Reporter Hanna Koivisto and photographer Linda Baarman visited us during the autumn dig of general Sergei Kabanovs underground command post 1.10. – 5.10.2021. The result is a very nice article

The trial excavations 1.-5.10.2021 have proved that the remains of the underground command post are much larger than anticipated. The excavations on site will continue in 2022 and 2023! The

Excavating a large WW2 underground command post is very hard work. On the second day of the dig and after two days of hard work we have just scratched the

Was general Sergei Kabanov leading the defence of Hanko from a re-inforced and fortified underground shelter or was the reality possibly something very different?

During the last week of September 2021 we finished the excavations near Hanko Front Museum. A reconstruction of the shelter will now be built by the Hanko Front Museum on

New scientific WW2 battlefield archaeology excavations coming up this autumn. The registration fee is only 20 euros for five days (you can participate for as many days as you want).

Today we managed to collect and document all of the finds on the floor level of the shelter. Many nice finds at Today we managed to collect and document all

Today was the 7th day of the battlefield archaeology excavation in Hanko. Work continued with the careful excavation of the floor level of the burnt down shelter where our team

Day 6 of the WW2 battlefield archaeology dig in Hanko S. Finland where archaeology students BA Fanny Fagerholm (University of Uppsala) and BA Jaakko Ervasti (University of Oulu) today made

On the fifth day of the excavation we took it very slow and excavated level 2,5 of the shelter. It seems we are approaching the floor level because the finds

After a wonderful evening and calm night in the archipelago it was back to business as usual. The excavation of the burnt down WW2 shelter continued and we were all

The third day of the ”Hamsterbo” (Hamsters nest) shelter was a hot one. During the day the temperature rose to over +30 degrees Celsius which is very much for Finnish

Today was the second day of our ten day long project to excavate and document a burnt down underground shelter on the Hanko front. Hanko is a lovely seaside resort

I woke up at 5 AM and took the two hour long drive from Helsinki to Hanko to meet up with ”Sjöba” at the Hanko Front Museum. In the early

Updated: Nov 27, 2020 Toisessa maailmansodassa, vuosina 1939-1945 kuoli maailmanlaajuisesti yli 60 miljoonaa ihmistä. Monet omaiset eri maissa eivät vieläkään tiedä miten heidän rakkailleen sodassa kävi tai missä heidän viimeinen

Many unique finds were found during the past excavation season of the Hanko 1941 project and now it´s time to clean, sort and identify all of the goodies. The work

It was a tremendous pleasure to be part of this day when a large group of forty students from Kallion lukio visited the WW2 sites of Hanko. With young people

Last summer we successfully located and trial excavated the site of the Hamsters nest (”Hamsterbo”) shelter that burned and collapsed during the fighting on the Hanko Front in September 1941.

What is the ethical justfication of exhuming KIA soldiers in the 21st Century within the EU and elsewhere in the world? Why is this important, who should be doing this

On Saturday 12th of September I met up with junior and senior students from both highschools in Hanko at the Hanko Front Museum. The day was a very rainy one

The first evidence of the use of British55(13,9mm)BoysAnti-TankRifles in the WW2 (1941) battles for the islands in the Hanko archipelago surfaced last week when we surveyed the sites of battle

After some really hard work we can now conclude that we have found the final resting place of thirteen Soviet soldiers killed in July 1941 on the Hanko Front. The

We are at it again, looking for the remains of KIA soldiers from 1941. The weather is windy and gray but not very rainy so our search got a good

Today an article was published in the local newspaper about the repatriation/reburial of the seven KIA Soviet soldiers discovered near the defensive positions of the 3rd battery of 204th air-defence

Today we attended the reburial ceremony of 7 KIA Soviet soldiers that our team found and excavated between 2018 and 2019. The ceremony was attended by approximately 50+ people and

02.09.2020 Wednesday (day three).Today we visited one of several scenes of the ferocious battles that raged in the Hanko archipelago in the summer and autumn of 1941. The main reason

31.8.2020 Tuesday (day two). Today was a rather busy day that started with a lengthy web lecture associated with my doctoral studies. Then a two hour long drive to Hanko

31.8.2020 Monday (day one). After introductionary lections at the Hanko Front Museum our small but efficient team of nine opened up a couple of trial excavation areas in close proximity

On Monday 31st of August we will kick off the last leg of this years community archaeology digs on the Hanko front. First we will excavate the immediate surroundings of

