The fate of battery commander Aleksandr Stebel.
The fate of the legendary battery commander, Captain Aleksandr Stebel, is shrouded in mystery.
According to the official version, he was captured by the Germans and executed in the Valga prison camp. This was done in a particularly cruel way: Stebel was doused with water in sub-zero temperatures and froze to death. According to another version, political workers who had been imprisoned in Sõrve, disguised as ordinary soldiers, started a fight in the prison camp, during which Stebel died. A few decades ago, there were still some wartime shepherd boys alive who said that political workers killed Stebel, who was popular among the boys, before he fled from Mõntu because he did not want to abandon his men. His body was buried in the stone garden of the village of Karuste. The least likely rumor seems to be that Stebel collaborated with the Germans while in captivity, survived the war and died a natural death.
Tõnu Veldre's conversations with local residents 1998-2000
Related objects
Stebel Coastal Battery No 315, Command Post
This Coastal Defence Battery Command centre is situated in a now deserted part of the village of Sääre.
The coastal defence battery was named after its commander, Captain Aleksandr Stebel. Construction began in May 1940 and the battery was completed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. The battery deterred German marines in Lõu Bay and provided covering fire for the Red Army’s Lõpe-Kaimri defensive line. The artillery was destroyed during the Red Army retreat in October 1941, after which the lower levels of the barbettes were flooded. The complex comprised two artillery barbettes mounting two 180-mm guns, a command centre, a fire control tower in the shape of a windmill, a generator and a heating plant.
Unfortunately, these intriguingly engineered battery positions are situated on private property and are difficult to locate. As such, anyone interested will have to make do with viewing the command centre from the outside, as its lower level is submerged. The centre was drained in 2010, but had filled up with water again just a few months later.
