The history of the Great Patriotic War included an event that occurred in the last days of July 1941 and was called the Tallinn Crossing of the Baltic Fleet. This operation, unprecedented in its complexity, became one of the examples of courage and selflessness of Soviet sailors.
Command miscalculation
According to archival documents of the past years, by the time the fascist Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the main base of the Baltic Fleet was in Tallinn. However, despite this, the necessary work to strengthen the city from land and sea was not carried out. The hopes of the command were placed on the fact that, due to its removal from the state border, the capital of Estonia would not be attacked by the enemy.
These calculations were crossed out by the rapid development of the offensive operations of the German army, as a result of which already in the first decade of July 1941 the enemy was sixty kilometers from Tallinn, thus creating a real threat to the naval base located in it, the land units, as well as the failed evacuate the civilian population.
Despite the fact that the need for evacuation was quite obvious, the command of the North-Western direction, headed by Marshal K. E. Voroshilov, fearing responsibility, did not dare to give the corresponding order, and thus, time was lost. For this reason, the withdrawal of the ships of the Baltic Fleet and ground forces from the enemy blockade in which they found themselves began under heavy fire of the enemy. This operation went down in the history of the war under the name Tallinn Crossing.
Enemy efforts to capture Tallinn
Such a swift offensive by German troops was caused by Hitler's order, demanding at all costs to prevent the transfer of ground troops and ships of the Baltic Fleet to Leningrad, the capture of which was, according to the Barbaross plan, one of the priority tasks of the German command.
As a result, the Tallinn crossing was carried out under the fire of seventeen artillery divisions located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, which were supported by two Finnish batteries. In addition, the situation was catastrophically complicated by a significant number of minefields set up jointly by the German and Finnish fleets, as well as by enemy naval aviation. Finnish torpedo boats operating in the bay were also a serious danger.
Perplexed order
Today, military experts have many questions about the command plan, on the basis of which the Tallinn crossing was carried out. Bunich Igor Lvovich, a well-known Russian writer, historian, and publicist, in his book devoted to the events of those years, draws attention to the indescribable sound logic of the decision to use only the central channel for passage of all ships.
There is no doubt that only he was deep enough and suitable for the cruiser Kirov who participated in the transition, but why it was not clear to the rest of the ships, which had significantly less draft, to use other channels. Thus, the fleet stretched for many kilometers, and it was almost impossible to ensure its protection from enemy naval and air forces.
As Igor Bunich testifies in his book, the Tallinn transition was carried out with a catastrophic shortage of minesweepers. For this reason, mine reconnaissance was not carried out properly, and the bay was fraught with mortal danger due to the huge number of both German and Soviet sea mines.
Disposition planned by the fleet command
According to the plan developed by the headquarters of the operation, the Tallinn crossing was to be carried out as follows: a detachment of main forces was placed ahead, cover ships, a rear guard followed it, and four convoys closed the caravan. Each group of courts was given a specific task, the successful outcome of which depended on the overall outcome of the case.
In total, two hundred and twenty-five ships took part in the operation. The detachment of the main forces was led by the cruiser Kirov. It was followed by four destroyers, five submarines, the same number of minesweepers and a large number of torpedo, patrol and other boats. It was a detachment of the main forces.
The cover squad included three destroyers, four submarines and boats for various purposes. The rear guard consisted of three destroyers, three patrol ships and boats. In their care were four convoys, consisting of a large number of transport vessels carrying various cargoes and people. In addition to these vessels, a large number of additional guard ships took part in the operation.
Going out to sea and first losses
The Tallinn crossing began in the early morning of August 28, when warships and vehicles were ordered to go on an external raid. However, their rapid advance was prevented by the storm that broke out that day, accompanied by a strong northeast wind. Only in the late afternoon the weather conditions improved, and the ships, despite the dense artillery fire of the enemy, began to be rebuilt in the marching order.
From the very first minutes, minesweepers entered the battle against sea mines, constantly cutting them with their paravanes - devices specially designed for this purpose, as well as trawls. But the bay was so full of mines that ships were far from always able to evade meeting them in time. As a result, nine surface ships and two submarines became victims of minefields that day.
Evening and night filled with a nightmare
On the first day of the journey, the transports and convoy were several times subjected to artillery shelling of the enemy, which was fought intensively, but to no avail. Around 8 p.m., Finnish torpedo boats were seen approaching the Soviet ships, but with heavy gunfire, they were driven off before they reached the distance of the torpedo shot. The caravan suffered heavy losses as a result of an attack by enemy aircraft undertaken just before dark. Four Soviet ships were sunk, and two more were seriously damaged.
