The “Gogland” search expedition to the outer islands of the Gulf of Finland, which the RGS has been conducting jointly with the Russian Ministry of Defense for the 12th year, has ended. During the project, surveys of the territory of Sommers and Gogland Islands continued, divers carried out underwater work in their waters. Initially, the expedition began with perpetuating the memory of the fallen defenders of the fatherland, and now its main task is to prepare these islands in the middle of the northern gulf for military memorial tourism. What we managed to do this year, read in the article.
Sommers is a rocky island measuring 950 by 450 m, all cut up by coves, vegetation is minimal here. Gogland is larger than Sommers and is densely forested. Fierce battles took place around both islands during the Great Patriotic War; they changed hands several times: they belonged either to the Soviet Union or Finland.
“The expedition took place during July in the Gulf of Finland on the territory of Vyborg and Kingisepp Districts, on the islands of Sommers and Gogland,” said the head of the expedition Ilya Durinsky. “The main result of the first part of this season: for the first time, the place of sinking of the patrol boat ‘Maly Okhotnik’ No. 305 was discovered near Sommers Island. In total, about 10 combat boats were lost around Sommers, mainly on July 8 and 9, 1942, during the storming of the island by Soviet paratroopers. We have established the story of the sinking of the "Maly Okhotnik". The second half of the expedition took place on the island of Gogland. Its participants continued to search for possible burial sites of the defenders of the island, the paratroopers of Colonel Aleksey Barinov's detachment, as well as the victims of the Tallinn Crossing. Barinov's soldiers defended Gogland from January 1 to March 26, 1942; there were about 250 of them. Half died in battles with the Finns – Soviet soldiers should be buried on the island. The victims of the Tallinn Crossing were civilians and military who landed on Gogland Island in September 1941. There were about 12,500 of them in total – until November 1941. Many were injured and died, and the graves are also here. There were three hospitals on the island. Finland withdrew from the war with the USSR with the conclusion of an armistice agreement signed on September 19, 1944, in Moscow. After that, the Finns, dissatisfied with the speed of the withdrawal of German troops from their territory, began military operations against Germany. Our expedition conducted dives to inspect a German landing barge sunk by Finland in September 1944, and we also put two graves of Soviet sailors in order in the ancient cemetery of the former village of Suurkul. Honors were paid and wreaths and flowers were laid at the memorial at the monument to Admiral Ivan Svyatov, a solemn event was held at the graves of the sailors who died there.”
Now specialists will have to carry out work on memorializing the place of sinking of the “Maly Okhotnik” warship No. 305 and add the location to the register of the Ministry of Defense. In the next expeditions, the participants plan to install a memorial plaque and an information stand on the shore, near the place of the sinking of the boat, with a description of the events that took place. The exhibits found during the work will complement the exhibition "Islands of Memory" in Vyborg, on the territory of the former combat training ground No. 205. Previously, it was the Vyborg School for Junior Aviation Specialists, today it is a museum space on Krepostnaya Street.
On Sommers Island, the expedition members continued environmental work to clean up fortifications from accumulated debris, searchers installed memorial plaques, and continued to search for graves of participants in the Great Patriotic War. They put the memorials in order, laid wreaths and flowers at the monuments to the paratroopers.
Since 2013, RGS experts – scientists, historians, and search specialists – have been creating a chronicle of the Outer Islands of the Gulf of Finland, summarizing existing data and looking for new data on the nature and history of the Outer Islands. During this time, more than 75 large objects of military equipment history and hundreds of artifacts were found on the islands, which were transferred to Russian specialized museums. Experts have discovered the place of death of the crew of the Pe-2 aircraft on the island of Bolshoy Tyuters. The participants of the expedition restored the course of military operations on the islands during the war, perpetuated the memory of their participants, fighters and commanders of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.
Maria Buldakova