Operation Südwind (ii)

south wind

'Südwind' (ii) was a German pair of diversionary attacks on the Soviet positions on the island of Saaremaa (Ösel in German), the largest of the islands in the mouth of the Gulf of Riga off the coast of Soviet-occupied Estonia, in tandem with 'Nordwind' (i) and 'Westwind' (i), and therefore in support of 'Beowulf II' (13/17 September 1941).

Involving some 50 small craft, 'Südwind' (ii) was first run on 13/14 September, and then repeated on 16/17 September. The first iteration was undertaken with the small craft divided into three groups designed to distract Soviet attentions from Riga on the mainland as Generaloberst Georg von Küchler’s 18th Army approached the city; the second iteration, after Generalleutnant Siegfried Hänicke’s 61st Division had landed and secured beach-heads on Muhu and Hiiumaa (Moon and Dagö in German), was also intended as a diversion, and suffered the loss of one boat to a Soviet gunboat.