Casemate 82

The CDSG (Coast Defence Study Group) Tour visited some significant defence sites along both coasts of the Gulf of Finland and the approaches to St Petersburg, from Hanko on the western tip of Finland to Helsinki, and in Russia, Kronstadt, Saint Petersburg and Fort Krasnaya Gorka. The tour group of 25 gathered in Helsinki, travelled to St Petersburg by train for several days, returning to conclude the tour in Finland.

Peter the Great's transfer of his capital from Moscow to St Petersburg, at the start of the 18th century ensured that maintaining access to the Baltic via the Gulf of Finland became of vital concern to Russia. It also signalled the start of Sweden's decline as the leading Baltic power, and the fortifications around the Gulf of Finland reflect the numerous changes in political geography, still an issue today, since the Finns continue to maintain active coastal artillery. From a strategic perspective St Petersburg is in a difficult position sitting at the eastern end of the Gulf, a shallow stretch of water about 450 miles long but barely 40 miles wide for much of its length. Its northern coast is dotted with rocky islands and the southern coast is sandier. In winter the Gulf freezes, adding to Russia's difficulties in maintaining its links with the rest of Europe, particularly when both sides of the Gulf were in hostile hands. From the beginning of the 19th century, Russia has, at times, controlled one or both sides of the Gulf so many of the coastal defences visited were built by Russia but are now in modern Finland.

Russia finally acquired a permanent presence in the Baltic at the end of the C17th and St Petersburg was founded in 1703 at the mouth of the River Neva. Sweden's Baltic hegemony fell in 1709, when Charles XII's defeat at Poltava ended a century of expansion based on sustained military success. Faced with a growing threat from Russia, Sweden developed the fixed defences of Helsinki and other points in Finland whilst Russia sought to cement its hold on the eastern end of the Gulf by constructing the Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg itself and a fortress/port city on the island of Kotlin, which dominates the seaward approaches. This fortress was named Kronstadt (before 1723 it was known as Kronslot). Sweden's military decline in the C18th was paralleled by Russia's rise and Russia established dominance of the southern coast of the Gulf in 1721 and twice captured Helsingfors (later Helsinki), in 1713 and 1742. In the Peace Treaty of 1743, Sweden lost large areas in the east of Finland, including all its border fortifications.

This resulted in the building of new ones such as Sveaborg (today Suomenlinna) near Helsingfors.
The Russian border moved steadily westwards and Sweden eventually ceded the whole of Finland in 1809. During Swedish rule from the C12th, Finland had maintained semi-autonomy and this was substantially preserved when Russia captured Helsingfors and Finland became a Russian grand duchy.

The defences of the Gulf next attracted hostile attention in the Crimean War, when French and British forces destroyed the major Russia fortress of Bomarsund in 1854 (never rebuilt), later bombarding Sveaborg without capturing the fortress despite having inflicted serious damage. After a period of demilitarization, Russia modernized Sveaborg's antiquated defences from the 1870s until WWI.

When Finland gained its independence in 1917, it inherited and modernized many Russian coastal forts; the only new forts built were on Lake Ladoga. Finland soon found itself co-operating with newly independent Estonia in plans for closing the Gulf to hostile forces. The Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939 and despite its heroic resistance, Finland had to concede territory in the southeast and to agree to a major Soviet base at Hanko commanding the western entry to the Gulf. In the so-called 'Continuation War', Soviet forces were ejected from Hanko and Finland collaborated with Germany to close the Gulf during the siege of Leningrad (St Petersburg). This placed it in a weak position post-war, and once again Finland had to accept a major Soviet base on its territory, this time at Porkkala, within artillery range of Helsinki. Russia abandoned the base in 1956, but Finland continued to maintain a strong coastal defence against attacks from the east for the next four decades.

Organized locally by Pekka Silvast, researcher/author on Finnish military and political history and Finnish Coastal Artillery Reserve officer, the tour started in Helsinki with a visit to a major private ordnance collection, acquired over several generations of one family. On a private farm, we were treated to a vast collection of small arms and all types of artillery, providing an opportunity to become familiar with the artillery Finland has employed, with its wide variety often due to limited resources and opportunist buying.

