Heroic Defense of Hanko: Undefeated Gangut

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The Hanko Peninsula is better known as Gangut in the history of the navy. It was on its shores in 1714 during the Northern War (1700-1721) that a naval battle took place between the Russian and Swedish fleets. In the course of well-thought-out work and under the personal command of Peter I and his associates, the Swedish fleet was defeated, which did not know defeat before Gangut. This first major victory of the Russian fleet allowed Russia to gain access to the shores of the Baltic Sea, strengthen its position in Finland and establish complete domination in the Gulf of Finland.

Since then, the region around Hanko, thanks to its convenient location in the waters of the Baltic Sea, has repeatedly become an arena for battles during the Russian-Swedish wars. The water area of this peninsula, due to the warm climate, provides navigation almost all year round. During the First World War, Hanko housed a maneuverable base for light forces and submarines of the Baltic Fleet, it was here that ship detachments were formed before going out to combat operations at sea.

Territory leased by the USSR from Finland

In 1940, as a result of the Soviet-Finnish war, the Hanko Peninsula was leased to the USSR for 30 years for the creation of a naval base on it. The territorial location determined the main task of the base - the defense of the northern flank and the provision of free operations for the Baltic Fleet. It was also assumed that it was here that the so-called. "Mosquito fleet" (torpedo boats, etc.), submarines and units of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet Air Force. Despite its territorially advantageous position and strategic importance, this base had a number of shortcomings. Supply of the peninsula, incl. food, seemed to be a rather difficult and costly business, since in fact it could only happen by sea or air. In addition, the base was surrounded by artillery by the enemy forces and was very clearly visible from all directions, and a large number of small islands would allow the enemy to carry out surprise attacks on Soviet ships.

The Finns immediately after leasing the peninsula began to actively strengthen their positions around and build defensive lines on the isthmus and islands.

Commander of the Northern Defense Region of the Northern Fleet, Coast Guard Lieutenant General Sergei Ivanovich Kabanov (1901-1973). From May to December 1941 - the commander of the Hanko naval base

By the beginning of the spring of 1941, there were about 30 thousand Soviet servicemen and civilians at the Soviet base. The naval base included:

• railway division - batteries of 305 mm caliber and 180 mm caliber;
• two artillery divisions (10 130-mm guns, 24 45-mm and three 100-mm);
• a brigade of torpedo boats of the G-5 type;
• a division of M-class submarines and MO-type patrol boats;
• a fighter air regiment of I-153 aircraft and an air squadron of MBR-2 seaplanes;
• a 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 and hospital.

The German command set itself the task of capturing the peninsula as quickly as possible. For this purpose, the Hanko strike group was organized in June 1941. The enemy began attacks on June 26 with powerful shelling and an attempted landing. On the same day, the President of Finland R. Ryti said that “Soviet military units on Hanko are the most important forces on land … Hanko is a pistol aimed right at the heart of Finland! . As Sergei Ivanovich Kabanov recalled in his memoirs:

On the evening of June 24, I received a radiogram from the Chief of Staff of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, Rear Admiral Yu. Panteleeva. He informed me of the order of the fleet commander: on the morning of June 25, to cover the raid of high-speed bombers of the air force of the fleet on Turku airfields with Hanko fighters. By this time, six more aircraft landed on our airfield - cannon I-16 under the command of Captain Leonovich. I ordered the chief of staff of the base to carry out the order of the commander and raise all our fighters into the air in the morning. The commandant of the coastal defense sector is to open artillery fire on June 25 at 8:00, that is, simultaneously with the bombing and destroy observation towers on the islands of Morgonland and Yussaare. The anti-aircraft batteries of the air defense sector of Major G. G. Mukhamedov and the batteries of the 343rd artillery regiment of the 8th brigade of Major I. O. Morozov were ordered to shoot down the towers on the land border and neighboring islands, from which our every step was controlled, on the isthmus and far beyond him.

Came on June 25th. And so, at about three o'clock in the morning, they brought me a notification in the fleet about the beginning of the war with Mannerheim's Finland. The alert was tagged: 02 hours 37 minutes. Now everything is clear.

Simultaneously with the bombing, we launched an artillery strike. From Cape Uddskatan, Lieutenant Bragin's battery opened fire on the Finnish tower on Morgonland Island. After the third volley, the tower was shot down. At the same time, we saw and heard an explosion of great force: it looks like our shells hit an ammunition depot on the island. Then it turned out that the shell had actually landed in a mine depot concentrated by the Finns on Morgonland.

The batteries of the 30th division opened fire at the same time on the tower on the island of Yussaare. The tower collapsed and caught fire. The gunners, seeing that the Finns are trying to take away the burning logs, intensified the fire and did not allow the fire to be extinguished.

Anti-aircraft gunners and gunners of the 8th brigade shot down all observation towers on the islands and on the border. The enemy was initially blinded.

On the morning of June 26, we learned that Finland had officially declared war on the Soviet Union.

