Naval Detachment K
Encyclopedia
Flotilla
A flotilla , or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers...
that operated on Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, not far from Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake in Europe, and the 14th largest lake by area in the world.-Geography:...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Background
The Continuation WarContinuation War
The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...
began in the summer of 1941. The Finns, who had operated naval units on Lake Ladoga before World War II, began reestablishing a flotilla on the lake as soon as their troops reached its shores early on in the war. The headquarters was formed in Läskelä on 2 August 1941 and by 6 August 150 motor boats, two tugs (used as minelayers) and four steam ferries had been transferred there. The tugs and ferries were equipped with 47 mm guns and machine guns. The Finns also established a number of coastal batteries on the shores and islands of Lake Ladoga. The only "true" Finnish warship on Lake Ladoga at that time was the obsolete ex-motor torpedo boat Sisu
Sisu class motor torpedo boat
The Sisu class motor torpedo boats was a series of two Italian M.A.S. type motor torpedo boats of the Finnish Navy. The vessels were constructed in 1916 by the Orlando shipyard in Livorno, Italy. Sisu and Hurja were purchased by the Finns in 1920, and saw service in World War II...
. As the Finnish land forces advanced, new headquarters were established in the captured towns along the shores of Ladoga. The Ladoga flotilla's headquarters was eventually moved to Sortavala
Sortavala
Sortavala is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga. Population: It is an important station of the Vyborg-Joensuu railroad.-History:...
and the harbour at Lahdenpohja became its primary base of operations.
Naval Detachment K
Paavo Talvela
Paavo Talvela was a Finnish soldier and a Knight of the Mannerheim Cross. He was one of the volunteers who served in the Finnish Jaeger battalion in Germany in 1916 to 1917. He was a battalion commander in the Finnish Civil War...
and Colonel Järvinen who was commanding the Laatokka Coastal Brigade came up with an idea that the boat traffic providing supplies to the Leningrad needed to be disrupted. Talvela then presented this idea to the Germans on his own behalf going past both Finnish Navy HQ and General HQ. Germans responded positively to the proposition and informed the slightly surprised Finns - who apart from Talvela had very little knowledge of the proposition - that transport of the equipment for the Ladoga operation was already arranged. Both the Germans and Italians sent naval units to Lake Ladoga to assist the Finns with coastal defence of the lake and to enforce the ongoing siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
.
A combined Finnish-German-Italian unit, the Laivasto-osasto K (LOs.K., Naval Detachment K) was formed on 17 May 1942, consisting of the four Italian MAS boats, four German KM minelayers and the Finnish motor torpedo boat Sisu. The German and Italian vessels were grouped into two units under Finnish command. First to arrive was the Italian unit XII Squadriglia MAS
XII Squadriglia MAS
The XII Squadriglia MAS was a formation of the Italian Royal Navy which served on Lake Ladoga as part of the Axis siege of Leningrad during World War II....
on 22 June, consisting of four MAS torpedo boats
MAS (boat)
Motoscafo Armato Silurante , commonly abbreviated as MAS was a class of fast torpedo armed vessel used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II...
(MAS 526, 527, 528 and 529). Five days later, four German KM-minelayers also arrived. However, the German minelayers suffered from inexperienced crews and unreliable engines and it took until 10 August before all German boats were repaired and deemed operational.
Einsatzstab Fähre Ost
Between 13 June and 15 August 1942 the Ladoga flotilla was strengthened by the arrival of two German naval contingents: Luftwaffen-Fährenflotillen II and III. These units had been formed in May 1942 at the Belgian port of Antwerp and redesignated Einsatzstab Fähre Ost (EFO) for duty on Lake Ladoga. The battlegroups acted independently but maintained close operational ties with Naval Detachment K. They were made up of twenty-three Siebel ferriesSiebel ferry
The Siebel ferry was a shallow-draft catamaran landing craft operated by Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II. It served a variety of roles in the Mediterranean, Baltic and Black Seas as well as along the English Channel...
(seven heavy artillery types mounting two to four 88 mm guns each; six light artillery types mounting smaller-caliber flak pieces; six transport, six repair, one hospital and one HQ) as well as nine I-Transporters or infantry boats (each capable of carrying 50 fully equipped soldiers). Four of the these boats were outfitted as minesweepers; three were kept as transports; one was rigged as a hospital ship and one as an HQ. In addition, one heavy Sturmboot acted as headquarters ship.
The Siebel ferries were originated by aircraft designer Fritz Siebel and intended for use in Germany's planned 1940 invasion of England, Operation Sea Lion. They consisted of two heavy Army bridging pontoons braced together with iron cross-beams and covered by a sturdy wooden deck. The ferries initially had a pair of Ford V-8 truck engines in each aft pontoon end, connected to standard water screws. Further power came from three 600 hp surplus aircraft engines mounted on an elevated scaffolding spanning the rear deck. The aircraft engines, however, were later dispensed with as they consumed considerable fuel and required excessive maintenance. Siebel ferries displaced approximately 140-170 tons, depending on type, and could travel up to 570 km (354.2 mi) at 8 kn (9.7 mph; 15.7 km/h). With their low freeboard and wide flat deck, they were easily configured for a variety of purposes.
