Porkkala (naval base)

In 1809, Finland was annexed to Russia under the Friedrichsham Peace Treaty . Three years later, on April 12, 1812 , Alexander I declared the provincial Helsingfors the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland .

In the middle of the XIX century, a powerful citadel was built on the Åland Islands, the old Swedish fortress Sveaborg near Helsingfors (Helsinki) survived a rebirth.

After the death of the 2nd Pacific Squadron, composed of the best ships of the Baltic Fleet in May 1905 , Petersburg turned out to be almost defenseless against the threat of enemy invasion from the Gulf of Finland. The obsolete battleships remaining in the Baltic could not provide any serious resistance to modern dreadnoughts and enemy battlecruisers; huge ships and time were required for the construction of ships comparable in strength to the latter, which the tsarist government did not have.

That is why the Russian naval command, based on cash, developed an unusual plan to protect the capital. Given the real threat of war, the Gulf of Finland from Nargen Island to the Porkkala-Udd Peninsula was supposed to be blocked by a minefield, the northern and southern flanks of which would be covered by pre-installed coastal batteries. This Central mine-artillery position was to impede the maneuvering of the enemy fleet, which intended to break through to St. Petersburg.

To accomplish the tasks set, it was necessary to carry out observation of the sea 300-400 km west of the Nargen-Porkkala-Udd line and create a squadron of barriers capable of delivering 3 thousand mines in no more than 8 hours. This task required the emergency construction of special ships ...

The minzag detachment formed in 1909, which included the Volga , Amur , Yenisei , Ladoga , Narova and Onega , made it possible to prepare the personnel of the Baltic Fleet for mine warfare well.

In 1911, Emperor Nicholas II approved the site for the construction of a new naval base of the Russian Imperial Navy - the Porkkala-Udd Peninsula.

At 7 a.m. on July 31, 1914, five hours before the announcement of general mobilization, the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral N.O. Essen, ordered the detachment to proceed with the production. And four minzags - “Amur”, “Yenisei”, “Ladoga” and “Narova”, covered by cruisers at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland and the main forces of the fleet immediately in front of the position, installed 2124 minutes in four hours.

The measures taken have yielded results. In the First World War, despite repeated attempts, the German Navy was never able to break through to the mouth of the Neva.

March 12, 1942 negotiations between the German and Finnish authorities on the issue of blocking Soviet submarines marked a certain divergence of opinion on this issue. The Germans believed that they would be able to block the Gulf of Finland with the help of mines and submarine hunters, and the Finns considered these measures insufficient and sought to persuade the Germans to put a network fence there. But in 1942 neither in Finland nor in Germany there were networks suitable for this.

On May 9, 1942, the Germans began laying mines in the Gulf of Finland; their number in the Gulf of Finland exceeded 21 thousand. Directly at the barriers, more than a hundred different ships and boats were deployed. Thus, an anti-submarine line was formed with a depth of more than 150 miles. However, the Soviet submariner managed to find passages in these minefields.

The active actions of Soviet submarines in the Baltic in 1942 forced the enemy to take measures to prevent the Baltic Fleet from breaking through into communications for transporting strategic materials and raw materials. To do this, it was decided to tightly close the exit from the Gulf of Finland with network barriers, although the preparation of the networks cost a lot of material costs.

Ultimately, in 1943, German and Finnish ships exhibited several systems of depth-separated mine barriers, detection aids and anti-submarine forces - the so-called anti-submarine borders. By the complexity of the navigational situation, by the saturation with anti-submarine forces and means, the most powerful were the German Hogland and Nargen-Porkkalaudda lines, blocking the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.

The line that blocked the bay along the line about. Wigrund - about. Big Tyuters - about. Hogland, consisted of antenna, bottom and anchor magnetic mines, set in tiers throughout the depth, a wide system of observation and communication posts, searchlight installations and coastal batteries located on the islands. By the end of April 1943, 8.5 thousand mines were put up at the turn, including 560 bottom magnetic, 1360 magnetic anchor and almost 6.5 thousand contact. In the area of ​​the Porkkala-Udd Peninsula, a noise-finding station began to operate. Antisubmarine ships and enemy boats patrolled along the line.

