EXCERPT FROM THE FLIGHT LOG OF SQUADRON 6

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

3rd of July 1941 

- Reconnaissance and ground attack flight: 3.7.1941. Time: 14:30 - 15:30. 

- Observations: The 10 inch gun in the eastern tip of island of Medö is equipped with a frontal shield. It looks like that the gun is fixed and the firing sector seems to be large. The gun is well camouflaged and it is hard to spot even from an airplane from the Finnish side. The gun is easier to spot from the Hanko side. From the gun to the west there is two large and long structures. These could be barracks. These are located about 100 meters west from the gun. It might be also possible that there are guns inside of these structures. In the Hanko side of the island, there is more structures which looks like barracks. There is AA-guns in the eastern part of the island as well as in the middle of the island. Three big flying boats are anchored in the harbour of Hangonkylä. When flying above the Medö island I was attacked by two two-winged fighter planes. I performed machine gun attack against a flying boat, which was just trying to take off from the harbour of Hangonkylä.

- Absolutely a huge amount of stones is all over the area. Much of the stones must have come also from the structure 71. Sea of stones...

- The mined structure is full of water. This most likely is the accommodation bunker/dugout, which is shown in the map, behind of the gun position 71. Structure 428 was another structure, which I considered this being, but the distance between the place where the map indicates it to be planned and the location of this structure is just too great.

- Over sixty years ago, the nearby trees watched the laborious job performed here under difficult and dangerous conditions.

- Iron bars are all over the area, reminding about the huge construction effort done here.

- There really isn't anything left to be seen from the actual AA-machine gun position, but it must have been located somewhere close. If it just has had some temporary position build, there is not much left to see after over sixty years.

- Familiar sight greets us, as we proceed towards the structure 412.

- AA-gun position in the Hanko Front. (Picture: The Finnish Defence Forces. Published 1942 in a book Hangö Belägras)