Battle of Sukho Island

Battle of Sukho Island
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

Map showing the Axis occupation of Leningrad Oblast by the end of 1941, also showing Sukho Island on Lake Ladoga
Date22 October 1942
Location
Sukho Island, Lake Ladoga
Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
 Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
  • Friedrich Siebel
  • Max Wachtel
 Viktor Cherokov
Strength
  • 11 combatant ferries
  • 3 transport ferries
  • 7 infantry boats
  • 70 troops (landing party)
  • 1 HQ ferry, 1 hospital ferry, 1 motor torpedo boat
  • 3 × 100 mm (3.9 in) coastal guns, 1 × 12.7 mm, 1 × 7.62 mm and 1 × quadruple 7.62 mm AA machine guns, c. 90 – c. 100 troops[a]
  • 1 minesweeper, 1 patrol boat[b]
  • 2 gunboats, 2 motor torpedo boats, 2 patrol boats, 2 armored boats[c]
  • 1 gunboat, 3 minesweepers, 3 patrol boats[d]
Casualties and losses
  • 4 combatant ferries lost
  • 1 infantry boat lost
  • Unknown number of aircraft
  • 18 KIA, 57 WIA, 4 MIA
  • 1 gunboat and 1 patrol boat damaged
  • 2 × 100 mm coastal guns and 2 × AA machine guns destroyed, 1 × AA machine gun damaged
  • 6 aircraft lost (4 Il-2s, 2 I-15bises)
  • 6 KIA, 23 WIA, 6 POW

The Battle of Sukho Island, also known as Operation Brazil (German: Brasil),[6] was an amphibious operation and naval engagement on Lake Ladoga between the Soviet Navy and a German Luftwaffe naval detachment during World War II.

Background

During the siege of Leningrad the Soviets moved supplies to the city through Lake Ladoga. The Axis deployed the Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment, Naval Detachment K (including the Italian XII Squadriglia MAS), and the German Luftwaffe Einsatzstab Fähre Ost, to interdict the route;[7] the MAS unit conducted motor torpedo boat attacks.[8] The combined Axis force failed to significantly interrupt traffic.[7][8]

The culmination of Axis operations was the raid against Sukho Island, c. 20 km (12 mi; 11 nmi) from the southern shore of the lake, which covered supply lines and the approaches to Soviet bases.

Axis forces

A German heavy (top) and a light (bottom) anti-aircraft combat Siebel ferry during the Axis naval review at Lakhdenpokhya on Lake Ladoga, 13 August 1942

The attack was commanded by Oberstleutnant Max Wachtel. The flotilla was composed of 16 Siebel ferries, 7 infantry boats (German: Infanterietransporter „Siebelgefäß“, lit. 'Siebel Vessel infantry transporter', a.k.a. I-Boot, 'I-boat'), and 3 Italian motor torpedo boats (two of them provided escort to Sukho Island, after which they returned to their base).[9] Seven combatant ferries (SF 11, SF 13, SF 15, SF 17, SF 21, SF 23, SF 25) were fitted with heavy anti-aircraft weapons. Four combatant ferries (SF 12, SF 14, SF 22, SF 26) were fitted with light anti-aircraft weapons. A 70-troop landing party was carried aboard three transport ferries (T 2, T 4, T 6), and allocated five of the I-boats. There was also one HQ ferry and one hospital ferry.

Axis fighters (German Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Finnish Fiat G.50s) provided air cover for the landing force during the battle.[10]

Battle

The German ferries were escorted at a distance by the Italian motor torpedo boat MAS 526 (according to some sources, it was MAS 528);[2][9] critically, surprise was lost when they were detected by the Soviet minesweeper TShch-100 which joined the battle, and then by the MO-class patrol boat MO-171 which entered the battle later.[11] Before landing, nine German Junkers Ju 88 As from KG 1 bombed the island (according to some sources, these were two Junkers Ju 88s).[12] The Axis landing party landed on Sukho under the cover of the combatant ferries; two of the three Soviet 100 mm/56 B-24BM coastal guns, as well as two anti-aircraft machine guns, were destroyed, another anti-aircraft machine gun was damaged; and the lighthouse was also damaged but not taken.[1][2] The landing party withdrew after sustaining casualties and losing radio contact (radios were flooded with water), having received a flare retreat signal.[3]

On the lake, multiple German ferries grounded around the island. SF 12 grounded on rocks, followed by SF 13 while attempting to assist. SF 22 grounded after being disabled by the remaining Soviet 100 mm coastal gun; SF 14 and SF 26 grounded attempting to assist. A Soviet patrol boat was damaged and retreated under a smoke screen. The arrival of the main forces of the Soviet Ladoga Flotilla forced the Axis to withdraw after having refloated SF 14 and SF 22.

