100 stories from the hiking route

1918 – Peraküla’s secret radiotelegraphy station

Information

Topic

Wars and occupations

Coordinates

Long-Lat WGS 84

Latitude: 59.2125333333333

Longitude: 23.6115944444444

L-EST 97

x: 6563854.5
y: 477814.6

Location

Peraküla-Aegviidu Hiking route

The radio intelligence receiving and deciphering station of the Baltic Fleet was built in Peraküla in 1914–1915 to service and direct the fleet on the Gulf of Finland. The station, which was referred to as the Spitham special-purpose radio station, was one of the most classified military objects in the Russian Empire.
The main building of the radio station contained four round-the-clock radio intelligence stations, a deciphering bureau and the officers’ quarters. The intercepted messages were written down and taken to the deciphering department. The radio equipment was powered by a power station. There was wooden platform with a 57 mm anti-aircraft gun and there were three 52 m radio masts made of logs on the territory.
In 1917, after the dethronement of the czar, it was feared that the station would be occupied by the Germans during the war. Therefore, the station was evacuated at either the end of 1917 or the beginning of 1918 and everything left behind was destroyed by an explosion. The Republic of Estonia sold the remaining buildings to be demolished.
In 2007, research was carried out at the premises of the station upon the initiation of J. P. Maltsev. Removing a layer of moss revealed foundations of the buildings and radio masts as well as grooves of unknown purpose. The cobblestone road leading to the station and the gateposts have been preserved to a large extent.