Chapter 9: Estonia in WW2; 9.1: The Era of Bases
Initially Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Eastern and Central Poland and the region of Bessarabia in Romania was assigned for the Soviet Union, whilst Lithuania and Western Poland belonged to Germany. However later the treaty was revised so Germany left Lithuania to the Soviet Union and acquired Central Poland in exchange.
On the 1st of September Nazi Germany invaded Poland and the infamous Second World War began. The UK and France joined in on the side of Poland two days later. The Soviet invasion against Poland began on the 17th of September and when the entirety of Poland had been subjugated, the two allies held a joint parade in the city of Brest-Litovsk. The Western allies did not declare war against the Soviet Union, despite it being no different to the German invasion. Neither did the allies immediately begin the invasion of Germany, whilst the bulk of German forces were occupied in the East, instead opting for a more passive stance. Both of these mistakes allowed the Soviet Union to calmly continue with its expansionist plans. The two sides also cooperated economically, with the Soviet Union sending millions of Reichsmarks worth of raw materials like grain and iron, which helped Germany to withstand the blow of the blockade imposed by the British as well as feed the German war machine.
Whilst Poland was on the verge of collapse, the Soviet Union already started to eye up opportunities to expand into other countries left to them by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (MRP).
Estonia had declared full neutrality in the conflict. The economic consequences were rather mild as well. There were rumours about the secret dealings in the MRP talks but people chose to not believe them as there was no concrete evidence.
On the 15th of September a Polish submarine by the name of Orzel entered the port of Tallinn. According to international neutrality rules, it was interned at the port like it was supposed to. However, after the crew heard about the Soviet invasion of Poland, it managed to escape the port whilst taking the Estonian guards on the ship as hostages (they were dropped off in Gotland and given money to head back home, the crew also apologised for this). This incident was used by the Kremlin to blame Estonia for breaking its neutrality in the conflict.
Orzel at the Port of Tallinn.
On the 24th of September the foreign minister Karl Selter travelled to Moscow to begin negotiations in economic talks. However, the Russian side instead demanded that Estonia had to sign a “treaty of mutual assistance”, which would allow the Soviet Union to establish navy bases in Estonia. The reasons given were that Estonia could not be trusted to not secretly turn anti-Soviet, so the Soviet Union had to establish forward military bases to defend its borders. It was clearly signalled that if Estonia did not agree to this deal then the Soviet Union would begin an invasion. On the 26th of September the Defence Commissar of the Soviet Union issued a proclamation about the need to give a “powerful and decisive strike” against Estonia. The beginning of invasion was set to be the early morning of the 29th of September and by that time more than 130 thousand soldiers, 1500 pieces of artillery, 1400 tanks and 600 planes were amassed on the Estonian border. Estonia, which was not mobilised, had only 12 500 soldiers, 233 pieces of artillery, 31 tanks and 10 aeroplanes. (Should be noted that after mobilisation the Estonian army would have been about as large as the opposing Soviet forces. Also Estonia had signed a deal with Britain to buy Spitfires, but that deal was cancelled at the outbreak of war as Britain did not allow any foreign orders during times of war.)
On the 25th and 26th of September the treaty was discussed in Tallinn. In the meantime Soviet warships and aeroplanes routinely invaded Estonian waters and airspace, officially to “search for enemy warships”. The Estonian leadership agreed that Estonia did not have the material capabilities to effectively win a war against the Soviet Union. There were no hopes for international aid, as the West was busy against Germany. For the leadership at the time, it seemed that an unwinnable war of honour, which would inevitably end in the destruction of Estonian cities and the essentially pointless deaths of many Estonians, was not worth it. Also the Soviet Union promised to “not interfere with the sovereignty of Estonia”, which the Estonian leadership decided to gamble on.
The Estonian delegation was sent to Moscow with the goal of softening the Soviet demands as much as possible. However when the negotiations began again, the Soviet side lied that apparently a Russian cargo ship by the name of Metallist had been sunk by an unknown submarine in the Bay of Narva. They now demanded that not only navy bases but also army and airforce bases be established in Estonia. The Estonian delegation decided to agree to the demands, as they felt they had no other choice.