In all, Oberstleutnant Siebel had a total of 30 vessels with 2400 personnel under his command.
Operations
Naval Detachment K's primary task was harassing Soviet supply lines to LeningradRoad of Life
The Road of Life was the ice road transport route across the frozen Lake Ladoga, which provided the only access to the besieged city of Leningrad in the winter months during 1941–1944 while the perimeter in the siege was maintained by the German Army Group North and the Finnish Defence Forces. ...
on southern Ladoga, where British and American food and munitions were delivered to the besieged residents of Leningrad. The unit also staged attacks on enemy bases and conducted limited landing operations on the shores of Lake Ladoga. Some smaller Soviet patrol boats and several barges delivering food to besieged Leningrad were attacked and sunk during 1942 and 1943. The Finnish Ladoga Flotilla
Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment
Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment was a Finnish naval unit stationed on Lake Ladoga between 1920-1940 and 1941-1944.-Background:The Treaty of Tartu was signed by the Russians and the Finns in 1920. It included terms which limited the size of naval vessels on Ladoga to 100 tons, and the calibre of...
had clashes with the Soviet Ladoga Flotilla, which operated in Lake Ladoga from June 25, 1941 through November 4, 1944.
The EFO suffered losses during a raid to destroy Soviet radio station, lighthouse and coastal artillery emplacement on the strategically important island of Sukho (Suhosaari in Finnish) 37 km from the Southern coast of Ladoga, at the main supply route to Leningrad. The German-run operation, codenamed Operation Brazil (Einsatz Brasil) began on 22 October 1942. Though the radio station and the lighthouse were torched and the coastal artillery on the island was destroyed the landing was eventually repulsed and, in a running battle, the flotilla was harassed by Soviet aircraft, torpedo and gunboats all the way back to its base along the northern shore of Lake Ladoga. When approaching Sukho island one light ferry became grounded and other ferries went to its aid however one light ferry was lost to Soviet coastal artillery fire and one heavy and one light ferry remained grounded despite the efforts to get them loose and all three had to be abandoned. During the return voyage one heavy ferry and I-boat had to be abandoned when they started to take in water so badly that they would not have made it back to the base. Losses included heavy artillery ferries SF13 and SF21, light artillery ferries SF12 and SF26 and infantry boat I 6 - casualties were 18 men dead, 57 wounded and 4 missing. One of the damaged ferries was taken over by the Russians. The idea of the operation was presented to Germans by the Finnish Lieutenant General Paavo Talvela
Paavo Talvela
Paavo Talvela was a Finnish soldier and a Knight of the Mannerheim Cross. He was one of the volunteers who served in the Finnish Jaeger battalion in Germany in 1916 to 1917. He was a battalion commander in the Finnish Civil War...
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Analysis
The operations of the international flotilla were a failure. Torpedoes proved useless in the shallow waters of southern Lake Ladoga, where they frequently struck the bottom. Nor did their magnetic detonators work well against the wooden hulls of Soviet barges and patrol boats. The secondary armament of the MTBs also proved too light to seriously threaten Soviet gunboats. German mineboats turned out to have extremely unreliable engines, keeping them docked in port far longer than they spent on actual operations nor were their influence mines especially useful against mainly wooden hulled Soviet vessels. The Siebel ferries of EFO had good armament but they were far too slow and had too short a range for effective operations. They were almost "sitting ducks" to the Soviet patrol boats, gunboats and bombers. As their personnel came from the Luftwaffe, with no sea-going experience, operations in the often harsh weather conditions were extremely difficult.Dissolving the detachment
The Italian torpedo vessels were relocated from Lake Ladoga to Tallinn at the end of October 1942 and would eventually end up in the Finnish NavyJymy class motor torpedo boat
The Jymy class motor torpedo boats or J class was an Italian-designed class of motor torpedo boats, seeing service during World War II with the Italian Navy in the Lake Ladoga, and later with the Finnish Navy in the Gulf of Finland....
. Likewise, the Germans withdrew most of their vessels, leaving two ferries and four infantry boats which Finns had bought. In January 1943, the Soviet Red Army launched Operation Spark
Operation Spark (1943)
Operation Iskra was a Soviet military operation during World War II, designed to break the German Wehrmacht's Siege of Leningrad. Planning for the operation began shortly after the failure of the Sinyavino Offensive. The German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad in late 1942 had weakened the...
, to open up a land connection to Leningrad and break the siege. Axis forces were pushed back 80 km and the Road of Life
Road of Life
The Road of Life was the ice road transport route across the frozen Lake Ladoga, which provided the only access to the besieged city of Leningrad in the winter months during 1941–1944 while the perimeter in the siege was maintained by the German Army Group North and the Finnish Defence Forces. ...
no longer had its previous significance. Neither German nor Italian units returned to Lake Ladoga, although smaller Finnish units continued to operate in the lake against the Soviets during 1943.