Through the Dark Waters - Winter War

26 JULY 1941, BENGTSKAR ROCK, 35KM SOUTHWEST OF HANKO, GULF OF FINLAND: Bengtskär rock lies about twenty-five kilometers south-west of the Hanko naval base. It dominates the entrance to the Gulf of Finland and the naval route to Leningrad. Bengtskär is a tiny island, famous with its massive 52 meters tall granite lighthouse. Following the Treaty of Moscow which ended the Winter War, Soviet troops took control of the port of Hanko. Hanko, with its natural harbors, dominates the Gulf of Finland and the approaches to Leningrad. Waters around Hanko is dangerous due to numerous rocks and shoals; there is only a limited number of routes into and out of the port. Those routes were controlled by the Finnish held islands such as Morgonland and Bengtskär. Therefore, when both sides resumed the hostilities in 1941, Russian command prepared plans to capture those small islands. On July 16th, a group of Russian marines landed on Morgonland and captured the island from the surprised Finns. After the loss of Morganland, Finns reinforced the vital Bengtskär rock with a platoon of infantry and a 20mm cannon. On 20th July, Lt Fred Luther and 26 men from 2nd Rannikkoiskukompania (Coastal Shock Company) were sent to garrison the island. Encouraged by their success at Morgonland, the Russians decided to destroy Bengtskär lighthouse with a raid. The plan was based on an infiltration, destruction of the lighthouse, and retreat before Finns response. Russian plans called for a night attack in bad weather. The foggy nights around the island provided good chance for such a raid. The task was given to 1st Lt. P. Kurilov who commanded a group of 70 men of a Border Guard detachment, reinforced by patrol boats and escort ships. On the night of the attack, the night of July 25th, Bengtskär was inhabited by 37 men, and three lighthouse keepers. Cpl. Ryhänen who was on guard on the lighthouse tower spotted moving shapes in the dark waters to the south of island. Moving shapes didnt reply his morse signal with the password, rather they simply returned the initial message. Sentry sent codes twice before his suspicions were aroused and then ran to alert Lt. Luther. It was now about 01:00 and Russian boats were already close to the island. First shots started the bloody fight on the tiny island that was to last for hours with the inclusion of naval and air elements from both sides.