Landing on Sommers Island

Sommers Island ( Fin. Someri ) is a small rocky island (950 by 400 meters in size) in the Gulf of Finland , which occupies an important position, allowing its own party to control maritime communications between Leningrad and the central part of the Baltic Sea . Until December 1941, the island was a Soviet garrison, which was removed during the evacuation of Soviet troops from the Hanko Peninsula . For some time it remained empty, but in the spring of 1942 the Finnish command landed a garrison on the island (part of the 22nd separate coast guard company), equipped a observation point and a coastal battery . The island became an important point of the Finnish-German anti-submarine defense system in the Gulf of Finland. Its garrison consisted of 92 people, armament of 5 guns (of which two were 75-mm caliber, three 45-mm caliber), 7 20-mm anti-aircraft guns, 2 81-mm mortars , 7 heavy and 5 light machine guns . The Finnish command really appreciated the possibility of the Soviet landing, so the island was equipped with 4 defense strongholds that made up a single defensive system.

When the command of the Baltic Fleet in the summer campaign of 1942 began to massively send submarines from Leningrad to the enemy’s communications, it was decided to correct the mistake and return the island to Soviet control. The author of the idea and plan of the operation was the commander of the Kronstadt naval base - the main base of the Baltic Fleet, Captain 1st Rank G.I. Levchenko (demoted from vice admirals in January 1942 for surrendering Kerch ).

An airborne squad was prepared to capture the island. The command of the operation was assigned to the commander of the torpedo boat brigade of Captain 2nd Rank V. A. Salamatin, the commander of the landing detachment - Captain 2nd Rank K. A. Shilov, the commander of the landing detachment (256 people, 10 machine guns) - Major I. V. Pasko. General management of the operation was carried out by G.I. Levchenko. Landing was outlined in separate groups at four points. The starting point of the landing was the Soviet base on the island of Lavensaari .

Levchenko estimated the strength of the enemy at 70 people with 2-3 guns. The island’s defense system and landing approaches were not explored.

On the night of July 8, landing boats (4 patrol boats , 7 torpedo boats ) headed for Sommers and reached the designated area at about 01:00 at night. From 00:40 to 01:00 on July 8, 12 DB-3 bombers from the 1st Guards mine-torpedo regiment, under cover of fighters from an altitude of 2,300-4,000 m, bombed the island with two waves (out of 120 100-kg bombs dropped 37 fell into the water), then two groups of 3 Il-2 attack aircraft attacked the island from low altitudes. Two IL-2s were damaged, the effectiveness of the strike was negligible, but the enemy was made ready for defense.

In clear weather and “white nights”, the Finns noticed the approach of the boats at a considerable distance - 20-30 cable ones - and opened fire. Boats managed to approach the shore, but it turned out that because of the large number of stones they could not come close to the coastal cliffs, and the depth near the shore was up to 5-10 meters. Some of the paratroopers drowned, the radio station was wet and out of order.

The Finns sunk 1 torpedo boat TK-71, another (TK-121) got on the rocks, was left by the crew and then destroyed by the Finnish artillery. 3 torpedo boats and 2 boats "small hunter" were damaged by fire, among the crew members were killed and wounded. A total of 164 paratroopers were landed, 7 wounded and 15 people from a boat that failed to approach the shore were returned to the base. The rest were killed, before 70 fighters drowned during the landing. One group was not landed at the point planned by the plan.

Having received a message from the Sommers garrison, the Finnish command urgently sent gunboats Uusimaa and Hämeenmaa, 5 patrol boats to him urgently. Soviet torpedo boats fought with them, losing one TK-113 boat sunk (the report on the sinking of the Finnish gunboat turned out to be unreliable, but is periodically indicated in Russian literature). Aviation was active on both sides, while the Finns damaged one torpedo boat, and the Soviet pilots damaged two boats and made a direct bomb hit the gunboat.

