The Moonsund Archipelago has a strategic position in the Baltic Sea. Because of this, he often became the scene of battles in the 20th century. It includes four large islands, each of which today belongs to Estonia - it is Vormsi, Muhu, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa.
Battle of 1917
During the First World War, the Moonsund battle took place, which took place in September - October 1917. Another common name is Operation Albion.
It was an attack by the German squadron and ground forces. The command set the task of capturing the archipelago that belonged to Russia. The German landing party began landing on the island of Saaremaa on October 12. Before this, the fleet managed to crush Russian batteries: the personnel were captured. At the same time, several German ships were damaged by being blown up by mines off the coast (Bayern battleship, etc.).
Many did not survive the Moonsund battle. 1917 was one of the last chords in the confrontation on the eastern front. A month later, in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks came to power, who later signed the Brest Peace.
Two days later, squadrons of rivals clashed tête-à-tête. The destroyer of the Russian fleet "Thunder" was seriously damaged during the battle with the battleship Kaiser of Germany. A fire on board led to the failure of the guns and the sinking of the ship. The Moonsund battle in the Irbensky Strait, where cruisers and dreadnought clashed, was especially fierce.
On October 16, German ships cleared the Gulf of Riga. It included several battleships and cruisers of the Reich. In order to protect the ships from mines, minesweepers were also in the squadron. Another danger for German ships was fire opened by Russian artillery. They defended themselves against attacks with the help of smoke screens around minesweepers.
When it became clear that the Russian squadron could not hold the archipelago, an order was given to send the surviving ships to the north. In turn, the Germans captured the island of Moon (October 18) and Hiiumaa (October 20). Thus ended the Battle of Moonsund in 1917 during the First World War.
Battle of 1941
During the Second World War, the Moonsund Archipelago witnessed two military operations. In 1941, Nazi troops came here. The offensive was called the Beowulf headquarters by the Reich. It was the next (second) Moonsund battle.
On September 8, troops were landed on the island of Vormsi, which was in the hands of the Germans after three days of hard fighting. A week later, the main forces were sent to the Fly, whose garrison lasted a week.
Saremaa fell next. Here the battle lasted two weeks. The Soviet command managed to evacuate the remnants of the army on Hiiumaa. However, this piece of land was soon under the control of the Reich.
Total
The Soviet army tried by all means to linger on the archipelago and postpone the attack on Leningrad. In a sense, this goal has been fulfilled. Full annexation occurred only on October 22 after almost two months of battle. The fleet was also active, which detained the enemy in the Gulf of Riga. The defenders of the islands converted local tractors, making them improvised analogues of tanks (machine guns were attached). When the Moonsund battle ended, the surviving personnel were finally evacuated to the Hanko Peninsula.
Landing landing in 1944
In historiography, the third Moonsund battle is also known. The year 1944 was marked by the fact that German troops massively retreated from the occupied territories. Parts of the Leningrad Front were sent to the islands, from which the 8th Rifle Corps was specially formed.
The operation began with the fact that on September 27 a landing was landed on the shores of Vormsi Island. Further, other parts of the archipelago followed. The last was the island of Saaremaa: it was the largest and most important in this region. Late in the evening of October 8, a major battle ensued near Tehumardi. Barrage fire was fought against the Soviet troops. In addition, the position of the army was complicated by the lack of space for an effective maneuver.
The defense was broken only after a month on November 23, when aviation joined the battle. Previous attempts ended in failure. The most tragic was the landing at Vintry, when about 500 people died. One way or another, but after the final surrender, the Germans lost 7 thousand dead. About a hundred more ships were sunk or damaged.