Toolse castle and Rakvere castle, Estonia
Toolse castle ruins and Rakvere castle (fortress), Vihula, Estonia 2001
Toolse castle (German: Tolsburg) was a crusader castle belonging to the Teutonic Order. It was completed in 1471. At one point, it was the northernmost outpost of the Holy Roman Empire. In fact, Estonia was never part of that state.
Rakvere Castle offers many exciting activities for both children and grown-ups! You can try your hand at shooting a bow or a crossbow, sword fight and pike battle, forging, pottery, minting your own castle coins, and many other things. There's an exposition of the castle's history, historical weapons, and a torture chamber.
Estonia in World War II | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
00:02:52 1 Preface
00:03:09 1.1 Kellogg-Briand Pact
00:03:32 1.2 Non-aggression treaty
00:03:46 1.3 The Convention for the Definition of Aggression
00:04:35 1.4 Declaration of neutrality
00:05:27 1.5 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
00:06:37 2 The beginning of World War II
00:10:39 3 Soviet occupation
00:17:53 3.1 Soviet terror
00:20:55 3.2 Soviet repression of ethnic Russians
00:21:46 3.3 Historical Soviet sources
00:25:30 4 Summer War
00:30:05 4.1 Damages
00:32:49 5 German occupation
00:36:52 5.1 The Holocaust
00:41:02 6 Estonian military units in 1941–1943
00:41:16 6.1 Estonian units in German forces
00:44:18 6.2 Estonian Rifle Corps in the Red Army
00:46:11 7 Battles in 1944
00:48:14 7.1 Formation of bridgeheads in Narva
00:50:00 7.2 Narva Offensives, February and March
00:54:15 7.3 Sinimäed Hills
00:56:39 7.4 Southeastern Estonia
00:59:15 7.5 Baltic Offensive
01:01:57 8 Attempt to restore independence
01:03:40 9 Soviet return
01:07:39 10 Controversies
01:07:53 10.1 The position of the European Court of Human Rights
01:09:44 10.2 The position of the Estonian government
01:10:48 10.3 The position of the Russian government
01:11:48 10.4 Positions of the veterans
01:13:09 11 Notes
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- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, concerning the partition and disposition of sovereign states, including Estonia, and in particular its Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939.The Republic of Estonia declared neutrality in the war but fell under the Soviet sphere of influence due to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. Mass political arrests, deportations, and executions followed. In the Summer War during the German Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the pro-independence Forest Brothers captured South Estonia from the NKVD and the 8th Army before the arrival of the German 18th Army. At the same time, Soviet paramilitary destruction battalions carried out punitive operations, including looting and killing, based on the tactics of scorched earth proclaimed by Joseph Stalin. Estonia was occupied by Germany and incorporated into Reichskommissariat Ostland.
In 1941, Estonians were conscripted into the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps and in 1941–1944 to the Nazi German forces. Men who avoided these mobilisations fled to Finland to be formed into the Finnish Infantry Regiment 200. About 40% of the Estonian pre-war fleet was requisitioned by British authorities and used in Atlantic convoys. Approximately 1000 Estonian sailors served in the British Merchant Navy, 200 of them as officers. A small number of Estonians served in the Royal Air Force, in the British Army and in the U.S. Army.From February to September 1944, the German army detachment Narwa held back the Soviet Estonian Operation. After breaching the defence of II Army Corps across the Emajõgi river and clashing with the pro-independence Estonian troops, Soviet forces reoccupied mainland Estonia in September 1944. After the war, Estonia remained incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR until 1991, although the Atlantic Charter stated that no territorial arrangements would be made.
World War II losses in Estonia, estimated at around 25% of the population, were among the highest proportion in Europe. War and occupation deaths listed in the current reports total at 81,000. These include deaths in Soviet deportations in 1941, Soviet executions, German deportations, and victims of the Holocaust in Estonia.
Battle of Narva (1944) | Wikipedia audio article
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Battle of Narva (1944)
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The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
The Battle of Narva was a military campaign between the German Army Detachment Narwa and the Soviet Leningrad Front fought for possession of the strategically important Narva Isthmus on 2 February – 10 August 1944 during World War II.
The campaign took place in the northern section of the Eastern Front and consisted of two major phases: the Battle for Narva Bridgehead (February to July 1944) and the Battle of Tannenberg Line (July–August 1944). The Soviet Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive and Narva Offensives (15–28 February, 1–4 March and 18–24 March) were part of the Red Army Winter Spring Campaign of 1944. Following Joseph Stalin's Broad Front strategy, these battles coincided with the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive (December 1943 – April 1944) and the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive (July–August 1944). A number of foreign volunteers and local Estonian conscripts participated in the battle as part of the German forces. By giving its support to the illegal German conscription call, the underground National Committee of the Republic of Estonia had hoped to recreate a national army and restore the independence of the country.As a continuation of the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive of January 1944, the Soviet Estonian operation pushed the front westward to the Narva River, aiming to destroy Narwa and to thrust deep into Estonia. The Soviet units established a number of bridgeheads on the western bank of the river in February while the Germans maintained a bridgehead on the eastern bank. Subsequent attempts failed to expand their toehold. German counterattacks annihilated the bridgeheads to the north of Narva and reduced the bridgehead south of the town, stabilizing the front until July 1944. The Soviet Narva Offensive (July 1944) led to the capture of the city after the German troops retreated to their prepared Tannenberg Defence Line in the Sinimäed Hills 16 kilometres from Narva. In the ensuing Battle of Tannenberg Line, the German army group held its ground. Stalin's main strategic goal—a quick recovery of Estonia as a base for air and seaborne attacks against Finland and an invasion of East Prussia—was not achieved. As a result of the tough defence of the German forces the Soviet war effort in the Baltic Sea region was hampered for seven and a half months.