Estonia – like a pawn in the game between two great powers

Similar to the Soviet internal corps, the Waffen-SS were the army of the party in Germany between 1941 and 1942, forming the vanguard of troops during the war. What the blogger fails to take into account is the relationship that existed between the nations at that time and the difficulties of fleshing out the thinning ranks of the Wehrmacht after Germany’s peak in 1942. In order to understand the reasons behind the annual meetings of veterans in the Blue Mountains, it is necessary to look into the past.

Between 1930 and 1945, Europe was as a game of chess between the two great dictators Stalin and Hitler in which Stalin – formerly the better strategist – won.

Let us not forget that the Kremlin initially supported National-Socialist Germany. It was under orders from Moscow that the combined efforts of Fascist and Communist organisations led to the fall of the Weimar Republic, to the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and, until 1941, to the supply of extensive material support for Hitler’s military projects. After these efforts, a weakened Eastern Europe came under Stalin’s control. Then, with the terrible losses suffered by the Russian people, the German military machine – as if by the wave of a magic wand – turned against Stalin and the Communist leadership finally took notice.

The Republic of Estonia in 1931 was a most usual European country, especially proud of its hard-won independence and eager to keep away from the impending European military threat. Confrontation and ambition were alien concepts to its leadership, which, in the end, came to be the reason for the period of great loss suffered by this small country during the war.

In spite of its efforts to remain neutral, Estonia was to be the first country to come under Communist rule according to the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Then, following further military action, it fell into the hands of the National-Socialists and then, once again, was occupied by the “Reds” until 1991. It was only on the 20th of August of that year that Estonia regained its independence. The losses suffered by the country at the hands of the two invaders were so great that the number of Estonians at the present time has yet to equal that of the pre-war period.

During the Second World War, Estonians not only fought in the Red Army but also in the Wehrmacht and in the Estonian Waffen-SS. Estonia, which neither began, nor even wanted the war, became, like Latvia and Lithuania, a pawn in the game of chess between the two great powers.

Tragic was the fate of the Estonian soldiers forcibly mobilised into the Red Army. Following the Stalinist deportations of 1941, the survivors of forced labour camps were used to form the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps which suffered irreplaceable losses in the Luki Offensive at the end of the same year.

Following this were those, who, with the best of intentions and a belief in the restoration of the independent state of Estonia, were conscripted and mobilised into the Wehrmacht, forming the “Narva” battalion which distinguished itself in the 1943 battles for Ukraine. In the same year, Estonians were used to form the 3rd Brigade of the Waffen-SS, which took part in Battle for Nevel.
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