VYBORG, RUSSIA See below for photos. The castle was built in the 13th century. The city has some remaining medieval walls. The bastioned fortifications and regimental barracks were built in 1737 on order of Anna Ioannova. There were several sieges of Vyborg, especially two by Peter the Great.
Vyborg (Finnish Viipuri): (90,000 in 1990, 35,000 in 1914) is located off the Gulf of Finland at the head of the deep inlet Gulf of Viborg at the mouth of the Saima Canal about 120 km northwest of St. Petersburg. It was an early trading post of the Novgorod republic with local Karelian hunters. It contains interesting and important fortifications from the 13th to 18th centuries. The original castle had earthen walls, the city had towers and defensive walls and there also was a major fortification of the Vauban "bastion trace" style. The first mention of Vyborg is in trade agreements between Novgorod the Great and the Hanseatic League from 1262- 70. It was mentioned as a Slavic population point known as Stari Vyborg.
The Swedes wanted to control the Karelian tribes and cut Novgorod out of the lucrative trade. So in the fall of 1293 a large force led by Torkel Knutson conducted a campaign in the area and built the castle on the small island at the outflow of the Vuoks River into Vyborg Gulf. This Viipurilinna Castle is the oldest building in the region. The original plans show a tower in the center of the island of 75 meters height and a earthen wall ran along the island shore. The ancient tower of St. Olaf (named for bishop Olaf) (called Tall Hermann by Russian troops) remains (165 ft high). However, most of the present structure dates from the 16th century. In 1442-48 the garrison commander reguilt a two-story building near the tower. Major repair and renovation work was done in 1556 in connection with a visit of King Gustav Vasa. The stone tower was reconstructed in its present octagonal form in 1561-64. The commandant's house was built in 1606-08 and a barracks for accomodating 700-800 troops. And it was rebuilt by Andreas Streng in 1642. It was the most formidable fortress on the shore of the Baltic Sea and the Swedish key to Finland. The small island is connected to the mainland and town by two drawbridges. Several buildings for the castle garrison and commander were built along the interior of the walls. Other, temporary towers were occasionally built along the circular outer wall, but these did not last.
During the Northern War Peter I considered Vyborg very important for Russian defense, but under Russian control the castle itself lost its military significance and was used as an arsenal and headquarters. That was because the major defenses were moved out of town. After the Decembrist uprising in 1825, the castle was used as a military prison. In 1856, during a fireworks display celebrating the opening of the Saimerski Canal, the castle caught fire. During 1891-94, the castle was repaired by the experienced engineer Colonel Lezedov who added the 10 meter high cupola in the form of a Russian helmet to the top. The central tower is 48.6 meters (159 ft) high with 5 meter thick walls.
The Swedish king Erik XIII issued the charter for a town in 1403 and a number of remaining buildings date from the mid 1400's. The Clock tower at No 5 Krepostnaya Street was built by Prince Michael Agricola of Sweden in 1494. The town received typical medieval walls during the time of Eric Axelsson Tott in 1477, parts of which remain. Other houses and commercial buildings date from the 1600's. The Rathaus was built in 1643 and restored in 1930. The Transfiguration Cathedral on Pionerskaya Square dates from 1787-93, and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul from 1793-99. Much of the old city fortress walls was destroyed during town expansion in the 1860's. The town center on Lenin boulevard is on the site of the 16th century Horned Fortress. On the corner of Leningrad and Vyborg Streets the Pantserlaks Bastion built in 1579-81 is all that remains of the Horned Fortress. The Round Tower (Pyorea Torni) on Rynochnaya Square was built on the order of King Vasa in 1550 as part of the "gate of Karelia". The architect was Hans von Bergen.
The town withstood a three month siege by Ivan III in 1495.
During the Great Northern War, in 1710 Peter I fought the Swedes for the town twice, the second time besieging it successfully for 12 weeks. The soldiers who died in the siege are buried in a common grave outside the fortress wall. Peter restored the damaged castle tower. A monument to Peter erected in 1910 is located on the site of his military headquarters. After the Russian conquest, Swedish remained the language for local government and trade for another hundred years.
Anna Ioannova (1730-1740) directed that Vyborg be strongly fortified against possible surprise attack. The best contemporary engineering design was employed in construction of the new bastions of the fortress St. Anna. The remains of this fortress are located across the bridge from the old castle. The Fredrikshamn Gate with one arch over the inner ramparts and another on the outer still stands. During the reign of Catherine the Great (1763-1796), the town grew rapidly. She stayed at No 3 Krepostnaya Street during a visit in 1783. Field Marshal Suvorov stayed at No. 8 in 1791-2. Field Marshal Kutuzov lived in another building when he was military governor in 1801. On June 6, 1790 the Swedish fleet under King Gustavus III entered the Gulf of Viborg and, while it was blockading the town, it was itself blockaded by the Russian fleet under Admirals Tchitchagov and Knise. The Swedes managed to force their way out on 3 July.
