Operation Beowulf refers to two German plans to occupy the islands of

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the isla ...

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa (, ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located within ...

and

Muhu Muhu (also called Muhumaa in Estonian), is an island in the West Estonian archipelago of the Baltic Sea. With an area of it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Together with neighbouring smaller is ...

, off the

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 ...

n west coast. Both plans had the same objectives but assumed differing start points. The attack, using ''Beowulf II'', started on 9 September 1941 and had achieved its objectives by 21 October.Gunnar Åselius,
The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Navy in the Baltic 1921-1941
', Routledge, 2005, , p. 230.

Beowulf I

This version assumed a rapid German victory in the

Baltic States The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone ...

. It would have been a re-working of

Operation Albion Operation Albion was a World War I German air, land and naval operation against the Russian forces in October 1917 to occupy the West Estonian Archipelago. The land campaign opened with German landings at the Tagalaht bay on the island o ...

, launched from

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. In the event, German forces were delayed as they crossed into Estonian territory.

Beowulf II

This version, which was executed, was an attack from the Estonian west coast. There were a series of diversionary attacks to confuse the Soviet defenders – ''Südwind'', ''Westwind'' and '' Nordwind''. The islands were garrisoned by 23,700 Soviet troops of the 3rd Rifle Brigade. The German force allocated to the operation was the 61st Infantry Division which was reinforced with additional

assault pioneer An Assault Pioneer is an infantry soldier who is responsible for: * The construction of tools for infantry soldiers to cross natural and man-made obstacles as well as breaching of enemy fortifications; * Supervising the construction of field defe ...

s and artillery. The force was transported from the Estonian coast by a fleet of about 100 barges and ferries together with 150 smaller assault boats. A joint German and Finnish naval task force had been assembled to cover the landings, which included the light cruisers ''Emden'', ''Köln'' and ''Leipzig''. During diversionary naval bombardments, on 13 September, the large Finnish coastal defence ship ''Ilmarinen'' sank when she struck a mine off Hanko. As a preliminary, the small island of Vormsi was taken on 9 September. On 14 September, the main assault commenced with a landing on Muhu, which is connected to the larger island of Saaremaa (german: Ösel) by a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...

. Muhu was secured by 16 September and a bridgehead across the causeway was established on the following day. By 23 September, the Soviet garrison had been pushed back to the heavily fortified Sorve Peninsula; they were gradually forced from their defences by the assault pioneers assisted by

naval gunfire support Naval gunfire support (NGFS) (also known as shore bombardment) is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of a number of disciplines encompassed by ...

and the last Soviet troops surrendered on 5 October. The assault on the island of Hiiumaa (German: ''Dagö'') commenced on 12 September; the defenders were forced back to the Takhuna Peninsula, where the survivors finally surrendered on 21 October 1941. Due to local Axis naval and air superiority, none of the Soviet defenders were able to escape; their losses amounted to 4,700 killed and 19,000 captured. German casualties totalled 2,850.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beowulf, Operation 1941 in Estonia Amphibious operations involving Germany Battles and operations of the Soviet–German War Battles involving Estonia Hiiu County History of Saaremaa Military operations of World War II involving Germany October 1941 events Saare County September 1941 events