February 15, 1940 Soviet troops finally broke through the "Mannerheim Line"- a powerful complex of Finnish defensive structures, which was considered impregnable. This was a turning point in the Winter War of 1939-1940 and in military history as such. Today we will recall what this legendary Finnish defensive line was like and tell you about six most interesting facts associated with the "Mannerheim Line" - the history of its construction and operation.
Mannerheim line or Enkel line?
The name of Mannerheim, the Finnish commander in chief, and then the President of Finland, was given to the line of defensive structures on the Karelian Isthmus only at the end of 1939, when a group of foreign journalists visited its construction site. The journalists returned home and wrote a series of reports about what they saw, in which they mentioned the term that later became official.
In Finland itself, this defense complex was for a long time called the "Enkel line" in honor of the chief of the General Staff of the young republic, who paid great attention to the construction of defensive structures on the southern borders of his homeland in the early 20s of the 20th century. Construction of the line began in 1920 and was suspended in 1924 when Enkel resigned from his post.
It was resumed only in 1932, when the legendary military leader Carl Gustav Mannerheim, who had become the head of the State Defense Committee the year before, rode with an inspection along the Enkel Line and gave the order to complete it, strengthen and modernize it.
What is the Mannerheim line?
This is really where you should have started. The "Mannerheim Line" is a giant defensive line built by the Finns in 1920-1939 near the border with Soviet Russia. It was created to stop the advance of the Red Army inland. And the fact that this will begin one day, in Helsinki, no doubt.
The line was created taking into account the landscape of the Karelian Isthmus and in the west rested on the Gulf of Finland, and in the east - in Ladoga. The complex of structures consisted of six lines of defense, of which the second, main, in fact, was the "Mannerheim Line".
It consisted of 22 nodes of resistance and separate strongholds. The landscape features made it possible to hold the defense on this line with small forces, while inflicting significant damage to the advancing enemy. And 136 kilometers of anti-tank obstacles, 330 kilometers of barbed wire, mines, gouges, ditches, pillboxes and bunkers did not contribute to the rapid breakthrough of this line.
The pillboxes and bunkers themselves were skillfully hidden from the eyes of the attackers, the relief made it possible to hide them, disguising them as hills with trees and other natural elements. During the Winter War, there was a rumor among Soviet soldiers that the Finnish bunkers were covered with rubber, which is why the shells that hit them bounce off - they could not explain the “survivability” of the enemy firing points otherwise.
Was the line really impregnable?
During the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, domestic propaganda claimed that the Mannerheim Line was one of the greatest defense systems built by Mankind, more impregnable than the legendary French Maginot Line. That is why her breakthrough was presented as an unprecedented feat of Soviet soldiers. However, the Finnish field marshal himself, as well as most historians, were very skeptical about such statements.
The impregnability of the "Mannerheim Line" is a myth blown up by the Western press and Soviet propaganda. Our command needed to justify the delays at the front (after all, a quick and victorious war was expected), the Finns raised the morale of the fighters with stories about the wonderful characteristics of the defense system, and the European media needed beautiful stories and hot facts.
In fact, the Mannerheim Line, despite its scale, had many significant shortcomings. Let's start with the fact that at the time of the outbreak of the war, it was not completed, and there was still quite a lot of construction work left. In addition, most of the equipment of this defensive complex in 1939 was noticeably outdated, and there were not so many modern firing points. And there was no talk of a great depth of defense.
Why did Soviet troops storm the Mannerheim Line for more than two months?
The war with Finland was conceived by the Soviet leadership as a quick armed conflict on foreign territory, which in a short time would end with the victory of our army. The fighting began on November 30, and already on December 12, the Red Army reached the front line of the main defense line of the Mannerheim Line. However, here they are stuck for two months.The reason for this is the lack of accurate data on the structure of the Mannerheim Line, as well as the lack of personal strength and weapons appropriate for the task. The Soviet army did not have enough large-caliber artillery to destroy the enemy's concrete firing points and military experience in breaking through such barriers. And the command did not always behave competently.
For these and many other reasons, the battles for the "Mannerheim Line" lasted more than two months. And it was possible to break through it only in February 1940. The general offensive began on 11 February. The first breakthrough of the defensive shaft occurred on the 13th, and on the 15th the fall of the "Mannerheim Line" became irreversible - the 7th Army entered the rear of the Finnish troops, which forced them to retreat to a new line of defense. Thus was decided the fate of the Winter War.
The fighting escalated until March 12, after which the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, which fixed the annexation by the Soviet Union of a number of Finnish border territories. In particular, the cities of Vyborg and Sortvalla, as well as the Khanka Peninsula in the depths of Finland, where a Soviet naval base was built, became Russian.
What is a "Karelian sculptor"?
The Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 gave the world several new terms. For example, "Molotov cocktail" and "Karelian sculptor". The last was the Soviet high-powered howitzer of the B-4 caliber, the projectile of which, after hitting the pillboxes and bunkers, turned these structures into a shapeless mess of concrete and reinforcement. These bizarre structures were visible from afar, which earned them the nickname "Karelian monuments". The Finns also called the B-4 howitzer "Stalin's sledgehammer."
What is now in place of the Mannerheim Line?
Immediately after the end of the Winter War, Soviet sappers made great efforts to destroy the remnants of the Mannerheim Line. Most of the firing points were blown up, only those engineering structures that could not be dismantled remained intact.
During the Soviet-Finnish war of 1941-1944, the Finns who again occupied these territories did not want to restore the Mannerheim Line, considering this case unpromising.
Now, from the once large-scale line of the Finnish defense, only scattered objects scattered throughout the Karelian Isthmus remain. They are an object of pilgrimage for lovers of military history and a few tourists. No attempts are being made to put this monument in order by the Russian or Finnish authorities. However, powerful reinforced concrete fortifications can stand for centuries even in the open air in harsh northern natural conditions.
The object that arouses genuine and constant interest among many generations of people is the Mannerheim complex of protective barriers. The Finnish defense line is located on the Karelian Isthmus. It is a lot of bunkers, blown up and littered with traces of shells, rows of stone gouges, dug trenches and anti-tank ditches - all this is well preserved, despite the fact that more than 70 years have passed.
