We were Estonian soldiers

WE WERE ESTONIAN SOLDIERS

---

Estonia joined the League of Nations and fully expected to have its borders and national integrity respected by others. The blue-black-white flag of Estonia flew from the top of Pikk Hermann Tall Hermann , symbolizing independence. But sadly, Estonians enjoyed this independence for only a very short 20 years. The rest of the world also changed in the twenty years after World War I. Russia endured a revolution that brought to power leaders whose moral values differed greatly from those of other civilized people.

He had most of the generals and other officers in the armed forces killed in case they might show some spark of leadership that would challenge his own rule. Communism is in many aspects like a religion. One has to believe in the system, even if it means great personal sacrifice. School children, for example, were taught to listen to what their parents talked about at home and to report this to the secret police.

During the dark early years of the USSR, many people went to prison after having been denounced by their own children, who then were venerated as heroes of the state. Belief in the value and goodness of the Communist system naturally caused the true believers in Russia to impose their own religion on the uninitiated and uneducated masses in other countries.

Communism was to be an international movement, and Russia went to great lengths to foment what they hoped would be Communist revolutions in other countries. Russian Communists therefore were naturally looking out to Europe, believing that someday soon the entire world would embrace this social and economic system. Russia had another reason for looking to the west. To the south, some parts of the old empire became the eastern half of modern Poland.

The Russian military planners saw the Baltic countries especially as crucial to future military operations because these countries had ice-free harbors to the west. Leningrad formerly and now again St. Petersburg , the only major Soviet port on the Baltic Sea, freezes over in the winter, making shipping impossible. These three forces — the need for ice-free harbors, the return of lands they thought were rightfully theirs, and the desire to expand the Communist religion — caused Russia to covet the Baltic countries.

Estonian soldiers teaching Africans to fish

The most successful fascist government was in Germany, where Adolf Hitler managed to wrest total control of the country from what had been a fledgling democracy. He used his energy and charisma to transform Germany from a country defeated in World War I and suffering with a chaotic economy into the strongest military machine in Europe. But just as Stalin was worried about the fascists, Hitler was troubled by what he saw to his east, where Stalin ruled vast lands and people with an iron hand and could mobilize millions of troops to fight for the USSR.

In turn, Stalin feared Hitler, and for good cause. Hitler had clearly indicated in his memoir, Mein Kampf, that Russia was an enemy, and he made no secret of his intent to someday invade Russia. The European democracies could not decide how to handle this situation. There seemed to be little difference between the two despots who had enslaved their own people and who made no secret of their expansionist intent. The West finally decided that Hitler was the greater danger, and France and England pushed for more military and economic treaties with the USSR with the intent of encircling Germany and intimidating Hitler into keeping the peace.

Hitler did not want such alliances to be consummated because he did not want to fight a two-front war. He had already planned to invade France and then attack England, and he did not want to be fighting the USSR in the east at the same time. So his diplomatic genius or luck came to the fore. He dispatched his foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, to Moscow to meet with the Russian foreign minister, Viacheslav Molotov, and the two concocted a scheme in which the USSR and Germany would proclaim the signing of a treaty of friendship.

This was brilliant strategy for Hitler because he now had stabilized his eastern border and as part of the treaty began to receive badly needed raw materials from the USSR. The invasion of Poland by Germany on 1 September was the official start of the Second World War, since Poland had treaties with England and France that required each to come to the aid of the other should it be invaded by another power. Hitler, however, was secure in the knowledge that the Russian armies, massed on the eastern frontier of Poland, would not attack the Germans and would instead occupy the predetermined areas of eastern Poland, which they did on 17 September.

The western governments, not wanting to antagonize Stalin and having their own political problems, looked the other way. The Russians used almost comical pretexts to get the illegitimate governments of the three countries to seek admission into the Soviet Union. That accomplished, on 27 July the Russian invaders replaced the tri-color on top of Pikk Hermann with a red Soviet flag.

Editorial Reviews

The Russians in Estonia took total control of the country and the ensuing months became known as the Red Terror during which extermination squads roamed the country, killing those who were suspected of being anti-Communist. The government was disbanded and all aspects of life were taken over by the Communists, some of whom were Estonians who welcomed what they saw as a new and more beneficial economic order.

