HANKO GROUP ORDER OF THE DAY, N.O. 20, PART II

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

3rd of December 1941

- The fact that the enemy ran away, does not diminish at all our performance, because I am convinced that during the winter when we would have been able to attack against our enemy in other areas than in the difficult terrain of the various watercourses or in the heavily mined and fortified area of the mainland, you would have performed your task properly. Over five months we have with a relatively weak forces, closed the enemy from the mainland area into an iron ring, enemy, which has been many times stronger and better armed than us. The strength of this iron ring has depended on the performance and toughness of each individual. We have endured the heavy artillery and aerial bombardments, extinguishing the constant strenuous forest fires under enemy fire, the reconnaissance missions in force which were performed successfully and showing bravery, the difficult island battles, just to mention few of the achievements. From the last achievement the Battle of Bengtskär and Sommaröarna, were achievements where finess and courage guaranteed success. Without mentioning anyone by name I have been always pleased to notice, that each and every one of you, have performed your task conscientiously and with devotion. With pride you can in your later life say that you fought in the Hanko Front. 

- As the battles in our front come to an end, let us salute those who sacrificed their life for the freedom of our country. Their sacrifice was not in vain. The independency of our country is guaranteed for us and for our posterity. 

Commander of Hanko Group: Colonel Eino R. Koskimies.

Chief of Staff: Major J. Kiveliö.

- The structures 438 and 447 has been included in this same gallery, as there has been a rather many changes in the area since 1941, which makes identification of different structures quite difficult. The above picture however shows the mined structure of 438. When completed, it would have been a machine gun nest. The ground has been levelled in front of the quarry, but you can still see the planned firing sector.

- View deeper into the structure.

- Huge piles of stones lies nearby.

- View towards the planned firing direction. In practice this structure 438 would have boosted together with the gun position 47,a & b, the defence of the channel which is coming from north-west.

- View from the rock, which is located behind of the structure 438. The mined structure is in the foreground of the picture.

- Loose stones still lie on the slopes of the rock.

- A bit bigger stones.

- The traces from the mining job performed here are still visible in the stones.

- Some kind of a base has been constructed from concrete to the slope of the rock.

- It is impossible to know what for the base has been build. It might be that some equipment used during the construction, has been attached here.

- The same base seen from the opposite direction.

- When climbing even higher you can find another base, which is in one piece.

- The same base seen from another direction.

- There is also some dugout or single man shelter remains nearby.