Following the visit, we took the not-so-express train from nearby Lahti to St Petersburg. Following in the footsteps of VI Lenin, the group arrived at the Finland Station and was greeted by Alex Gossachinsky, creator of the Northern Fortress web site, who played a key role in guiding us to the coastal defences around St Petersburg, where we stayed for three nights at the Okhtinskaja Hotel.

The fortress town of Kronstadt occupies the eastern end of the slender Kotlin Island. Orientated east-west, the island effectively divides the narrow eastern end of the Gulf of Finland into northern and southern zones. To the south of the island lies the ship channel to St Petersburg and a series of eight fortified artificial islands created to exclude hostile ships. This arrangement is reflected on the northern side with nine artificial island-forts. In addition to the fortified town there are two further works at the western end of Kotlin making a total of 19 forts plus a number of detached batteries. Today, Kotlin is connected to the Gulf's northern shore by a causeway dam and a similar work is due to link it to the southern shore. This makes visits relatively simple but has come at the cost of substantial damage to a number of the island forts. Our local guides for the day were V.F. Kljusnikov, a retired Russian Navy captain, and Tatyana Arseneva, the deputy manager of the Kronstadt Museum.

We started our boat tour in the middle harbour, one of a chain of fortified basins lining the channel, and headed westwards, passing the truncated remains of Battery Menshikov, only one of its three granite-faced casemate tiers survives (below).

This part of the Baltic has virtually no tide and on a calm day, the water is surprisingly still. Distant views of Forts Kronslot (below) and Peter the Great (below, middle and lower, 1854) revealed that most of the mid-C19th forts subsequently received additional accommodation for the garrison by the end of the century, when the primary defences were pushed westwards and the channel did not require such close defence.

In profile, Fort Alexander (below) exhibits the textbook characteristics of a Montalembert tower, three floors of casemates with a fourth, barbette level and room for 103 cannon.
The structure is in reasonably good condition and a notable survival is the pair of cast-iron staircases (see Casemate 77 pp27,28). There was no sign of modernization in the gun positions. The fort was later used as a laboratory for manufacturing plague vaccines; today a fabric roof covers the courtyard and rave concerts are held regularly.

Heading south, our other island stop was Fort No. 3 (Fort Milutin), started in 1865 and completed in 1878 (below).

Gen Totleben was closely involved in its design and originally planned for 280mm (11-in) guns in steam-powered turrets. These were replaced in 1914 with six concrete emplacements for 152mm (6-in) guns (below).
Elaborate searchlight mountings were a feature of Russian forts of this period, and there is a shaft with its original iron cap at the fort.

Around the seaward side of the island are a number of small batteries, fire control buildings and pillboxes, in various states due to erosion. Returning to the harbour several of the forts were viewed from different directions including the scant remains of Fort Paul (Ft Risbank), one of the largest forts, blown up in 1919 and again in 1923.

The town of Kronstadt itself was defended by a mid-19th curtain wall and ditches. Its interior is divided by canals leading directly from the sea - possible due to limited tides. Late-C18th warehouses, most in poor condition, line some of the canals; barracks, workshops, and apartment buildings for dockworkers occupy the rest of the town.

A visit to the Kronstadt Museum in a converted pumping station (above) revealed more of its history as well as a decorative but not too accurate model of the island and its surrounding forts.
The walls around the model carry a very appealing collection of watercolours of the forts, many from the C19th.There is also a museum dedicated to the fleet, in the enormous former cathedral.

The next visit was to Fort Constantine (also spelled Konstantin), which is now firmly connected to the Kotlin island by the new dam and the vast excavations for the tunnels under the ship channel. It appears this work has caused substantial damage (evident to the author since his last visit in 1998) to the iron-shielded battery, the most notable feature of the Fort. In plan, Fort Constantine is a group of three seemingly erratically planned batteries (below) reflecting the constant development of technology following the Crimean War.

The central battery was built at the same time as Fort Milutin (1860-70s) with a forward position with an iron-shielded battery or armoured breastwork with five guns, built in 1862-64, directly on top of the sea wall (below).

The battery was modernized in 1901 for eight 152mm guns in barbette positions and at the N end a pair of large gun pits for 85mm (3.3-in) AA guns was added in WWII, and an emplacement for two 120mm (4.7-in) guns.
Slightly to the north and retired is another later battery, built in concrete for eight 280mm guns (c1890) with searchlight positions at its southern extremity (below).