Causes of the war
The reason for the military conflict between the USSR and Finland was the need to ensure the security of the city of Leningrad, since it was located near the Finnish border. On the eve of World War II, the leadership of Finland was ready to provide its territory as a springboard for numerous enemies of the Soviet Union, and mainly for Nazi Germany.
The fact is that in 1931 Leningrad was transferred to the status of a city of republican significance, and part of the territories subordinate to the Lensoviet turned out to be at the same time the border with Finland. That is why the Soviet leadership began negotiations with this country, offering it to exchange lands. The Soviets offered twice as much territory as they wanted in return. in the agreements turned out to be a clause with a request from the USSR to deploy its military bases on Finnish soil. But the parties did not agree, which led to the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish, or the so-called Winter War. Without it, Leningrad would have been captured by Hitler's troops in just a few days.
background
The concept of "Mannerheim Line" refers to a whole complex of historical defensive structures that played a major role in the Soviet-Finnish War. It lasted from November 30, 1939 to March 13, 1940.
As soon as Finland gained independence, it immediately began to think about strengthening its borders, and already at the beginning of 1918, the construction of barbed wire fences began on the site of the future Mannerheim's grandiose military shield. The line was finally approved in 1920 and was first named the "Enkel Line" in honor of Major General O. L. Enkel, who was then Chief of the General Staff, who was in charge of its construction. The developer of the fortifications was the French officer J. J. Grosse-Caussi, sent to Finland to assist in strengthening the borders of this country. But, following the traditions that had already developed by that time, the complexes of defensive structures were most often named after the “big bosses”, for example, the Stalin Line or Maginot. Therefore, in order to avoid confusion, these barriers were renamed and named after the commander-in-chief of the troops, Carl Gustav Mannerheim, a former officer in the Russian army.
Fortification shield of Finland
The Mannerheim Line is a defensive line 135 km long, which completely crossed the entire Karelian Isthmus - from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladoga. From the west, defense communications passed partly along flat, and partly along hilly terrain, covering the passages between numerous swamps and small lakes. In the east, the line relied on the Vuoksa water system, which in itself was a serious obstacle. Thus, in the period from 1920 to 1924, the Finns built more than one and a half hundred long-term military structures.
By the end of 1927, it became clear that Enkel's engineering barriers were significantly inferior to the Soviet defensive fortifications in terms of the quality of buildings and weapons, so their construction was temporarily suspended. In the 1930s, the construction of long-term structures was resumed again. Few of them were built, but they became much more powerful and more complex.
In the early 1930s, Mannerheim was appointed chairman of the State Defense Council. The line has since been built under his leadership.
- pillboxes
The most important containment zone was the defense units, which consisted of several concrete bunkers (long-term firing points), as well as bunkers (wooden-and-earth firing points), machine-gun nests, dugouts and rifle trenches. Strongpoints were placed extremely unevenly along the line of defense, and the distance between them sometimes reached even 6-8 km.
As you know, military construction lasted more than one year, therefore, according to the time of construction, bunkers are divided into two generations. The first includes firing points built in the period from 1920 to 1937, and the second - 1938-39. Pillboxes belonging to the first generation are small fortifications designed to install only 1-2 machine guns. They were not adequately equipped and did not have shelters for soldiers. The thickness of concrete walls and floors did not exceed 2 m. Later, most of them were modernized.
The so-called millionaires belong to the second generation, since their cost to the Finnish people was 1 million Finnish marks each. In total, the Mannerheim Line had 7 such powerful firing points. Million-strong pillboxes were the most modern reinforced concrete structures at that time, equipped with 4-6 embrasures, of which 1-2 were guns. The bunkers Sj-4 "Poppius" and Sj-5 "Millionaire" were considered the most formidable and most fortified.
All long-term firing points were carefully camouflaged with stones and snow, so it was very difficult to detect them, and it was almost impossible to break through their casemates.
flood zones
In addition to a number of long-term and field fortifications, several zones of artificial flooding were also provided. The sudden outbreak of hostilities prevented them from being completely completed, but several dams were nevertheless erected. They were made of wood and earth on the Tyuppelyanjoki (now Aleksandrovka) and Rokkalanjoki (now Gorokhovka) rivers. A concrete dam stood on the Peronjoki River (Perovka River), as well as a small dam on Mayajoki and a dam on Sayyanjoki (now the Volchya River).
Anti-tank barriers
Since there were enough tanks in service with the USSR, the question arose of how to deal with them. The wire barriers previously installed on the Karelian Isthmus could not be considered a good obstacle for armored vehicles, so it was decided to cut gouges out of granite and dig anti-tank ditches 1 m deep and 2.5 m wide. But, as it turned out during the hostilities, stone ploys proved to be ineffective. They were moved or fired from artillery pieces. After repeated shelling, the granite collapsed, resulting in the formation of wide passages.
Behind the gouges, Finnish sappers installed over 10 rows of anti-personnel and staggered.
Storm
The winter war is usually divided into two stages. The first lasted from November 30, 1939 to February 10, 1940. The assault on the Mannerheim Line became the most difficult and bloody for the Red Army at that time.
The powerful barrier turned out to be, despite all its shortcomings, an almost insurmountable obstacle for the Soviet soldiers. In addition to the fierce resistance of the Finnish army, the strongest forty-degree frosts turned out to be a huge problem, which, according to most historians, became the main reason for the failures of the Soviet camp.
On February 11, the second stage of the winter military campaign begins - the general offensive of the Red Army troops. By this time, the maximum amount of military equipment and manpower had been drawn to the Karelian Isthmus. For several days there was artillery preparation, shells rained down on the positions of the Finns, who fought under the leadership of Mannerheim. The line and the entire surrounding area was heavily bombarded. Together with the ground units of the North-Western Front, the ships of the Baltic Fleet and the recently formed Ladoga military flotilla took part in the battles.
Breakthrough
The assault on the first line of defense lasted three days, and on February 17, the troops of the 7th Army finally broke through it, and the Finns were forced to completely leave their first line and move to the second, and during February 21-28 they lost it. The breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line was led by Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, who, on the orders of I. V. Stalin, led the North-Western Front. Now the 7th and 13th armies, with the support of the coastal detachments of the sailors of the Baltic Fleet, launched a joint offensive in the strip from the Vyborg Bay to Seeing such an onslaught of the enemy, the Finnish troops left their positions.
