Operation Albion

Operation Albion was a World War I German air, land and naval operation against the Russian forces in October 1917 to occupy the West Estonian Archipelago. The land campaign opened with German landings at the Tagalaht bay on the island of Saaremaa, on 12 October 1917, after extensive naval operations to clear mines and subdue coastal artillery batteries. The Germans secured the island by 16 October and the Russian army evacuated Muhu on 20 October.

Operation Albion
Part of World War I

Operation Albion amphibious operations 12–20 October
Date12–20 October 1917
Location
West Estonian archipelago, Baltic Sea
58°30′N 23°0′E
Result German victory
Belligerents
 Germany Russian Republic
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
German Empire Oskar von Hutier
German Empire Hugo von Kathen
German Empire Ludwig von Estorff
German Empire Ehrhard Schmidt		 Russia Mikhail Bakhirev
Russia Vasily Altvater
Strength
1 battlecruiser
10 dreadnought battleships
9 light cruisers
1 mine cruiser
50 torpedo boats
6 U-boats
19 transports

6 airships
102 combat aircraft

24,500 soldiers
8,500 horses
2,400 vehicles
150 machine guns
54 guns
12 mortars		 2 pre-dreadnought battleships
2 cruisers
1 protected cruiser
21 destroyers
3 gunboats
3 submarines

24,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
1 torpedo boat sunk (S 64)
7 minesweepers destroyed
9 trawlers & auxiliary vessels destroyed
5 aircraft shot down
156 killed
60 wounded (Navy)
54 killed
141 wounded (Army)		 1 battleship sunk (Slava)
1 destroyer sunk (Grom)
1 submarine destroyed (HMS C32)
Unknown dead and wounded
20,130 captured
141 guns lost (47 heavy guns)
130 machine guns lost

40 aircraft lost
Panorama of the Tagalaht Bay, Saaremaa, Estonia. This was the location of the German landing on 12 October 1917.
The gun turrets of a battleship. A grey dirigible flies overhead.
German battleship Grosser Kurfürst photographed during Operation Albion in October 1917. Above is the Schütte-Lanz company naval airship S.L.20 (Type 'f').

After two failed attempts, the Germans landed on Hiiumaa on 12 October, capturing the island on the following day. The Russian Baltic Fleet had to withdraw from the Suur Strait after its losses at the Battle of Moon Sound. The Germans claimed 20,000 prisoners and 100 guns captured during Operation Albion from 12 to 20 October.

Strategic significance

At the beginning of World War I the islands were of little importance to the Russian Empire or Germany. After the revolutionary turmoil in Russia during the early part of 1917, the German high command believed capturing the islands would outflank Russian defences and lay Petrograd (St. Petersburg) vulnerable to attack.[1][2]

Order of battle

German units
  • Naval Forces[3] (Sonderverband): Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt
    • Battlecruiser: Moltke (flagship)
    • III Battle Squadron (III. Geschwader) (Vice Admiral Paul Behncke) dreadnought battleships: König (flagship), Bayern, Grosser Kurfürst, Kronprinz, Markgraf
    • IV Battle Squadron (IV. Geschwader) (Vice Admiral Wilhelm Souchon) dreadnought battleships: Friedrich der Grosse (flagship), König Albert, Kaiserin, Prinzregent Luitpold, Kaiser
    • II Cruiser Squadron (II. Aufklärungsgruppe) (Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter) light cruisers: Königsberg (flagship), Karlsruhe, Nürnberg, Frankfurt, Danzig
    • IV Cruiser Squadron (VI. Aufklärungsgruppe) (Rear Admiral Albert Hopman) light cruisers: Kolberg (flagship), Strassburg, Augsburg; minelayer: Nautilus; tender: Blitz
    • Torpedo Boats (Commodore Paul Heinrich) cruiser: Emden (flagship)
      • II Torpedo Boat Flotilla: B 98; 3rd Half-Flotilla: G 101, V 100, G 103, G 104; 4th Half-Flotilla: B 109, B 110, B 111, B 97, B 112
      • VI Torpedo Boat Flotilla: V 69; 12th Half-Flotilla: V 43, S 50, V 44, V 45, V 46; 13th Half-Flotilla: V 82, S 64 , S 61, S 63, V 74
      • VIII Torpedo Boat Flotilla: V 180; 15th Half-Flotilla: V 183, V 185, V 181, V 184, V 182; 16th Half-Flotilla: S 176, S 178, G 174, S 179, V 186
      • X Torpedo Boat Flotilla:: S 56; 19th Half-Flotilla: T 170, T 169, T 172, G 175, T 165; 20th Half-Flotilla: V 78, V 77, G 89, S 65, S 66
      • VII Half-Flotilla: T 154, T 158, T 157, T 151, T 160, T 145, T 140, T 139
    • Courland Submarine Flotilla (U-BootsFlottille Kurland): UC 56, UC 57, UC 58, UC 59, UC 60, UC 78
    • Minesweepers (Minensuchdienst)
      • II Minesweeper Flotilla: A 62; 3rd Half-Flotilla: T 136, M 67, M 68, M 75, M 76, M 77, T 59, T 65, T 68, T 82, T 85; 4th Half-Flotilla: T 104, T 53, T 54, T 55, T 56, T 60, T 61, T 62, T 66, T 67, T 69; 8th Half-Flotilla: M 64, M 11, M 31, M 32, M 39, A 35
      • III Half-Flotilla of the Search Flotilla: T 141, 15 motor-boats
      • Mine-Searcher Group of the Outpost Half-Flotilla East: 6 fishing vessels
      • I Minesweeper Division (Riga): 11 motor-boats
      • II Minesweeper Division: 12 motor-boats
      • III Minesweeper Division: 12 motor-boats
      • IV Minesweeper Division: 10 motor-boats; outpost boat O 2
      • Mine-barrage Breaker group (Sperrbrechergruppe): Rio Parbo, Lothar, Schwaben, Elass
    • Anti-Submarine Forces (U-Bootsabwehr)
      • Baltic Search Flotilla: T 144; 1st half-flotilla: T 142, A 32, A 28, A 30, 32 fishing vessels; 2nd half-flotilla: T 130, A 31, A 27, A 29, 24 fishing vessels
  • Ground Forces: Generalleutnant Ludwig von Estorff

Russian units

British units

See also

Citations and references
  1. Barrett 2008, p. 8.
  2. Buttar, Prit (2017). Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916-17. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 217–225. ISBN 9781472824899.
  3. Ernst Freiherr von Gagern, Der Krieg zur See 1914–1918: Der Krieg in der Ostsee Bd.3 (Frankfurt: Mittler & Sohn, 1964), Beilage 3.
  4. Operation Albion: The Attack On The Baltic Islands

Cited sources
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Operation Albion.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.