Hanko Naval Base was a short-lived Soviet naval base on the southern coast of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, operational for less than two years in the early 1940s. The base was located in the town of Hanko on the

Hanko Peninsula The Hanko Peninsula (; ) is the southernmost point of mainland Finland. The soil is a sandy moraine, the last tip of the Salpausselkä ridge, and vegetation consists mainly of pine and low shrubs. The peninsula is known for its beautiful archip ...

, which is located 100 kilometers (62 mi) from

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, the Finnish capital.

History

The Soviet Union had demanded from Finland a military base in the writing of regional exchange requirements just before outbreak of the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

from Hanko peninsula. In October 1939 Geoffrey Cox was told that the Finnish General Staff were prepared to cede even the Petsamo area, but not Hanko, which they knew in Russian hands would be ''a pistol pressed into Finland’s back'', and which was the ''real key to the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

''. The Russians were prepared to hand over in return ''some territory just north of the Finnish “waist-line”: - stretches of forest of no military value.'' After the Winter War, in the early Spring of 1940, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

repeated its call for a naval base in the Hanko area. Finland's negotiation delegation was forced to agree to the Soviet Union's peace terms, including the Hanko base. On March 12, 1940, the

Moscow Peace Treaty The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940, and the ratifications were exchanged on 21 March. It marked the end of the 105-day Winter War, upon which Finland ceded border areas to the Soviet Union. The ...

included a lease to the Soviet Union, for 30 years, of 115 square kilometers of territory which included the area of the Hanko Peninsula and the city of Hanko surrounding maritime areas, as well as about 400 islands. The area was handed over to the Soviets at Midnight on 22 March 1940. The Finnish population had been evacuated from the area, causing about 8,000 Finns to lose their homes. Soviet Union forces built a strong military base. It oversaw maritime traffic in the

, and was also a potential south-west invasion front for war against Finland. The base housed infantry, airborne and armored forces. The Soviet Union fortified the border between Finland and the base, and the Finnish forces invested in troops and fortifications on their side.

Outbreak of the Continuation War

Battles of the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

that took place at the borders of the leased area were quite limited. The Finns did not try to assault the Hanko Soviet forces. However, the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from the leased area on December 2, 1941. The troops left their leased area heavily mined, which hampered the return of the civilian population in the Hanko peninsula. After the Continuation War, the Soviet Union demanded instead of Hanko a lease area in Porkkala. The final turnover of the Hanko leased area was included in the Paris Peace Agreement in 1947.

References

{{coord, 59.835608, 22.995666, display=title Former naval bases in Finland Installations of the Soviet Navy Winter War Military installations of the Soviet Union in other countries Military installations closed in 1941 Finland–Soviet Union relations