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PARGAS
- The above map shows the fortification plan for the Pargas peninsula area. What is clear with one look at the map is that this is a very heavily fortified area. That fact is also very clear when you walk in the area. This time it really wasn't even necessary to start searching for the defensive line. From the spot where we parked our car near the Blomsterholmen road, the trench line was immediately visible to the road. - Talking about the trench line, it is in absolutely great condition in most parts of the area. In present day condition, the eastern side of the defensive line would seem to be the most heavily fortified area, when it comes to the trench line. There the trench line forms a rather huge network of communication and support trenches, which are either connected to the dugouts or to the firing positions. If you then start to follow the line towards west, you can pretty much follow the line all the way to the area of picturesque Blomsterholmen. After that, there's a fancy looking mansion and some older structures. The mansion and especially its huge yard seem to have destroyed the trench line after that. The mansion is not the only thing that affects to this, but also the main road, which leads to the western most area of this peninsula. I would assume, that the trench line has once followed pretty much the line of the road, as today the dugouts and few firing positions can be found right next to the road. - One of the most interesting structures in the area is the concrete dugout or cellar to be precise. Today it serves as a cellar or a storage room and most likely before the construction of Harparskog-line, it also was a cellar, but as the construction of the defensive line began, it was turned into a dugout. Perhaps you think, how come I'm so sure about this? That is because the trench line can be still seen going right next to the door and the cellar has been sink into the trench line. Also as the door is facing wrong way, meaning towards the enemy lines, a rather huge amount of stones and soil has been piled in front of the door, to protect men from fragments. - The fact that the cellar really was part of the Harparskog-line is also confirmed in the book Teasing the encirclement of Hanko. The book is written by an Austrian volunteer Adolf Molnár who already had volunteered for the Winter War, but never made it to the front, as the war ended before his training was completed. In the Continuation War, he was sent to the Hanko Front, along with other volunteers from around the world. In the chapter idea is born, he mentions that men in the frontline used to live in dugouts or in cellars. In the same chapter it is also mentioned that in Kamsholmen the command post was located in the local potato cellar, which most likely is a very similar structure that is seen here. - Second very interesting and huge construction is the nearly thirty dugout remains, which can be seen right next to the road which leads to the tip of the peninsula. The dugout remains are located on both sides of the road in an area, which stretches along the road for several hundred meters. Some of the dugouts are oddly shaped into a oblong shape, perhaps for the horses? Others on the other hand are very massive and obvious accommodation dugouts. The area also contains few dugout remains, which might have been positions for artillery, as the grooves from the wheels are still visible at the bottom of the pit. - There is only one structure in the area, which we couldn't locate or it was not ever constructed and it is the structure 51, which would have contained two guns in an open concrete position. Such a construction cannot be found from the general area to where the structure has been positioned in the map. What makes it especially hard to be completely sure that this structure was never constructed, is that it is impossible to check thoroughly the whole area especially north of the position. There the area has been fenced off totally due to a someone's summer cottage. It very well might be that the open gun position is located in the yard, which is sealed off with a fence. - The code names for the bunkers are either Finnish man or female names or animals. - My own personal notes below are based on the situation in the defensive line, during the years 2005 and 2006.
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Copyright © 2005, 2006 Kimmo Nummela