On the island, meanwhile, there was a fierce battle. The paratroopers captured one of the strongholds, destroying all its guns and 23 of 26 defenders. However, Levchenko, having received a report on the landing on the island and a request for sending a second echelon of landing, refused to send him out before the complete capture of the island. Instead, he sent the Kama gunboat, 4 torpedo boats, 5 patrol boats with the task of driving Finnish ships off the island. The enemy also hastily sent additional forces - a detachment of German minesweepers. Between the ships, a naval battle ensued, in connection with which the Soviet ships could not provide any support for the landed landing. One Soviet torpedo boat (TK-22) was sunk.

Around 11:30, Finnish ships approached the island - the gunboat Turunmaa and 8 boats, which landed reinforcements for the garrison (109 people). The Soviet landing was in a difficult situation.

Only at 16:40 reinforcements (57 submachine gunners) landed on the island from three Soviet torpedo boats. When landing under enemy fire, 13 of them died. It was taken aboard 23 wounded. When retreating, Finnish coastal guns sank a torpedo boat TK-31.

By the evening of July 8, both guns of the main caliber went out of order on the gunboat "Kama". The Soviet command brought into the battle the patrol ship "The Tempest" and the base minesweepers T-205 "Gafel" and T-207 "Spire". But the enemy also pulled up the Finnish mine loaders Riilahti and Routsinsalmi, the German floating ship SAT 28 (Ost), the floating base (tender) Nettelbek, and the minesweeper M 37. The Germans delivered to the island in a boat 10 people and several boxes of hand grenades.

On the night of July 9, 3 torpedo boats, a patrol ship "The Tempest", and a minesweeper T-207 were sent to attack the enemy ships. The torpedo attack ended to no avail, all three torpedo boats were damaged by the artillery of Finnish ships. Three patrol boats with reinforcements were sent to the island itself, of which Finnish artillery sank the patrol boat MO-306. Reinforcements were not landed. The battle continued on the island.

On the morning of July 10, the battle continued on the island, by noon it was quiet and no longer resumed. There were no rescued from the landing (except 23 wounded, evacuated in the evening of July 8). Attempts to land on reconnaissance island ended in vain. All day near the island there were sea battles and mutual air strikes against ships, from the Soviet side the torpedo boats TK-83 and TK-123 were killed. On the night of July 11, the operation was stopped, all Soviet ships returned to the base.

During the operation, 7 Soviet torpedo boats and 1 small hunter boat were sunk, the base minesweeper, 10 torpedo boats, 5 patrol boats, 5 other boats were damaged. Gunboat "Kama" out of order due to technical malfunctions. The Finnish command increased the number of sunk Soviet ships from 8 to 18. In air battles and attacks by enemy ships, 4 Soviet planes were lost.

In the Soviet editions of data on the losses of the landing was not published. For the first time, information about the losses is indicated in the work of E. N. Abramov — the total losses amounted to 359 killed and 63 wounded ^[1] . According to Finnish data, 128 Soviet soldiers died and 149 were captured, about 200 more people allegedly drowned along with the dead ships.

The Finnish-German fleet did not have sunken ships (although Soviet pilots and boaters reported on "sunken" ships), damage to the M-18 minesweeper, gunboats Hämeenmaa and Turunmaa, several boats were recognized. According to Finnish reports, the army lost 15 people killed and 45 wounded, the fleet - 6 killed and 18 wounded. On the German ships participating in the battle, 6 crew members were injured.

The island remained in the hands of the enemy. Around him, Finns and Germans hastily established strong minefields. Sommers remained in the hands of the Finns until Finland left the war in September 1944, representing a serious obstacle to the forces of the Baltic Fleet.

The operation ended in failure due to major errors in its planning and implementation. The preparations were carried out in a hurry, although there was no need for urgency of the operation. The landing facilities available on the fleet (tenders) and small boats were not used.

• The Great Patriotic War. Day after day. "Marine collection", 1992, No. 7.
• Skrobach Alexander, Mukhin Alexey. The battle at the tip of a knife, or a forgotten battle near the island of Sommers. St. Petersburg: IKC Karelian Isthmus, 2014 .-- 536 p. - ISBN 978-5-9905826-1-3 .
• Solomonov B. The lost landing // Flotomaster. - 1997. - No. 1 .