Finnish soldiers attacking Hanko

The number of artillery attacks on the base increased every day, on especially fierce days, the Finnish artillerymen shot up to 8,000 mines and shells. At the same time, due to the shortage, the defenders could spend no more than 100 shells per day. As feared before the war, the base came under cross-fire. For 164 days of heroic defense, about 800 thousand mines and shells were fired at it - over 40 for each person.

In order to reduce the effectiveness of enemy fire, the command decided to seize the islands adjacent to Hanko, on which observation posts and firing positions were located. For this purpose, an airborne detachment was formed under the command of Captain B. M. Granin, an experienced officer who was awarded the Order of the Red Banner during the Finnish campaign. "Children of Captain Granin" - as the paratroopers called themselves. During the period from July to October, thanks to the competent joint actions of coastal artillery and aviation, 13 troops landed, which captured 19 islands. The offensive spirit of the defenders of Hanko was amazing, since, being actually deep behind enemy lines, people were eager to fight. To strengthen the antiamphibious defense near Hanko, over 350 mine laying were made.

Less successful was the operation to capture the lighthouse on the island. Bengster. From the island and especially from the tower of the lighthouse, the Finns could calmly observe the movement of our ships in the fairway of the Gulf of Finland. On July 26, a group of paratroopers from among the border guards under the command of Senior Lieutenant Kurilov was landed on the island with the aim of capturing it, destroying the garrison and blowing up the lighthouse. For this, on the boat MO # 113 there was a group of guides and two depth charges, with which, after the seizure of the island, the lighthouse was to be detonated. Preparing for the operation, the headquarters of the Hanko naval base did not take into account that the enemy, preoccupied with actions against other islands, strengthened the defense on Bengtscher. An incomplete platoon of gamekeepers, Lieutenant Luther, was transferred to the island, a 20-mm anti-aircraft gun and wire barriers were installed. And while walking the paratroopers managed to land and even capture the lower part of the lighthouse building, the course of the battle was not in their favor. The landed detachment was surrounded and the last hours of Kurilov's border guards are known mainly from Finnish documents.

Lighthouse on the island. Bengster, photographed after the battle

Soviet patrol boat PK-237, type MO-2 at Hanko. Small hunter PK-237 was part of the Separate Coast Guard Detachment of the Hanko Marine Border Guard, with the outbreak of World War II became part of the 3rd patrol boat battalion of the Protection of the water area of the Hanko Naval Base

102-mm gun from gunboat Uusimaa

Gunboat Uusimaa or Hameenmaa

For the command of the Hanko naval base, this operation was a major failure - the "sea hunter" with the entire crew and the landing party from the border guards were lost. Nevertheless, operations against the islands continued.

The base's aviation also played an important role in the defense of Hanko. The mission of the pilots was aerial reconnaissance of enemy rear services in the Tallinn – Helsinki – Turku – Moonsund Islands region. The fighters on the island intercepted Finnish and German aircraft and stormed ground targets.

Pilot of the 13th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Air Force of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, Lieutenant P. A. Brinko and military technician 1st rank F. A.

A special group was formed to fight them.

An attempt to destroy the Soviet pilots was unsuccessful for the Finns, and after the battle on November 5, where they lost two of their best pilots, it was decided to stop further battles in the sky. The activities of the air group significantly weakened the air danger, forcing the enemy to stay at a considerable distance from the base.

After the capture of Tallinn by German troops, the situation on Hanko worsened. The supply of ammunition, fuel and food was stopped. The approach of winter created difficulties both for the defense of the base itself and for its communication with the outside world. At the end of October, it was decided to evacuate the garrison. The last ship left Hanko on December 2. At the base itself, all equipment and weapons were blown up. More than 22 thousand people were delivered to Leningrad and neighboring cities.

Liner "Joseph Stalin", used as a military transport "VT-521", blown up on December 3 during the evacuation of Hanko on a mine and captured by the Germans

By order of the People's Commissar of the Navy of December 10, 1941, the Hanko naval base was disbanded, its parts were transferred to other formations of the fleet.

The defense of the peninsula made it possible to divert part of the Finnish troops from the attack on Leningrad, and also made it difficult for the enemy fleet to penetrate into the Gulf of Finland. The defense of Hanko went down in history as an example of competent, skillful and selfless struggle in the skerry-island region. After Finland left the war in 1944, the Soviet Union refused to lease the peninsula (confirmed in the 1947 peace treaty between the USSR and Finland).

Used sources:

1. Creation and equipment of defense of the Hanko naval base 1940–1941, Colonel V. M. Kurmyshov, Military History Journal, December, No. 12, 2006
2. "Defense of the Hanko Peninsula" A. Chernyshev. 2011 r.
3. “Sea hunters of Stalin. "Unknown War" in the Gulf of Finland. "Morozov M. 2013
4. A. Dikov, K. - F. Geust - "Special group of Hanko". Aviamaster magazine No. 1, 2003)
5. Hangon rintama