Contents
Introduction by Mart Laar[*]
Brief Historical Background[*]
Chapter 1: End of the Cadet Years – Viktor Orav[*]
Chapter 2: Bits of War Memories – Hugo Kubja[*]
Chapter 3: My Execution Was Carried Out – Edgar Reiksaar[*]
Chapter 4: Guided by Fate – Viktor Orav[*]
Chapter 5: Like Being Engulfed by Fire – Johannes Jaagus[*]
Chapter 6: Soldier and Fate – August Võhma[*]
Why Did the Estonian Soldier Fight? – August Võhma[*]
Photo credits[*]
Foreword
My father compiled four voluminous documents that are pieces of Estonian history. These are:
1. Description of the Estonian Military Technical Academy 1920 – 1923
2. Detailed description of the Estonian Military Technical Academy 1936 – 1940
3. Memoirs of some of the graduating officers
4. Photo album of life at the Academy and beyond
My father’s work: The basis upon which this book was written.
From the third document I have compiled and translated into English my father’s memoirs along with those of four other Estonian officers from the period 1939 through the end of World War II in 1945. Although the memoirs he wrote and collected extend past the period of the war, I have condensed and eliminated the postwar portions. Likewise, there are many names mentioned in the original manuscripts. Unless these are central to the story, I have omitted them in order to focus on the events and personal experiences. The interested student of Estonian history can read the original manuscripts at the Estonian War Museum in Viimsi, Estonia.
Many of the photographs in this book are from my father’s or Tiiu Võhmas photo albums. Others are included to convey the mood and setting of the times to give the reader a visual picture of what things were like during the war. The supplementary photographs are courtesy of the Estonian War Museum, the Estonian History Museum, The Estonian Film Archives, and Wehrmacht.pri.ee.
The five uncensored memoirs were written after the war in western countries where the former Estonian officers were free from fear of retribution for telling their stories. Other soldiers’ memoirs that were published in Estonia during the Soviet era have a very strong slant toward the righteousness of Communism and the Russian empire. I am proud to be able to publish the tales of five Estonian soldiers who I believe tell it like it really was.
I would like to thank Peep Aarne Vesilind who encouraged me to write the book and who provided material for the brief historical background of Estonia. Special thanks also to Tiiu Võhma who provided material about her father and assisted me with the initial editing.
Introduction
Estonia suffered severely from the turmoil brought on by World War II. After achieving its independence following World War I in a hard-fought war for freedom, Estonia found itself in the middle of a conflict between two super-powers, Nazi Germany and Communist Russia, and tried in vain to retain its independence. Many of the central and eastern European countries found themselves in the same predicament. Their fate was sealed by the Molotov-Ribbentrop secret pact between Hitler and Stalin which divided up the smaller nations between them and placed them under their spheres of influence. Only one nation – Finland, was able to successfully defend its independence. The others tried but were unsuccessful despite valiant efforts even when it seemed that all was lost.
The five Estonian officers whose stories you are about to read also tried valiantly to defend and fight for their homeland. They were friends and classmates who graduated as lieutenants from the Estonian Military Technical Academy in 1940. Via different routes, they escaped to the West. After the war they often arranged common social events with each other and their families. At one of these events they decided to combine their memoirs from notes that each had recorded at different times in the past. The collection of these notes into one binder became the basis for this book.
The life of Estonian officers during World War II was very difficult. They had given an oath to defend Estonia with their lives, but they were not given the chance to do so. When the Soviet Union decided to occupy Estonia in 1940 as per the agreement with Hitler, the political leaders of Estonia decided not to resist in order to save as many lives as possible. This hope did not materialize – Estonia lost about 20 % of its population during the terror that followed and many more suffered in prison camps, torture chambers, and Siberian exile. Estonian officers were the greatest victims. For many of them, instead of being able to fight in defense of their country, they were led like lambs to slaughter. Instead of being allowed to perform their duty, their fate was a bullet to the back of the head and an unmarked grave on Siberian soil.
The years of 1940-1941 were the most difficult for the Estonian officers. They were forced to serve in the Soviet army under extreme conditions of fear and terror. Germany had historically been Estonia’s enemy but the situation at the time proved that the Germans were the lesser of the two evils. Thus many Estonian soldiers in Russian units away from their homeland deserted from the Red Army to become German prisoners of war. The lucky ones managed to make it back to Estonia. Others spent long periods in prison camps under severe conditions.
The authors of these memoirs were lucky – they all survived – but at a great cost. Some of the following stories are simply fantastic. If one did not know that it is impossible to dream up such wild tales one would think them being simply unbelievable. All of these five men were lucky enough to escape to the free world and did not have to endure Russian prison camps or other repression. Most of these men fought in both Soviet and German armed forces. Their aim was to keep the Red Army out of Estonia until war’s end, believing that the Atlantic Charter would be enforced by the Allies and that this would allow Estonia to regain its independence. Even though they wore Russian and German uniforms, they were vehemently against communism and fascism – their goal was simply to regain the independence of Estonia. It was no fault of theirs that it could not be achieved. What they did achieve was to instill a tradition of resistance which bore fruit 50 years later when Estonia again won its freedom from the occupying foreign power.
They were true Estonian soldiers.
Mart Laar
September 4, 2011
Tallinn, Estonia
Editor’s note:
Mart Laar is a statesman and historian, and is the present Estonian Minister of Defense. He was the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002 and is credited with having brought about Estonia’s rapid economic development in the 1990s. He studied history at the University of Tartu and as a professional historian has written many books on Estonian and Soviet history.
Brief Historical