As a result, the second breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line ended with the fact that, despite the desperate resistance of the Finns, on March 13, the Red Army entered Vyborg. Thus ended the Soviet-Finnish war.
The results of the war
As a result of the Winter War, the USSR achieved everything it wanted: the country completely took over the water area of Lake Ladoga, and also part of the Finnish territory of 40 thousand square meters went to it. km.
Now many are asking the question: was this war really necessary? If not for the victory in the Finnish campaign, Leningrad could have become the first in the list of cities that were attacked by Nazi Germany.
Tours of the battlefields
To date, most of the structures have been destroyed, but despite this, excursions to the places of the battle of the Winter War are still held, and interest in them does not fade away. The surviving strongholds are still of great historical interest - both as military engineering structures and as sites for the most difficult battles of this half-forgotten war.
There are historical and cultural centers that develop special programs for following the places where the Mannerheim Line passes. The tour usually includes a story about the stages of its construction, as well as the course of the battles.
In order to feel at least a little and feel the life of the Finnish and Soviet armies, a field lunch is organized for tourists. Here you can also take pictures against the backdrop of grandiose structures with elements of equipment, see and hold mock-ups of weapons in your hands.
There are many blank spots, hidden events and facts in the history of any military conflicts. The war between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939-40 was no exception. It lay a heavy test on the shoulders of both sides. In just 105 days of hostilities, about 150,000 people were killed and about 20,000 went missing. Here are the results of this half-forgotten and, according to some historians, "unnecessary" war. As a monument to the fallen soldiers, the Mannerheim Line, unusual in its scale, remained on the battlefields. Photos of those times and stones still remind us of the heroism of Soviet and Finnish soldiers.
authorIN AND. Smirnov
W name war 1939-1940 and "Mannerheim Line" became inseparable concepts in the public mind. Moreover, the inhabitants of the Karelian Isthmus call the "Mannerheim Line" everything that, in their opinion, may be related to the war and is made of concrete. These are the pillboxes of the "Karelian Val", built by Finnish sappers and builders in 1941-1944, and the casemates of KaUR (Karelian fortified area) - the fruit of the titanic work of the Red Army fortifiers, begun back in the late 20s, continued in the 50s and more waiting for their explorers, and even civilian buildings.
Meanwhile, the name "Mannerheim Line" was born on the pages of the Finnish and European press to designate the line on the Karelian Isthmus, where the divisions of the Soviet invasion were stopped. Actually, the system of long-term fortifications on the Isthmus in the Finnish military-historical literature is called "Enkel's Positions" - by the name of its builder, Major General R.O. Enkel. In passing, we note that the front line, on which the Soviet troops lingered for a month and a half, 70% of its length came into contact with this line of fortifications. (More details about the construction and breakthrough of the "Mannerheim Line" can be found in the book by E.A. Balashov and V.N. Stepakov, published by the editors of the almanac "Citadel" - ed.).
The skeleton of "Engel's position" was made up of long-term firing points (bunkers). They were of different years of construction: from primitive, with a minimum of reinforcement, stone-concrete casemates of the early 20s, to very powerful and complex structures of 1936-1939. The most large of them received because of their exorbitant cost for the skinny budget of Finland in those years (100 marks per 1 m 3 ) the name of "million pillboxes", "Millionaires" ("Millionaires"). Their number did not exceed a dozen of more than 190 pillboxes of the main defensive line of the "Enkel position", "Millionaires" were built in the most dangerous areas, from the point of view of the possible direction of the breakthrough of Soviet troops.
One of them was the area between the Terijoki (Zelenogorsk)-Viipuri (Vyborg) highway and the Leningrad-Viipuri railway. The only road passed through it, connecting two road junctions - the village of Boboshino (Kamenka) and the station Kamyarya (Gavrilovo) 1 .
On December 11, 1939, units of the 123rd Infantry Division (SD) occupied Boboshino in a night battle. On December 12, the advanced 245th rifle regiment, overcoming the resistance of scattered enemy groups and advancing along the Kyamyarevskaya road, in the evening reached the southern tip of a long and narrow hollow, closed from the north by a height of 65.5, from the east by the non-freezing swamp of Munasuo (Kushevskoye), and from the west - lake Summa-yarvi (Desired) and a long steep ridge. The hollow was intercepted by a belt of gouges and barbed wire. The subunits met by machine-gun fire and carrying out reconnaissance in battle, having suffered serious losses, withdrew to their starting lines: it was clear that the Finns would try not to let anyone through this hollow.
A general offensive was scheduled for December 15th. Artillery pulled up fired at the gouges, the tanks rushed forward, the infantry behind them. What happened in the next 5 days in this hitherto little-known hollow requires a separate description. Leaving about 20 wrecked tanks on the battlefield, having lost over 1800 killed and wounded, the 123rd SD was forced to stop its victorious offensive for 2 months and go on the defensive. Every day the Finns brought more and more firing points into battle. It soon became clear that some of them were bunkers. One relatively quickly managed to be found at an altitude of 65.5 (it was assigned the number 006)2, it was more difficult with the other, well camouflaged on a hill near Lake Summa. The latter, numbered 00113, covered from the front by bunker fire 006, actually controlled the entire hollow and approaches to height 65.5. The Red Army soldiers quickly dubbed this hollow "the valley of death." What was this DOT?
The rocky upland "Finger" ("Language") stretched from north to south for almost 700 m. In the northern part of the ridge, towering 15-17 m above the lake, in the summer of 1938 construction work began. Unlike the bunkers of the Inkel series /monolithic/, the OO11 bunker was built in several stages, the so-called "floating sections". A pit was torn off to a depth of 8-10 m, the foundation was poured, a reinforcing cage, sectional formwork was placed, and layer-by-layer pouring of concrete was carried out. Upon completion of the work, they moved on to the construction of the next section. Unlike the pillboxes of the 1920s, the fittings in the pillboxes of 1936-1939. was much thinner. This made reinforced concrete unnecessarily "soft", as noted by the well-known Soviet fortifier, General D.M. Karbyshev, who examined all captured Finnish pillboxes in the summer of 1940. This weakness of reinforced concrete was the reason for the successful "swotting" of bunkers with guns taken out for direct fire. The situation was not improved by the fact that in the pillboxes of 1936-1939, using concrete "600", Finnish military engineers managed to increase the compressive strength to 450 kg / m 2
(in earlier models of pillboxes - - 350 kg / m 2
). Ceilings were designed for compressive strength up to 550 and even 600 kg/m 2
and could withstand individual hits of 280-mm shells. As a result of calculations and tests, which, by the way, were carried out in the 30s near a height of 65.5, the requirements for such structures were determined:
- the thickness of the walls of combat casemates - 130 cm
- the roof of the barracks / tunnel / - 60-80 cm
- side, auxiliary walls - 30 cm.
