page_title: Osmussaar
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Osmussaar / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Osmussaar Island of Estonia, shot from 40,000 feet high.
context_page_description: Osmussaar is an Estonian island situated in the mouth of the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, 7.5 km off the Estonian mainland. Administratively the island is part of Lääne-Nigula Parish in Lääne County. Its area is 4.8 km².
  Before the Soviet Union occupied Estonia during World War II, around 130 people, mainly Estonian Swedes, lived on the island. The continuous settlement of Swedes on Osmussaar had dated back for centuries. Currently Osmussaar has only two permanent inhabitants and the island is a nature reserve.
context_section_description: The continuous settlement of Estonian Swedes on Osmussaar, which lasted until World War II, goes back at least to the 14th century, though little is known of the island's history before the 18th century. The exact time of colonisation is also unknown and the island was possibly inhabited already in the Viking Age. The island's population varied considerably with time, for example the plague epidemic of 1710 left according to popular stories only a few people alive. In the 20th century the island's population continued to rise and was the highest at the beginning of the 1930s. During the Estonian census of 1934 131 people lived on Osmussaar, all of them Swedes except for the lighthouse keeper and his family.
  In 1765 the first lighthouse was built on the northern coast of Osmussaar. In 1850 it was replaced with a new one, which was demolished in 1941 by the retreating Soviet garrison. The current lighthouse was completed in 1954.
  In 1914, during World War I, the German light cruiser Magdeburg ran aground and sank near the northern tip of Osmussaar.
  All inhabitants of Osmussaar were forced to leave the island during World War II. On 12 June 1940 the islanders were evacuated to Vormsi as the island was set aside as a Soviet military base. The next year Osmussaar was the last foothold in Estonia that was given up by the Red Army to the advancing German army. In 1942, during the Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany, the islanders could return to their homes, but the approaching Red Army forced them soon to leave permanently. The last 46 people left for Sweden in February 1944.
  According to the Moscow intermediate peace treaty between Finland and the Soviet Union starting 19 September 1944 (Article 17), Finland was obliged to hand over all commercial vessels for the use of the Allies. In late September 1944, the Soviet Union ordered 50 galeas and 50 motor boats to be delivered with Finnish crews to Osmussaar on 2 October 1944. This Finnish navy unit on the Soviet service was called detachment Arho after its commander, Olavi Arho. The chief of this galeage navy was Lieutenant Commander Paul Hongisto. The galeas and motor boats were taken into the state service involuntarily, but the crews were offered voluntariy pay of 250 Finnish marks per day. From 2–8 October, 50 galeas towed one motor boat to Estonia with a ten-day food supply for the crews. Detachment Arho served the Soviet military logistics on Hiiumaa and Saaremaa establishing connections to Tallinn. Every galeas had a captain, chief machine operator and two other crew members. The motor boats had two member crew. In Estonia all the military badges were removed from uniforms and the detachment acted like a civilian one. Also any marks of the Finnish nationality like the flags were removed.
  From Osmussaar many vessels sailed to Rohuküla of Haapsalu to support the Moonsund Landing Operation on the occupied Hiiumaa and Saaremaa islands. On 4 October the Finnish galeas shipped Soviet soldiers, horses and cannons to Heltermaa of Hiiumaa. Every galeas shipped about one Soviet infantry company. The same day later, the Finnish vessels were ordered to Saarenmaa proper, where the Germans had retreated from Muhu. On 5 October 1944, two Soviet detachments and two brigades were shipped to Taaliku and Triigi.
  The last galeases and motor boats came back to Finland on 7 November 1945. Nine of the fifty galeases were lost at sea due to rough water; additionally, seven were destroyed during the war. In total, sixteen galeases were destroyed or lost. Also one galeas more, Greta I, had disappeared either on 4 or 5 October on its way to Osmussaar. On 16 October the German submarine, U-481, sank the galeases Endla, Dan and Maria with its gun fire and ramming them. On 25 October U-958 sank the galeas Linnea with a torpedo. Eight Finnish soldiers were killed in these operations with the galeases. The other German attacks were not successful. Of all the 50 motorboats were lost 22, but without the loss of the human lives. The vessels of the detachment Arho were returned to Finland to Hanko and 2 
caption: Osmussaar shot from 40,000 feet.
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