On August 5th our dive team made the first documentation dives to the wrecksite of the German Junkers JU 88 A-5 off Hanko. Due to the Covid 19 situation the

Next week (with the weather permitting) we will attempt the first scientific battlefield archaeology documentation dives to the German Junkers JU 88-A5 bomber shot down over Hanko in early July

The excavation nears it´s end and today we filed up excavation area I on the hillock of death. The second excavation area here with remains of wooden structures was documented

Today we finally reached the find layer of the ”Hamsterbo” shelter and lot´s of different finds from the last days and hours of the shelter started to emerge! Now we

Hanko in WW2. The 2020 battlefield archaeology excavation. Day 6/10. Today we concentrated on the burnt down ”Hamsterbo” shelter in order to find out just how deep down the remains

During the last day of the first leg of excavations we mainly concentrated on documentation. But we also encountered a couple more interesting finds. The first find testifies to the

Day four of the battlefield archaeology dig produced the first uniform related finds. Military insignia burnt and twisted by the extreme heat of the fire that turned the shelter to

Today we continued the excavations of the burnt down ”Hamsterbo” shelter. The finds confirm the story written down by ”SS Hauptsturmführer” Åke Kretz in 1942. We found exploded rifle and

Updated: Jul 19, 2020 Today we started excavating ”Hamsterbo” the frontline ”home” of four Swedish volunteers on the Hanko front. This is what I think a frontline WW2 closed find

”Hamsterbo” was a small timber built shelter on the Finnish side of the frontline, only some 100 meters from the enemy. The cramped space of only 4 square meters was

Updated: Jul 14, 2020 Today we kicked off the battlefield archaeology excavations in Hanko. As usual the first day was much about making preparations and getting to know the team

The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in Turku has been built from the ruins of the Holy Spirit Church and rediscoveredduring archaeological excavations in 1986. Preceding the chapel was a

On May 25th our conflict archaelogy team headed out to Örö sea fortress. The main task was to gather as much information as possible about an area with possible WW2

Last week I started work on texts for the ”Hanko 1941” temporary theme exhibition for Hanko Front Museum. The exhibition ”Death and Repatriation – Ethical WW2 Conflict Archaeology of Soviet

Today we visited the site of the former prisoner of war camp for Soviet soldiers on the border between Lohja and Raseborg S. Finland. The camp was in use from

Finally, tomorrow, something happening on the ”Hanko 1941” front. Me and Mr Lasse Nyman will kick off the first leg of the painstaking work of documenting the area of the

Kolumn i Hufvudstadsbladet 26.4.2020 av professor Laura Kolbe Tulludden är inte bara en naturmiljö utan en viktig historisk plats. Under coronakrisen har virtuella museer, digitala evenemang och online-konserter blivit vardag.

WW2 Conflict Arhaeology for schools in 2020-2021 In the midst of these dark days suddenly a ray of light in the form of a new project that aims to present

My career as an archaeologist started in my childhood in Hanko where me and my brother looked for treasure in the abandoned WW2 fortifications in the late 1960´s and early

Archaeologist Teemu Väisänen whom many of you already know from the ”Hanko 1941” and ”Durchgangslager Hanko” projects has started an own intriguing WW2 conflict archaeology project near Pori W. Finland!!

During a thorough renovation of an old building near Hanko harbour an intriguing find was made. In the attic, among other rubble was a small Soviet (1940-1941) map case containing

On January 31st I presented the Hanko 1941 project at the annual field work presentations. The two day event was held in the auditorium of the National Museum with some

On July 5th 1941 Soviet air defence managed to down one of three German JU-88 bombers. The aircraft crashed in the sea killing the entire German crew. Photos and map

Updated: Jan 3, 2020

Updated: Dec 29, 2019 During 2017-2019 seven forgotten graves of Soviet soldiers KIA in 1941 were excavated scientifically in order to get a name to the fallen. The repatriation work

Updated: Jan 3, 2020 In the late summer of 1941 prisoner of war camp number 7 was moved from Karkkila to Svartå on the border between Karis and Lohja. During

Updated: Dec 29, 2019 In May 2019 the Hanko 1941 project conducted a battlefield archaeology survey of the island of Bengtskär. The purpose of the survey was to document all

Updated: Dec 27, 2019 Under construction Photo Hanko 1941 project

Under construction