THE END, PART I

(Hanko Cape in the Second World War, Niilo Lappalainen & Telegraph communiqué of the land forces, T-15693/22-24 & History of the Hanko Group, T-22005, Military Archives of Finland) 

October 1941 to December 1941

- The Russians were forced to evacuate Tallinn on 28th of August 1941 and Saaremaa on 4th of October, as the German troops were closing in. After these evacuations, the meaning of Hanko Base to close the Gulf of Finland was in practice non-existent. The base was also now isolated from the rest of the Red Army. On 25th of October 1941, the Baltic Fleet received orders to evacuate Hanko. 

- The first unit, which was evacuated from Hanko was the 1st Battalion from the 270th Infantry Regiment, which was evacuated to the encirclement of Oranienbaum, where it was sent to battle immediately. 

- The whole evacuation was performed and planned effectively and the main evacuation started on 2nd of November and at the end of the November, most of the men from Hanko had been evacuated. The last phase of the evacuation however was the most difficult as attack from the Finnish side at this point would have been a catastrophe. The Finnish troops however were very passive and didn't try to stop the evacuation, even when IV Army Corps had informed headquarters on 25th of November 1941, that aerial reconnaissance had spotted two large troop transport ships and four ships from the Red Navy in the Suursaari harbour. Additionally it was informed, that there was a convoy some 4 kilometers away from the northern tip of Suursaari, heading towards west. This convoy consisted five bigger and four smaller ships, according to the reconnaissance report. 

- The last transportation from Hanko left on 2nd of December and the area of Hanko Cape was again free from the Russian troops, although the leaving Russians left some of their men behind. The Russian evacuation however didn't happen without losses. Some of the ships sunk as a result of mines. The ships were also so full of men and material, which also contributed to the losses. The Russians were evacuated to Suursaari and to Leningrad.

- Not much more than a pit dug into the ground, can be found from the structure 309. According to the description part from 1955, the mined structure would be ready. It is most probable, that while the description parts were made, they misidentified the structure 229 (44) to be the structure 309. The island of Björnholmen is not that big, that you can miss a ready mined structure in the area.

- The same pit seen from another direction. The edge of the structure can be still pointed out.

- Nearby are also some concrete foundations.