An AA machine gun position in Vepsän Lukko, Syväri?..

[Eugenius]

Hi Guys,

Here are some pictures of something looking like an AA machine gun position. A trench carved in the rock:

ends up with a kind of rounded gun pit:

with tall concrete basement and metal tube on top:

But it's not that simple - there is an underneath chamber in the gun pit:

where you may find remainders of a mechanism for lifting and lowering the tube - rollers and counterweight blocks (will be continued with next post):

[Eugenius]

So my question is: was it really rather complicated AA machine gun position with ability to lift up and to lower machine gun, or was it something else?..

[Juha Tompuri]

I would guess, based on the structure and quite massive(?) counter weights(?), that it's a bunker with a roof raising eqipment.
The round roof plate missing?

Regards, Juha

[Eugenius]

Terve Juha,

Yes, there might be a cover of the concrete well, as you can see from specific cavity on the rim, but surely we found no cover - I guess it was scrapped - if it was - dozens years ago. Actually we did not try to lift counterweights, but they looked heavy enough, and I do not think such a complicated system was created just for cover elevation - a couple of Finnish soldiers would do the same easier and faster.))) Again - what kind of so important device required a cover and such a sophisticated system of cover elevation?

[Juha Tompuri]

Privet Eugenius!

Actually we did not try to lift counterweights, but they looked heavy enough, and I do not think such a complicated system was created just for cover elevation - a couple of Finnish soldiers would do the same easier and faster.)))

IF the fortification system was equipped with a concrete roof, the weight of it would have been about the same as the counter weights, of a bit more.

Again - what kind of so important device required a cover and such a sophisticated system of cover elevation?

Artillery forward observation post?

Regards, Juha

[Eugenius]

"Artillery forward observation post?" - probably, but how it might be looking like? And wasn't it too complicated for observation post - a separate object with ability to lift and to lower a certain device, presumably covered with a lid... Just 20 meters ago there is a well-protected rock complex, including armoured observation cupolas and positions of targeting and range-finding devices - why it was not possible to set up that observation post there?..

[Juha Tompuri]

"Artillery forward observation post?" - probably, but how it might be looking like?

Perhaps something (remotely) like this?

[Eugenius]

"Perhaps something (remotely) like this?" - wow!.. Karhumäki is still the place I have to go one day. The object on the picture is described in Russian sources as 'ventilation well', but I never saw such ones with my own eyes in any other place.

However, this well with cover looks a bit different to what I saw in Vepsän Lukko - it is larger and there is space between cover and edge of the well. In Vepsän Lukko object the cover - if there was cover - was placed on top of the well without any space. And in any case that was not 'ventilation well'. My idea is it was hiding AA machine gun emplacement, but I have no any proof of that idea.

[Eugenius]

So guys from our local forum brought some more info and pictures: http://www.forum.aroundspb.ru/index.php ... b50bcd7412

If someone may have a look to those pictures of the object right after construction:

http://sa-kuva.fi/neo?tem=webneo_image_ ... =&zoom=YES
http://sa-kuva.fi/neo?tem=webneo_image_ ... =&zoom=YES
https://vk.com/photo-53271763_305502749

and then translate the word "Lähitorjuntapesäke", then we will get closer to the final answer.

[Juha Tompuri]

Lähitorjuntapesäke translates something like "close-in defence nest"

Regards, Juha

[Juha Tompuri]

If someone may have a look to those pictures of the object right after construction:

http://sa-kuva.fi/neo?tem=webneo_image_ ... =&zoom=YES
http://sa-kuva.fi/neo?tem=webneo_image_ ... =&zoom=YES
https://vk.com/photo-53271763_305502749

From "Ahmansilmä", Syväri:
SA-photo 142706 SA-photo 133640
SA-photo 142707


Regards, Juha

[Juha Tompuri]

So guys from our local forum brought some more info and pictures: http://www.forum.aroundspb.ru/index.php ... b50bcd7412

http://www.forum.aroundspb.ru/index.php ... msg_194080

Regards, Juha

[Juha Tompuri]

Hi all,

Any idea about these bunkers ??

Images from SA-Kuva archive (142707-142706-142704)
Sturm78

First photo - observation post.
Modern photography (2008):

Located on the River "Свирь" ("Syväri"), the village of "Вознесенье".

https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic ... 5#p1974755

Regards, Juha

[Eugenius]

Terve Juha, and many thanks for translation - now it's clear it was hidden fighting casemate for machine-gun, not just observation post like some other guys suggested.

There is an info that Linnoitus "Ahmansilmä"/Vepsän Lukko in Voznesenje was not the only fortified stronghold the Finns built on Syväri - there are 2 more strongholds like that, and there is at least one more Lähitorjuntapesäke elsewhere located "on top of the rock", according to some Soviet memoir. Unfortunately I do not know location of 2 other strongholds.

[Juha Tompuri]

Hi!

now it's clear it was hidden fighting casemate for machine-gun, not just observation post like some other guys suggested.

Most probably so, even the SA-photo texts sometimes contain errors. However I think it might be a bit cramped for a machine gun. For submacine gun armed soldier(s) perhaps?

Regards, Juha