matter?
