Operation Albion
{{Short description|WWI German capture of western Estonia}}
{{Expand German|topic=mil|Unternehmen Albion|fa=yes|date=June 2019}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Operation Albion
| image = File:Operation Albion Map.jpg
| image_upright = 1.23
| caption = Operation Albion amphibious operations 12–20 October 1917
| partof = World War I
| date = 12–20 October 1917
| place = West Estonian archipelago, Baltic Sea
| coordinates = {{Coord|58|30|N|23|0|E|type:isle_region:EE_dim:200km|display=title}}
| result = German victory
| combatant1 = {{flagcountry|German Empire}}
| combatant2 = {{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} Russian Republic
{{flagicon|UKGBI}} United Kingdom
| commander1 = {{flagicon|German Empire}} Oskar von Hutier
{{flagicon|German Empire}} Hugo von Kathen
{{flagicon|German Empire}} Ludwig von Estorff
{{flagicon|German Empire|naval}} Ehrhard Schmidt
| commander2 = {{flagicon|Russia|navy}} Mikhail Bakhirev
{{flagicon|Russia|navy}} Vasily Altvater
| strength1 = 1 battlecruiser
10 dreadnought battleships
9 light cruisers
1 mine cruiser
50 torpedo boats
6 U-boats
19 transports
6 airships
102 combat aircraft
24,500 soldiers
8,500 horses
2,400 vehicles
150 machine guns
54 guns
12 mortars
| strength2 = 2 pre-dreadnought battleships
2 cruisers
1 protected cruiser
21 destroyers
3 gunboats
3 submarines
24,000 soldiers
| casualties1 = 1 torpedo boat sunk (S 64)
7 minesweepers destroyed
9 trawlers & auxiliary vessels destroyed
5 aircraft shot down
156 killed
60 wounded (Navy)
54 killed
141 wounded (Army)
| casualties2 = 1 battleship sunk ({{ship|Russian battleship|Slava||2}})
1 destroyer sunk ({{ship|Russian destroyer|Grom||2}})
1 submarine destroyed ({{HMS|C32}})
20,130 captured
141 guns lost (47 heavy guns)
130 machine guns lost
40 aircraft lost
}}
{{Campaignbox Eastern Front (World War I)}}
{{Campaignbox Baltic Sea 1914–1918}}
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1971-017-32, Besetzung Insel Ösel, Linienschiff und Zeppelin.jpg
Operation Albion was a German air, land and naval operation in the First World War, against Russian forces in October 1917 to occupy the West Estonian Archipelago. The campaign aimed to occupy the Baltic islands of Saaremaa (Ösel), Hiiumaa (Dagö) and Muhu (Moon). The three islands were part of the Russian Empire and strategically dominated the central and northern Baltic Sea. The land campaign opened with German landings at the Tagalaht (Tagga) bay on the island of Saaremaa (Ösel), on 12 October, after extensive naval operations to clear mines and subdue coastal artillery batteries. German forces secured the island by 16 October and the Russian army evacuated Muhu (Moon) on 20 October.
After two failed attempts, the German army landed on Hiiumaa (Dagö) on 12 October, capturing the island the following day. The Russian Baltic Fleet had to withdraw from the Suur Strait after its losses at the Battle of Moon Sound. The Germans claimed 20,000 prisoners and 100 guns captured during Operation Albion from 12 to 20 October 1917.
Strategic significance
At the beginning of the First World War, the islands were of little importance to the Russian Empire or Germany. After the revolutionary turmoil in Russia during the early part of 1917, the German high command believed capturing the islands would outflank Russian defences and lay Petrograd (St. Petersburg) vulnerable to attack.{{sfn|Barrett|2008|p=8}}{{sfn|Buttar|2017|pp=217–225}}
Order of battle
=German units=
- Naval Forces{{sfn|Gagern|1964|p=}}(Sonderverband): Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt
- Battlecruiser: {{SMS|Moltke||2}} (flagship)
- III Battle Squadron (III. Geschwader) (Vice Admiral Paul Behncke) dreadnought battleships: {{SMS|König||2}} (flagship), {{SMS|Bayern||2}}, {{SMS|Grosser Kurfürst|1913|2}}, {{SMS|Kronprinz|1914|2}}, {{SMS|Markgraf||2}}
- IV Battle Squadron (IV. Geschwader) (Vice Admiral Wilhelm Souchon) dreadnought battleships: {{SMS|Friedrich der Grosse|1911|2}} (flagship), {{SMS|König Albert||2}}, {{SMS|Kaiserin||2}}, {{SMS|Prinzregent Luitpold||2}}, {{SMS|Kaiser|1911|2}}
- II Scouting Group (II. Aufklärungsgruppe) (Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter) light cruisers: {{SMS|Königsberg|1915|2}} (flagship), {{SMS|Karlsruhe|1916|2}}, {{SMS|Nürnberg|1916|2}}, {{SMS|Frankfurt||2}}, {{SMS|Danzig|1905|2}}
- IV Scouting Group (VI. Aufklärungsgruppe) (Rear Admiral Albert Hopman) light cruisers: {{SMS|Kolberg||2}} (flagship), {{SMS|Strassburg||2}}, {{SMS|Augsburg||2}}; minelayer: {{SMS|Nautilus|1906|2}}; tender: {{SMS|Blitz|1882|2}}