After the completion of the concrete work, the structure was backfilled. A layer of sand of 2-3 meters, 1.3-1.5 m of stones was laid on the ceiling, and the front part of the casemates and the observation post /NP/ was covered with a 5-meter layer, and the back - with a 2-meter layer of boulders.
In constructive terms, the bunker 0011 was a caponier with casemates of the "la Bourget" system of flanking and oblique fire. The western casemate /A/ (see diagram 2) shot through all the swampy space to the lake and its northern shore. The eastern casemate /B/ held at gunpoint the entire western slope of height 65.5, the approaches to bunker 006 and the road to the Kyamarya station. The casemates had, respectively, 1 and 2 machine guns of the system - X. Maxima arr. 1910, installed on special casemate machines. There were also close combat loopholes for firing from a rifle, machine gun or light machine gun. In case of danger, the loopholes were closed with armored shutters, designed to resist 37-mm projectiles. Both casemates were equipped with special searchlights that gave a narrow beam of light. They were turned on after receiving an alarm signal from electrical sensors in wire fences or at the request of units that occupied positions adjacent to the height (field filling).
Above each casemate, as well as at the observation post, armored caps were installed. The thickness of the walls of the cap was 18-20 cm. The viewing slots (2.5x20 cm) provided the observers with a circular view and, in case of danger, could be closed by a steel strip rotating inside on rollers, about 3 cm thick, practically without the slightest gap. The observer climbed a ladder attached to the wall and found himself standing inside the dome on a special platform. If necessary, 2 people could be there, having a telephone connection with the commander of the fortification.
On December 19, during the shelling of Finnish positions from 280-mm mortars, one of the shells shot down an armored cap on the NP. The bunker from the front was "blind". The urgently arrived fortification and repair unit under the command of ensign K. Helminen began work. The remains of the cap were removed, a periscope was inserted into the hole, and the base was reinforced and filled with fresh hot concrete. Repairmen had to work lying on their stomachs under continuous machine-gun fire from the Red Army. Concrete in buckets was supplied from the bunker through the auxiliary input of the NP.
There were 3 rooms under the observation post block. One / 1 / - was occupied by the commander of the fortification, next to him, under the stairs leading to the NP and to the auxiliary exit, there was a signalman's workplace / 2 /. In the room /3/ there was an ammunition depot. Opposite there was a food warehouse /4/ and a warehouse for firewood and household equipment /5/. A well was equipped nearby, from where they took water for cooking and cooling machine guns /6/. A few steps down was the kitchen, which had a brick stove with three burners and a work table /7/.
The searchlights /9/ and electric lighting of the bunker were provided from a gasoline "engine" and an electric generator /8/. There is no information that the bunker OO11, like the bunkers in the Suurniemi resistance node, was connected to the industrial network. The lighting of the living quarters, where there were bunk beds for 40 people, as well as a tunnel with bunk bunks for resting external combat guards, was also provided by the engine, and in the event of the latter stopping, by kerosene lamps.
The bunker did not have a special heating system, although it is possible that in severe frosts some thermal elements such as braziers could be used.
The air cleaning system consisted of manual fans for ventilation of the premises and passive air intake through cleaning filters.
In the event that individual sections of the bunker were captured by the enemy, they were blocked with steel doors. For the same case, and also for operational communication, bunker 0011 was connected by a deep telephone cable to bunker 006, the artillery fire control center of the resistance unit, the command post of the 8th Infantry Regiment. This deep cable network was created back in the 1920s, part of it connected firing points and OPs of those years of construction, and the rest was mothballed.
The place for bunker 0011 was chosen very carefully. Directly in front of the height from the south, partly from the east and from the west, marshes extended to the lake, through which an unfreezing stream flowed. The area to the east of the height, on the contrary, covered with a sparse forest, was a flat area with a slight rise to the road Kamaria - Boboshino running from north to south. Finnish builders needed to carry out a minimum of fortification work in order to make it as difficult as possible for enemy armored vehicles and infantry to approach the pillbox.
The western slope of the "Finger" was cut off, and a 2.5-meter escarp was equipped there; . In addition, an anti-tank ditch was dug in front of the height, which then crossed it.
Somewhat to the north of the moat, on a hill, a 4-row strip of granite, relatively low gouges originated. The latter were entangled with barbed wire, mounted on low metal stakes. Further, at 15-20 meters, there was a 4-row barbed wire in front of the infantry positions, filling the gap between pillboxes 0011 and 006.
The exact location of the "Millionaire" managed to be revealed by the squad leader Parminov at the end of December, during one of the reconnaissance night search raids behind the Finnish trench line. An attempt to destroy the discovered bunker with large-caliber artillery did not cause any noticeable damage to the bunker. The fortress remained invulnerable.
At the end of December, the Finns replaced one of the machine guns of the eastern casemate with a Swedish-made 37-mm Bofors anti-tank gun, model 1936, and in January, a 12.7-mm Beuys anti-tank five-shot rifle was installed in the room where the searchlight was located. Having received a bloody lesson in the December battles, the 123rd SD no longer undertook massive infantry attacks, but tanks, especially the T-26 and T-35, gave the Finns more and more trouble ...
By mid-January, a new method of dealing with pillboxes was worked out in neighboring sectors of the front. The tanks brought armored vehicles with explosives and a blocking group to the bunker, and they themselves closed the loopholes with their hulls. The block group and the units attached to it knocked out the enemy from the adjacent trenches and trenches, surrounded the pillbox and laid explosives on the roof. But numerous attempts to destroy the "Millionaire" in this way only increased the number of losses among the Red Army and tanks. Armored vehicles suffered especially heavy losses from the use of Molotov cocktails by the Finns - the "Molotov cocktail", as the Finnish trench wit dubbed this very effective weapon.
