Battle of Sukho Island
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
A heavy combat Siebel ferry during the Axis naval review on Lake Ladoga at Lakhdenpokhya, 13 August 1942
Date 22 October 1942 Location Sukho Island, Ladoga Lake Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Germany  Italy  Finland	Soviet Union
Strength
11 combatant ferries 3 transport ferries 7 infantry boats 70 men (landing party) 1 staff ferry, 1 hospital ferry, 1 motor torpedo boat	3 × 100 mm (3.9 in) coastal guns 1 minesweeper 1 patrol boat 90 men (garrison of Sukho) 3 gunboats, 3 minesweepers, 5 patrol boats, 2 armored boats, 2 motor torpedo boats (during the pursuit phase)
Casualties and losses
4 combatant ferries lost 1 infantry boat lost Unknown number of aircraft 18 KIA, 57 WIA, 4 MIA	1 gunboat damaged 1 patrol boat damaged 2 × 100 mm coastal guns destroyed 6 aircraft lost (4 Il-2s, 2 I-15bises) 6 KIA, 23 WIA, 6 POW

The Battle of Sukho Island, also known as Operation Brazil (German: Einsatz Brasil),^[1] was an amphibious operation and naval engagement on Lake Ladoga between the Soviet Navy and a German Luftwaffe naval detachment during World War II.

During the Siege of Leningrad the Soviets moved supplies to the city through Lake Ladoga. The Axis deployed the Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment, Naval Detachment K (including the Italian XII Squadriglia MAS), and the German Luftwaffe Einsatzstab Fähre Ost, to interdict the route;^[2] the MAS unit conducted motor torpedo boat attacks.^[3] The combined Axis force failed to significantly interrupt traffic.^[2][3]

The culmination of Axis operations was the raid against Sukho Island, 20 km from the southern shore of the lake, which covered supply lines and the approaches to Soviet bases.

The attack was commanded by Oberstleutnant Wachtel. The flotilla was composed of 16 Siebel ferries, 7 infantry boats, and 3 Italian motor torpedo boats (two of them provided escort to Sukho Island, after which they returned to their base).^[4] Seven combatant ferries (SF 11, SF 13, SF 15, SF 17, SF 21, SF 23, SF 25) were fitted with heavy weapons. Four combatant ferries (SF 12, SF 14, SF 22, SF 26) were fitted with light weapons. A 70-man landing party was carried aboard three transport ferries (T 2, T 4, T 6), and allocated five of the infantry boats. There was also one staff ferry and one hospital ferry. Axis fighters (German Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Finnish Fiat G.50s) provided air cover for the landing force during the battle.

The German ferries were escorted at a distance by the Italian motor torpedo boat MAS 526 (according to some sources, it was MAS 528);^[4] critically, surprise was lost when they were detected by the Soviet minesweeper TShch-100 which joined the battle, and then by the MO-class patrol boat MO-171 which entered the battle later.^[5] Before landing, nine German Junkers Ju 88 As from KG 1 bombed the island. The Axis landing party landed on Sukho under the cover of the combatant ferries; two of the three Soviet 100 mm coastal guns were destroyed, and the lighthouse was damaged but not taken. The landing party withdrew after sustaining casualties and losing radio contact.^[6]

On the lake, multiple German ferries grounded around the island. SF 12 grounded on rocks, followed by SF 13 while attempting to assist. SF 22 grounded after being disabled by the remaining Soviet 100 mm coastal gun; SF 14 and SF 26 grounded attempting to assist. A Soviet patrol boat was damaged and retreated under a smoke screen. The arrival of the main forces of the Soviet Ladoga Flotilla forced the Axis to withdraw after having refloated SF 14 and SF 22.

Soviet naval and air forces pursued but inflicted only minor damage on the retreating Germans; attacks by the Soviet G-5-class motor torpedo boats TKA-61 and TKA-81 on rear-guard transport ferries scored no hits, while the Germans claimed four hits on a Soviet ship. The German retreat was slowed by ferries suffering machinery failure. SF 21 was used as a rearguard; it silenced the remaining gun on Sukho but was then abandoned and scuttled – along with infantry boat I 6 – when it began to sink from leaks and pump failures.^[7][6]

The Axis suffered heavy casualties for little result, and marked the effective end of offensive Axis operations on Lake Ladoga.^[7] 17 of the 23 participating German ships were sunk or seriously damaged;^[8] four combatant ferries (SF 12, SF 13, SF 21, SF 26) and one infantry boat (I 6) were lost, and SF 22 was heavily damaged (one of the Siebel ferries that were lost aground near Sukho Island was captured by Soviet forces, then repaired and commissioned as DB-51 of the Soviet Navy). Crew and troop casualties amounted to 18 killed, 57 wounded (one of them fatally) and 4 missing.^[9][7]

Total Soviet losses are 6 killed and 23 wounded. Beyond naval losses, the Germans took six prisoners from Sukho.^[10]

• Road of Life

• Zefirov, Mikhail V.; Dyogtev, Dmitry M.; Bazhenov, Nikolay N. (2008). Операция «Бразилия» [Operation Brazil]. Цель — корабли. Противостояние Люфтваффе и советского Балтийского флота [The Target is Ships. The Confrontation Between the Luftwaffe and the Soviet Baltic Fleet] (in Russian). Moscow, RU: AST, AST Moscow, Hranitel. pp. 289–301. ISBN 978-5-17-045858-5. ISBN 978-5-9713-6441-2. ISBN 978-5-9762-4348-4.
• Nikitin, Andrei A. (2019). Ладога, 1942: Противоборство двух флотилий [Ladoga, 1942: The Confrontation Between Two Flotillas] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg, RU: Gjol. pp. 13–46, 53–65, 66–71, 88–110. ISBN 978-5-904790-86-8.