WWII History
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Bengtskär
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WWII History
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The Battle for Bengtskär
In March, 1941, Maj. Gen Seregei E. Kabanov was named commander of the Gangut (i.e. Hanko) base, with Arseni L. Rasskin as political commissar and Commodore Pjotr G. Maksimov as his Chief of Staff. The Finns were determined to get the Russians out of Hanko, the Russians just as determined to stay. At one time, the Finns considered re-taking the area by force and with this in mind, the German 163rd Div. was brought from Norway to join with the Finnish 17th Div. However, the operation was abandoned for fear of heavy losses and the opposing forces, while undertaking occasional artillery duels, settled down to static warfare.
On the seaward side, the picture was different: the sea was the reason that the Russians wanted Hanko in the first place but the sea was also full of islands and most of those islands were full of Finns. The islands to the east of a line roughly north-south through Gunnarsären and Dodö were in Russian hands, those to the west, in Finnish. Many engagements were fought in the islands, often by canoe-borne commandos, and some islands changed hands several times. At first, many of these engagements were the consequence of 'aggressive patrolling' by the Finns and proved so costly for so little gain that they were eventually forbidden on the direct orders of the Finnish C-in-C, Marshal Mannerheim. These skirmishes reached a peak between July 10th and September 5th and of these many battles, only that at Bromarv had proportionately greater losses than those suffered at Bengtskär. The last major skirmish was on October 14th when the Russians tried – and failed – to take over Koholm, Stoskär and Løgholm (Långholm), islands in the archipelago due east of Hanko.
On 22nd June – the opening of Barbarossa – Russian batteries in Hanko opened fire on Finnish troops in the Hanko peninsula, twenty Luftwaffe Ju-88's dropped 10-20t of bombs on Hanko; and the German Navy laid two minefields in the Gulf of Finland. The first of a complex series of minefields laid by all parties involved [See below: The Mining of the Gulf of Finland.] they seem to have been laid to prevent access to Hanko by a southern route and to ensure that all shipping remained within range of the Finnish coast. In fine weather, any and all Russian naval movements could be observed from Bengtskär which could direct fire on them from the island of Örö where the Finns had a battery of two 305 mm and four 152 mm coastal guns. For the first month of the Continuation War, the Russians tried aggressively – and, initially, with much success – to protect their vulnerable sea routes into Hanko by driving the Finns out of the inshore islands. Once this was accomplished, Kabanov and his staff turned their attention to the islands in the open sea: first Morgonland and then Bengtskär.
Figure 1: The Gulf of Finland, showing the minefields A, C, H-O, Ki, and Ku
The first minefield was laid on 22nd June by the German Mine Group Nord which arrived on 14th June in the Turku archipelago, about 70km north-west of Hanko. Mine Group Nord comprised the three minelayers Tannenberg, Hansestadt Danzig and Brummer. On 17th June, they were joined by 1st Group of the 5th Raumboot (minesweeper) flotilla of five vessels together with their mother-ship Elbe. On the 18th June, they in turn were joined by the 2nd Schnellboot squadron of six vessels and their mother-ship Tsingtau. The minefield which they laid, to the west of Hanko, was code named Apolda (marked 'A' in Figure 1) and effectively channelled shipping either north – where it was in range of Finnish guns in the archipelago – or south -- where it would soon be within range of German artillery.
The second minefield, to the east of Hanko, was also laid on 22nd June by Mine Group Cobra. This group also consisted of three minelayers, Cobra, Königin Louise, and Kaiser and arrived in the Porkkala Islands, west of Helsinki, on 14th June. These were followed on 18th June by 2nd Group of the 5th Raumboot (minesweeper) flotilla of six vessels which berthed in Helsinki. On the 18th June, they in turn were joined by the 1st Schnellboot squadron of six vessels and their mother-ship Carl Peters, which went to Porkkala. This minefield was code named Corbethal (marked 'C' in Figure 1) and again channelled shipping to the north – where it was in range of Finnish coastal batteries – or south – where the waters were too shallow for major surface craft.
On the 23rd of June, the Russians, who must have been aware of the German's activities, laid their own minefield, roughly along a line from Hanko to west of the island of Odensholm ('H-O' in Figure 1). This effectively sealed off all shipping movements along the southern Baltic coast while leaving the one approach to Hanko still passable.
1. I have used Finnish-style transliterations of Russian names throughout since it has been impossible to establish the original Cyrillic versions.
2. Exact information on this raid is lacking but it is possible that these aircraft were from KGr806 which bombed Kronstadt on June 21, refuelling – and possibly re-arming – at Utti (near Kouvola) on the return journey.
3. As the period from Barbarossa to the cessation of hostilities against Russia in March, 1945, is generally known.
4. Finland's naval forces were principally designed for coastal protection and combined military and coastguard duties.
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Bengtskär
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