Russia · 20th century
Seraya Loshad Fort ranks #6,715 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #119 of the 145 mapped in Russia. Founded 1911, one of 161 atlas entries founded in the 20th century. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Saint Petersburg, 61 km away. See how Russia compares in the castle statistics.
The "Seraya Loshad" battery, from 29 August 1919 the "Peredovoy" fort, from 1926 the "Bukharin" fort, and from 1936 to 1953 the "Krasnogvardeysky" fort, was an anti-landing coastal battery of the Kronstadt position of the Naval Fortress of Peter the Great. It was built in 1911 on Cape Seraya Loshad in the area of the village of Chornaya Lakhta. The position comprised two open permanent batteries: on the left flank a four-gun battery of 120 mm Vickers guns (in Soviet times No. 332) and on the right a three-gun battery of 152 mm Canet guns (in Soviet times No. 331).
The battery was designed thanks to a memorandum by Engineer-Major-General A. A. Shishkin. Its principal task was to combat enemy landing ships in Koporye Bay, so as to prevent the capture of the "Krasnaya Gorka" fort from the land side.
In May 1919, together with the "Krasnaya Gorka" fort, it repelled the advance on Petrograd of General A. P. Rodzyanko's Northern Corps, and in October of the same year it took part in repelling the advance on Petrograd of General N. N. Yudenich's North-Western Army, successfully beating off all the attacks of the advancing forces, in connection with which it was awarded the Honorary Red Banner in December 1919.
During the Great Patriotic War the battery held the defence of the Oranienbaum bridgehead. In 1943 the 120 mm Vickers guns were replaced by 130/50 mm B-13 guns. It was disarmed in connection with the liquidation of the Kronstadt fortress in the 1950s.
Machine-translated from “Серая Лошадь (батарея)” on the Russian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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