Looking for a forgotten Second World War German camp site

The winter of 1942 was exceptionally cold in Finland and German Gebirgsjäger needed shelter from the elements when they started arriving in Hanko in January and February that same year. Finding the long lost camp site is crucial for my PhD titled "Deutsches Lager Hanko 1942-1944 - The Modern Conflict Archaeology and History of a Second World War Transition Camp in Hanko S. Finland".

Surprisingly the use of metal detector offered very little information about the location of the camp.

The survey area is wast and today densely forested. All signs of the former "Waldlager" have vanished over the 80+ years sice it was constructed. By using a combination of studies of the terrain, work with maps, GPS and eye witness accounts collecting during the work with my PhD we managed to get on track with finding the site

The search for the lost camp is on.

Work with locating the site will continue on Friday. Tomorrow we are off to the Hanko archipelago where our mission is to "Find the Fallen of the Hanko Front". Stay tuned for an update on this humaitarian forensic work tomorrow evening.

A sign pointing towards the direction of the German camp in January 1942. Photo SA-Kuva archives.