Estonia in World War II - Summer War

Summer War

After Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Finland sided with Germany in the Continuation War. On July 3, Joseph Stalin made his public statement over the radio calling for a scorched earth policy in the areas to be abandoned. In North Estonia, the Soviet destruction battalions had the greatest impact, being the last Baltic territory captured from the Soviets. Pro-independence Forest Brothers, numbering 12,000, attacked the forces of the NKVD and the 8th Army (Major General Ljubovtsev), killing 4,800 and capturing 14,000. The fight against forest brothers and the implementation of the scorched earth tactics were accompanied by terror against the civilian population, which was treated as supporters or shelterers of the insurgents. Destruction battalions burnt down farms and some small boroughs. In turn, the members of the extermination battalions were at risk of repressions by the anti-Soviet partisans.

Thousands of people including a large proportion of women and children were killed, while dozens of villages, schools and public buildings were burned to the ground. In August 1941, all residents of the village of Viru-Kabala were killed including a two-year old child and a six-day old infant. In the Kautla massacre, twenty people, all civilians, were murdered — many of them after torture — and tens of farms destroyed. The low toll of human deaths in comparison with the number of burned farms is due to the Erna long-range reconnaissance group breaking the Red Army blockade on the area, allowing many civilians to escape. Occasionally, the battalions burned people alive. The destruction battalions murdered 1,850 people in Estonia. Almost all of them were partisans or unarmed civilians.

After the German 18th Army crossed the Estonian southern border on July 7–9, the Forest Brothers organized themselves into bigger units. They took on the 8th Army units and destruction battalions at Antsla on 5 July 1941. The next day, a larger offensive happened in Vastseliina where the Forest Brothers prevented Soviet destruction of the town and trapped the extermination battalion chiefs and local communist administrators. On July 7, the Forest Brothers were able to hoist the Estonian flag in Vasteliina. Võru was subsequently liberated and by the time the 18th army arrived, the blue-black-white flags were already at full mast and the Forest Brothers had organised into Omakaitse militia.

The battle of Tartu lasted for two weeks and destroyed a large part of the city. Under the leadership of Friedrich Kurg, the Forest Brothers drove out the Soviets from Tartu, behind the Pärnu River – Emajõgi line and securing southern Estonia under Estonian control by July 10. The NKVD murdered 193 people in Tartu Prison on their retreat on July 8.

The 18th Army resumed their advance in Estonia by working in cooperation with the forest brothers. The joint Estonian-German forces took Narva on 17 August. By the end of August, Tallinn was surrounded, while in the harbor was the majority of the Baltic Fleet. On August 19, the final German assault on Tallinn began. The joint Estonian-German forces took the Estonian capital on August 28. Soviet evacuation of Tallinn carried heavy losses. On that day, the red flag shot down earlier on Pikk Hermann was replaced with the flag of Estonia. After the Soviets were driven out from Estonia, German troops disarmed all the Forest Brother groups. The Estonian flag was replaced shortly with the flag of Germany.

On September 8, German and Estonian units launched the Operation Beowulf to clear Soviet forces from West Estonian archipelago. There were series of diversionary attacks to confuse the Soviet defenders. The operation had achieved its objectives by 21 October.