The most insidious and tragic act by the Communists was the deportation of people to Siberia.

Product details

Over 10, men, women, and children were hunted down at night and loaded into cattle cars for the trip to Siberian work camps. The first to go were those with any leadership capability, such as teachers, politicians, engineers, and intellectuals. President Pats was of course arrested and taken to Russia, where he died in a psychiatric hospital a favorite place for political prisoners. Their advance was rapid and the Communists in Estonia knew that their days were numbered. The German army moved rapidly through the Baltic States, pushing the Soviet forces north and east.

But the Germans were no more benign than the Russian invaders had been. They subscripted young Estonians into the German army and were quick to shoot anyone who was even suspected of collusion with the Soviets. To their credit, the Germans allowed the Estonians to fly their flag on top of Pikk Hermann and to have some sense of self-governance. Not wanting to be trapped in the Baltic region, the German army withdrew south in , leaving their Baltic units, supported by Estonian volunteers, to fight the onrushing Red Army. The defenders were no match for the invaders and the Red Army soon swarmed back into Estonia.

This book focuses on the war experiences of five officers who graduated from the Estonian Military Technical Academy just as the Soviets liquidated the democratic government of Estonia in and installed their own puppet government. Estonian military personnel, including the entire graduating class from the Estonian Military Technical Academy were then forced into the Soviet Red Army. These tumultuous times provide the backdrop for the stories that follow. The memoirs of the five officers relate true life experiences the might seem stranger than fiction.

That they all survived was a miracle, and they all believed that it was fate that guided them and allowed them to eventually escape to freedom. The last year of our studies in at the Estonian Military Technical Academy 1 started with considerable excitement. France and England had declared war on Germany and we thought surely it meant the beginning of another world war. Every day after our morning classes, we rushed to the library to scan the newspapers for world events prior to heading for the cafeteria for lunch.

In three short weeks, Germany had defeated and occupied Poland. Most cadets sympathized with its crew which was promptly put under guard. A few days later we were glad when we read that the submarine had evaded the patrol boats and escaped to sea under cover of darkness. I had attended the Academy since It was divided into three areas of specialization: My course material in this final fourth year at the Academy consisted of items like the equipment and methods to direct artillery fire; cannon operation and materials; tank construction and mechanics; practical ammunition preparation; gas warfare and equipment; cavalry tactics; communication equipment and use; skiing; logistics for food, weapons, ammunition, clothing, and transport; psychology of war; infantry weaponry; physical education; horseback riding; Russian and German languages; and strategic planning.

Our life was rigid and disciplined. We were up at 6 am followed by a half hour of calisthenics and then breakfast. Classes started at 8, then an hour off for lunch. The afternoon classes were from 1 to 5, then two hours of free time prior to dinner at 7 pm. Each cadet had the rank of ensign and had been issued a 9 mm pistol and a 7. In September, all of a sudden the Academy was put on alert. Nobody understood the reason for this. No one was allowed to leave the premises. Six visiting officers were not allowed to leave and they were provided temporary sleeping quarters on our campus.

Everyone was puzzled as to what this could mean. The alert was lifted after a week and the reason for our confinement became clear. By the tenth of October, all three Baltic countries signed the base agreements and thus also sold their souls to the devil. Our studies and training exercises continued but it was now in a new atmosphere. There was concern and excitement. During the second half of October trains with long lines of filled wagons started to arrive in Estonia, bringing war materiel and Red Army soldiers.

Seeing these long lines gave us a feeling of strangulation and suffocation. Then when on the thirtieth of November the Soviet Union attacked Finland with the Soviet bombers flying out of Estonian airports, our hatred for the occupiers was further elevated. We listened to Finnish radio stations to learn what we could regarding the progress of the Red Army attacks. The initial reports were good.

In most cases the Finns had stopped the Russian advance and beat them back. Under these distractions, we prepared for and finished our final exams in December. In the middle of our last semester, in March of , we heard that Finland had capitulated to the Soviets and had been forced to cede some of its territory to satisfy its giant neighbor. We were likewise amazed that no nation from the west had come to their aid.

