FEINT ATTACKS, PART IV

(History of the Hanko Group, T-22005, Military Archives of Finland)

21st of September 1941

- The previous feint attacks and the ones that were made on other occasions, show clearly that enemy didn’t react to them nearly at all in the Danskog sub-section, because the well fortified islands of Hermansö and Stor-Krokan were their moral backbone. However the Russians seems to have been afraid an attack from Elgö side to the Hästö island group, where their nervousness was increasing constantly.

Corporal H. Hartella and Major L. Henriksson.

- The Lion of Finland

- A wide road leads from the woods and through the rock into the area of the bunker complex.

- Trees now grow in the trench line.

- One of the two embrasures.

- Barbed wire remains near of one of the two embrasures.

- The roof of the whole bunker complex is covered with large rocks, remains from the construction work and a very good camouflage for the place.

- This bunker complex contains two different embrasures for machine guns, as well as accommodation area for a platoon of men. The embrasures and the accommodation area are connected with a trench, which has been mined into the rock.

- Ladders could be found from one point of the trench line. No idea if these are original ones or not, at least those were half rotten.

- The rusted chimney flue is locked.

- Memories from the past, now badly rusted.

- One of the entrances and this one still contains the number quite nicely visible as well as the colour of the Lion of Finland.

- The roof of this bunker was really weak and as you can see, there's a rather large hole there. I really didn't want to walk too much here as the concrete felt like it would crack even from the weight of me. According to my knowledge, bunkers in the Harparskog-line were not equipped with observation periscopes, an observation system to which that cupola suits. However this is not the only bunker where this kind of dome is located on top of the construction. Also in the accommodation bunker number 453 there is a similar dome. I would really suspect that even when the periscope system was a very rare even in Salpa-line, these two bunkers in Harparskog-line, were fitted with periscopes, or at least planned to be equipped with one.

- Notice anything strange in the picture? The water is pouring out from the bunker, through the embrasure. At least the bunker cannot be ever completely filled with water, as the water level will stop to the point, where it will flow out through the embrasure.

- The entrances to all of the embrasures are covered in water. Sad sight actually. The water might be coming through the floor. In some of the bunkers, there was a lot of water in the floor, but not this much as seen in the picture.

- One of the entrances, with the number 212 nicely visible.

- Door to the accommodation area.

- A lot of work has been done for this position, as all of the trenches and other passages were mined to the rock.

- Metal bars with barbed wire remains hanging from them.

- The embrasure is highly visible due to the missing camouflage, even when the flank wings are formed from the rock. Notice also that the front wall is quite high and thus highly visible even from distance.