| Battle of Vyborg bay | |||||||||
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| Part of Continuation War | |||||||||
Finnish medics give first aid to a soldier wounded in the battle |
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| Soviet Union | Finland Germany |
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The Battle of Vyborg Bay (Finnish: Viipurinlahden taistelu) was a battle in the Finnish-Soviet Continuation War (1941-1944).
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Soviet offensive against Finns started on June 10 and managed to broke through Finnish defensive lines at Valkeasaari and Kuuterselkä already on June 15. This forced Finnish forces on the Karelian Isthmus to withdraw to the still incomplete VKT-line. Though Soviet advance forces managed to capture Viipuri on June 20 the main offensive got stuck into stubborn Finnish defense in Tali-Ihantala region. Despite heavy fighting and use of fresh reserves the VKT-line bend but did not break forcing the Leningrad Front to seek alternate routes past the Finnish defenses. Leningrad Front followed roughly the same plan as in Winter War and made plans for a crossing of the Viipuri Bay.
Soviet forces that took part in to the battle were part of the Soviet Leningrad Front under Leonid Govorov's command. Attack across Viipuri Bay was assigned for the Soviet 59th Army (Korovnikov) for which the 43rd Corps (Andrejev) was subordinated to. Infantry forces involved in the offensive were the 124th and 224th Rifle Divisions with 80th Rifle Division kept in reserve. Only few tanks were assigned to support the offensive. Several artillery regiments were assigned for the offensive and it was also supported by the aviation of the Baltic Fleet. Light naval forces of the Soviet Baltic Fleet as well as the 260th Naval Infantry Regiment supported the offensive
Initially forces responsible for the defense were 22nd Coastal Artillery Regiment (RTR 22) of the Eastern Bay of Finland Coastal Brigade (Enkainen) under command of the Commander of the Finnish Navy and parts of the Cavalry Brigade (Tähtinen) under Finnish V Corps (V AK). Later both 22nd Coastal Artillery Regiment as well as the newly arrived German 122nd Division (Breusing) were subordinated to Finnish V Corps. Large portion of the Finnish Navy supported the defensive operations.
Initially Viipuri Bay islands were on fairly strong position with the Finnish garrison on the Koivisto islands preventing Soviet naval forces from gaining access to the Viipuri Bay. Soviet Baltic Fleet landed small assault force on the islands but Finnish garrison managed to keep the bridgehead contained. Regardless of this Finnish HQ decided that it would be impossible to keep the troops in the islands supplied given Soviet air supremacy and withdrew the forces from the islands unopposed. This opened route for the Baltic Fleet to get safely to the Viipuri Bay.
Battles in the Viipuri Bay started on June 30 with Soviet 224th Rifle Divisions attempt to capture islands of Teikari and Melansaari. Finnish forces on the islands repulsed the attacks causing heavy losses to the Soviet troops. Renewed Soviet attack on the July 4 met success in the islands near Uuras but the attempt to land on Teikari was again repulsed with very heavy Soviet losses.
Finnish Navy supported by several German AFP gunbarges made on July 4 - July 5 several raids to the Viipuri Bay in an attempt to disrupt the Soviet landings on the islands. Heavy Soviet resistance from shore artillery, numerous MTBs and from Soviet air forces forced the naval forces to withdrew without reaching the intended target area. Though none of the ships sunk the most of the ships suffered crew casualties and were heavily damaged and required immediate repairs effectively forcing Finnish naval forces to withdraw from the battle.
Parts of the Soviet 124th Rifle Division captured the islands of Teikari and Melansaari on July 5 - July 6. Fighting on the other islands closer to the northern shore continued until July 8 when Soviet 124th and 224th Rifle Divisions attempted landings on the northern shore of the Viipuri Bay. The defending German 122nd Division easily repulsed the attempts. Soviet 59th Army moved to defense after these attempts and fighting on the Viipuri Bay winded down.
In costly battles the 124th and 224th Rifle Divisions of the Soviet 59th Army managed to capture the islands dominating the Viipuri Bay but failed to gain bridgehead on the northern shore of the bay. With both the initial attempt at Tali-Ihantala as well as the crossing at Viipuri Bay blocked the Leningrad Front turned its attention to the still undecided battles raging at Äyräpää-Vuosalmi region.