The Nazis deployed another, main, line between the island of Nargen and Cape Porkkala-Udd. The depth of the bay here is 25-60 m, and only in one place reaches 80 m, width - 20 miles. The main obstacle for the boats was a two-row steel network suspended from numerous floats and put on heavy anchors. Separate sections of it up to 250 m long and 40–70 m high blocked the entire bay from the southern to the northern coast. Soviet submarines repeatedly tried to cut or torpedo this network, but were convinced of the futility of these attempts.

Over the entire campaign of 1943, the Baltic Fleet submarines carried out only two torpedo attacks, which were unsuccessful. The situation with the position of the Baltic Fleet changed only in early September 1944, when Finland withdrew from the war.

Creation History

The Soviet leadership considered it necessary to provide additional security for Leningrad from the Gulf of Finland. For this purpose, it was decided to create a "stone airbag" for the cradle of the revolution.

On March 13, 1940 , after the end of the Winter War, the Soviet Union received the Karelian Isthmus and the right to lease the territory of the Hanko Peninsula (Gangut) for 30 years to build a naval base there. In March 1940, the USSR had no reason to demand the territory of Porkkala.

On September 19, 1944, in connection with the cessation of hostilities from Finland on September 4 and from the Soviet Union on September 5, 1944, a Armistice Agreement was signed in Moscow, according to which Finland pledged to withdraw its troops beyond the line of the Soviet-Finnish border defined by Mirny the treaty of March 12, 1940. At the same time, the Soviet Union renounced its rights to rent the Hanko Peninsula, granted to it by the 1940 Peace Treaty, and Finland pledged to provide the Soviet Union with lease rights for a period of 50 years, territory and water spaces for the creation of the Soviet naval base in the Porkkala-Udd area.

This Agreement was reaffirmed by the Peace Treaty concluded in Paris on February 10, 1947. About 100 km² were leased. It included almost the entire Degerbu community, partly Siuntio, Inkoo and Espoo.

Rental price - 5 million Finnish marks per year

The base at Porkkale was more profitable than the base at Hanko. There was an opportunity to revive the Central mine-artillery position, known since tsarist times, blocking in which case enemy ships break through to Leningrad: coastal batteries on Porkkala-Udd and batteries on the opposite Estonian island of Nargen fire block the entrance to the Gulf of Finland in the narrowest spot, if necessary mines are also being set.

Borders of the leased territory

The starting point of the border of the Porkkala-Udd region, leased by the USSR in the USSR from Finland, is the point with coordinates: latitude = 59 ° 50 'north; Longitude = 24 ° 07 'East. From this point, the border line runs north along the meridian 24 ° 07 'to the point with coordinates: latitude = 60 ° 06', 2 north; Longitude = 24 ° 07 'East.

Further, the border line runs along a conditional curve in a northerly direction to a point with coordinates: latitude = 60 ° 08 ', 1 north; Longitude = 24 ° 07 ', 6 East.

From here, the border line runs along a conditional curve in the general north-east-east direction to a point with coordinates: latitude = 60 ° 10 ', 4 north, longitude = 24 ° 34', 1 east. Further along the conditional curve along the Espop-Lahti Gulf, and then east of the islands of Smukholmarne, Bjerken, Medvaste, Heg-Holm and Stur-Hamn-Holm to the point with coordinates: latitude = 60 ° 02 ', 9 north; longitude = 24 ° 37 ', 7 east, and then the border line runs south along the meridian 24 ° 37', 7 to the outer limits of the territorial waters of Finland.

Beginning of base formation

Based on the decree GKO № 7070ss of December 3 ^{[ when? ]} and NKVD order No. 001496 of December 14 for the restoration and construction of naval bases and coastal defense of the Tallinn and Riga naval defensive areas of the Baltic Fleet, the Porkkala-Udd Naval Base Construction Department was established, which was part of the Tallinn Naval Base Construction Department and the Riga naval defense areas "Baltvoenmorstroy" of the NKVD of the USSR "under Glavpromstroy NKVD of the USSR.

The head of the Department of Construction of the Naval Base in Porkkala-Udd is Colonel of the Administrative Service Tarkhanov Leonid Aleksandrovich (former head of Vorkutlag ).