Vyborg was a part of the separate Finland duchy from 1818 to 1917 and independent Finland from 1917 to 1940. During World War II more than half the homes were destroyed.

Karelia in the Winter War 1939-40:

The Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with Finland on 29 November, 1939 and launched full scale attacks by air, land, and sea the following day. Military service had been compulsory in Finland since 1922 and other preparations for defense were made, but these were not as extensive as Finnish military leaders wanted due to lack of funds. During 1931 and 1932 some 100,000 unemployed laborers were given work in Karelia constructing concrete machine gun nests and trenches and anti-tank traps of stones and concrete. During the summer and fall of 1939 further improvements were made. The Finnish Minister of Defense was Marshal Mannerheim, hence the main fortification in Karelia came to be known as the Mannerheim Line. This line became famous, but was actually quite simple and nothing like the fortified lines in Western Europe. It stretched 88 miles from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladoga. Of the 66 machine gun nests 44 dated from the 1920's and were obsolescent.
The Finnish regular army numbered 33,000, and could be expanded with trained reserves to 127,800 men in nine divisions. Another 100,000 were in the ready reserve and a further 100,000 in the Civic Guard. This gave Finland a total of about 400,000 men for all services. There were 100,000 women in the women's auxiliary to the Civic Guard. After the war began they managed to field 15 divisions. Initially the nine divisions were located as follows: in the Karelian Isthmus were the II and III Corps with six divisions; the 6th Division was in reserve west of Viipuri; north of Lake Ladoga to Suojarvi was the IV Corps with two divisions; and a general reserve division was assembling at Oulu. The rest of the frontier of 625 miles to the Arctic Ocean was held by Civic Guard units and independent battalions.
A Finnish division had 14,200 men compared to the 17,500 in a Soviet division. The Soviets had two artillery regiments with three times the firepower of the one artillery regiment in the Finnish division. The Soviet division had a tank battalion of 40-50 tanks, anti-tank unit, and anti-aircraft company, all lacking in the Finnish division.
Finland started with 96 aircraft to 800 in the Soviet air force. During the war, Finnish air forces increased to 287 and Soviet to 2,500. The Finns lost 61 while the Soviets lost 725 confirmed and another 200 unconfirmed (according to Finnish sources).
The initial Soviet attacking force was composed of thirty divisions and six tank brigades, of which thirteen divisions and five tank brigades were in Karelia. The objective of the left wing was to capture Viipuri and then advance into the interior, while the right wing advanced in the north along the Sortavia-Leningrad railroad line. North of Lake Ladoga the Soviet Eighth Army had nine divisions and a tank brigade. It was to advance south around lake Ladoga and attack the Finnish positions from the rear. Further north the Soviet Ninth Army had five divisions and aimed to cut through the center of Finland to the Swedish border just north of the end of the Gulf of Bothnia. Above the Arctic Circle the Fourteenth Army had three divisions to capture Petsamo and move along the Arctic Highway.
Finnish tactics were to delay the enemy's advance while inflicting as many casualties as possible and then fall back in the difficult terrain. It was hoped the heavy forests in the narrow passages between the multitude of lakes would reduce enemy maneuver and slow him down
The Finnish covering forces did not execute their delaying plan effectively and engaged in too much heavy combat, but the Soviets were slow anyway and did not reach the first defensive positions, only 6 to 10 miles inside Finland, until 2 December. By 4 December the Soviets captured the key bridgehead at Kiviniemi and on the 5th attacked near Uusikirkko. Soviet tanks broke through at Maisniemi threatening the Finnish 5th Division with encirclement. Considering that the Finnish covering forces for the entire 800 mile front numbered only 13,000 men, their success in holding the Soviet advance of 140,000 troops was remarkable. It took the Soviets a full week just to reach the Finnish main defensive line.
However, the two Finnish divisions covering the sixty-mile sector north of Lake Ladoga between Salmi and Suojarvi were driven back by the nine divisions and tank brigade of the Soviet Eighth Army. Four Soviet columns were approaching Ilomantsi, Tolvajarvi, Suojarvi, and Sortavala. This forced Mannerheim to divert his reserves from Karelia to face the danger in the north. With these reinforcements the Finns launched a series of counterattacks between 7 and 18 December that destroyed the Soviet 139th and 75th Divisions and restored their positions up to the Aitto river. In this action the Finns captured sixty tanks, thirty field guns and large quantities of supplies and other weapons. But Finnish loses were also extremely heavy, amounting to 30%. In similar manner the Russian 18th and 168th Divisions were isolated, surrounded and cut into small pieces by small Finnish units. The Finnish front line north of Lake Ladoga remained intact until the end of the war.
