AUTUMN 2002

- Battery 65 is one of the most well preserved batteries in the whole fortification chain, if you exclude the sea front batteries. Part of the base VI, it was located in the first defensive line which was started to build in 1915. After it was decided to shorten the eastern defensive line, it was actually located in a very good position. Located in the second line it would have been still operational, if anyone ever would have gotten through the first line from Kivikko to Mustavuori.

- This battery was armed with four pieces of 280mm mortars. The bases where the mortars were located, are still visible. The official inventory made in Helsinki claims that the shelter rooms are bricked up, but at least when I visited this place in Autumn of 2002, the shelter rooms were open for anyone to visit. However the entrances to those were very small and the interiors very in quite dangerous condition, so I wouldn't really recommend of crawling into them.

- This was also really mind moving place to take pictures. First of all, while I was here, I kept thinking "Jammu" who raped and murdered two little girls in these same woods. He used to live here in the eighties, but at the moment he is at some mental institution, put there after his release from prison. Secondly, the infamous "poison houses of Alakiventie" are located close to this place. I actually took a few photographs from those houses. 

-Imagine, a whole residential area built over some toxic ground and people were forced to move out from that area, well some of them still do live in those houses. Not for long I think, as the city has already demolished few of the houses.

- I also had a little trouble of getting pictures inside of those caves as one old man kept standing on top of the fortification, looking at me. I didn't want to go into some place, with only one way out, knowing that someone might be standing outside and waiting for me...

- So I moved to sit in the woods, smoking and wishing he would go away. Finally he moved a little further and I quickly went inside.

SUMMER 2005

- Nearly three years have passed since I visited the battery 65. Much has happened since. The poison houses or the toxic suburb has been demolished completely and the scene there resembles more of a landscape from moon, than a lovely suburb. The battery 65 however still stands there in it's own privacy and peace, like it has done nearly a hundred years. The local residential union most likely is keeping the place in order as the most significant change was that all of the trees have been cut down from the four battery positions. Last time that I was here, few of them were nearly inaccessible due to the heavy vegetation, even during the autumn. Now the view to the positions was great even during the summer time.

- I received a following letter from a US Marine, regarding these concrete pillars:

- "The series of concrete columns you photographed by the battery are the remnants of the batteries fire control towers. Typically, if they are similar to US turn of the century construction, would be centrally located within the two and three story, wooden, square towers in order to stabilize the range finders and other optics used to calculate the trajectory and range for the battery's weapons. It was necessary to keep these instruments on a steady platform because the concussion of firing would otherwise disrupt calculations for the next round."

- The thing is, that in any of the official information regarding the Krepost Sveaborg, there isn't any information that the land front would have been equipped with fire control towers. However, now that the idea about the fire control towers has been mentioned, the location of those remains would make a perfect sense. 

- The battery positions are located in a depression, with a solid rock in front of them. Behind of the position is a hill, where these remains are located, going parallel with the battery position and facing towards the direction, where the battery would have been shooting. Behind of these remains, on the other side of the hill, are remains from the shelters. So looking how these have been arranged, would make a perfect sense, that those really are remains from a fire control tower. The most logical place for the fire control towers would have been behind the actual battery, when located high up on a hill.

- At least the battery 116 of the base XXXVII contains similar concrete pillars, right next to a shelter.

- Don't you just love a modern city view? This is a picture from one of those battery positions.

- The construction of the concrete reinforcements nicely visible.