Operational tasks to be solved by the newly created naval base : to defend the central mine position in order to prevent the sea from breaking through the surface and underwater forces of the enemy into the Gulf of Finland; as a bridgehead, to be ready to receive troops for the deployment of active operations in the land direction; in cooperation with the Helsinki Naval Commandant, which is subordinate to it, provide temporary deployment and operational deployment of KBF ships, loading and unloading transports. In addition, under the supervision of the Navy, transports and warships were to be navigated on the Stockholm-Turku-Ulkotamio-Tallinn skerry communications. In this way, the Soviet side gained access to Finland’s seafaring and foreign maritime trade.

On September 20, 1944, the formation of the Porkkala-Udd naval base began. It included 2 artillery divisions: 4 coastal 45-mm batteries and 2 medium-caliber batteries.

People's Commissar of the Navy N.G. Kuznetsov on September 20, 1944 ordered:

“On the territory of Porkkala-Udd, deploy a naval base as follows: a detachment of armored boats (five boats), two divisions of small hunters BMO, MO and patrol boats of the KM type (25 boats), a division of minesweepers (nine minesweepers), two divisions of boats- minesweepers (19 boats), in addition, minesweepers and their towers, a transport detachment (five transports), the coastal defense sector (railway artillery division - four three-gun batteries 180-305 mm, stationary artillery division consisting of batteries: three-gun 130 mm, one three 127-mm gun, four four-gun 45-mm), an air defense brigade consisting of five anti-aircraft artillery divisions (76 barrels of 85-25 mm caliber).

If the Finnish coastal artillery of the Porkkala-Udda area turns out to be serviceable, then it should be manned by the fleet ”

In 10 days, 7272 local residents were evacuated from Porkkala, along with crops and livestock, 1170 of them from Degerby. The entire Degerby commune had a population of 1,400 people living in 24 villages.

In March 1945, the mixed Soviet-Finnish commission completed the demarcation of the border line of the leased area, establishing 111 border signs. After the demarcation of the borders of the leased territory on the Finnish side, only three villages of the Degerby commune remained, therefore, in 1946 the Degerby commune was merged with the Ingo / Inkoo commune.

Soon, the construction of fortifications began, in which from 1947 they began to deploy powerful 100-mm casemate guns paired with the Maxim machine gun. The firing range of these guns exceeded 20 kilometers.

Throughout 1944-1946 the Soviet leadership was in no hurry with the construction of the base. This is explained by the fact that in the first post-war years: the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden took a friendly position with respect to the USSR.

Base construction financing

1952 - 43.8 million rubles.

1953 - 36.7 million rubles.

1954 - 29.5 million rubles.

1955 - about 25 million rubles.

Scandinavian crisis

In September 1947, at the Inter-American Conference in Rio de Janeiro, the United States and Latin American countries concluded the Western Hemisphere Defense Treaty , which included the inclusion of the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean with the adjacent territories of the European North in its "security zone".

The idea arose of “binding” Finland more tightly to the USSR with additional obligations. On February 22, 1948, the President of Finland, Yu. K. Paasikivi , made an official proposal to conclude an Agreement on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance, which coincided with the communist coup in Czechoslovakia .

This caused alarm in Scandinavia, exacerbated by rumors circulating in March-April 1948 that "Finland and Denmark will turn next after Finland." The governments of these countries began to find out the possibility of military assistance to the United States and Great Britain , which forced the Western countries to accelerate the creation of a military alliance, which was already issued on March 17, 1948.

In order to keep Denmark and Norway neutral , the Swedish government presented in late April 1948 a project to create an alternative Scandinavian defensive alliance , designed to play the role of a buffer zone between East and West.

The activity of military preparations in Scandinavia and the complication of Soviet-Finnish relations were reflected in the task developed for the naval base for solving extramural operational and tactical tasks in the summer of 1948. The Soviet command considered the following option: foreign states, under the pretext of a "friendly visit to the Scandinavian countries," were introduced into The Baltic Sea is a strong grouping of its fleet and, continuing to concentrate expeditionary forces on the territory of the Scandinavian Peninsula, the military begin to declare war action against the USSR. In this regard, it was also assumed that an ultimatum would be required in order to obtain Finland’s permission to send Soviet troops.