South of the lake, in Karelia the Soviets took a few days to reorganize and resupply. Then on 15 December they opened a new offensive against Taipale, on the eastern end of the Finnish lines. This was thrown back. On the 17th the Soviets returned to the attack at Taipale and also began their main attack at Summa. Summa was the key to the entire Finnish defense because its loss would open the way to Viipuri and the rest of Finland. Mass infantry attacks were thrown back at point blank range. For the next week the Red Army continued probing attacks against Summa and more strenuous assaults at Taipale. The entire critical sector was held by the single Finnish 5th Division. On 17 December the Soviets opened another attack with massive artillery fire followed by an entire infantry division supported by aircraft and tanks. Despite thousands of casualties and 25 lost tanks they were unable to penetrate the Finnish defenses. They renewed the assault on the 18th with 70 tanks without success and again in even heavier fashion on the 19th. The attack was conducted by six divisions, an armored corps and two tank brigades with extensive air support. At one point abut 100 tanks managed to reach Summa, but the penetration was closed. These assaults continued until 23 December by which time the Soviets had lost 239 tanks in Karelia. With the Soviet attack stalled the Finns launched an ambitious counterattack on the 23rd, but after eight hours it was evident that it would not succeed in much and it was called off. Fighting in Karelia died down for a month.
During January attention shifted to the central and northern sectors of the Finnish-Soviet frontier, well north of Lake Ladoga. In this area the Finns won some of the most famous battles of the war, especially at Suomussalmi and Kuhmo. In these battles the Finns perfected their famous motti tactics of cutting the enemy's long, road-bound columns into sections and then overrunning one section at a time. In these battles the Soviet 168th and 18th Divisions were destroyed just north of Lake Ladoga, the 163rd and 44th Divisions were annihilated around Suomussalmi, and the 54th Division was routed south of Kuhmo.
But all these victories were secondary and did not alter the outcome of the war. The Soviets used January to reorganize and resupply their forces in Karelia and to reconnoiter the Finnish positions. Stalin's sycophant, Voroshilov, was replaced by Marshal S. Timoshenko as Commissar of Defense and Commander-in-Chief in Karelia. He divided his forces into the Seventh and Thirteenth Armies, while to the north the Ninth, fourteenth, and Eighteenth Armies were combined into one army group under Marshal Stern.
The new Soviet offensive began on 1 February, primarily against the western side of Karelia around Summa, preceded on the precious day by a Soviet airborne landing in the Finnish rear area. The Finnish defenders south of Suokanta had the 4th Division against the Soviet 43rd, 138th, and 70th Divisions; between Suokanta and the railroad their 3rd Division faced the soviet 123rd and 90th Divisions and 40th Tank Brigade; from the railroad to Lake Muola the Finnish 1st Division faced the Soviet 24th Division; north of lake Muola to Vuoksi the Finnish 2nd Division faced the 136th and 142nd Divisions; from Vuoksi to Sakkola the Finnish 8th Division defended against the Soviet 4th Division; from Sakkola to Lake Ladoga the Finnish 7th Division defended against the 49th and 150th Soviet Divisions. The entire Finnish strategic reserve was composed of their 5th and 21st Divisions. The Soviets had an army tank corps and three more infantry divisions in reserve in Karelia.
The offensive began with a massive artillery barrage and heavy bomber attack. Heavy, tank lead, attacks the first day were repulsed. The Soviets renewed their assault on the 5th, also without success. On the 6th they expanded the offensive along the entire front. This continued day and night for 5 more days of extraordinary artillery and aerial bombardment and tank-infantry assaults. Having failed at Summa, the Soviets refocused their efforts east of Summa and also launched assaults across the ice on Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland in an attempt to outflank the defensive positions. Finally, on the 11th, the Soviets broke through the Finnish defenses around Lahde. On the 13th the Finns brought up their 5th Division from reserve to relieve the exhausted 3rd Division. The same day the Soviets committed fresh troops into the gap at Lahde. The Finns had made excellent use of ski troops and in this battle the Soviets replied with their own ski troops. The massed Soviet units opened the breach further and flooded into the Finnish rear area. This forces the Finns to call off their planned counter-attacks and withdraw from Lake Summa. During the 14th the Soviets expanded the gap. That day Mannerheim decided to begin a general withdrawal of the western side of his defense line. As the Soviets continued to widen and deepen their penetration around Lahde on the 15th, the Finns ordered a full scale withdrawal of all forces south of Lake Muola.