The southern battery is a mélange of covered casemates integrated with an earlier brick battery that mounted steam-powered guns. Similar to Battery Potter at Sandy Hook, this was for two 280mm disappearing guns of the Pauker System built in 1879, and next to emplacements for two 343mm (13.5-in) experimental guns. Also tacked on are concrete mountings for QF guns. Even with our guide, it was difficult to pin down exactly what was in each mounting.

Our next stop, Fort Schantz stretched across the island close to its western tip (Fort Rif) and was designed as an open-backed rampart lined with gun pits. The first phase of construction was from 1854-56 and the later concrete positions were finished 1890, when 152mm guns were mounted. As with other Russian positions, the number of guns was substantial. In the past five years the fort has deteriorated quickly, is now quite overgrown, and since the author last visited, most of the metalwork, including two steel observation cupolas, have been stolen.

After dinner in the former officer's club in town, the long midsummer day allowed a final visit, and the coach stopped on the north dam at Fort No 3, now in poor condition (below, the gorge), as some of its earth ramparts have been removed and the casemates have been stripped and systematically vandalized.

This was one of seven similar forts, which replaced earlier C19th works and were intended to prevent shallow-draft craft passing Kotlin Is on the northern side. As with the other small island forts, the ordnance was in open positions between the bombproof casemates. Two more substantial island forts, Totleben and Obrychev (1903-13), were later built in front of the line and the placement was coordinated with new land batteries. Trips to these forts require long boat rides, and time pressures precluded a visit.

The increasing range of guns at the end of the C19th allowed the Russians to consider defending Kronstadt and St Petersburg from both sides of the Gulf and sites for major new batteries were selected slightly to the west of Kotlin Fort; Krasnaya Gorka on the southern coast and Fort Ino on the northern side. As the Finns and Russians had blown up Fort Ino several times, the focus on the following day was the accessible parts of Fort Krasnaya Gorka and its adjacent batteries. Krasnaya Gorka (Red Hill) is a 'border region' requiring permission to visit, which was granted but it was still not possible to visit some areas, though the reasons for keeping the much damaged and obsolete remains in a restricted military area remain unclear but could be due partly to a major recent controversy over a proposal to move the two railway guns, 305 mm (12-in) (below) and 180mm (7-in) from the fort to a Moscow site.

These iconic guns played an important role in the defence of Krasnaya Gorka, which was not taken by the Germans in WWII, despite being cut off from Leningrad.
The guns are now behind barbed wire, protected by armed guards and an encampment of activists with the self-imposed task of preventing their removal. Although rusty, they are in reasonable condition and as an extra bonus, a 130mm (5.1-in) gun on a naval mount was found lurking behind a nearby tree.

The Fort (1909-15) is a long stepped line of open gun pits (above) behind an earth bank, protected from behind by earthworks. Starting at the east, there were pits for eight 280mm (11-in) guns (below), though only four were emplaced and 130mm guns later occupied the other four.

The long central battery was a line of eight 254mm (10-in) guns (below left) with six 152mm guns to their left (below right).

The westernmost battery was composed of four open positions with 305mm guns (below) and finally two twin-305mm turrets.

All the fixed guns were removed in a scrap metal drive in the 1960s and a substantial part of the 152mm and 254mm batteries were destroyed in 1918 in what now appears to have been a calculated attempt to disable the fort during the Civil War. The presence of unexploded munitions was given as the principal reason that access is currently denied and when we approached the 305mm batteries, a pair of fierce armed female guards told us to leave. The only surviving building seen outside the barbed wire was the reserve magazine adjacent to the railway entry to the fort, concrete sided and designed to be easily used as a barrier.

West of Krasnaya Gorka is another group of batteries close to Cape Seraya Loshad (Grey Horse). The emplacements for the 120mm Vickers guns and 152mm Canet guns (below) are similar, shallow gun pits on top of earth-covered concrete bunkers containing magazines and accommodation.
The only external features are the observation cupolas, one concrete and the other steel, but these are so low the slits could not have afforded a good view. The magazines are in relatively good condition and in both batteries there are ring passages around the gun pits that step down to the magazine entries (right).