On February 11, after 2.5 hours of artillery preparation, in which more than 100 guns, including 280-mm mortars, were involved, units of the Red Army went on the offensive at 12 o'clock. The 255th SP was advancing on the Finger (Language) height. The 272nd SP, the 123rd SP were in the second echelon. They were opposed by 2 battalions, which suffered heavy losses from artillery preparation. Directly the height "Finger" was defended by a company of the 11th battalion under the command of Lieutenant Erickson.
At 12 o'clock. 30 min. the Red Army captured 65.5, and at 13 o'clock an explosion occurred that destroyed the bunker 006. Events at the Finger height unfolded differently. The blocking groups of junior lieutenants Markov and Emelyanov, moving along with the attackers, suffered heavy losses and were forced to lie in the hollows. The wrecked tanks got stuck in the passages made in the gouges, blocking the way for others, and those who managed to slip through were on fire. The Finns now and then turned into counterattacks.
Only after the 272nd SP entered the battle from the western side of the height, was it possible to knock out the Finnish infantry from the trenches and block the western casemate. Began laying boxes of explosives on its roof. The bunker garrison moved to the eastern part, closing all the doors behind them. But even after the explosion, the Finns did not stop trying to recapture the bunker. Their attacks followed one after another. Only at about 4 o'clock in the morning Ensign Skaden left the pillbox with the team. Soviet sappers hastily began to prepare the bunker for the explosion, dragging boxes of explosives to the walls of the eastern casemate. Soon 2 tons of TNT turned the "Millionaire" into ruins.
The story about pillbox No. 0011 would be incomplete if the floor had not been given to modern researchers or, as they are called in these places, stalkers. The territory from Summa-järvi to the Munasuo swamp has been called the "Zone" since the beginning of the 70s. Many legends, myths and anomalous phenomena are also associated with this "Zone"...
Until 1961, this entire area was not only part of the active missile and tank ranges, but was also protected from uninvited visitors by the fact that it was part of the border zone that existed here at that time. The military did not care about the flooding trenches and the destroyed bunkers overgrown with willow-tea, and therefore the area retained a relatively primordial, from the time of the war, appearance.
More or less regular visits to these sites and related excavations, which began in the late 60s, were unsystematic and chaotic. But then, when the "stalkers", and, simply speaking, young people who showed a deep interest in the history of the bloodiest war in the history of Europe, got to know each other, the main joint efforts were focused on two objects: bunker 0011 and KP ("bunker") . Let's take a look at some of the results of the excavations.
Western casemate. The most affected part of the bunker. It was blown up twice: on February 11, 1940, and, apparently, in the summer of 1948, during the filming of a military training film about the capture and destruction of long-term structures. Of the finds made here, first of all, it should be noted a large number (about 10) of well-preserved famous small Finnish axes "Fiskar", a tripod from "Maxim". In the corner of the casemate on the floor near the wall was found a rifle "Laika" model 1891/27. At the first moment, when it was cut down from the cemented concrete crumb covering the floor, everyone was dumbfounded: the varnish on the butt, the blued trunk ... But only 15-20 minutes passed - and the tree crumbled to dust, and the trunk began to grow rust before our eyes! In addition, a metal box with tools in excellent condition with an inscription on the lid - "Balnas" was cut down at the entrance. The American original screwdriver still serves the one who found it. The remains of the dead, both here and in the connecting tunnel, were not found.
Kitchen. Several Eppila and Killa Koski folding fork-spoon systems, kettles, other utensils and an absolutely amazing and excellently preserved frying pan were found here. It has seven recesses in the bottom, allowing you to fry eggs and pancakes. Currently used for its intended purpose.
The room under the stairs, despite the thin layer of sand that covered the floor, hid a crumpled pot with an "eppila" inside ("eppila" was made of "stainless steel", and "killa koski" was made of ordinary steel), the remains of a telephone set, fragments of a human spine.
Ammunition depot. In addition to a large number of cartridges, shells, empty zinc, a large bundle of leaflets with an appeal to the Red Army was found here (leaflets were also found at the NP bunker, but completely unreadable). It should be noted that in the Winter War, both warring parties widely used propaganda materials (and the Finns delivered them at night directly to Soviet trenches!) And such finds in large pillboxes are not uncommon.
During the war and after it, front-line tales and rumors, myths and outright nonsense, such as underground passages penetrating the entire Karelian Isthmus, connecting multi-storey pillboxes, with all conceivable and inconceivable equipment (like saunas, elevators, etc.) began to multiply and be widely replicated by the press. ). Having read books like the two-volume "Fights in Finland" in childhood, many adventurers rushed to the "Mannerheim Line" in the hope of finding the lower floors under the blown up upper floors, stuffed, as they thought, with all sorts of good things. Not finding stairs, hatches, etc. their eyes invariably turned to ordinary wells, which were in almost all bunkers.
It is not known why, but the well was blown up in 0011 after the war. The first researchers of this bunker conscientiously sorted out the blockage and cleaned it out, but found absolutely nothing. In the future, his mine was used to dump the processed "rock". Quite funny, but every 5-7 years, one of the neophytes does a wild job of excavating it, considering it an honor to touch the bottom. As for the second, third and deeper floors, the above diagram of the largest bunker on the "Mannerheim Line" only confirms the fact that anyone descending into the bunker is convinced that the individual parts and blocks of these structures were located at different levels, and not floors , in contrast to the bunkers of the Karelian fortified region.
Wood warehouse. Mind-bogglingly sized pick (working part - about a meter), axes of different brands and sizes.
Interesting finds were made in the 3rd residential compartment, counting from the western casemate. Electricians probably lived there: coils of wires, light bulbs (one at 6.5 V - active), switches. There were many personal items: shoes, razors, belts, round aluminum pencil cases with the inscription "aspirin" and tablets inside, spoons, fragments of home-knitted woolen sweaters, large pigskin mittens, etc. It is worth recalling that there were not enough uniforms in the Finnish army, and the soldiers fought in civilian clothes, having only the famous Finnish hat from the uniform, which was so common among the inhabitants of Leningrad in the 40-50s, with a cockade and a waist belt with a buckle, on which the coat of arms of Finland is a very rare find.