During the following days both sides regrouped and resupplied their front line units. By the 18th the majority of Finns were in their new positions and the Soviets were beginning new probing attacks. By the 20th Soviet troops were penetrating to Yla-Sommee, just south of Viipuri. On the 22nd the Finns abandoned their positions on Koivisto Island after destroying their artillery and fortifications, and made an amazing 25 mile hike across the ice of Viipuri Bay. By the 23rd the Soviets captured Lasi Island in the Viipuri Bay and penetrated the center of the Finnish positions near Lake Naykki. The Finns were forced to retire to their rearmost defense line anchored at the west on Viipuri itself. This was completed in good order by 1 March. The 3rd and 5th Divisions were in the line in front of the city, the 4th Division was on the right covering the north coast of the bay and the 5th Division held the narrow land bridges between the lakes east of Viipuri. From 2 to 4 March the Soviets continued to assault centered in front of Viipuri. Then they opened a general offensive along the entire front. Masses of infantry and tanks were sent across the frozen Viipuri Bay to assault the Finnish coastline and outflank Viipuri. Other divisions attacked between Viipuri and Lake Ladoga. The Soviets gradually advanced and the Finns gave up ground inch by inch. By the 12th the Finns were exhausted and on the point of a general collapse, but they had not given up Viipuri. At that point diplomatic negotiations that had been progress for several weeks came to fruition and a cease fire was ordered.

		View of the keep and walls of Vyborg castle by Sweden and held until captured by Peter I during the Great Northern War.
		The remains of Vyborg Castle built by Sweden. It has been restored and repaired several times.
		View of upper stories and keep from castle courtyard.
		Close up of the main keep and adjacent hall from inside the castle and below the entrance to the keep.
		View of the keep and adjacent hall from inside the castle.
		Statue of Peter the Great on ridge just outside Vyborg from where he besieged the fortress during the Great Northern War. The statue was created by sculptor Bernstam in 1910 to celebrate the 200 years anniversary to Peter's capture of the city. Peter leans on a cannon, his siege weapon, while facing the castle.
		The painting depicts the Russian artillery firing during the siege of Vyborg in the Great Northern War.
		View of part of the fortifications built during the reign of Anna Ivanovna around Vyborg.
		View of part of the ditch and rampart of fortifications of Vyborg commissioned by Empress Anna Ivanovna in early 18th century.
		A part of the fortifications of Vyborg constructed during the reign of Anna Ivanovna.
		A destroyed pillbox in the former Mannerheim line between St Petersburg and Vyborg.
		Destroyed pillbox in the Mannerheim line
		Entrance to a destroyed pill box in the former Mannerheim line between St Petersburg and Vyborg.
		Entrance to a destroyed pillbox in the former Mannerheim line between St Petersburg and Vyborg
		A destroyed pillbox in the former Mannerheim Line
		Upper levels of the castle in Vyborg, Russia
		View of keep of Vyborg Castle.
		View of the castle keep from below the main section
		Downtown in medieval Vyborg
		Ruin of a part of the Mannerheim line fortifications
		Part of a bastion wall in the Russian fortifications completed in trhe 1740's during the Reign of Anna Ivanova- the Annankron - The work is an excellent example of a 18th century bastioned fortress. It was designed by General de Colulomb.
		Our tour group are exploring another ruined Mannerheim fortification
		A ruined section of the Vyborg foritications completed in 1740's during reign of Anna Ivanova
		A ruined section of the Vyborg foritications completed in 1740's during reign of Anna Ivanova
		Our tour group are exploring another ruined Mannerheim fortification
		Part of a bastion wall in the Russian fortifications completed in trhe 1740's during the Reign of Anna Ivanova- the Annankron - The work is an excellent example of a 18th century bastioned fortress. It was designed by General de Colulomb.
		Ruin of a part of the Mannerheim line fortifications
		View of part of the rampart ofthe fortification built during reign of Anna Ivanovna
		Now overgrown - remnant of the Mannerheim line
		Replica Viking long boat in Vyborg - faint sight of the castle and fortifications in the background
		Part of a bastion wall in the Russian fortifications completed in trhe 1740's during the Reign of Anna Ivanova- the Annankron - The work is an excellent example of a 18th century bastioned fortress. It was designed by General de Colulomb.
		Part of a bastion wall in the Russian fortifications completed in trhe 1740's during the Reign of Anna Ivanova- the Annankron - The work is an excellent example of a 18th century bastioned fortress. It was designed by General de Colulomb.
		Part of a bastion wall in the Russian fortifications completed in trhe 1740's during the Reign of Anna Ivanova- the Annankron - The work is an excellent example of a 18th century bastioned fortress. It was designed by General de Colulomb.
		Part of the fortification ridge overlooking the harbor

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