This plan allowed the capture of Tallinn, the main base of the Navy. After that, the Soviet command was to deploy the armed forces in the direction of Jyväskylä , Tampere , Pori , Turku , Hanko, Helsinki, Porvo , Loviz , in order to prepare flanking attacks on the enemy from the north and organize landing on the Estonian coast. In such circumstances, the Navy Porkkala-Udd became the main base of the Baltic Fleet. It was on her that the main task lay in preparation for the landing operation, for which she had to organize the naval bases of Hanko and Helsinki on her own. Thus, this plan revealed a sharply increased military-strategic importance of the naval base of Porkkala-Udd. This forced the Soviet leadership in the autumn of 1948 to revise the pace of its construction, strengthen combat readiness and proceed with major reconstructive changes. Additional parts and formations with a large volume of new equipment and weapons were added to the base.

The political crisis that arose in Scandinavia in 1948 was resolved by the entry of Denmark and Norway into NATO in April 1949. In January 1950, they entered into a military assistance agreement with the United States, and at the beginning of 1951 they took part in the creation of a unified command and common armed forces of NATO.

Soviet-Finnish relations since 1950, on the contrary, began to gradually improve. This was due to the activities of the new Prime Minister of Finland, U.K. Kekkonen. В 1952 г. он предложил вернуться к идее Скандинавского нейтрального союза, выдвинув Финляндию на роль посредника между СССР и Скандинавскими странами в мирном урегулировании.

Однако в условиях присутствия советских вооружённых сил на финляндской территории эта идея была практически неосуществима.

Из мемуаров Н. С. Хрущёва : «Я считал, что не лучший способ завоевания доверия финского народа — держать у них под горлом ножик в виде военной базы… Как же мы можем призывать американцев вывести свои войска с других территорий, если наша база расположена в Финляндии? Она выполняет ту же роль, что и американские базы , к примеру, в Турции».

Контингент базы

7 октября 1944 года Постановлением Государственного Комитета Обороны № ГОКО-6660сс «Об утверждении формирования дивизии морской пехоты для сухопутной и противодесантной обороны военно-морской базы Порккала-Удд» было предписано:

Для сухопутной и противодесантной обороны военно-морской базы Порккала-Удд обязать Наркомвоенморфлот (т. Кузнецова) сформировать к 15 ноября с. г. одну дивизию морской пехоты, численностью 10.500 человек. Обязать Начальника Генерального Штаба Красной Армии выделить одну стрелковую дивизию из состава Красной Армии, численностью не менее 5 тысяч человек.

1-я Мозырская Краснознаменная дивизия морской пехоты была сформирована на базе 55-й стрелковой Мозырской Краснознаменной дивизии . 10 октября 1944 года дивизия поступила в распоряжение командующего Краснознаменным Балтийским флотом и была на кораблях переброшена в Хельсинки, а оттуда на полуостров Порккала-Удд.

На базе дислоцировались два корабельных соединения:

• БШК — бригада шхерных кораблей ^[1] . Шхерные корабли представляли собой бронекатера , вооружённые двумя танковыми пушками .
• ОВР — охрана водного района, состоящая главным образом из тральщиков . Эти корабли, как правило, покидали родные берега для боевого траления на несколько месяцев.

Кроме моряков и морской пехоты на территории базы были размещены пограничники и стройбат.

7 июня 1947 года в Порккала-Удд пришёл броненосец береговой обороны « Выборг ». В недавнем прошлом под названием «Вяйнемяйнен» он входил в состав финского ВМФ. Введенный в строй в 1932 году, корабль обладал сильным вооружением и бронированием. Советский Балтфлот начал охоту за ним и однотипным «Ильмариненом» ещё в 1939 году. Однако «Вяйнемяйнен» в отличие от собрата, подорвавшегося на мине в 1941 году, уцелел. По условиям Парижского мира Финляндия продала последний оставшийся у неё броненосец Советскому Союзу.

На территории военно-морской базы было около создано 300 различных оборонительных сооружений.

Административные службы базы располагались в городке Киркконумми (18 километрах к северу от базы и 30 километрах от Хельсинки). Там же располагался штаб и госпиталь .