Given their location only slightly above sea level, both batteries appear to have been constructed on flat ground and then covered with sand to mask their appearance from the sea.
These batteries and those at Krasnaya Gorka shared a substantial fire control position to the east side of Cape Seraya Loshad. Most of the five-story building is buried in a mound, and a concrete observation floor was added to the abandoned range finder housing. The interior has been stripped of equipment and is decaying relatively quickly.

For those immune to rain and serious mosquitoes, the final odyssey into the woods was to find the remains of a twin-turreted 203mm (8-in) battery about 2km west of the Cape. This battery, known as Gora-Valdai, was constructed in the 1930s with turrets from the battleship Republick or Imperor Pavel I. Both turrets have been removed; the metal barbettes remain but the positions are in poor condition.

We briefly visited a power plant bunker linked via a service tunnel between the two gun positions. Nearby was a separate command-post bunker for the battery.

Before leaving St Petersburg, we toured the city, including the cruiser Aurora and the Railway Museum, which contains another 305mm railway gun, in rather better condition, a couple of armoured cars and an ICBM on a railway carriage. Dominating the centre of the city is the Peter and Paul Fortress, started by Peter the Great. The current fortress is a late-C18th brick structure clothed in granite, facing the river Neva.

The walls and interior casemates have a complex history of changes and more recent restoration. A variety of guns is on display, but there has been no attempt to present an integrated interpretation of the work. From its earliest inception, there has been an elaborate crownwork to the north of the fortress. The centre of this work was filled with a substantial horseshoe-shaped barracks/arsenal building that today houses the Artillery Museum. The courtyard is crowded with examples of C20th Russian ordnance, principally field artillery and other weapon systems (below).

Most of the substantial earlier collections are displayed inside and there are examples of late-C19th fortress guns. The displays are extensive and cover a wide range of military topics; one gallery has sectional models of emplacements for guns and concealed bunkers. These provided much food for thought during the long train journey back to Helsinki, which passed Vyborg Castle (below) en route.

Cmdr. Ove Enqvist (Ret.) was our guide for the three days looking at extant coastal artillery in Finland. The first day focused on the Islands of Isosaari and Kuivasaari in the outer archipelago south of Helsinki. Both islands were initially fortified by the Russians at the beginning of the C20th and were part of a ring of forts forming an outer circle of seaward defences for the city following the substantially increased range of artillery. Fortifications are scattered all over a maze of islands.

The primary armament at each fort was 254mm barbette guns on Durlacher carriages, with 152mm guns in a secondary role on Isosaari only. All the guns were abandoned by Russia in 1918 when Finland achieved independence and the new Finnish Army took over the defences. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Finns embarked on a coast artillery construction program that included several 305mm turrets, using barrels left behind by the Russians and other barrels from France. Following the varying outcomes of Finland's wars with Russia, these Finnish-designed batteries have been moved or placed in storage over the years, with some of the turrets still emplaced as late as the 1970s. All have been superseded by 130mm and 100mm (3.9-in) tank turret guns, most of which are still in service (as are mobile anti-ship missiles - which were not included in the tour).

The tour of Isosaari started with its remaining 305mm turret (below), the second was scrapped in early 1980s. It is in relatively good condition and was made fully accessible to the group.

A visit was also made to one of the more recent 130mm turrets (1984-90). Due to treaty obligations these were designed for Soviet barrels, but in the end were equipped with Finnish Tampella-made barrels. The turrets reflect a contemporary sense of economy in their simple and compact design. Loading is nearly fully automated and requires only eight personnel for normal operation. Apparently, these guns can fire up to 10 rounds a minute, but this rate is unlikely to be employed for both economic and practical reasons. Such economy extended to the use of camouflaged tank turrets also mounted into the rock and it required closer inspection to determine the real weapons from some decoys (below).

All have covers to give the appearance of rocks and apparently the decoys contain heaters to help their simulation of the real guns. The 100mm turrets were designed for Soviet T55 tanks.

Following the poor state of the batteries around St Petersburg it was pleasure to see similar 254mm (right) and 152mm open positions in almost mint condition.

Isosaari had three four-gun batteries: two 254mm and one 152mm, with a later Finnish 152 mm Tampella, pairing a 152mm Canet barrel on a locally made mounting with a dish shield (below) and an LMG post to the rear. The magazines were rebuilt and the old gun pit filled with granite blocks, rather than concrete.

