PROPAGANDA IN SNALO SECTION

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

June 1941 to December 1941

- The loudspeaker was the second most important way of distributing propaganda, after the propaganda leaflets. Snalo as an island section was in a special situation, that it used a loudspeaker boat rather than a loudspeaker car. The most common place from where propaganda was broadcasted was the fire control hill in Ekholmen. The boat and its equipment were placed near the peninsula in cover and propaganda was broadcasted from a dugout. There was the normal propaganda announcers from the Hanko Group, but in this place worked also the first female frontline announcer lotta von Lüders, who served in the telephone exchange of Snalo section.

Corporal H. Hartella and Major L. Henriksson.

- One of the most imaginative ways of distributing propaganda: A bow. (Picture: N. Helander. Published 1942 in a book Kampen om Hangö)

- Structure 411 is almost at the location to where it has been drawn in the map. Like with the structure 410, a & b, this one has been also placed so, that it could have defended against attacks coming from the island of Prästön.

- The observation and fire control nest, which can be seen in the map close to the structure 411, can be found also.

-Remarkably the stone structure is still one piece.

- The shoreline contains more positions for a single man. This position is most likely a similar one, which is described in the book Teasing the encirclement of Hanko by Adolf Molnár:

- "My single man dugout is starting to get a shape. I build the circle of the dugout from larger stones with each of them about half meters high. Then I put smaller stones around the bigger ones and finally the joints of the stones I filled with even smaller stones. To camouflage it against air observation I used branches and grass. The only thing I would have to worry in this dugout was a direct hit from the sky and thankfully that is a rare thing. My Maginot-line for an ordinary man was ready."

- A bit larger position right in the shoreline.

- Nearby dugout remains seen from the entrance.

- The same dugout remains seen from an opposite direction.

- View towards the Bredvik area in April 2006.

- The nearby area of the structure 411 contains an very interesting stone formation. Huge stones are piled into the sea and additionally there is a quarry nearby. Thanks to the local archive of Pohja borough I now know the meaning of this stone formation:

- "The stone formation in Grundsund which is located on the opposite side of the island of Prästön, does not date from the war time, but is an much older structure. The stone chock which stretch into the sea is know with the name Stenbrottet by the locals. It was already there in the 1930's. The stones are from the nearby quarry where Hangö Granit from Hanko mined stones during the years 1886 to 1940. Most likely the "stone men" in the railway station of Helsinki are made from granite which was mined by the Hangö Granit."

- Reflections from the past.

- The bottom of the quarry contains more stones, which wait for somebody to come and pick them up.

- The island of Prästön seen from the Grundsund peninsula.