Porkkala

Geographical location

The Porkkala Peninsula is a peninsula Finnish ( Finnish: Porkkalanniemi ).

Geographical Location and Name

The peninsula is located about 30 kilometers west of the Finnish capital Helsinki. With a length of about 25 kilometers, it is up to 15 kilometers wide. A homonymous municipality, Porkkala, located on the southern tip of the peninsula. The tip of the peninsula is only 36 km away from the opposite on the other side of the Baltic Sea coast of Estonia. It is thus an important stop for migratory birds and popular for bird watching in the spring, when to fall into the Arctic geese and other waterfowl. The Peninsula also had an important strategic military location for the control of sea -side access to Saint Petersburg: artillery positions on both sides could secure such access.

German language media often use the Swedish-speaking name " Porkala ".

History

At the end of World War II Porkkala was leased to the Soviet Union because of its strategic military position in the Moscow Armistice of September 19, 1944 by Finland. January 26, 1956, the Soviet Union gave up the lease area, which fell back to Finland.

Today maintains the Finnish Navy in Upinniemi, one built by the Soviet armed forces harbor, on the Porkkala peninsula one of their biggest bases.