ARTILLERY FIRE TO KRONHOLM, PART II

(Teasing the encirclement of Hanko, Adolf Molnár) 

(Kronholm is today known with the name of Stora Järpholmen) 

September 1941 to October 1941

- Finally the mist is lifting its veil and Sundquist, Uunila and Johnny who have observed Kronholm before, point out the Russian positions that are hard to spot to the 2nd Lieutenant Francke who is with the patrol as a fire controller. The dugouts in Kronholm were well camouflaged and hard to find. Finally few Russians start to appear and soon there's a bigger group of them and Francke gives the order to open fire. The grenades land near of the group, few of the Russians collapse to the ground, rest of them run quickly to their dugouts. The Hanko Group had ordered that only live targets were to be fired. Well live targets, where are those? All of the Russians are now sitting in their dugouts. 

- Our moody patrol lies down and looks around the dugout, which the Russians have nearly finished. The machine gun nest is located deep underground, the walls are made from sturdy logs and the doors which lead to the room and to the embrasure are really heavy. The roof is approximately one and half meters thick. Even when the dugout is still lacking the stove, the hole for the chimney stack is ready. Obviously the Russians had prepared themselves for a winter war. Also the positions that they had build to the east side, showed that they feared for an attack, which might come across the frozen sea.

- The observation hole and the embrasure for the machine gun.

- Entrance into the bunker, with the splinter protection in front of the entrance.

- Entrance seen from the ground level. There are two bunkers in the area constructed like this, that the entrance is protected by a separate splinter protection.

- The whole bunker seen from the side, where you definitely would have not wanted to be in the summer, autumn and winter of 1941.

- Old ladders remain in the "flank wing".

- The chimney flue is being covered gently with moss.

- The door bolt.

- Lion of Finland, again missing the -40 mark, but -19 mark remains. Slight traces from the -40 mark can be still seen.

- The door in the machine gun position.

- Observation hatch seen from the inside. The view actually was great when looking through it. The black creatures that are all around the walls are moths. They enjoy these bunkers, as it's always dark here, if you exclude visitors who now and then come inside with their flashlights and torches.

- The stove in the accommodation area.

- Embrasure for the machine gun.

- Rust...

- To outside and fresh air. Notice how high the threshold is.