Map over the big battle

Bengtskär burning July 26th 1941

PK 238 firing at the lighthouse. (Painting, Warmuseum, Hanko, Finland)

Firedirection unit at Granholm-island

Right from the beginning of the First World War , WW 1, th lighthouse got to taste the destructive power of bombs and grenades. Just a few weeks after the war broke out, the personell was evacuated and the light was turned off.
The Russians (Finland was an part of Russia at that time, we became independed Dec. 6 1917) were afraid of an german invasion near or on the Hanko cape. They started to build defensive installations at the Cape an the nearby islands.
In the autumn of the first year of the war, two german cruisers, Augsburg and Magdeburg, approached the Finnish coast in a mine laying operation. They spotted Bengtskär's lighthouse and bombarded it. The island and the lighthouse took about 10 hits. Though the missiles perforated the walls leaving big holes they didn't damage the intergral structure of the building or the machinery. After this shoot-out the ships sailed away.
This incident was the only one for the lighthouse's during this war. It took some time after the war to sweep surrounding water so it was free of mines, and when it was done they started to repair the lighthouse. The year was 1919. Although, a drifting mine exploded just below the lighthouse on the northern shore, breaking the windows, but nothing more.

Finland fought a so called "Winter War" against Russia in november 1939 to march 1940. Under this war the lighthouse was used as an observation post and fire control for the coastal guns. The only marks in the warbook was some overflights of Russian warplanes.

Next stop ..the lighthouse

The Finns realized that next step was most likely to be the lighthouse and an attack could be coming shortly. A platoon, under command of Lieutenant Fred Luther was dispatched to the lighthouse to strengten the defence. The defenders were now 32 men strong. They also started to build obstacles on the shores. Barbed wire entanglements were all they had ready in time.

The soldiers where armed with old Mauser-rifles, a couple of machine pistols and handgrenade. The "artillery" on the islet was represented by an 20mm Madsen-canon. The tower was always manned with an guard.

On the evening of July 25th it started to happen. Just before midnight three ships steamed out from the Hanko-base with course right south. It was intended to be a diversion in case they where spotted from Bengtskär. When the ship-group passed Russarö they took an new course, directly to the lighthouse. They travelled as quietly as possible with visibility obscured by smoke and fog.
The first ship touched the shoreline just past 01.00 pm. Russian soldiers were starting to land when an unforeseen shoreguard walked towards them, believing it was german T-boats that came unannounced. The guard, Private Nystrand, noticed his mistake when he recognized the helmet on the first landing soldiers. He started to run toward the lighthouse shouting: "Ryssn' e' här..." (The Russians are here).
The Russian shock troops started to advance against the lighthouse when the third ship, PK 311 approached the shore in an effort to put the demolition squad on the islet. Just at that time the silence was broken by the firing of an dozen of guns.

The guard who stood watch in the tower had also noticed the ships and their hostile behavior, ran down to the commander, Lieutenant Luther, and woke him. Lieutenant Luther, still dizzy after the deep sleep, rushed to the window and told the nearest shapes to take up positions. As an answer he got rifleshots that smashed the stone near his head. The Russians were near the building.
Luther ran down to the first floor where some soldiers where attempting to mount one of the machine guns in position outside the southern door. Almost immediately a loading error occurred and the gunner, Private Holmström, was shot down. Luther where wounded by some grenade fragments, and so it was time to retire inside the building. 
Luther rushed in followed by the Russians. He saw private Anjalin at the second floor and commanded him to throw a piled-up charge towards the storming enemy. They where only 13 metres from the wall, behind the terrace embankment. The charge detonated in this "pit" killing the commander of the shock troop, Lieutenant Kurilov and some soldiers.

The Finns barricaded themselves inside the lighthouse. Soviet soldiers occupied the whole islet, except the lighthouse and the west part of it. Corporal Bjelke and Privates Eriksson, Gustavsson and Åberg, fell back, step by step, towards the storage houses. 
The only communication link to the outside world was the radio, operated by Corporal Hyppö. Corporal Hyppö called for help from the command post in Hitis. Major Moring, the commander for this area, transmitted the message further to the gunboats anchored near the island Högsåra, and commanded the coastal batteries at Granholmen and Örö to commence fire at the area round the Bengtskär islet.
The fire from these batteries drew the Russian naval vessels further from the islet thus making their firing against the lighthouse difficult because they had to move all the time.
A couple of hours later, when Lieutenant Luther was wounded for the second time, Corporal Bjelke took command of the Finnish soldiers on the islet, of which 15 were capable of fighting. Corporal Bjelke managed to reach the the lighthouse through the windows at the north side together with two of the privates, the third one, Private Åberg, was killed near the storage houses.
Fire from the coastal guns was directed at the islet. The fire was so exact that not one grenade hit the lighthouse. In spite of that, the Russians managed to keep the pressure on the Finns. They had rushed through the fire, explosion and whinning ricochets and managed to reach the lighthouse through the windows and doors. They'd occupied the ground floor and drew the Finns to the second floor. The situation started to become alarming for the Finns, the ammunition supply room was occupied by the Russians, and it was consumed in a alarming speed.
 
