The Continuation War having proceeded to the stage when the Germans occupied Estonia, the enemy was in a plight in their Hanko base. The maintenance connections overland had already been cut at the outbreak of the war and the loss of Estonia hampered the sea connection with Lenigrad. The Finnish troops occupied Hanko on December 4, 1941. At this stage the Soviet base had already been evacuated by sea in early December. During the evacuation (on the Josef Stalin vessel, for example) the Soviet troops suffered considerable losses on the sea.

The town had been mined and several buildings destroyed. Nearly the whole of the town centre, including the Town Hall, was in ruins. It took years after the war until all the mines had been cleared from the area.

The Commander-in-Chief thanked the Hanko front troops in the parade held in Harparskog on December 15, 1941. After the Marshal had arrived on the spot to receive the parade, he noticed that the troops had been standing and waiting in the snowfall for a long time. This did not please the Marshal and he made a remard to the commander.

There is a memorial stone on the site of the parade. It can be found with the help of a road sign on the Hanko-Hyvinkää road a few kilometres north of the front museum. There are also Finnish fortress devices alongside the same road. These devices were built in case the enemy would break out from the area. After all this never took place, and the enemy troops left the area by sea.

Both Finnish and Russian fortress devices can still be seen in Hankoniemi terrain. There are stone tank barriers alongside the Hanko-Hyvinkää road. These used to stretch across the whole of the peninsula.

Picture library of Harparskog dugout.

The Soviet Army in Hanko
Hanko Front Museum

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