This made us ponder about the war and the value of alliances, and we had many debates on the topic. Like several others in our class, I got married during all this turmoil. I had known Frieda since childhood and she now became my wife. Artur Normak, had been the head of the Academy until One night we awoke to the sound of someone groaning and found Ensign Roland lives doubled over with severe pain in his groin. When the ambulance arrived Ensign Kubja carried the suffering cadet to the vehicle. He knew that he was in a good position to finish at the top of his class and did not want to miss that opportunity.

On our Independence Day on February 24, , the Academy graduated its first class of officers. These were men who had specialized in the study of side arms. Ilves received a gold pocket watch from General J. Laidoner for being the best in this class. They were one lieutenant and 15 ensigns. By decree from the President of Estonia these individuals were promoted to one captain and 15 second lieutenants. The Academy held a formal banquet in honor of the graduates where General Laidoner addressed them.

Without technology a person is at a loss and distinct disadvantage. Thus it is likewise in matters of war. His task with the EUTM is to help develop the Malian army so it could restore stability and combat terrorism in the restless country. There is no compulsory military service. Mali has a paid army. The focus of EUTM has changed since the training mission began in Back then, the goal was to provide basic combat training, train squad and platoon commanders. We fulfilled that role because Mali no longer had a systematic structure for training its units.

EUTM ensured basic training. Things have changed now. We are no longer fishing for them but are teaching them to fish. We are teaching courses that are several steps ahead. Our aim is to train the trainer; we teach them something and then we teach them how to pass that knowledge on. That is our main focus. Specialist skills are another thing. These include how to deal with IEDs and international military law; [teaching the soldiers] to communicate with the civilian population so as not to alienate the army from the people.

That is one side of EUTM — training. The other is advice, instruction of top and medium-ranking officers in terms of how to tactically plan operations all the way to the strategic level, so the armed forces of Mali would sport a higher quality. Malian soldiers have committed crimes against humanity. I understand that is part of your focus. It is a sensitive subject for the European Union in a way.

Soldiers might commit offenses either knowingly or unknowingly if they do not know the consequences of their actions. Such offenses are the most effective tool for terrorists. Insurgents can use their weaker position to show how the government is only doing bad things. It provides the opportunity to say that we are not the bad guys because look at what your government is doing. Those isolated incidents are paid a lot of attention. It is a lesson learned from multiple previous missions. We cannot have EUTM trained soldiers committing acts that clash with international military law. It is important for Mali for their armed forces to be professional and respected, not hated and feared.

You are training officers in 12 weeks. How does this expedited training work? Is it yielding sufficient results? Some of our allies train officers in just eight weeks after which they earn the rank of second lieutenant. This, of course, requires higher education and a few weeks of basic training.

E-raamat: WE WERE ESTONIAN SOLDIERS

It requires a support structure of some kind that has strong non-commissioned officers for example. It is possible in a professional army if you can rely on non-commissioned officers. The fact the Estonian military service cycle was based on what was realistically possible is very useful today. It is the same here: Next comes practice that allows for command and cooperation of units. It is a short period, but civilians were sent to the battlefield in the ranks of professional units after just three weeks of training during WWII.

They are soldiers, it takes longer to train commanders. War rarely gives early warning and time is always short. What matters is what we teach. In Mali, we do not need to train them for what we need. Their enemy and environment are entirely different. Everything else also plays a part, like cultural background for example. We cannot expect a Malian platoon commander to act like one of ours.

• Get Lucky: Good Luck Superstitions and Lore
• Lo scandalo di una notte (Italian Edition)
• Codex Templi: Los misterios templarios a la luz de la historia y de la tradición (Spanish Edition)
• La llum dAlexandria (Èxits) (Catalan Edition)
• Designing Matrix Organizations that Actually Work: How IBM, Proctor & Gamble and Others Design for Success
• Pocket Guide to the 12 Steps (Crossing Press Pocket Guides)
• Origine du nom de famille PLAS (Oeuvres courtes) (French Edition)