Outside, the ship PK 311 confronted unexpected resistance, when they tried to land the demolition squad for the second time. The Madsen canon started to fire. Corporal Nurmi, Privates Kajander and Virtanen had manned the gun and drawn the ship away from the shore. The fire went high because of the high parapet. Shortly after that, the canon prevented a new landing, just below the nest, on the west side of the islet.
The situation became more and more difficult for the canon crew, so they've decided to fall back. It was impossible to get to the lighthouse, because of the Russians in the ground floor. The only option was the sea.
The alternative was to swim to the nearest islet, Dömmaskär, or towards the Finnish gun boats that had now reached the vicinity of Bengtskär and started to duell with the Russian naval vessels. Virtanen jumped in the sea and swam by the rock west of Bengtskär. He was rescued by an Finnish gun boat. For corporal Nurmi the situation was complicated, he who'd never swam more than 20 metres (60 feet), had to make a choice of his life; almost 2 miles of water or death.
The choice was helped by three Russian helmets that flashed behind the parapet, Nurmi rushed up, ran a few metres and jumped in to the sea. He aimed at Dömmaskär and started to swim. He had to dive some times because the enemy was firing at him from the shore. Private Kajander, who couldn't swim, was killed by an Russian bayonet. 
The Finnish gun boats landed supporting troops, 12 men and a machine gun, under command of Second Lieutenant Åsvik. The time was approx. 5.40 PM. They've where landed on the eastern shore, at the pier, the shortest way to the lighthouse. The situation became wery complicated; the Finns in the tower and the second floor, the first floor was empty, except for one or two Russians, the ground floor was completely occupied by the enemy and, now, on the outside the Russians occupied the west and south of the islet and Finns east of it.
At this point, Russian fighterplanes approached and commenced firing against Finnish ships. Finland answered by sending three Brewster fighters to the scene. They managed to repel the attack. The Finnish gun boat Uusimaa sank a Russian vessel that tried to land on the islet apparently in an effort to evacuate the shock troop. 16 sailors where saved.
Between 6 - 7 pm. the Finns managed to land more men on the islet. Lieutenant Kaikkonen landed with 83 men at the pier. Kaikkonen and Corporal Bjelke's combined effort started to give results. Bjelke was now posted around the islet in breaches in the rock. In spite of that, it took Kaikkonen two hours to reach the lighthouse, the Russian resistance was that hard. 
The most seriously wounded men, among them lieutenant Luther, were evacuated around 10 PM, once it was safe to do so. The search for enemy soldiers who where hiding on the islet continued. The look-out reported that big Russian vessels where approaching, the ironclads Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen where allerted for support. They stopped near Vänö island because it became clear that the Russians ships where "only" patrol boats type "PK". The Russian artillery at Hanko and Russarö fired at the islet and the Finnish ships without any result.
At 17.02 PM, 10 enemy soldiers were found, then four more twenty minutes later. The captured enemies said that help would arrive in the evening. 
It didn't.
Nothing more to mention happened on this day.
The last of the enemy soldiers, 21 year old Alexejev Kaljatski, surrendered (when found in a small breach, near waterline, western shore) 4 days later, weak, starving. He didn't get any help from Hanko.

The following day July 27th 1941, Russian bombers approached Bengstkär. The first raid, at noon, caused no damage. The second raid came in the afternoon, and this time it was an direct hit. The bomb penetrated the roof of the building and exploded. The interior of the apartment section of the lighthouse crashed down over the wounded and other soldiers who where on the ground floor at that time. 15 men where killed, 14 wounded, of them 8 seriously.
Among those killed was a young man, Harald Liljeberg, from the nearby village of Böhle. He was commanded from his watchpost at Grisslekobben to join as an replacement in the supporting troops, and was in the lighthouse during this bombing raid. His companion, Erik Simons, was only able to recognize him afterwards by his white-blue striped summer trousers. The trousers had been sent by Haralds wife, actress Signe Liljeberg, because his skin didn't tolerate the army's thick uniform trouser in the summer heat. 
Harald was buried in the soldier's graves at the på Hiittinen (Hitis) graveyard. About 40 Russian soldiers where buried on Örö. How many Russians drowned, is not known. This battle took 36 Finnish mens lives.
This battle took 36 Finnish mens life.

Malcolm Macdonald
The Lighthouses of Australia Project

© Kaj Sukevainen 1999