According to the treaty Estonia would rent out land for bases in Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and around the town of Paldiski. Moscow agreed to in exchange sell cheap weaponry to Estonia. Both sides also agreed to send military aid to the other in case of an invasion. Altogether 25 thousand Soviet soldiers would be put in Estonian bases. The Soviet side once more gave big promises about not interfering with Estonian internal affairs, albeit only by word of mouth.
The same kinds of treaties were imposed on Latvia on the 5th of October and Lithuania on the 10th of October. Finland however, which had retained a liberal democracy and had to present the proposed treaty to the parliament, refused and on the 30th of November the Soviet Union started their invasion against Finland, beginning the Winter War. For Finland it was a great success, albeit fighting it entirely alone, they managed to cause incredible losses for the Soviet Union. Although technically losing the war, losing about 1/10th of their territory and still having military bases in their land, the Soviet Union would not attempt the same actions in Finland as they did in the Baltic countries as the result.
Feeling the uneasy predicament Estonia was in, the right wing prime minister Kaarel Eenpalu stepped back and the more moderate Jüri Uluots established a new government on the 12th of October.
Jüri Uluots (1890-1945). Before becoming prime minister he was a professor of law.
On the 12th of October the first Soviet forces entered Estonia and started to establish their military bases. The movement of Red Army soldiers in Estonia was greatly restricted and communication with Estonians almost never happened. There were a few special cases when Soviet officers were allowed to visit Estonian cities to, for example, shop for their wives. To the amazement of Soviet personnel, Estonia was not some capitalist hellhole where people starved on the street, like had been portrayed in the Soviet Union. Instead Estonia left an incredible impression in terms of great quality of life and high standards of living. People on the street were dressed well, the food was cheap and readily available, and unimaginable products were sold. The wives of Soviet officers would wear undergarments to opera as they had never seen such a thing and thought they were dresses. For many Russians it was also the first time seeing toilets, and many would, for example, wash their feet in it.
Red Army units entering Estonia.
Estonians tried to make sure that no incidents would happen and if they did, they were dealt with swiftly. The deal was awful for the many people who had owned farms on the lands rented out, and as such had to move out of their ancestral homes, although receiving generous compensation from the state.
Although in theory Estonia retained its independence, de facto it became a Soviet protectorate and Estonian foreign policy became dependent on its eastern neighbour. Diplomatic communication with the West decreased and cooperation with Latvia and Lithuania, who were in the same position as Estonia, increased. Connections with the Soviet Union also increased, especially economic ties.
The foreign policy matters were complicated by the ongoing Winter War. Estonian airfields were used by Soviet bombers to bomb cities in Southern Finland. Although Estonia issued protests about it, Moscow chose to ignore them. The public support was of course overwhelmingly pro-Finland. Half-secret charity events were held to collect aid to be sent to the Finns, many young men secretly crossed the Gulf of Finland to volunteer for the Finnish army and the Estonian army in deep secrecy also gave intelligence about Red Army movements to the Finnish General Staff.
In domestic life one of the biggest events was the so-called “Umsiedlung”. On the 6th of October 1939 Hitler held a speech where he called for all Germans in Eastern Europe to relocate to Germany. What he did not tell of course was that this was due to the areas in Eastern Europe being left to the Soviets. At any rate the German government held negotiations with Estonia to organise the repatriation of Baltic-Germans. By the end of the 1930s there were roughly 14 thousand Germans living in Estonia. About 12 thousand of them chose to leave in the seven proceeding months. They would be placed in occupied Western-Poland, where Poles had been forcibly deported. This event essentially annihilated the German community in Estonia as well as their unique culture. They had lived here for roughly seven centuries and left behind an incredible legacy. The majority of the population were shocked by their departure, it worsened the economic potential of the country and increased rumours about the loss of independence.
Estonian Baltic-Germans going on ships to Germany during their relocation.
Altogether life continued as normal however. The initial panic about the mutual assistance treaty waned down and people kept going in some sort of mix of optimistic but also pessimistic slumber, hoping that the extraordinary time caused by the world war would end soon and Soviet forces would leave Estonia.
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