Eastern casemate. Being more preserved (compared to the western one), it also contained more finds. In the searchlight room, a headlight, vaguely reminiscent of a car headlight, was found in good condition. In the "aggregate" compartment there was a box with a large amount of electrical fittings. In the actual machine-gun casemates, a huge number of spent cartridges hit. Apart from several full boxes, the floor was covered with a layer of 10-15 cm. Among these shells were found Swedish binoculars with slightly damaged optics, a monogrammed finca, an engraved gold ring, small coins, pieces of overcoats with coat of arms buttons and other trifles.
Excavations inside pillboxes destroyed by artillery or explosions differ significantly from purely field work and even from dismantling dugouts and dugouts. Workers here require considerable physical strength, health (terrible drafts and dampness all year round), and technical equipment. Paraphrasing the well-known lines, we can say: you shovel a single button for the sake of a ton of concrete "ore". But there are also very interesting finds: rare coins, medals, badges, books, and even staff cards with notes.
These finds help to recreate the life of the defenders of bunkers, the unique atmosphere of front-line everyday life, the psychology of Finnish soldiers who were forced to kill in order not to be killed, and, in turn, die defending their homeland.
editorial afterword
We believe that such excavations, which, unfortunately, are not being carried out today, would be of great benefit to historical science. We are sure that sooner or later all found items will end up in the Finnish War Museum, the creation of which is only a matter of time.
notes
source
railway station Leipyasuo - Igla flood dam on the Perovka river - mass grave No. 70 - Kushchevskoye swamp (Munasuo) - Pillbox Sj3 - Grove Molotok - Pillbox Sj10 - Pillbox Sj11 - Pillbox Sj9 - Pillbox Sj4 - Pillbox Sj8 - Pillbox Sj2 - Pillbox Sj-6 - lake Zhelannoe (Summajarvi) - pillbox millionaire Sj-5 - Swamp Kushchevskoe (Munasuo) - railway station Leipyasuo
Route length (one way) - 18.6 km.
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GPS coordinates of bunkers linesMannerheim fortified area Summajärvi:
Sj-2 N60 30.637 E29 05.129
Sj-3 N60 30.788 E29 05.869
Sj-4 N60 30.456 E29 05.216
Sj-5 N60 30.328 E29 04.257
Sj-6 N60 30.752 E29 05.016
Sj-7 N60 30.614 E29 05.201
Sj-9 N60 30.635 E29 05.516
Sj-10 N60 30.649 E29 06.326
Sj-11 N60 30.612 E29 06.384
At the end of the vacation, it was decided to end this summer season with a trip to Mannerheim line to the Summajärvi fortified area (Sj). If you remember, we have already examined in part in one of the past exits.
How to get to the Mannerheim line on your own?
So! Early in the morning on October 3, 2015 on Saturday, we went on the first train (06:55) "St. Petersburg-Vyborg" from Finland Station to the station Leipyasuo. Our departure coincided with the mushroom season, so the train was overflowing with passengers with baskets and buckets. We were pleased with one thing: we only had 1 hour and 40 minutes to go.
Upon arrival at the station Leipyasuo we noted the time, checked the map, turned on the navigator and hit the road. As a rule, in such exits we make a small halt near the starting point in order to check the equipment, spread out things for a long journey and have breakfast at the same time. So it is now: we found the road we needed, went into the forest and stopped for a halt.
We were very lucky with the weather that day: the sky is clear, the sun is generous, the air is invigorating. Walking in such weather through the autumn forest was a pleasure! After about 3.5 km we came to the dam" NEEDLE" on the river Perovka. Today it is a dilapidated structure that can be used as a river crossing. According to the comments of historians, this dam was built by the Finns in order to artificially flood the territory. fortified area Le(near the railway bridge across Perovka) in the event of a threat of a Soviet offensive.
After crossing the river, we again went out on the same road. As I already mentioned, the trip coincided with the mushroom season, therefore, without even going deep into the forest, we gathered a lot of porcini mushrooms and aspen mushrooms for the mushroom shop for dinner. And the forest was also rich in large, ripe, sweet lingonberries, which made a wonderful fruit drink.
The second point of our route was the fraternal military burial No. 70, located on the side of the road, near the eastern edge swamps Kushchevskoe (Munasuo). Hundreds of dead Red Army soldiers who stormed the Finnish positions are buried under simple and modest tablets. The least we could do was honor their memory by laying flowers.
The military grave is located on the eastern flank of the fortified area Summajärvi included in Mannerheim line. The positions of this fortified area were located between the lake Summajarvi, now Desired, and swamp Munasuo, now Kushchevskoye. The main nodes of this section of defense:
- DOT-"millionaire" (Sj-5), located at the height of "Language" (Sormi, Sormi) or, as the soldiers of the Red Army called it, the height "Finger";
- Pillbox (Sj-4) "Poppius", located at an altitude of 65.5 m;
- Pillboxes Sj-9, Sj-10, Sj-11 located in the grove" Hammer" on Kushchevsky swamp.
Having walked about 500 m along the road from the military grave, we turned onto the anti-tank ditch, and along it we continued our route in the direction of the bunkers Sj-9, Sj-10, Sj-11. Unfortunately, little remains of these bunkers: funnels and pieces of concrete with protruding reinforcement bars. These bunkers belonged to the period of the first construction Mannerheim lines: they consisted of one casemate for machine-gun fire, were not saturated with reinforcement and were not as strong as the others. The pillboxes were destroyed during the war by direct hits from artillery shells.
Further, passing along the gouges ("dragon's teeth"), we went to the bunker Sj-4 from the offensive of the Soviet army. This bunker, which was named by the Finns in honor of the first commander - Lieutenant Poppius, is located at a height of 65.5 m. The bunker was a fortification consisting of two casemates for two heavy machine guns each. The casemates were connected with each other. There were also rooms for the rest of the personnel. The task of the bunker is to cover the southern direction of the road and flank fire towards the lake DesiredSj-5). Built in 1937, full of fittings. The thickness of reinforced concrete walls reached 1.5 m. As is known from history, the capture of this bunker turned out to be the key to the whole Mannerheim lines, which was broken through on February 10, 1940. For those who are interested in this stage of our history, we recommend visiting the private military museum of the Karelian Isthmus in Vyborg ( Vyborg st. Progonnaya, d. 7B).
