Finding the Fallen and researching the battles of the Hanko Front

Today we made our first search in the Hanko archipelago where bitter fighting between Finnish and Soviet forces took place during the summer and autumn of 1941. Our mission was twofold, to search for missing and KIA soldiers and document the remains of the battles. Both of these objectives where successfull today.

80 years after the battles debris of war still litter the islands.

We were transported to the research area with a landing from the Finnish Defence Forces. A very safe, comfortable and speedy ride which greatly helped our research, allowing us to spend more time mapping and excavating the sites.

The lengthy sea journey was undertaken in a landing craft from the Finnish Defence Forces

Today we managed to find at least two final resting places of fallen Soviet soldiers. As we were not there to repatriate the remains we only dug as much as was absolutely necessary to identify the places as graves and plot them on maps for possible future recovery.

Trial excavation of an area with supposed human remains.

The battlefield sites were carefully mapped and no items removed from their original context. We will be back to map the areas in more detail in the near future. 

Gun poistions and other fortifications are plentiful on many of the surveyed islands.

A big thanks to all who participated today, you know who you are. Last but not least we would like to thank the landowner for allowing us to search the islands and speak to us about the memory history associated with these sites.