The visit also included a monument to a British sailor killed in the Crimean War, a memorial to the 'Red' internees and prisoners who died on the island, and a variety of discarded ordnance. We joined the conscripts in their canteen for lunch.

After lunch, we had a short but bumpy boat ride to the island of Kuivasaari. While not open to the public, it is now a Finnish coastal artillery museum operated by the Suomenlinna Coastal Artillery Guild. Before the main battery, Ove showed us the command block, with plotting rooms from two different periods, the first, from the late 1930s, required more than 25 men to calculate aiming information for the four guns. Next door is the prototype computer system introduced in 1968. The generator was started up and we were led along a tunnel to beneath the Russian 254mm 4-gun barbette battery (below, 1921).

One gun pit was converted to mount a twin 305mm turret and the magazines now display the range equipment that would have been found when the guns were in use, as well as other related equipment and samples of other-size projectiles. Brass slides from the magazines led into the base of the turret itself and trolleys on concentric tracks fed shells and cartridges into the bottom of the shell hoists. The Guild has fully restored the turret, and treated us to a loading demonstration as well as elevation of the barrels. The turret (below) was only emplaced in the 1930s and had to be dismantled following WWII, being reinstalled in 1960s.

The Russian battery is now a museum of Finnish coastal defense artillery. In adjacent gun pits there are a 254mm gun on a Durlacher carriage (from another battery), a 152mm Canet gun on a high pedestal and finally another 152mm Tampella with the same domed shield as seen on Isosaari.

We visited the battery command tower (right) and a 100mm tank turret position. There was also time to view the large collection of smaller coast artillery guns arranged along the main route across the island. At the SW end, there were several German 88mm (3.4-in) dual-purpose guns, also used by coastal artillery, another 100mm turret, several pillboxes, and the remains of the Russian range finding position.

Day two in the archipelago started in Santahamina, SE of Helsinki and the largest of a chain of islands that screens the city's harbour. It received no fortifications until the Crimean War, afterwards becoming a substantial Russian base and is still occupied by the Finnish military. It was once home to the Coastal Artillery School (the CA School was amalgamated with the Naval Academy at Suomenlinna in 1998) and we were given an intensive tour and demonstration of 130mm and 100mm training turrets. These are perched somewhat incongruously on top of a timber-clad building and during the visit Ove related some of the details surrounding the choice and use of these guns including the development of an anti-ship projectile, a sample of which was in the adjacent training building. The latter contained a simulator for range finding, rarely used now since radar and computers have largely superseded it.

We made a short visit to the earliest fortifications on the island, the Russian batteries overlooking the ship channel separating Santahamina from Kuninkaansaari. The remains of three earthen batteries with granite-lined gun positions were visible, as were concrete emplacements for 88mm dual-purpose guns in the woods behind. The garrison canteen provided lunch; we noted that the recruits received rather better treatment on Isosaari. We were off by midday, taking a boat across to Suomenlinna, as Sveaborg is now called. Once called the 'Gibraltar of the North,' the fortress and its constituent parts cover a group of islands directly south of Helsinki, many of which are now connected.

As well as defending Helsinki, the fortress was also planned as a naval harbour. A dry dock for galleys was created in the C18th between the central islands, and its defence was the focus of the overall design for the fortress. The dockyard was surrounded by a series of curtain walls and independent forts, initially planned by Ehrensvärd, who was placed in command in 1748. He employed traditional bastion traces, while striving to make the profile of the fortress as low as possible. The work was largely complete by the end of C18th, but its raison d'être, to protect Sweden's interests in Finland, disappeared when it was surrendered to Russia in 1808.
With few immediate threats, no substantial changes were undertaken until after the Franco-British attack in August 1855, during which many of the garrison buildings were damaged (below).

The most notable Russian addition was the chain of new gun positions along the seaward side of the fortress islands and most of the 229mm (9-in) and 280mm guns survive on their carriages in their original emplacements. A real treat.

Ove's tour focused on the guns of Suomenlinna, for which there is even a special guide book, and we started by the King's Gate on the southernmost island, Kustaanmiekka. Above the landing place is a row of guns - two 152mm Russian, 1889 and 1879, a 280mm and 229mm mortar, mostly on fortress carriages (left to right, below).

