Hanko Peninsula

The Hanko Peninsula ( fi, Hankoniemi; ), also spelled Hango, is the southernmost point of mainland

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. The soil is a sandy moraine, the last tip of the Salpausselkä ridge, and vegetation consists mainly of pine and low shrubs. The peninsula is known for its beautiful archipelago and long sandy beaches. The town of Hanko is situated on the peninsula, as is the Port of Hanko. The

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

proper is demarcated by a line from the Hanko Peninsula to the northwesternmost point of mainland

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

. The waters east of this line are considered the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and ...

The Hanko Peninsula has played a major part during times of war. The

Battle of Gangut The Battle of Gangut (russian: Гангутское сражение, fi, Riilahden taistelu, Finland Swedish: ''Slaget vid Rilax'', sv, Sjöslaget vid Hangöudd) took place on 27 July Jul./ 7 August 1714 Greg. during the Great Northern War ...

was fought outside the Hanko peninsula on 7 August 1714 ("Gangut" is the Russian transliteration of the Swedish name for the peninsula "Hangö udd"). Some of the Russian fortifications that were built as part of Peter the Great's Naval Fortress are located here. During the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

, the German

Ostsee Division The Baltic Sea Division () was a 10,000 man German military unit commanded by Rüdiger von der Goltz. The core of the division comprised two army brigades from the German Eastern Front: 95. Reserve Infantry Brigade (led by Colonel K. Wolff) and 2 ...

landed here in April 1918. Following the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

, the peninsula was leased to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

for 30 years as a

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

. However, the Soviets evacuated their 25,000 soldiers in the area during the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

and it was retaken by the Finns and the

Swedish Volunteer Battalion The Swedish Volunteer Battalion ( sv, Svenska frivilligbataljonen, SFB) or the Hanko Battalion was a Swedish military unit consisting of volunteers, which participated in the siege of the Soviet naval fleet in the Battle of Hanko during the Con ...

in December 1941. {{coord, 59, 50, N, 23, 5, E, region:FI-ES, display=title Peninsulas of Finland Concession territories