Baltic Islands

With the advance on Leningrad stalled, the German 18th Army had little to do following the capture of Tallinn. It was during this lull that Unternehmen Beowulf was conceived by German High Command: a sub-operation of Barbarossa designed to eliminate …

1941-09-01

4108

With the advance on Leningrad stalled, the German 18th Army had little to do following the capture of Tallinn. It was during this lull that Unternehmen Beowulf was conceived by German High Command: a sub-operation of Barbarossa designed to eliminate the Soviet presence on the Baltic Islands. The Soviets had an airbase on these islands from where they had been mounting raids against Berlin. The opportunity to eliminate that threat was now at hand. The German amphibious assault only met sporadic, disorganized Resistance from ill-prepared Soviet defenders. Unternehmen Südwind, a deception plan carried out by German naval elements, added to the Soviet confusion. Despite a powerful artillery presence on the islands, the Soviets began evacuation on October 21st, saving only 570 men from the garrison of 24,000.

Muhu Island, Baltic Islands

Operation Beowulf refers to two German plans to occupy the islands of Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and Muhu, off the Estonian 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.

Wikipedia: Operation Beowulf

German

Russian

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Beach

Website Access: Classified