Estonian Forest Brethren 1944 - The fight for independence..
After winning the Estonian War of Independence against both Soviet Russia, the German Freikorps and Baltische Landeswehr volunteers, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed on the 2nd February 1920. The Republic of Estonia was recognized by Finland on the 7th July 1920, Poland on the 31st December 1920 and by the Western Allies on the 26th January 1921.
Estonia maintained its independence for twenty-two years, the fate of Estonia was decided by the German Soviet Nonaggression Pact and Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939. World War II began with the invasion and partition of Poland which was an important regional ally of Estonia, by a joint operation of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
On the 24th September 1939, warships of the Soviet Navy appeared off Estonian ports and Soviet aircraft began to patrol over Tallinn and the nearby countryside. The Estonian government was forced to give their assent to an agreement that allowed the Soviets to establish military bases and station of some 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for mutual defense. On the 12th June 1940, the order for a total military blockade on Estonia was given to the Soviet Baltic Fleet.
On the 14th June 1940, while the world's attention was focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany a day earlier, the Soviet military blockade on Estonia went into effect; two Soviet aircraft downed the Finnish passenger aeroplane Kaleva flying from Tallinn to Helsinki carrying three diplomatic pouches from the USA. On the 16th June 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Estonia. The Red Army exited from their military bases in Estonia on the 17th June. The following day, some 90,000 additional troops entered the country. In the face of overwhelming Soviet force, the Estonian government capitulated on the 17th June 1940 to avoid bloodshed. The military occupation of Estonia was complete by the 21st June 1940.
On the 6th August 1940, Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR. The Estonian constitution required a referendum to decide on joining but this national body was ignored; instead the vote to join the Soviet Union was taken by those elected in the elections held in the previous month. Those who had failed to do their political duty of voting Estonia into the USSR, were deported or condemned to death by Soviet tribunals. Mass deportations followed against thousands of ordinary people by the authorities between 1940-41.
After Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22nd June 1941, the German Army crossed the Estonian southern border on the 7th July. The Red Army retreated behind the Parnu River, the Emajõgi line on the 12th July. At the end of July the Germans resumed their advance in Estonia working in tandem with the Estonian Freedom Fighters. Both German troops and Estonian partisans took Narva on the 17th August and the Estonian capital Tallinn on the 28th August. After the Soviets were driven out from Estonia, German troops disarmed all the partisan groups.
Although initially the Germans were welcomed by most Estonians as liberators from the USSR and its repressions, and hopes were raised for the restoration of the countrys' independence, it was soon realized that they were just another occupying power. The Germans used Estonia's resources for the war effort; for the duration of the occupation Estonia was incorporated into the German province of Ostland; this led some Estonians, unwilling to side with the Nazis to join the Finnish Army to fight against the Soviet Union. The Finnish Inf; Reg; 200 the Soomepoisid was formed out of Estonian volunteers in Finland. Although many Estonians were recruited into the German armed forces including Estonian Waffen-SS, the majority of them did so only in 1944 when the threat of a new invasion of Estonia by the Red Army had become imminent and it was clear that Nazi Germany could not win the war.
By January 1944, the front was pushed back by the Red Army almost all the way to the former Estonian border. Narva was evacuated and Jüri Uluots, the last legitimate prime minister of the Republic of Estonia, delivered a radio address that appealed to all able-bodied men born from 1904 through 1923 to report for military service The call drew support from all across the country: of over 38,000 volunteers. Several thousand Estonians who had joined the Finnish Army came back across the Gulf of Finland to join the newly formed Territorial Defense Force, assigned to defend Estonia against the Soviet advance. It was hoped that by engaging in such a war Estonia would be able to attract Western support for the cause of Estonia's independence from the USSR and thus ultimately succeed in achieving independence.
The Soviets conquered Estonia in the autumn of 1944. Reoccupation sparked a guerilla war against Soviet authorities in Estonia by the Forest Brothers who consisted mostly of Estonian veterans of the German and Finish armies; this conflict continued into the early 1950s.
¡Feliz 100 aniversario Estonia!
Anton Hansen Tammsaare (30 de enero de 1878 - 1 de marzo de 1940) fue un escritor estonio. Su novela Tõde ja õigus (Verdad y justicia, 1926- 1933) está considerada como una de las obras maestras de la literatura estonia. Tammsaare explicó que cada volumen se ocupa de la relación de los seres humanos con: la tierra, Dios, el estado y la sociedad, él mismo, y la resignación.
Part 1/2 Kanal 2 Reporter Special News 28.04.2007 10:50PM
Drunken Russian youngsters rioting in Tallinn.
Human who died was not killed by police but was killed in the rioting mass.
Internet page opened for identifying the looters.
Monument of Tammsaare cleaned.
Police will be giving special training to volunteered people to become an help-police officer.
Dmitri Linter the leader of the Öine Vahtkond under arrest.