- Torpedo Boats (Commodore Paul Heinrich) cruiser: {{SMS|Emden|1916|2}} (flagship)
- II Torpedo Boat Flotilla: B 98; 3rd Half-Flotilla: G 101, V 100, G 103, G 104; 4th Half-Flotilla: B 109, B 110, B 111, B 97, B 112
- VI Torpedo Boat Flotilla: V 69; 12th Half-Flotilla: V 43, S 50, V 44, V 45, V 46; 13th Half-Flotilla: V 82, S 64, S 61, S 63, V 74
- VIII Torpedo Boat Flotilla: V 180; 15th Half-Flotilla: V 183, V 185, V 181, V 184, V 182; 16th Half-Flotilla: S 176, S 178, G 174, S 179, V 186
- X Torpedo Boat Flotilla:: S 56; 19th Half-Flotilla: T 170, T 169, T 172, G 175, T 165; 20th Half-Flotilla: V 78, V 77, G 89, S 65, S 66
- VII Half-Flotilla: T 154, T 158, T 157, T 151, T 160, T 145, T 140, T 139
- Courland Submarine Flotilla (U-BootsFlottille Kurland): UC 56, UC 57, UC 58, UC 59, UC 60, UC 78
- Minesweepers (Minensuchdienst)
- II Minesweeper Flotilla: A 62; 3rd Half-Flotilla: T 136, M 67, M 68, M 75, M 76, M 77, T 59, T 65, T 68, T 82, T 85; 4th Half-Flotilla: T 104, T 53, T 54, T 55, T 56, T 60, T 61, T 62, T 66, T 67, T 69; 8th Half-Flotilla: M 64, M 11, M 31, M 32, M 39, A 35
- III Half-Flotilla of the Search Flotilla: T 141, 15 motor-boats
- Mine-Searcher Group of the Outpost Half-Flotilla East: 6 fishing vessels
- I Minesweeper Division (Riga): 11 motor-boats
- II Minesweeper Division: 12 motor-boats
- III Minesweeper Division: 12 motor-boats
- IV Minesweeper Division: 10 motor-boats; outpost boat O 2
- Mine-barrage Breaker group (Sperrbrechergruppe): Rio Parbo, Lothar, Schwaben, Elass
- Anti-Submarine Forces (U-Bootsabwehr)
- Baltic Search Flotilla: T 144; 1st half-flotilla: T 142, A 32, A 28, A 30, 32 fishing vessels; 2nd half-flotilla: T 130, A 31, A 27, A 29, 24 fishing vessels
- Ground Forces: Generalleutnant Ludwig von Estorff
- 42nd Division
- 2nd Infanterie Cyclist Brigade
=Russian units=
- 425th, 426th and 472nd Infantry Regiments
- Battleships: Grazhdanin, {{ship|Russian battleship|Slava||2}}
- Armored cruisers: {{ship|Russian cruiser|Admiral Makarov||2}}, {{ship|Russian cruiser|Bayan|1907|2}}
- Destroyers: {{ship|Russian destroyer|Desna||2}}, {{ship|Russian destroyer|Novik||2}}, {{ship|Russian destroyer|Pobeditel||2}}, {{ship|Russian destroyer|Zabiyaka||2}}, {{ship|Russian destroyer|Grom||2}}, {{ship|Russian destroyer|Konstantin||2}}
- Gunboats: {{ill|Russian gunboat Khivinets|ru|Хивинец (канонерская лодка)|lt=Khivinets}}, {{ill|Russian gunboat Grozyashchy|ru|Грозящий (канонерская лодка)|lt=Grozyashchy}}
- Blockship: Lavwija
- Minelayer: {{ship|Russian minelayer|Pripyat||2}}[http://www.gwpda.org/naval/albion1.htm Operation Albion: The Attack On The Baltic Islands]
=British units=
- Submarines: {{HMS|C26}}, {{HMS|C27}}, {{HMS|C32}}
See also
Citations and references
{{Reflist}}
=Cited sources=
- {{cite book |last=Barrett |first=M. B. |title=Operation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic Islands |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, IN |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-253-34969-9}}
- {{cite book |last1=Buttar |first1=Prit |title=Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916–17 |date=2017 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-47-282489-9}}
- {{cite book |last=Gagern |first=Ernst Freiherr von |title=Der Krieg zur See 1914–1918: Der Krieg in der Ostsee Bd.3 |volume=III |trans-title=The War at Sea 1914−1918: The War in the Eastern Sea |year=1964 |publisher=Mittler & Sohn |location=Frankfurt |oclc=1240432483}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.russianwarrior.com/STMMain.htm?1914_History_1917.htm 1 October entries on this site summarise Operation Albion]
- [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/albion.htm Detailed account of Operation Albion]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131221213556/http://www.filmportal.de/en/node/754504/video/1214159 "Oesel Genommen", film footage of the invasion in 1917 from the German Federal Archives]
- [https://ndupress.ndu.edu/portals/68/Documents/jfq/jfq-59.pdf Gregory Thiele "Operation Albion and Joint Amphibious Doctrine" Joint Forces Quarterly October 2010]
{{World War I}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albion, Operation}}
Category:Amphibious operations involving Germany
Category:Amphibious operations of World War I
Category:Baltic Sea operations of World War I
Category:Military history of Estonia
Category:Military operations of World War I involving Germany
Category:Military operations of World War I involving Russia
Category:Military operations of World War I involving the United Kingdom