- Esileht
- Viimsi Coastal Artillery Battery
- Esileht
- Viimsi Coastal Artillery Battery
- Programmid
- Viimsi Coastal Artillery Battery
- Uudised
- Viimsi Coastal Artillery Battery
- Projektid
- Viimsi Coastal Artillery Battery
During World War II, the Germans positioned 28 cm coastal artillery guns at the tip of the Viimsi Peninsula on Estonia’s northern coast. These massive guns fired 330 kg shells with a range of approximately 34 kilometres. One such shell—so large it took four men to carry and could reach halfway to Finland—can be seen in our permanent exhibition.
The “Prince Henry” 28 cm guns were installed on the Viimsi Peninsula after being evacuated from the Leningrad front. The battery consisted of three gun positions spaced 250 metres apart—two were operational by September 1943, while the third was set up in 1944 and supported by radar and targeting equipment.
In early 1944, the battery was designated 6./530 (Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 530, 6th Battery) and had a crew of 174 men. From April that year, it was renamed 1./530, with personnel numbers growing to 193.
On the night of 21 September 1944, two of the 28 cm guns were destroyed, along with 750 shells and a large quantity of propellant charges. In 2012, bomb disposal experts uncovered ten 28 cm shells during a clearance operation in the area.
(Sources: Central Military Archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, F. 191, Op. 1, D. 108, NARA T-312 roll 1626, frames 937, 1097, Estonian Rescue Board, 2021.)
“Kes minevikku ei mäleta, elab tulevikuta” Juhan Liiv
