Moshchny (russian: Мощный; fi, Lavansaari; sv, Lövskär, et, Lavassaar) is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

in 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 ...

of 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 ...

, located some 120 km west of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. The island is a part of the

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, although it was not until 1 ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. The area of the island is approximately 13.9 km². After the Finnish Civil War and until the Russo-Finnish

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 island was a part of Finland and belonged to the province of Viipuri. The island, which had the largest population of the Finnish islands in the gulf was evacuated in 1939 - an operation that lasted merely a few hours. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

was almost entirely surrounded and many other islands had been conquered by the Germans and the Finns, Admiral Tributs decided to keep islands of Seiskari and Lavansaari which proved to be very important bases as the war progressed. The Russians had a minor naval station and a radar on the island. On November 18, 1942 three Finnish motor torpedo boats ''Syöksy'', ''Vinha'' and ''Vihuri'', as well as a minelaying KM-boat made an assault on the harbour of Lavansaari. ''Syöksy'' managed to hit the gunboat ''Krasnoye Znamya'' with one torpedo. The Soviet vessel was sunk in her moorings, but was eventually raised on 13 November 1943.''Attacken mot Lövskärs hamn''
The German naval forces wanted to prevent the Soviet naval forces from operating to the West of Lavansaari by mine-laying two large sea mine barrages. The Seehund I, II, III and IV barrages ware laid from 3 August to 26 August 1942 and the larger barrage to the West of Seehund, The Seeigel I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII and VIII barrages from 21 May to 25 May 1942 and from 10 June to 23 June 1942. Both the Seeigel and Seehund barrages were recognised by the Finnish Navy as ''Suursaari - Kiskolan rivi'', i.e. Suursaari - Kiskola line. Seeigel I-IV and VI-VIII consisted of 2 526 pieces of sea mines together with Seeigel V in the depth of from two metres to three metres below the water surface. As an exception to the other barrages, Seeigel V had mines in the 25 metres depth from the water surface. In June the supplementary mine-laying consisted of 244 magnetic seamines, about 3000 anchored depth mines and about 1,630 minesweeping obstacles. The smaller barrage, the Seehund consisted of only about 200 mines and about 250 minesweeping obstacles against the surface vessels and minesweeping. On 23 June 1943 German bombers sank the Soviet motor torpedo boat, MO-171 off the waters of Lavansaari. On 14 May 1944, a German motor torpedo boat sank the Soviet motor torpedo boat MO-122 with a torpedo.

Sources

* {{Coord, 60, 00, N, 27, 50, E, region:RU_type:isle, display=title Russian islands in the Baltic Islands of Leningrad Oblast