Mapping the Remains of War

With the first archaeological survey conducted in Cape Tulliniemi earlier this month, our "Hanko 1941" project team started discussions over systemic surveys around the whole Hanko peninsula. While Hanko has rich history from earlier time periods too, it was in our interests to map and document these slowly decaying sites from the World War II, as they are often overlooked by traditional archaeology and thus are only rarely protected or preserved. After they ultimately disappear, as many already have, we can do nothing but regret the missed possibilities, so it's better to start as early as possible!

Collapsed dugout near the front-lines of Hanko.

As everyone, who has read about the Finnish history knows, there would be multiple possibilities for conflict archaeology within our borders. What makes Hanko unique though, is it's special role, geographically limited research area and changing inhabitants. Our interest in Hanko starts from the year 1940, when Hanko was leased to the Soviet Union according to the terms of the Moscow Peace Treaty. At midnight on 22 March 1940, Hanko was handed over and it was to become a military base, overseeing maritime traffic in the Gulf of Finland.

Very visible trenches in 1942 aerial
photo by Finnish Defense Forces.

However, the start of the Continuation War on 25 June 1941 changed the role of the base drastically, as suddenly the area was to be defended at any cost. While there were relatively few open battles within the peninsula, Soviet Hanko faced heavy artillery fire, which lead to speedy construction of dugouts, bunkers and fortification. According to a Soviet engineer Boris Levin, there were ultimately 432 underground constructions all around the peninsula. Whether the number is true or not, it can be said based on old aerial photos and current lidar data, that there really was no shortage of fortifications!

Ultimately the Soviet time in Hanko came to an end in December 1941, when all troops retreated from the peninsula and left behind a devastated city filled with traps. However, this was not the last bit of action that Hanko saw during the war, as it was only the begin for a second phase, during which the Cape Tulliniemi was used by the German allies for the transport of their troops – a period of which I’ve written before and of which archaeologist Jan Fast is writing his dissertation about. During this period, Cape Tulliniemi was filled with German barracks and while Russians might have left more constructions underground, Germans surely left their mark beneath the surface as well, as past five years of excavations have proven.

After the Germans left Hanko in September 1944, some of the war-time constructions saw multiple periods of re-use, as the barracks of Tulliniemi were used for POWs returning to the Soviet Union and later POWs returning to Finland. They were later even briefly used for a women’s work camp and ultimately as warehouses before being abandoned for good. Nowadays the area is partly under the Freeport of Finland and partly a nature reserve, where the remains of barracks and dugouts can still be spotted.

While the Cape Tulliniemi has been researched for multiple years and it will see the last round of archaeological excavations this summer, the rest of Hanko will have a lot to discover and document for many years to come. With this first comprehensive survey and a few later visits with local history hobbyists, we are happy to accept the challenge and continue our work with this fascinating area in May!

Peaking into a collapsed dugout with a remote-controlled action cam.

Original steal beam and wooden walls still intact.