Estonian Historical Events

Although the ending of the first Soviet occupation of Estonia is ambiguous, I marked it here as the end being when Nazi Germany occupied Tallinn, although several other parts of Estonia were occupied before and after.

Rebellious activities such as raising Estonian flags and handing out political leaflets occurred - such a wide showing of rebellion will not be seen for a few decades

A Forest Brothers group blew up a section of railroad track, derailing a Destruction Battalion unit

Over 10,000 people were deported from Estonia in this single night to Siberian work camps

Hitler broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact by entering into Soviet-occupied land on June 22nd, 1941. In response, Stalin asked for a "scorched-earth" policy, creating specialized destruction brigades to burn the land. This policy resulted in several Estonians fleeing to protect the forest they loved. This is the beginnings of the "forest brothers"

"A special Soviet army unit that landed near Narva on February 14 had been instructed to eliminate all the civilians it encountered as potential enemies. Before their attack was stopped, this unit succeeded in murdering a large number of civilians, including a young woman and her infant. Although the Red army units sweeping into Estonia in the summer and fall of 1944 had no such instructions, they unleashed acts of unspeakable terror on the local population...Pillaging and looting were common, as well as the rape of captured women." War in the Woods

"On 9 - 10 March 1944, the Soviets carried out a large-scale air raid on the capital, Tallinn, inflicting serious damage in the central part of the city and causing a large number of civilian casualties. "

"Hitler ordered the evacuation of Estonia on 16 September 1944. On the next day, the Red Army began a fresh offensive. From 17 until 22 September, Estonian units serving in the two opposing armies came face to face, resulting in bloody armed clashes between fellow countrymen."

"The Estonian Government, which was able to function for only eight days (18 – 25 September 1944), left Tallinn just prior to the Red Army's arrival. Most cabinet members were later arrested by the Soviet authorities, and were subsequently deported to forced labour camps in Siberia. Acting President Jüri Uluots managed to escape to Sweden where he died shortly after his arrival. Before his death, he appointed August Rei as his successor, who, in 1953, in Oslo, appointed the Estonian Government in Exile."

"In one incident on September 21, 1944, the commander of a Soviet tank unit that had just taken the northeastern Estonian town of Kadrina ordered the murder of about twenty young Estonian men who had just surrendered without resistance. The troops lined up the bodies along the road and drove their tanks over them repeatedly, until there was little left of the young men." War in the Woods

A similar incident to the Tank Massacre happened in the small town of Kose

"Olaf Tammark recalls the autumn of 1944: 'Our reports said that Pärnu had fallen to the Russians on Sept 23, 1944. Those who came from the area said the coast was still teeming with refugees, although the last boats had already left.'" War in the Woods

The last boat for those connected to the National Committee departed for Finland on November 21, 1944

"On June 5, 1945, a Security Forces unit conducted a raid in the Undriku-Manniku Village of Undla Parish in Virummaa County." War in the Woods

"On holidays dear to the Estonian people (Independence Day on February 24, Victory Day on June 22) the outlawed blue-black-and-white national flags were hoisted onto tall trees or buildings" War in the Woods

"On July 2, 1945, NKVD officer Babanin and poice officer Alumets were shot to death in Saue Parish near Tallinn, and polish brigadier Konigsberg was wounded. According to the latter's account, the three had gon the the Arujarve farm on...July 2 to arrest farmer Jaan Arujarve...they were attacked by two strangers...In Estonian the stalkers ordered "Hands up!"...The NKVD deputy Babanin drew a pistol from his holster and fired at one of the attackers, wounding him, but the bandit directed a volley at Konisberg...Konistber threw down his rifle and escaped by running thrugh the swamp and forest." War in the Woods

"On July 14, 1945, four Red army soldiers were killed in an attack on a Red army unit in Virumaa County's Roela Parish near Kulina Village" War in the Woods

"On July 24, a military transport carrying three naval officers was attacked at Valgejoe in Harjumaa County. All three were killed." War in the Woods

"On July 26, 1945, in Tartumaa County's Lohusuu Parish on the Narva-Tartu road, two leading workers of the Leningrad NKVD Road Construction Administration were shot to death; their driver escaped." War in the Woods

"On 15 August 1945 the Soviet authorities arranged the deportation of more than 400 people to Siberia; most of them were of Baltic German descent. The reason for their deportation had nothing to do with their activity during the war, which was not even investigated. It was collective punishment, the deportation of an entire national group. As a result of this deportation, Estonia permanently lost one of its historical ethnic minorities—the Baltic German" - Estonia.eu (http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/history/soviet-deportations-from-estonia-in-1940s.html)

"On Nov 2, 1945, eight km from the center of Veirora Parish, a group of armed bandits, comprising six persons, stopped two trucks belonging to the Voru Consumers' Cooperative and the 22nd Rifle Division.
The bandits, seizing the trucks by force, drove them to the...building. Entering..., they killed the Baltic fleet's...sergeant major and woulded...Lieutenant Lyadin, three People's Defence soldiers, one peasant, and a local Komsomol leader from Valgamaa County. One of the bandits wore the uniform of a police lieutenant...the rest were in civilian clothes or mixed uniforms." War in the Woods

"On the evening of Oct 4, 1946, a group of 15 FBs stopped a bus...allowed the passengers to dissembark and used no force against anyone...inspected everyone's identity papers. The target was...NKVD deputy weber...the Forest Brothers shot Veber" War in the Woods

"On...December 1, 1948, the most sensational train heist of the postwar period took place between Somerpalu and Kurenurme in Vorumaa County, its echoes reaching as far as Moscow" War in the Woods, p.85

"Clandestine preparations lasted over two years and by March 1949, the occupation power was ready to carry out a new deportation. In the course of the operation that began on 25 March 1949, over 20 000 people – nearly 3 percent of the 1945 Estonian population – were seized in a few days and dispatched to remote areas of Siberia. The deportation was demanded by the Communist Party in order to complete collectivisation and “eliminate the kulaks as a class”. Nearly a third of those declared to be “kulaks” managed to evade their captors...other families were “grabbed” in order to “fill the quota.” The majority of the 1949 deportees were women (49.4%) and children (29.8%)" - Estonia.eu

"On August 16, 1949, the Jarvamaa County security chief Colonel Paul fell victim to an ambush on the Tallin-Paide road. A tree in the roadway blocked the colonel's car. He was taken into a nearby thicket, informed of his sentence, and summarily shot to death." War in the Woods