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[FINNISH COASTAL DEFENSES AFTER THE WINTER WAR] Beregovaia oborona, pribrezhnaia aerodromnaia set’ i posty SNiS protivnika na Finskom zalive [i.e. Coastal Defenses, the Network of Coastal Airfields, and Enemy Observation and Communication Posts on the Gulf of Finland]

Item #2770

Leningrad: Razvedyvatel’nyi otdel Shtaba KBFб 1942. 23 pp., 2 folding maps. 22,5x16 cm. In original printed wrappers. Stamps “Declassified” on front cover and title page, ink note “Struck from the records” over stamp of the Russian Navy Archive. Extensive red pencil note and many archive marks on front cover, some words underlined, otherwise very good and clean pages.

Wartime and siege-time edition for inner use of the Baltic Fleet. One of 100 copies.

The book contains two sections. The first covers deployment and tactical data of the Finnish coastal artillery, air defense, and anti-boat defenses on the Gulf of Finland. The second overviews the airfield network located along the northern and southern coasts of the gulf. Based on aerial and human intelligence data, the authors of the book identified 6 main fortified areas within the Finnish coastal defense system of the gulf: an area from the coastal town Koivisto to Cape Inoniemi, an area of Kotka and Khamina, Helsinki region, Hanko Peninsula, the Southern Coast and islands Hogland and Tytärsaari.

The Hanko Peninsula was of military interest to both countries. Under the peace treaty that ended the Winter War in 1940, the Soviet Union was granted a 30-year lease on a portion of the Hanko Peninsula, including the town of Hanko and its port, along with the surrounding maritime zone — extending five miles to the south and east, and three miles to the north and west — as well as a number of adjacent islands. The purpose was to establish a naval base capable of defending the entrance to the Gulf of Finland and, in doing so, protecting Leningrad. To secure the base, the Soviet Union was permitted to station there, at its own expense, whatever ground and air forces it deemed necessary. In a short time, the Soviet military fortified the leased territory. A system of land and anti-amphibious defenses was established on the isthmus connecting the peninsula to the mainland. Under the Barbarossa plan, the capture of Hanko was designated by the Third Reich as a high-priority special objective, to be carried out by Finnish ground forces. The Soviet base was evacuated in several convoys between October 16 and December 1, 1941. Roughly 23,000 troops were transported to Leningrad. The fleet suffered significant losses, including the base itself.

Some of the fortified areas were annexed by the Soviet Union and changed names after the Second World War. The coastal town Koivisto was renamed Primorsk; instead of the village Ino on the cape, a village Privetninskoe was built; islands Hogland and Tytärsaari became Gogland and Bolshoy Tyuters. Thousands of Soviet people were lured by promises of prosperity and opportunity to move to new lands. They came in families or alone from the republics of the Volga region and Belarus. What awaited them, mostly, were previously uninhabited lands utterly devoid of even the most basic infrastructure.

The folding leaves feature the map “Coastal Defenses and Coastal Airfields of the Enemy on the Gulf of Finland” and the scheme “Enemy Observation and Communication Posts on the Gulf of Finland”.

Not found in Worldcat.

Price: $1,200.00

Status: On Hold