Командование базы

Командиры военно-морской базы Порккала-Удд:

• 09.11.1944 — 09.05.1945 — капитан I ранга Антонов Неон Васильевич
• .06.1945 — .04.1950 — капитан I ранга Сухиашвили Константин Давидович
• 1951—1956 — генерал-лейтенант артиллерии С. И. Кабанов

Начальники штаба:

• 12.1945 — 3.1948 — капитан I ранга Луцкий Николай Львович

Повседневная жизнь базы

Территория базы закрытая. Периметр охраняемой территории — 40 км. Чтобы покинуть охраняемую территорию военно-морской базы, даже старшему офицеру и членам его семьи надо было оформить большое количество бумаг на выезд и столько же на въезд.

Несанкционированный выход за пределы базы — ЧП .

Из достопримечательностей: 2 местные пивные (одну офицеры звали «Зайди, голубчик», вторую — «Лови момент» (она же «Кровавая харчевня») и магазин типа сельпо .

На флоте Порккала-Удд считался чем-то вроде неформального штрафбата .

Железнодорожная линия Хельсинки-Турку заворачивала на территорию базы, и поскольку все едущие в Турку и обратно финны считались шпионами, окна вагонов на всем пути следования по базе закрывались специальными щитами (шутка по этому поводу — «самый длинный железнодорожный тоннель в мире»).

Закрытие базы

С 1955 года руководство СССР выступало с призывом прекратить гонку вооружений и созвать всемирную конференцию по этому вопросу. В подтверждение нового внешнеполитического курса Советский Союз сократил численность своих Вооружённых сил с 5,8 млн человек на начало 1955 года до 3,6 млн к декабрю 1959 года.

19 сентября 1955 года в Москве было подписано соглашение между СССР и Финляндией об отказе Советского Союза от прав на использование территории Порккала-Удд для военно-морской базы и выводе советских вооружённых сил с этой территории.

Береговая артиллерия на момент расформирования базы включала в себя: — двухорудийную 305-мм батарею № 374 на острове Мякилуото; — трехорудийную 152-мм батарею № 114 на острове Стура-Треске; — четырехорудийную 130-мм батарею № 212 на острове Порее; — четырехорудийную 130-мм батарею № 463 на острове Ярве; — трехорудийную 127-мм батарею № 261 на острове Хесте (законсервирована).

В ходе советско-финляндских переговоров, проходивших в Москве с 16 по 20 сентября 1955, в обмен на соглашение о ликвидации военно-морской базы Порккала-Удд, советское руководство добилось продления на 20-летний срок Договора о дружбе, сотрудничестве и взаимной помощи.

В ноябре 1955 г. советско- норвежские переговоры, состоявшиеся в Москве, привели к официальному отказу Норвегии от размещения на её территории иностранных баз и ядерного оружия.

Общий результат данных шагов советского руководства состоял в улучшении отношений СССР со скандинавскими странами и снижении напряжённости на Севере Европы.

Эвакуация базы

Эвакуация проводилась в большой спешке. Бетонные оборонительные сооружения были взорваны, окопы и землянки срыты.

Вывод советских войск и передача полуострова Финляндии были закончены в 1956 году . Заключительный протокол о безвозмездной передаче Советским Союзом Финляндской Республике арендуемой территории полуострова Порккала-Удд и находящегося на ней имущества досрочно — до окончания 50-летнего срока аренды — подписан в Хельсинки 25 января 1956 года .

Сохранился фильм о процессе передачи территории Порккала-Удд Финляндии ^[2] .

26 января 1956 года граница на территории Порккала перестала существовать и 4 февраля бывшим жителям было позволено вернуться в свои брошенные дома.

Последовал трудный период восстановления разрушенного хозяйства территории. Местные жители Порккала получили от финского правительства компенсацию за потерянное при эвакуации имущество.

В настоящее время в Порккала действует «Музей арендованной территории» Дегерби.

До настоящего времени на территории бывшей базы сохранилось захоронение советских военнослужащих. Ежегодно, ко дню Победы проходит торжественное возложение венков и цветов с участием представителей посольства России, финских местных властей и общества «Финляндия-Россия».

В октябре 2000 года в Порккала-Удде, в бывшей казарме, был освящён православный храм , устроенный владельцем русского ресторана в Хельсинки. Со временем здесь предполагается устроить мужской монастырь.

• Анатолий Азольский «Женитьба по-балтийски» ( 1996 )