The Soviet Withdrawal from the Porkkala Naval Base, 1956

Abstract

The Soviet Union leased the Porkkala naval base for fifty years in 1947 as part of the peace agreement with Finland. The reasons stated for the occupation of Porkkala related to the defence of Soviet sea lanes in the Gulf of Finland and the protection of Leningrad.¹ Stalin had pointed out earlier that ‘there is a practice in naval defence which requires the blocking of the entrance to a gulf at its mouth by using the cross-fire of artillery pieces which are situated on both shores’.² Since the narrowest point of the Gulf of Finland was between Porkkala and Naissaari it was ‘just the point to be put to best use as a forward zone for the protection of Leningrad from danger that threatens from the sea’.³ However, Porkkala also functioned as an army base which had a role in projected Soviet land operations. According to Finnish estimates 10,000 men, tanks, artillery, and a small number of aircraft were stationed there in addition to a varying number of naval craft. The ground forces consisted of five army regiments (each regiment consisting of three battalions, a grenade launcher company, and an artillery company) and two separate army battalions, two artillery regiments, one tank regiment, and several coastal artillery posts.⁴