How the Germans procured fresh pork during the conquest of Hiiumaa
Sõru 1917
In October 1917, during the World War II, Germany conquered the islands of Western Estonia during the insane naval operation "Albion". For years, Tsarist Russia had built a huge insurance system around Tallinn and the islands - Peter the Great Sea Fortress, which unfortunately could not fulfill its task in these confusing 1917 circumstances. It is known that artillery is also needed to fire from a cannon, but if they lose their appetite for warfare, the flames are also silent. However, one of the few units that had an exchange of fire with the Germans was Sõru 120mm beach battery. The German battleship Bayern - the largest warship that has ever fought in Estonian waters - had sailed for a mine but was still capable of combat, and together with the cannon fire of the cruiser Emden, the battery was silenced and the crew fled. German mine trawlers then entered the Strait of Soela to clear the fairway of the sea mines. At the same time, the Sõru artillery returned to their batteries and reopened the fire on the enemy ships. Now the Germans sent a landing to the beach, which shattered the cannons. A couple of pigs were also requisitioned to stimulate the fighting spirit of the fresh meat. The road to the Väinameri was free. Within a few days, the whole of Hiiumaa was conquered, the Russian troops showed no outstanding resistance to the Germans.
Further reading: https://teejuht.esap.ee/eesti-ringreis/esimese-maailmasoja-operatsiooni-albion-merelahingud-soela-vainas-ja-vainamerel/
Related objects
The 120-mm Coastal Battery at Hindu (Sõru) No 34
The construction of the battery began in 1914. As it was an additional battery, missing in the original plan of the naval fortress and the type of guns was repeatedly changed. Finally four 120- mm Vickers guns were installed. A 200-m length and 10-20-m width sandbar was piled up in defence of the gun emplacements and covered in concrete above the guns. Hindu was the only battery in Hiiumaa that participated in combat operations during the Tagalahe landing on 12 October 1917. After a brief exchange of fire with the German warships the Russian artillerymen fled, leaving the battery intact. The Germans sent a landing unit of soldiers inland that blew up the guns of the battery. One of the German warships that shot Hindu battery, was ’Bayern’, the warship with the largest displacement that has ever been in the Estonian waters (length 180 m, displacement 32 200 tons, eight 380-mm guns).The building of the battery radio station was transported to Emmaste and was used as the community centre (demolished in the 1980s). The gun barrels and other larger details were still there in 1937. Today the first and the second gun platforms are still identifiable, the other two are situated on a fenced farmyard. The third gun crater is filled with earth and there is a newly built house facing the sea, the remains of the fourth one is merely a cracked concrete platform. Out of two air defence gun platforms, one survives (a hundred metres toward the nursing home, on the right side of the road). There are no intact buildings. The machine gun bunker between the first and the second emplacement was completed in 1941.
Concurrently with the construction of Hindu battery, there was a plan to build something in Lepiku village where large gravel bars were piled up, still visible today. It is unknown what the building was going to be.
