Chapter 9.4: The German Conquest of Estonia

On the 22nd of June operation Barbarossa began and Nazi Germany, despite its treaties with the USSR, attacked. Since people in Estonia received the news only a week after the June deportation, the psychological effect was huge and privately the beginning of the war was celebrated. It was hoped that the Germans would liberate the land from communist rule and Estonia and the former way of life would be reestablished. It also saw a surge in both the activity and numbers of the forest brothers. The military activity of the forest brothers started to intensify on the 3rd of July, when the rebels captured the town of Kilingi-Nõmme. However when the Red Army sent reinforcements they retreated back into the forest. In retaliation most of Kilingi-Nõmme was burnt down.

On the 3rd of July Stalin made a radio speech where he declared the scorched earth tactic, according to which in all territories falling to the enemy all resources had to be destroyed. As the German army was advancing quickly and already on the 7th of July entered Estonia, that policy was placed on Estonia as well. The so-called Destruction Battalions were formed, which became infamous for their brutality. They murdered civilians, raped women, killed cattle, burnt down farms, destroyed industrial buildings, ruined roads, railways and telegraph lines, blew up bridges and so on. These battalions also became the main target of the forest brothers.



The historical Kergu wooden church, built in 1696. Was one of the churches that was destroyed by the destruction battalions (despite being of no use for the German military.)

Many local villages and towns in Southern Estonia were liberated by the rebels even before the Germans reached them. The forest brothers overall killed about 4 800 and captured 14 000 members of the NKVD, destruction battalions and the Red Army, whilst receiving minimal casualties themselves. The Red Army was in disarray, and gave up the Southern Estonia without much of a fight. The Estonian rebels would join up with the advancing German forces and begin a joint offensive. On the 11th of July the German forces captured Tartu, but the front stabilised along the Emajõgi and roughly 2 weeks of heavy fighting ensued, destroying the majority of the city centre of Tartu. The Germans however then broke through and reached the Gulf of Finland on the 7th of August, cutting the Soviet forces in Estonia in half.











The ruins of Tartu in 1941.




Citizens of Tartu digging tank defence trenches near the city. Locals were forced to partake in the construction of other defence structures elsewhere as well.

In the meantime, on the 20th of July, a general mobilisation had been declared in parts of Estonia that were still under the control of the Russians. Roughly 32 thousand forcefully mobilised men were taken to Russia as members of the Red Army as Russia retreated. With them were also the roughly 12 thousand men that had been in the Estonian Army before the occupation. Many managed to evade mobilisation by escaping to the forests.

German forces captured Narva on the 17th of August. A great battle took place around Tallinn, as Stalin had ordered to defend the city at all cost. The city was only captured on the 28th of August, amongst the very first units that entered the city was a battalion of forest brothers led by captain Karl Talpak. It is important to mention at this point that although the forest brothers cooperated with the German units, they were not fighting for Germany or the swastika, but rather for independent Estonia and blue-black-white.


The destroyed port of Tallinn, which had been blown up by Soviet ships after retreat.



The main railway terminal in Tallinn after the city was captured by the Germans.

With the loss of Tallinn the Baltic fleet of the Red Navy had to retreat through a minefield and suffered great losses, with about 64 ships sunk and more than 16 thousand people drowned. The fighting on the Western Estonian islands lasted until October.



German soldiers fighting in Saaremaa.



More then 90 people were murdered by Soviets in the courtyard of Kuressaare castle before it was taken by the Germans. These mass executions took place in numerous villages and towns across Estonia. The largest one was in Tartu where 193 civilians were killed, including writer Jüri Parijõgi and actress Ida Suvero.

The Estonians that had found themselves in the Red Army at this point were taken to Russia and mobilised into the 22nd Riflemans Crops. After holding a battle with the Germans near Porhov in Russia, about 4000 of them voluntarily surrendered themselves to the Germans. The rest of the unit, due to not being trusted, was taken off the front and turned into the so-called work battalions. The conditions in those units were about as rough as in the work camps. As a result of physically hard manual labour, starvation and illness about 10 thousand Estonians in the Red Army died during the winter of 1941/42.

The surviving 27 thousand men were organised into the 8th Estonian Rifleman´s Corps, which was about 90% Estonians and Russian-Estonians. In New Years Eve 1942 it would fight for the city of Velikje Luki where it suffered heavy losses. We will meet them again in 1944.

Unlike in 1918, in 1941 the Germans were regarded as liberators. When they entered towns people put up the Estonian flags and went out on the street to cheer them on. It was widely hoped that independence would be restored.


It just took one year of communist rule for Estonians to forget the 700 years of oppression inflicted by the Germans.



Forest brothers marching in Tallinn in August 1941.