Soviet naval and air forces pursued but inflicted only minor damage on the retreating Germans; attacks by the Soviet G-5-class motor torpedo boats TKA-61 and TKA-81 on rear-guard transport ferries scored no hits, while the Germans claimed four hits on a Soviet ship. The German retreat was slowed by ferries suffering machinery failure. SF 21 was used as a rearguard; it silenced the remaining gun on Sukho but was damaged and then abandoned – along with the towed infantry boat I 6 – when it began to sink from leaks and pump failures, after which it was set on fire by gunfire from the ferries SF 11 and SF 23.[13][3]

Aftermath

The Axis suffered heavy casualties for little result, and marked the effective end of offensive Axis operations on Lake Ladoga.[13] 17 of the 23 participating German ships were sunk or seriously damaged;[14] four combatant ferries (SF 12, SF 13, SF 21, SF 26) and one I-boat (I 6, which was captured by Soviet forces) were lost, and SF 22 was heavily damaged (one of the light anti-aircraft combat Siebel ferries that were lost aground near Sukho Island was captured by Soviet forces, then repaired and commissioned as DB-51 of the Soviet Navy). Crew and troop casualties amounted to 18 killed, 57 wounded (one of them fatally) and 4 missing.[15][13]

Total Soviet losses are 6 killed (or 7 killed according to some sources)[1] and 23 wounded (according to some sources, two of them fatally).[1] Beyond naval losses, the Germans took six prisoners from Sukho.[16]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The size of the Soviet garrison of Sukho (Commander, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Gusev) during Operation Brazil, it is cited according to various sources; according to some sources, at that time the garrison included c. 30 – c. 40 construction soldiers from a Soviet Ladoga Flotilla construction battalion, who were building fortifications on the island.[1][2]
  2. ^ The minesweeper TShch-100 and the MO-class patrol boat MO-171—these Soviet warships patrolled the waterway area near Sukho Island on the night of October 21–22, 1942, and participated in the battle during the Axis landing.[3][4]
  3. ^ The gunboats Bira and Selemdzha with the towed G-5-class motor torpedo boats TKA-61 and TKA-81, under the command of Captain 1st Rank Nikolai Ozarovsky, as well as the MO-class patrol boats MO-198 and MO-214, and the Project 1124 armored boats BKA-99 and BKA-100, under the command of Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Yepikhin—this Soviet naval force departed from Morye some time after receiving a radio message about the Axis landing on Sukho Island, so it participated in the battle during the pursuit phase.[5]
  4. ^ The gunboat Nora, the Izhorets-class minesweepers TShch-37, TShch-126 and TShch-127, the MO-class patrol boats MO-201, MO-205 and MO-206, under the command of Captain 3rd Rank Pyotr Kuriat—this Soviet naval detachment departed from Novaya Ladoga some time after receiving a radio message about the Axis landing on Sukho Island; according to some sources, it was late, so it did not find the enemy and did not participate in the battle.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Goncharov 2019a.
  2. ^ a b c Meister & Morozov (ed.) 2005, pp. 282–283, 319–320.
  3. ^ a b c Zefirov, Dyogtev & Bazhenov 2008.
  4. ^ Nikitin 2019, pp. 91–96.
  5. ^ a b Nikitin 2019, pp. 96–99, 103–106.
  6. ^ Nikitin 2019, p. 14.
  7. ^ a b Kijanen, Kalervo (1968). Suomen Laivasto 1918–1968 II. Helsinki: Meriupseeriyhdistys/Otava. pp. 185–197.
  8. ^ a b Ruge, F. (1979), The Soviets as Naval Opponents 1941–1945, p. 26, ISBN 0-85059-390-5.
  9. ^ a b Nikitin 2019, p. 91.
  10. ^ Goncharov 2019b.
  11. ^ a b "Gunboat "Aunus"". Heninen.net. Archived from the original on October 12, 2024. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  12. ^ Nikitin 2019, p. 94.
  13. ^ a b c Aromaa, Jari (July 2, 2007). "Finnish navy in Continuation War, year 1942". Kotisivut.fonet.fi. Archived from the original on March 30, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2025.
  14. ^ "War on Lake Ladoga". Heninen.net. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  15. ^ Nikitin 2019, pp. 99, 101–103.
  16. ^ Nikitin 2019, p. 99.

Further reading

  • Meister, Jürg (2005) [First published in 1958 under the title Der Seekrieg in den osteuropäischen Gewässern, 1941/45]. Действия на русских внутренних водных путях [Actions on Russian Inland Waterways]. In Morozov, Miroslav E. (ed.). Восточный фронт — война на море 1941—1945 гг. [The Eastern Front: the War at Sea 1941–1945] (in Russian). Translated by Lipatov, Sergei A. Foreword and comments by Morozov, Miroslav E. Moscow, RU: Eksmo. pp. 271–321. ISBN 5-699-09910-7. ISBN 978-5-699-09910-8.
  • Zefirov, Mikhail V.; Dyogtev, Dmitry M.; Bazhenov, Nikolay N. (2008). Операция «Бразилия» [Operation Brazil]. Цель — корабли. Противостояние Люфтваффе и советского Балтийского флота [The Target is Ships. The Confrontation Between the Luftwaffe and the Soviet Baltic Fleet] (in Russian). Moscow, RU: AST, AST Moscow, Hranitel. pp. 289–301. ISBN 978-5-17-045858-5. ISBN 978-5-9713-6441-2. ISBN 978-5-9762-4348-4.
  • Nikitin, Andrei A. (2019). Ладога, 1942: Противоборство двух флотилий [Ladoga, 1942: The Confrontation Between Two Flotillas] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg, RU: Gjol. pp. 13–46, 53–65, 66–71, 88–110. ISBN 978-5-904790-86-8. Archived from the original on March 7, 2025. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
  • Goncharov, Vladislav (January 16, 2019a). Операция «Бразиль»: схватка на острове Сухо [Operation Brazil: the Fight on Sukho Island]. Warspot.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on January 30, 2025. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
  • Goncharov, Vladislav (January 23, 2019b). Конец операции «Бразиль» [The End of Operation Brazil]. Warspot.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on January 30, 2025. Retrieved March 4, 2025.

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