There were episodes in the history of the Great Patriotic War, information about which for many years was stored in the bowels of archives, inaccessible to the general public. Often this was evidence of mistakes made by the command during the fighting, which cost the lives of many fighters. One of such operations, the landing on Sommers Island, whose photo can be seen at the beginning of the article, has only recently been highlighted on print pages.
Fire barrier at the exit to the Baltic
In 1942, Soviet submarines intensified their activities in the Baltic Sea, causing significant damage to the Germans in their main communications. But the passage of the submarines from the Gulf of Finland to the water area of operations was hindered by the enemy garrison, the location of which was the small island of Sommers. How to get to the central part of the Baltic Sea, bypassing this region, which is fraught with mortal danger, - this was the task that required an immediate solution.
A year earlier, the Soviet coast guard unit was based on the island , but, due to the short-sighted decision of the command, it was abandoned, which the Finns who fought on Hitler’s side immediately took advantage of. They placed their garrison there, consisting of ninety-two well-armed fighters, delivered artillery pieces and built four defense strongholds, thus turning the small island into an impregnable fortress.
Demoted Admiral
The weather in the summer of 1942 turned out to be clear, which allowed the Finns to constantly conduct visual control of the surface of the bay and in time to record the movements of Soviet submarines. The command of the Baltic Fleet decided to land and take control of the Sommers Island. The development of an amphibious landing plan was entrusted to Captain First Rank G.I. Levchenko, previously demoted from the admirals for leaving Kerch.
For the rehabilitation of Levchenko, a military operation was successfully carried out under his leadership, so it was very important for him to organize a military expedition to the Sommers Island, and he hastily set about executing the order. But his rush failed. In preparing for the capture of the island, many important factors were not taken into account, which subsequently played a fatal role.
Garrison guarding the island
Relying on erroneous intelligence, which they did not consider necessary to double-check, the developers proceeded from the fact that the garrison consisted of only seventy people armed with two guns. As it turned out later, Sommers Island in the Gulf of Finland was defended by ninety-two people.
At their disposal were twelve guns (two of which exceeded the caliber guns of Soviet boats), two large mortars, two anti-aircraft guns, as well as light and heavy machine guns. The Soviet landing on the Sommers Island outnumbered the enemies - two hundred and fifty people armed with ten machine guns participated in the landing, but significantly inferior to it in firepower.
Factors Not Considered When Developing a Plan
Intelligence did not do its job. The data she transmitted did not give a complete picture of how the island of Sommers defended. The internal structure of the defensive structures erected on it was not presented when developing a plan for landing paratroopers. This greatly complicated the position of the paratroopers. In addition, they did not take into account the natural features that the island of Sommers possessed.
Its internal geostructure is very complex. The broken coastline is a pile of rocks protruding from the water, the depth around which reaches five meters. Landing boats could not come close to land, and many fighters, drowned under the weight of their equipment, never reached the shore. This led to a completely unjustified loss of human lives. Radio communication with aviation supporting the airborne assault was not provided either.
Launch of landing ships
The operation began late in the evening of July 7, 1942. Ships with marines left Lavensaari and headed for Sommers Island. The Gulf of Finland on their way was continuously monitored by a group of aircraft, whose duty was to warn the sailors in case of an enemy appearance. At this time, Soviet bombers, accompanied by fighters, struck blow after blow on the island. They were replaced by attack aircraft that launched attacks from low altitudes. In response, the Finns opened powerful anti-aircraft fire.
In the shaky light of a white night, boats approached the island, and the landing began. It turned out that it was impossible to stick to the rocky shore, and boats under enemy fire repeated attempts several times. When unloading, the radio was drowned, thus remaining without radio communication. Before stepping on the island, the detachment suffered the first losses. Two boats were damaged by enemy fire.
Unsuccessful start of operation
The landing party on Sommers Island landed in several parties, as the ships approached. The white night glorified by poets has served the seafarers poor service. The surface of the bay was viewed at a great distance, and each approaching boat was met by Finnish artillery fire. One of them, trying to get away from enemy shells, ran into stones. With great difficulty managed to remove the crew and weapons from it.
Others, having suffered losses, landed fighters in places not provided for in the previously drawn up plan. The beginning of the operation did not portend its favorable outcome - out of two hundred fifty-two participants in the operation, only one hundred and sixty-four landed on the Sommers Island. The rest either died under enemy fire, or drowned in the Baltic waves.
The Finnish command, having received a message about the attack of the Soviet sailors, immediately sent significant reinforcements to help the island’s garrison. Two gunboats and five patrol boats were sent to the combat zone. On the way to the island, they started a battle with Soviet torpedo boats, which, having received damage, were unable to stop the enemy.
Finnish stronghold capture and air battles
By this time, the paratroopers managed to master one of the strongholds with which the Finns strengthened the Sommers island. The bunker was captured, and as a result of a fierce battle of the twenty-six of its defenders, only three remained alive. The rest were killed. According to the plan, at this stage the operation commander Levchenko was supposed to send them help, but, for unknown reasons, he did not do this, which put the attackers in a difficult position.
By mid-day, active hostilities were unfolding in the air. Soviet pilots inflicted massive strikes on the positions of the enemy and on his ships. Finnish aviation tried to attack boats approaching the island, some of which received significant damage. As a result of the air raids, the vessels of both sides received significant damage.
The second day of the storming of the island
By the morning of the next day, combat activity somewhat decreased. This is due to the fact that the Soviet boats ran out of fuel, and the Finnish sailors by that time had shot their entire ammunition. But at this time the first of the German ships rushing to help the Finns approached the island. It was a minesweeper M 18.
By nine in the morning, events began to unfold in a direction unfavorable for the paratroopers. When approaching the island, a torpedo boat was shot down and sank , trying to deliver the ammunition, which by that time was running out. On the other hand, the Finns succeeded in transporting a reinforcement company of one hundred and nine people on the gunboat Turunmaa and additional boats to Sommers Island. Their appearance immediately changed the balance of forces, providing the enemy with not only fire, but also numerical superiority.
In the middle of the day the landing of the reserve, which had arrived at that time, began, but it was carried out, according to military historians, so unprofessionally and ill-conceived that as a result of it there were only new unjustified victims. On the island itself, the battle continued with the same strength. There was an urgent need to suppress the enemy’s mortar battery, but due to the lack of communication, the paratroopers could not contact either the aircraft or the crews of boats nearby.
In the ring of enemy ships
Meanwhile, the Sommers Island was surrounded by an increasingly dense ring of Finnish and German ships that came almost right up. Their massive fire fell on both the marines fighting on the shore and the ships supporting them. According to military historians, during the failed operation to capture this strategically important island, seven Soviet torpedo boats and one small hunter boat were sunk. In addition, the gunboat Kama, the base minesweeper, as well as many torpedo and other vessels, received serious damage. Four planes were shot down in the sky above the island.
The sad outcome of the operation
This mediocre prepared and planned landing has ended tragically. The island remained in the hands of the Finns until 1944. The losses of our side, information about which was published only in recent years, amounted to three hundred and fifty-nine people killed and about a hundred wounded. The Finnish side lost one hundred twenty-nine people in this battle.
Despite the fact that the operation to capture the island was completely failed, this cannot be blamed for its direct participants. They have done their duty to the end. The blame lies with those who sent people to certain death, without providing them with the necessary means of warfare, and without providing adequate support for large ships of the Baltic Fleet.
Today, this island, which has become a monument to everyone who died on its rocky shores, is visited by groups of excursionists whose trips are organized by Russian and Finnish travel agencies.