But the situation became even more complicated with the onset of darkness, when the main detachment of ships appeared in the middle of a continuous minefield. That night, eleven surface ships and one submarine were blown up by mines and sank. Of their many crews and passengers on board, only a few dozen people were saved.
Based on the current situation, the fleet commander was forced to give an order to all the remaining ships to anchor and wait until dawn. The result of this first night of the campaign was terrible - twenty-six of the vessels that left Tallinn the day before were sunk. In addition, five ships were damaged, two were captured by the enemy, and one was missing.
Enemy Air Attacks
With the first rays of the sun on August 29, 1941, the ships continued their journey, but on this day, fate prepared them for even greater trials. Already at 5.30 a.m. German reconnaissance planes appeared over the caravan, and starting at 7.30 a.m., air strikes followed one after another. Their frequency was facilitated by the proximity of coastal airfields, the distance to which did not exceed one hundred kilometers, and the almost complete absence of Soviet aircraft in the sky.
Almost without encountering any serious fire resistance, German pilots had the opportunity to choose the largest and most vulnerable targets, and then coolly hit them. As a result of targeted bombing on August 29, fourteen more were added to the previously dead ships, and the number of those that were damaged and required towing increased.
Rescue work that saved thousands of lives
This day was marked by the largest number of victims, both among sailors and among the passengers of ships, which included evacuated land forces and civilians. Nevertheless, as a result of relief efforts, more than nine thousand three hundred people were rescued, and about six thousand managed to land from burning ships on the island of Hogland. The crews of ships sent specially for rescue operations from Kronstadt, as well as the islands of Lavensaari and Hogland, managed to save thousands of lives.
An attempt to understand the causes of the tragedy
Explaining the reasons for the large number of losses that accompanied the Tallinn transition, Igor Bunich, whose book was discussed above, as well as a number of military historians point to the extreme incompetence of the command, which sometimes issued orders contrary to common sense. For example, the already small cover was weakened by an order received from the Kirov cruiser, according to which two submarines were ordered, leaving the convoy, at full speed to head to Kronstadt, which they executed immediately.
Recognizing that a number of orders were dictated by the apparent incompetence of the officials, the commanders of individual ships, contrary to the order, conducted their vessels by the southern fairway and, having safely reached their destination, saved the people.
Vessels that have reached their desired goal
By the evening of that hard day, the first ships of the main forces of the caravan began to arrive in Kronstadt. Until midnight, twenty-nine of them managed to safely anchor in the roads of this largest naval base. In addition, another sixteen reached the location of our troops on the island of Gogland.
On August 30, one hundred and seven more ships arrived in Kronstadt individually, or in small groups. Immediately organized the delivery of all rescued crew members, as well as soldiers and civilians to Leningrad. The wounded were assigned to hospitals, and those who could hold weapons in their hands were recorded in units formed to be sent to the front. Thus ended the Tallinn transition, the results of which allow it to be attributed to the most tragic pages in the history of the Soviet Navy.
Losses incurred during the transition days
Despite the fact that separate printed publications cite a different number of vessels that died during this operation, it is generally accepted that there were sixty-two of them. This amount is most consistent with the data available to researchers. It included both warships and auxiliary, as well as transport ships.
There is also no consensus on the death toll. Admiral Tributs, who commanded the Baltic Fleet in those years, speaks of five thousand dead in his memoirs. From a report to Stalin, People's Commissar of the Navy N. G. Kuznetsov, it follows that there were seven thousand seven hundred people, and the official publication of the General Staff reports ten thousand. Obviously, this information is most consistent with reality, since in Soviet times it was not customary to inflate one's own losses.
Anniversary of the tragic events
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Tallinn transition, and therefore public attention was drawn to this heroic page in Russian history. At the end of August, a series of events of a historical and patriotic nature took place, in which both veterans of the fleet and youth took part.
Documentary films dedicated to this tragic event were released on the country's screens. The Tallinn crossing is presented in them on the basis of archival documents and memoirs of participants in the events. They talk about the task that was set before the Baltic sailors. In addition to the work of Igor Bunich, which was mentioned above, in those days other books on the Tallinn crossing were presented to the attention of readers.