Next, we headed north along the road and inspected the concrete trench Sj-8 located to the right of the road. The fortification was not blown up after the war, and therefore has survived to our time in a satisfactory condition. It was intended to shelter the infantry.
An interesting design is a bunker Sj-2, which was originally intended for flank machine-gun fire, but was rebuilt in 1939 to test the quality of concrete of various grades. Holes from shells remained visible in concrete sections with different weaving of reinforcement.
Close to Sj-2 bunker is located Sj-6, which housed the command post of the battalion defending this area. The bunker belongs to the construction of 1939, it has one casemate for one easel machine gun. The bunker was damaged during the war and finally undermined in the post-war period. All that remains of it can be seen in the photographs.
The plan of the first day is completed, you can think about an overnight stay. We knew that on the shore Lake Zhelannoye there is an excellent parking lot with a canopy from the rain, so we moved there. Unfortunately, the parking lot was busy, and we settled a little to the south, in a cozy clearing with access to the water. We set up camp, cooked a delicious mushroom dinner, cooked a fruit drink. After the meal, we admired the beautiful autumn sunset over the lake for a long time.
After a long day, we went to bed early, respectively, and woke up around 06:30. Morning in its beauty was not inferior to the evening. A thick fog slowly rose over the lake. Absolute silence. The lake is like a mirror.
After the traditional morning coffee, the group divided according to their interests: some went looking for mushrooms, while I went to explore the trail from the lake to Pillbox "Million" Sj-5. As it turned out, the object was 15 minutes walk.
"Millionaire"- This is one of the most famous large structures of the Mannerheim Line. It is called so because of the cost of construction (more than a million Finnish marks). Located at an altitude of 47 m (" Language"). It consists of two casemates of flank fire, interconnected by underground passages located in three tiers. The thickness of the walls also reached 1.5 meters. At the top of each casemate was an armored dome - the "eyes" of the pillbox. The eastern casemate covered the hollow extending to Fort Poppius. This valley was named by our fighters "Death Valley". Each armored dome, in addition to protecting steel plates, was covered with a "pillow" of earth and stones. In the bunker, you can go down and go through it, from the western to the eastern casemate.
After inspecting the interior Sj-5 we went along the gouges through "Death Valley", and went along the path to bunker "Poppius" about which was written earlier. Actually, this was the end of the informative part of the trip. We had to return to the railway station along the same road along which we had come here.
At the end of my story, I would like to say that visiting such iconic places again and again makes it clear that the history of your country is not only on the pages of books and textbooks ... history is next to us, around us! And this story must be known and remembered! ...
PS: Going to a mass grave Kushchevsky swamp, do not be too lazy to take a few carnations with you ...
In early November, as part of the crew of the test Toyota Venza, I went to St. Petersburg.
The plans were to see the grandiose Grand Layout, as well as to get acquainted with the famous complex of fortifications - the Mannerheim Line.
Leaving St. Petersburg early in the morning, we drove along the bay along a fantastically beautiful road through Zelenogorsk.
Only in 1940 did this territory become a suburb of Leningrad, and before that (from about 1917) it was "near Finland" - the city of Terijoki.
It's very beautiful around. These places have become a kind of St. Petersburg Rublyovka - a very prestigious direction.
While we are driving, I will tell you about the Mannerheim Line. This is more than 130 km complex of defensive structures between the Gulf of Finland and Ladoga, created on the Finnish part of the Karelian Isthmus in 1920-1930.
Unfortunately, before the trip, I had little idea of the scale and location of the nodes of the Mannerheim Line, not to mention the fortified areas. Therefore, this time (and I am sure that I will come here again) we will see only a small part of the Summakyul fortified area (near the village of Kamenka).
The fortified area of Summakyulya (Summa-Khotinen) was located in the area of the village of the same name and blocked the Sredne-Vyborg highway. The fortified area included lines of anti-tank obstacles, barbed wire barriers, 18 concrete structures (two of which were not completed), built in two stages - in the early 1920s and in the 1930s. Part of the bunkers of the first period of construction was also reconstructed in the 1930s.
Photo from glebychevo.narod.ru
The first stop is pillbox Sk6. Little is left of it, because it was blown up by the soldiers of the Red Army. Only the cross indicates the place.
The Sk6 bunker was originally built in the 1920s as a frontal machine gun emplacement, and in the 1930s it was rebuilt as a flanking semi-canopy. This flanking bunker is located about 30 meters east of the Srednevyborzhskoye Highway. The explosion that destroyed the bunker was so strong that concrete blocks with reinforcement were scattered within a radius of several tens of meters.
Sk6 - Concrete single-hole machine-gun bunker of frontal fire built in 1920. It was modernized in 1938-1939. by adding a new reinforced concrete semi-caponier, designed for two easel machine guns with intersecting sectors of fire. The bunker was equipped with a ventilation system and a searchlight. In Soviet intelligence, it is listed under No. 36.
On December 24, 1939, the stone lining near the side wall was destroyed by Soviet artillery fire, which was later restored. Periodic shelling on January 13-16, 1940 repeatedly demolished this lining, which was restored at night. On December 31, a heavy projectile hit the corner of the bunker and demolished the slab, but the living compartment was not damaged. On February 9, 1940, a direct hit by two large-caliber shells destroyed the roof and wall of the structure. Completely destroyed by explosion after the end of hostilities.
Memorial plate near the bunker:
Across the road from sk6 is bunker sk5, which I mistakenly took for a slab thrown by the explosion.
Sk5 - Concrete machine-gun bunker with single embrasure frontal fire built in 1920. It was modernized in 1938-1939. by adding a side reinforced concrete caponier with an embrasure for an easel machine gun, an embrasure for a light machine gun, an armored cap and a searchlight. In Soviet intelligence it is listed under No. 31.
On December 19, 1939, Soviet tanks that broke through to the rear shot at the embrasure of the bunker, destroying the machine gun. On December 24 (according to other sources - December 29), as a result of powerful shelling, the old part of the bunker was completely destroyed. The armored cap, which received mechanical damage, was broken on January 22-23 (according to other sources - December 16) by five direct hits of 152-mm shells. At the same time, the front wall and part of the side wing were destroyed. The bunker was cleared of debris, while maintaining combat readiness. On February 9, 1940, the bunker withstood an 8-hour direct fire, but the next day the shells broke through the roof, and the garrison was forced to leave it.
