Krasnaya Gorka fort

305-mm railroad gun in Krasnaya Gorka fort

Krasnaya Gorka (Красная Горка meaning Red Hill) is a coastal artillery fortress west of Lomonosov, Russia on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, opposite Kotlin Island and the Baltic Fleet's base at Kronstadt. The nearest settlement is Lebyazhye (Лебяжье).

History[]

The fort was established in the 18th Century and substantially modernised in the late 19th – early 20th century with the installation of 12 inch guns in concrete casemates. There is an outlying fort called (Grey Horse) containing smaller guns.

The fort was armed with:

8 11 inch howitzers
8 10 inch guns
6 6 inch Canet type guns
4 12 inch guns in concrete casemates
4 12 inch guns in armoured turrets

The work was completed in 1914.

During the Russian Civil War the fort helped defend the city of Petrograd. In June 1919 the garrison mutinied against the Bolshevik regime but the revolt was suppressed. Though the Estonian Army and the British Royal Navy actively supported the White Russian Northern Corps in the area their attacks were not able to aid the mutineers.^[1]

Later in autumn 1919 the forts were unsuccessfully attacked by the 1st Division of the Estonian Army, supported by bombardment by HMS Erebus.^[1] In 1921 the guns of the fort bombarded Kronstadt during the rebellion. During World War II the fort played a vital part in defending the Siege of Leningrad and maintaining the Oranienbaum Bridgehead. The fort was decommissioned in 1960 and partially demolished. The local authorities of the St Petersburg region are discussing whether to convert the site into a military museum.