The 130-mm coastal battery in Tahkuna (1941, 1944–1960)

On September 28, 1939, the Republic of Estonia and the USSR signed the Mutual Assistance Treaty (the Bases Treaty). As a result, Estonia was obliged to let the Red Army units enter its territory. In Hiiumaa, almost 80 square kilometres was allocated for the Soviet military bases. By the summer of 1941, six fixed coastal batteries were completed in Hiiumaa. The 130-mm battery in Tahkuna was ready for battle by October 1941, just before the German troops occupied the island. The shooting distance of the 130-mm cannon was up to 25 km. The concrete positions of the cannons remained intact and were taken into use again in 1944. A fire control tower was built next to the command post in the 1950s. After the battery was removed, a fleet observation post was located there. As the forest grew taller and the sea could not be seen well anymore, another floor was built on top of the tower. Today, the buildings of the Tahkuna battery are mostly well preserved but densely overgrown by forest, which makes it difficult to find and observe the objects. On the territory of the battery, by the roadside, there are a memorial from 1968 to the sailors of the Baltic fleet who fell in battle in 1941 and a tombstone for two unknown soldiers who were reburied in 1973. The author of the memorial is Vitaly Navoznykh from Saint Petersburg, who participated in the battles in Hiiumaa in 1941 and lived on the island after the war, working as a stonemason.