Rahmansaari

The island stretches from northwest to southeast for 2.1 km, a width of 0.7 km. Fully covered in dense forest. A well-trodden path leads along its western shore. The shores are rocky. In other years, Ladoga water reaches the trees ^[2] .

Approaches to the island are dangerous: underwater and surface boulders . A convenient place for landing and parking is on the northwestern part of the island, where there is a pebble beach. Near a large meadow ^[3] .

Almost all of the southern part of the island along the coast there are continuous boulders, here stands an old idle lighthouse (its design is typically Finnish ^[2] ) and the remains of a floating restaurant scattered by a storm are scattered on stones. On large stones, shallows near the island are a rusty dilapidated landing stage ^[4] .

During World War II, fierce battles were fought on the island. The island of Rahmansaari is separated from Valaam by a strait 18-20 kilometers wide, and only four kilometers from the western coast of the mainland, occupied at that time by Finnish troops . Due to this location, this island acquired special significance in the protection system of the base’s water area ^[5] .

On August 12, 1941, the 2nd company of the 3rd battalion of the 4th naval brigade of the Baltic Fleet landed on it to defend the island. In haste, the soldiers equipped the trenches and dugouts ^[6] .

By early September 1941, Finnish troops occupied the entire coast of Lake Ladoga - from Sortavala to Hiitola . Soviet troops remained only on the Ladoga islands. On Rahmansaari there was a company of marine corps consisting of 122 people, armed with three machine guns, three mortars and one 45 mm cannon. The company was commanded by Lieutenant 3. N. Slobodov. Another 60 people were deployed on the islands of Verkkosaari and Heinäsenma ^{[5] [3]} .

On September 5, the Finnish command decided to seize the island of Rahmansaari. For the landing, 9 motorbots were allocated. Two gunboats and two machine gun boats were to cover the landing. To provide artillery support, an observation post and a battery of three 75-mm guns were placed on the Palosaaret Islands, another 105-mm gun was placed on the Kalksalo Peninsula. Lieutenant Sonninen commanded the landing ^[3] .

At dawn on September 7, 1941, after a ten-minute artillery preparation from boats and longboats of the Ladoga Flotilla, under the cover of coastal battery fire, an amphibious landing on Rakhmaasaari Island, held by Soviet troops, began. The Finnish troops managed to land on the shore and gain a foothold, having lost two bots.

By noon on September 7, the main strongholds of the defenders were dismembered and surrounded. Despite the transfer of reinforcements from the nearby islands of Heinäsenäm , Verkkosaari and from the island of Valaam by the forces of the Soviet Ladoga military flotilla , as well as its repeated persistent attempts to deliver ammunition to the defenders and evacuate the remnants of the Soviet garrison, the resistance was finally suppressed by the evening of September 10 ^[7] .

130 wounded marines were captured on Rahmansaari. Here, 103 dead soldiers were also found. Another 30 bodies were found in the water. Thus ended the tragic and at the same time heroic epic of defense of the island of Rahmansaari ^[3] .

Five sailors managed to leave the island on a boat, and they were picked up by a Soviet boat ("sea hunter"). After the war, about 50 island defenders returned from Finnish captivity.

The dead Soviet soldiers were buried in a mass grave . Many years later, the red rangers of the Lahdenpoh High School discovered a wooden cross on the island of Rahmansaari with an inscription in Finnish on it : “Here are 110 soldiers of the Red Army who died in battle on September 7-10, 1941 on the island of Rahmaa” ^[3] . Later, a commemorative plaque was installed here ^[8] .

• Map sheet P-36-97.98 Priozersk . Scale: 1: 100 000. Indicate the date of issue / condition of the area .