The year 1944 was fateful for the Estonians and the Republic of Estonia. Occupied first by the Russians four years earlier, then occupied by the Germans in 1941, in the chaos of World War II a desperate and heroic effort was made in 1944 to save what could be saved of Estonia’s independence. The following article by Priit Aruvald follows the events of that crucial year in Estonia’s history.

THE FINAL DAYS

Soviet troops now prepared to move on Tallinn. Together with the Russian forces was a forward unit formed from the Estonian Rifle Corps, commanded by Colonel V. Võrk, whose only desire apparently was to get to Tallinn to ‘prevent any outrages by the Russians’. However, there was also another motivation in seeing Tallinn taken by Estonian Red Army troops, i.e. a political one: Estonians ‘liberating’ the Estonian capital. This is confirmed by the Estonian Communist Party’s First Secretary Nikolai Karotamm: “This task (the ‘liberation’ of Tallinn) has great military importance but besides that it is also extremely important politically...”.

The Soviet advance towards Tallinn was, however, by no means a victory march. A series of vicious battles took place over September 21-23 at Kose, Jägala, Raasik, Vaskjalg and Keila amongst others. Porkuni on September 21 witnessed a particularly sad note in Estonian history where the primary combatants were Estonians on opposing sides, soldiers of the remnants of the Estonian Division on one side, soldiers of the 917th Rifle Regiment on the other. Hauptsturmführer Hando Ruus (the only Estonian to receive the German Gold Cross) recounts:

“Despite everything the battle lasted, with the advantage alternating between sides, for half the day when eventually with the reds’ situation becoming precarious, they started yelling in Estonian: ‘Don’t shoot, we’re Estonians too, mobilized’. At this the battle was stopped and the red side called for us to have ourselves taken prisoner, shamelessly giving disinformation. Many decided to let themselves be taken prisoner but the majority disappeared into the surrounding forest. It was an unpleasant surprise to those that gave themselves up as prisoners how eagerly the Estonian Rifle Corps men emptied the prisoners’ pockets. They began to line up the prisoners at dusk. In front of the column two women in Russian uniforms ran back and forth yelling in Estonian that all prisoners must be shot. The Loksa Russian commander (Lt. J. Piik) who spoke Estonian, also promised to turn everyone into fertilizer for the fields. Several men of the company had already been shot, four Estonian boys had been shot in the basement of a farmhouse. About 100 km from the Loksa-Sauevälja road towards Porkuni road, by a gravel pit in a field, nine Estonians were shot (every tenth man in the line). Other Estonians were also shot in the gravel pit although the number isn’t known because the shooters quickly buried the corpses. In these last two instances, those doing the shooting were Estonian Rifle Corps men. That men were shot that evening and during the night was confirmed by the locals - they thought it odd that in the calm that followed the end of the battle shots began to ring out anew, which with interruptions, lasted through the night. Suspicions were further aroused when corpses were seen in places where there had been no fighting...Near Ambla during an evening rest break the “Narva” battalion was encircled by an Estonian Rifle Corps force consisting of those who had betrayed their homeland. Loudspeakers were set up and they yelled out in Estonian: “Schoolmates, surrender...”.

Soviet history records the events differently. The Red Army division commander Colonel August Feldman relates in his memoirs:

“Seeing that their retreat had been cut off, the enemy stepped up their fight. The division’s political section’s director sub-colonel Raadik, who arrived at the observation post, brought up a good idea: ‘There are several Estonian SS men amongst the prisoners who say that there are many Estonians in the forest. Let’s try and make clear to them through loudspeakers that resistance is pointless!’ So it was done. The loudspeakers called to the encircled enemy to put down their arms and to end this pointless resistance. We saw the result with our own eyes. Soon a group of 15-20 men appeared from the forest waving a white flag. They were fired upon from behind but this didn’t stop others from following the example and surrendering.”

On the morning of September 22 Tallinn was a broken and abandoned city. Otto Tief had left ordering everyone else who was left to leave also. The last lines of refugees made their way from the city. Some of Admiral Pitka’s men had gone to the Pikk Hermann tower and raised the blue-black-white Estonian flag.

As the first Red Army tanks arrived their first objective appeared to be pulling down the ‘fascist tricolor’ atop Pikk Hermann. After lengthy machine gun fire from the base of the tower the mast finally broke, toppling the Estonian flag. The next step was to raise the red flag above Toompea but it was discovered that no one in the forward assault group had thought to bring along a flag. The problem was solved when they found a German flag, cut out the white circle with the black swastika and raised the red remains of the flag atop Pikk Hermann.

Throughout September and October the Red Army continued to move west and reached the island of Saaremaa by October 5. By November the battle was on the Sõrve peninsula with the last remaining German forces barely managing to evacuate on November 25. It was the end. V. Lief of the Estonian Rifle Corps relates: “Thus we arrived at the southern tip of the Sõrve peninsula. On the morning of November 24 at 8:40 the red flag was raised to the salute of sidearms fire. Soviet Estonia had been completely liberated!” To accomplish this task of re occupying Estonia, it is estimated that in the fighting in Narva, southern Estonia and on the islands, the Red Army sacrificed well over half a million men dead.

Together with the return of Soviet control of their homeland came a wave of robbery, looting, rape and killing. With the Red Army also came the political police, the NKVD. Deportations followed, Soviet Estonian radio reporting 30,000 deported in late 1944. Many men took to the forest to fight a partisan war, a war which incredibly on one scale or another lasted until the 1970's.

The year 1944 ended in tragedy for the Estonians but as a result of the dogged bravery exhibited by Estonian soldiers as German forces withdrew over 50,000 people managed to escape to the West to continue the fight for the independence of their homeland. Also, as a result of the clear sightedness and presence of mind of the Estonian National Committee, Estonia managed to make known its plight to the outside world and by the re-establishment of the rightful government of the Republic of Estonia in the last days of the war in Estonia managed to retain the legal continuity of the republic established in 1918.

Primary sources:

Laar, Mart Ismaa ilu hoieldes, Stockholm 1996

Landwehr, Richard Narva 1944: The Waffen SS and the Battle for Europe Silver Spring, 1981

Lentsman, Leonid et al., eds. Eesti rahvas suures Ismaaa sõjas Tallinn, 1977

Maasing, Richard et al., eds. Eesti riik ja rahvas II Maailmasõjas IX Stockholm, 1960

Rei, August The Drama of the Baltic Peoples Stockholm, 1970

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