Dominating the approach to the main channel are four 229mm model 1867 guns and three 280mm model 1877 guns. Those desiring a photo without people needed great patience [or a lot of time in Photoshop. Ed], as a steady succession of small children clambered over every piece.

The guns are in reasonable condition but would benefit from maintenance, which would also demonstrate their value to less-knowledgeable visitors. The Coastal Artillery Museum has been closed and part of its display is now in the island's military museum in the former riding school on Iso Mustaari (the main Finnish military museum is in downtown Helsinki). Ove's route there included a pair of 152mm 1879 mortars on field carriages and the tomb of Ehrenesvärd outside the old commandant's house. The more energetic crossed bridges to Länsi Mustasaari to see a further pair of 280mm model 1867 guns (below) and the adjacent anti-aircraft battery.

The fortress is enormous, with bastions and barracks, ravelins, and random granite walls everywhere, with a C18th naval dock in the middle. Further description is beyond the scope of this report, but pictures give some idea of the fortress's appearance. Dinner in the officers' mess provided a fitting conclusion to the day.

The final day was devoted to a visit to the southwest corner of Finland, centred on the port of Hanko. The port is at the mouth of the Gulf and played a strategic role in the 1940s, noted earlier. We made a brief stop at the former boundary of the Soviet base (1940-41) to look at a tank and field gun memorial to the fighting between Finns and Russians in 1941.
Plans to visit Örö Island with its two single-gun 305mm turrets were confounded by a strong westerly wind and 40km of open water. We donned survival suits for the short boat ride to Russarö Island, where we were guided by Maj. Kaarle Lange (Ret), one of the former battery commanders, who had been in charge of the last test firing of the 234mm (9.2-in) guns in 1975. The two survivors of the original six guns have an interesting history. They were manufactured in the US for Chile by Bethlehem Steel, but were eventually sold to Russia, who left them behind in 1918. They were restored by the Finns and successfully used against the Soviets in 1939. Finland evacuated all six pieces in March 1940, when Hanko became a Russian naval base. When the Continuation War broke out and the Soviet Union was forced to leave Hanko, three of the guns were re-installed on Fort Russarö in 1941-42. In 1960-62, the remaining three guns were re-installed. The battery was decommissioned in the late 1970s, and in 1983 all were scrapped except for two guns left as museum pieces in single turrets (below). The interiors of the battery are largely complete, but would benefit from attention to prevent further deterioration.

The island is still an active military base (130mm and 100mm turrets), occupied occasionally, and the only other part visited was the area around the lighthouse.
This has a range finding position built into its base and we could also see the remains of a Russian travelling searchlight position linked to a power bunker by a channel cut into the rock with a narrow gauge railway line (below).

Other adjacent positions were cut into the granite, leaving one to speculate on the effort required! The area is littered with pillboxes, 76mm guns in position, and a large number of firing positions for infantry as well as more up-to-date 100mm turret emplacements. A brief boat excursion along this side of the island provided an opportunity to photograph the seaward view and experience the uncomfortable wave pattern that we would have had to endure for a visit to Örö. On the way back to Hanko, we made a brief visit to the ruined Swedish fort on Gustavsvärn (below), blown up by the Russians following the Crimean War, on the orders of the British and French.

Pekka's program for the afternoon focused on the Russian WWII positions around Hanko including one for the 305mm railway guns, recently seen in St Petersburg and Krasnaya Gorka. It is now a protected site, but encroached upon by new housing. Our route took us past the Russian war memorial to the airfield created during the war. On the north side of the town there is a position for four 45mm (1.8-in) dual-purpose AA and coastal defence guns. The pieces were set on round granite plinths, about 2m high with low parapets (below).

Similar positions with pillboxes can also be found on the southern side of the peninsula, by the old spa casino. After we visited the last site on the tour, a pillbox in a forest glade, Pekka organized a barbeque in a nearby restaurant.

It was an opportunity for the group to express its thanks to Pekka and his two assistants, Harri Koykkala and Markku Leminen, as well as to Terry McGovern, for all their hard work in organizing the tour. Sincere thanks are also due to Ove Enqvist and Alex Gossachinsky for their guiding of the group.
[For a splendid assembly of photos of Russian sites, see Alex's website: www.nortfort.ru Ed]