Operation Schlußstein

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Operation Schlußstein, or Operation Keystone, was a German plan near the end of World War I to seize the Murman Railway in the Baltic region and Karelia. After the October Revolution, Russia was unstable and a civil war continued, giving Germany a chance to expand east even though the Brest-Litovsk treaty had ended major fighting. Germany also intervened in Finland and the Åland Islands, while Allied forces moved to Murmansk to protect supplies and support White forces. The Germans debated goals that mixed political aims with security concerns, hoping to secure a base near Kronstadt and Petrograd. Boedicker was appointed commander and began mine clearance in the Gulf of Finland on August 12, 1918. The Stralsund and other ships moved among Baltic ports toward Björkö Sund, but the operation was postponed and then abandoned as the Eastern Front situation remained unclear. On September 27 the plan was dropped because military and political conditions worsened, with the Balkans and the Macedonian front collapsing and ending offensives in the Baltic and Eastern fronts.