Reinforcement and crumbling concrete stick out all around:
You can see the preserved embrasure:
The rest of the metal box of those years (does anyone know what they were kept?):
For more than half a century since the end of the fighting, a forest has grown here, but just a couple of years ago it burned out, and its remains were cut down.
As a result, now this place looks about the same as during the battles. Only instead of the blood-red autumn ground there should be snow.
The Sk10 bunker belongs to the "Millionnik" bunkers, so named because of the high construction costs - more than 1 million Finnish marks.
Schematically, the DOT looks like this:
Sk10 - Reinforced concrete bunker built in 1937-1939. It had three loopholes for heavy machine guns covering the entrances, and was also equipped with an eclipse gun carriage for an additional heavy machine gun.
The original project of a lifting carriage for an easel machine gun was proposed by the Finnish major (later Colonel) J.K. Fabricius. The machine gun was lowered manually into a special shaft of a concrete structure for shelter from enemy aimed fire. The lowering of the machine gun was carried out without much effort, due to the counterweight; at the right time, it could be raised again by opening the steel cover of the mine, and quickly prepared for firing. The cost of such an installation was much cheaper than a structure, such as an armored turret or an armored turret or an armored dome with a carriage.
At the design stage, the construction of the structure underwent various changes several times. The flank casemates were connected by underground barracks to the central casemate, their frontal walls were made of armor plates. Water supply in the bunker was equipped only in the first days of hostilities. The code name of the bunker is "Kyumppi" - "Chervonets". In Soviet intelligence it is listed under No. 40.
On December 19, 1939, the bunker received five direct hits from heavy shells, which did not cause significant damage to it. He withstood a series of subsequent shelling without needing repairs. The bunker was blown up at the end of hostilities.
The entrance to the western casemate looks like this:
The well in the central casemate of the bunker, it was in it that the carriage moved:
A hole in the wall (apparently from a direct hit):
I did not dare to go down inside, but from archival photographs you can imagine how everything was arranged
Despite the past time, the work of search engines and just diggers, the land around is literally stuffed with traces of battles:
Marking on the sleeve - '39:
Today, anti-tank gouges are an almost forgotten form of fighting enemy tanks. During the Soviet-Finnish war, gouges were a serious obstacle for Soviet tanks.
The main type of anti-tank gouges are reinforced concrete gouges made from high-strength fortified concrete. Ordinary building concrete is not suitable for these purposes, although it is forced to be used. Nadolbs can also be carved from wild stone (granite, basalt). The use of other materials is impractical. Wooden logs made of logs should not be taken seriously as an anti-tank obstacle.
In the absence of special equipment, stone gouges were transported on horse-drawn carts and installed manually. Colossal work.
Stone gouges were not installed anyhow, but according to strict rules:
- The lines of anti-tank gouges must be camouflaged as carefully as the lines of trenches, firing points. The enemy should not know about them until his tanks come across this obstacle. Moreover, he must be placed in such a position that he has no choice but to overcome them.
Barriers must be covered by rifle-machine-gun, mortar fire, the fire of own tanks and guns, and the fire of anti-tank weapons. After all, gouges are not capable of destroying or incapacitating an enemy tank. They can only delay it, stop it, force it to maneuver on the spot, i.e. create favorable conditions for his execution, turn him into a target.
Nadolby with their size and appearance should give the enemy tankers the impression of their surmountability, provoke the tank to move forward across the line.
The first row of gouges must be overcome by the tank when moving forward, but insurmountable when the tank moves in reverse (if he refused to try to overcome the second row). Its height should be somewhat greater than the tank's ground clearance (approximately 8-12 cm), the outer side (facing the enemy) is rather flat (the angle to the horizon is 30-35 degrees), and the opposite side is steep (the angle to the horizon is about 60 degrees).
The second row of gouges should be insurmountable by the tank as it moves forward, but visually (at least when viewed from the first row) should leave the impression of surmountability. Its height should be 15-25 cm more than the height of the gouges of the first row. The shape is identical to the gouge of the first row.
The third and subsequent rows of gouges should represent, as it were, a reserve of the barrier line in case the enemy tanks somehow managed to overcome the second row (by blowing up the gouges, destroying them with artillery fire, etc.). The main requirement for the gouges of the third and subsequent rows is high strength, resistance to explosion. The height is the same as the second row or higher by 25 cm. These gouges should be much wider at the base, the steepness of the edges is about 60-70 degrees.
It is advisable to mine the gaps between the gouges and between the rows with anti-personnel mines, especially the area between the second and third (and subsequent) rows in order to make it difficult or exclude the work of the enemy demolitionists to destroy the gouges. Installation of anti-tank mines is impractical, because. these mines can be quickly removed (or destroyed) by the enemy and used to destroy gouges.
The distance between the gouges in a row must necessarily be about three-quarters of the width of the tank. This is necessary in order for the tank to be tempted to overcome the line by running one caterpillar onto a gouge. With a small distance between the gouges, the tank will simply give up trying to overcome it.
The next and final point of inspection of the Summakyul resistance node was the bunker Sk16.
The battalion command post Sk16 is one of the eighteen concrete objects of the fortified area Summakyulya (Summa-Khotinen). It is located at the side of the Sredne-Vyborgskoye Highway.
The eastern part of the shelter was blown up in 1940, while the roof of the eastern part was turned over by the explosion and overturned on top of the roof of the western part. It had two loopholes for light machine guns that covered the entrances.
In 1941, Soviet builders built a bunker close to the wall of the bunker. After the occupation of this territory by Finnish troops, a small camp of Soviet prisoners of war was located here.
During the war, the bunker was disguised with netting and spruce groves, the Finns had shepherd dogs and some kind of life inside (photo taken on December 14, 1939):
Since, due to its location, the bunker was not damaged during the war, it ceased to exist only in 1940.
Unfortunately, that's all we saw that day. This is catastrophically small and I am sure that I will return to the Mannerheim Line again.
Point coordinates:
Bunker Sk5 - 60.505278, 29.016111
Bunker Sk6 - 60.505278, 29.016944
Finnish mass grave - 60.508056, 29.021944
Hopper Sk10 - 60.505556, 29.033056
Bunker Sk16 - 60.512214, 29.009698