Horsön

- The island of Horsön is located in south-west from Tammisaari. Distance from Tammisaari to Horsön is about 28 kilometers and distance from Hanko, which is located south of Horsön, is only about 7 kilometers. Length of the island is about 1,5 kilometers and from the widest point the island is a bit less than a kilometer wide.

- The dominating landscape features in Horsön are the few very tall rocky hills. The most impressive one from these is the hill in the south side of the island, which rises to the height of 24 meters from the sea level. The view towards Hanko is excellent from the hill. From top of the hill, the lonely memorial erected for the Russian soldiers watches towards Hanko.

- There is also some thick forests and few meadows in the island, which are also visible in the old map, which is featured at the beginning of this page. Moving in the island is relatively easy, as the old roads and paths crisscross around the island in a dense net. The shoreline is also nearly everywhere easy to walk.

- The south shore of the island offers several excellent anchoring places. Additionally the north-west corner of the island and the bay in the east side offers also several places to anchor a boat. There is some houses in the north side of the island, in about same places, which can be observed from the old map in this page. The island is in private ownership, but of course you can go and see the military historical structures and places, as long as you don't disturb anyone, don't throw garbage's around and observe the other rules associated with the everyman's right. Of course this applies to any place you might visit.

- There is numerous structures in the island of Horsön. Almost all of them are built by the Russians. According to the map of the Soviet rental area, which was drawn by the Finns in 1943, the Russians had a several covered machine and light machine gun positions in Horsön. Additionally few large accommodation areas have been located in the south side of the island.

I Platoon

- The shoreline of the island has been also covered with barbed wire obstacles and spanish riders have been used at least in the north-east area of the island. The shoreline has been also partly mined. Nothing really remain from the barbed wire obstacles or from the spanish riders. Here and there lies pieces from the obstacles, but no intact obstacle can be found anymore.

- The island of Horsön was an important place for the Russians and there was a rather large garrison in the island. This is visible in the number of the structures and in the items, which are still scattered around the island. Another thing which comes really clear when visiting the island, is that Horsön was bombarded extensively with artillery. Bigger and smaller pieces of shrapnel are everywhere and additionally partly explored artillery shells can be found from all over the place. Even from the sea one can find pieces of shrapnel after all these years.

- The Finnish Navy cleared the island in 2006, because they couldn't rule out the possibility, that there would be some dangerous ammunitions in the island. This operation has resulted the fact, that some of the structures have been destroyed nearly completely, as the most natural place to start this clearing operation has been of course in and around of the structures. The benefit however has been that many interesting items has been put for display in numerous locations. Horsön in the summer of 2007 was like an open-air museum.

- I have not marked the location of these items to the map and I would be really pleased, if no one would take the items away from the island. This way they remain as part of the history of Horsön and those items tell more about the Hanko Front and the Russian garrison, than any book or the memorial in the island can tell. The items left to the island are a memorial to the Finnish and Russian soldiers, who died in the bitter battles of Horsön, Stackörn, Elmholm, Furuön and Gunnarsholm.

Battle of Horsön 10.07.1941

Structures in Horsön (Blue squares in the map)
Number of the structure in the map	Note
Structures No. 1	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 2
Structures No. 3	Several structures next to each others.
Structures No. 4	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 5
Structure No. 6
Structure No. 7	Position shaped by nature.
Structures No. 8	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 9
Structure No. 10
Structure No. 11
Structures No. 12	Structure is in good condition. Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 13
Structures No. 14	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 15
Structure No. 16
Structure No. 17
Structures No. 18	Several structures next to each others.
Structures No. 19	Several structures next to each others.
Structures No. 20	Several structures next to each others.
Structures No. 21	There is no pictures from the structures. The structures are remains from accommodation dugouts, which are partly covered by vegetation.
Structures No. 22	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 23
Structures No. 24	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 25	The structure is in relatively good condition.
Structure No. 26
Structures No. 27	The structure is the biggest one, which can be found from the island. Several structures next to each others.
Structures No. 28	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 29
Structure No. 30
Structures No. 31	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 32
Structures No. 33	Several structures next to each others.
Structure No. 34
Structure No. 35
Structure No. 36
Structure No. 37
Structure No. 38
Structure No. 39	Structure is in very good condition.
Structure No. 40
Structure No. 41
Structure No. 42
Structure No. 43

Other objects in Horsön (Red squares in the map)
Number in the map	Note
No. 1	A well.
No. 2	Memorial erected for the Russian soldiers.
No. 3	Not marked to the map. A gallery, which shows items that were found from the island of Horsön.