Operation Tanne Ost

Operation Tanne Ost
Part of the Lapland War of World War II
Location of the Åland Islands, Suursaari, and Kronstadt.
Date September 15, 1944 Location Suursaari (Gogland), Gulf of Finland Result Finnish victory
Belligerents
Germany	Finland	Soviet Air Force
Commanders and leaders
Captain Karl-Conrad Mecke	Ltn-Col Martti Miettinen	Flying Major Nikolai Rekolinski
Strength
2,700	1,612	10 Ilyushin Il-2 aircraft and 3 Tupolev SB bombers
Casualties and losses
153 KIA 1,231 POWs 3 landing crafts (F-822, F-866 & F-173) 3 patrol boats (B-1, B-31 & B-35) 1 minesweeper (R-29) 1 tugboat (Pernau) 2 Halftrucks, 1 light armoured car and a few trucks	36 KIA 67 WIA 8 MIA 2 patrol boats (VMV 10 & VMV 14)	2 Il-2 and 1 SB

Operation Tanne Ost ("Fir East") was a German operation during World War II to capture the island Suursaari (Swedish Hogland, Russian Gogland) in the Gulf of Finland before it could fall into Soviet hands. Suursaari was especially important because it worked as a lock in the Finnish Gulf guarding the minefields keeping the Soviet Baltic Fleet in Kronstadt.

The operation was initially planned with another operation to capture the Åland Islands (Tanne West), which was not carried out.

On September 15, 1944, a first wave of 1400 men from both the Wehrmacht and the Kriegsmarine were loaded on ships in Tallinn. Before the assault the German commander tried to negotiate with the Finnish commander on Suursaari, as he thought the Finns might leave without resistance. The negotiations were a complete failure and the invasion had to begin. When the German ships approached Suursaari the Finnish crew on the island opened fire. However most of the troops made it to the beaches, but there the difficulties continued, somewhat because of the Finnish defense being much more numerous than expected. Two Finnish patrol boats were trapped in Suurkylä harbor and sunk. After sunrise the Soviets made bombing runs on the German ships and later bombed both German and Finnish positions in the island. A second wave of troops was withdrawn before they could land. Finnish Navy motor torpedo boats sank several German vessels. After that German ships decided to leave because they failed to make radio connection to the landed troops. The operation ended in a complete failure, with the Finns capturing 1,231 German prisoners.

Soviet Air Force made three attacks against German positions and ships. The attacks also caused some Finnish casualties. Germans didn't let the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen support the invasion, as Soviet air threat in the area was shown by these attacks.

This operation marked the beginning of hostility between German and Finnish troops, known as the Lapland War. Before this, the Germans had conducted their withdrawal from Northern Finland without incident.

Finnish order of battle

Finnish forces consisted of Coastal Artillery Regiment 12 (RTR 12). Defence was organized into four sections as follows.

Northern section, 1st Battalion (strength 340 men)

• 10th Coastal Defence Company
• 1st Section/201st Light Artillery Battery
• 24th Heavy AA-Battery
• 5th Light Coastal AA-Battery
• 1st Platoon/Heavy mortar Company

Mountain section, 2nd Battalion (strength 475 men)

• HQ-Company/Coastal Artillery Regiment 12
• Section/9th Motorised Heavy Artillery Battery
• 2nd Platoon/Heavy Mortar Company
• 1st Platoon/1st Coastal Engineer Company
• 8th Coastal Defence Company

Middle section, Coastal Infantry Battalion 7 (strength 295 men)

• 7th Coastal Defence Company
• 9th Coastal Defence Company
• 34th Heavy AA-Battery
• Training Company

Southern section, 3rd Battalion (strength 418 men)

• 2nd Company/Coastal Battalion 7
• 3rd Company/Coastal Battalion 7
• 3rd Platoon/Heavy Mortar Company
• 2nd Section/201st Light Artillery Battery

See also: List of military operations

References

• Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulun Historian laitos (ed.) (1994). Jatkosodan historia 6: Meri- ja ilmapuolustus, hallinto ja sotatalous, huolto ja aselajit, kotijoukot.. Werner Söderström osakeyhtiö. ISBN 951-0-15332-X.  pp. 114–119