Ämari Air Base ( ICAO : EEEI ) is a military airbase in Harjumaa , Estonia , located 7 km (4.3 mi) south of Lake Klooga and 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) southwest of Tallinn .
152-591: The base was opened in 1945. Ämari Air Base was built between 1940–1952 under an agreement signed by the Estonian SSR and the Soviet Union . In 1945, the USSR Ministry of Defense established a naval reserve airfield of its Baltic Fleet there, where the amphibious seaplanes of the 69th Long-Range Reconnaissance Regiment Catalina PBY-5A and the escort fighters Yak-9P began to be based. It became
304-405: A German helmet appear on the horizon, abandoning their artillery, convoys and all war material to the triumphantly advancing enemy. The Red Guard units are brushed aside like flies. We have no power to stay the enemy; only an immediate signing of the peace treaty will save us from destruction." The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) can be divided into three periods: At the start of the civil war,
456-615: A Finnish passenger aircraft " Kaleva " flying from Tallinn to Helsinki carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U.S. legations in Tallinn, Riga and Helsinki. On 16 June, Soviet NKVD troops raided border posts in Estonia (along with Lithuania and Latvia ). Soviet leader Joseph Stalin claimed that the 1939 mutual assistance treaties had been violated, and gave six-hour ultimatums for new governments to be formed in each country, including lists of persons for cabinet posts provided by
608-551: A collective committee of Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko , Pavel Dybenko , and Nikolai Krylenko . At the same time, Nikolay Dukhonin was acting as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief after Alexander Kerensky fled from Russia. On 12 November 1917 the Soviet government appointed Krylenko as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and because of an "accident" during the forceful displacement of the commander-in-chief, Dukhonin
760-565: A common border between Japanese controlled areas and the Soviet Far East and Mongolia . The Soviets and Japanese, including their respective client states of the Mongolian People's Republic and Manchukuo , disputed the boundaries and accused the other side of border violations. This resulted in a series of escalating border skirmishes and punitive expeditions , including the 1938 Battle of Lake Khasan , and culminated in
912-457: A crackdown against kulak farmers. The kulak repression started as oppressive taxation, but eventually led to mass deportations. Those who resisted collectivization were killed or deported. More than 95% of farms were collectivised by 1951. The 1949 mass deportation of about 21,000 people broke the back of the partisan movement. 6,600 partisans gave themselves up in November 1949. Later on,
1064-418: A further 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. Thus the grand total of losses amounted to 8,668,400. This is the official total dead , but other estimates give the number of total dead up to almost 11 million men, including 7.7 million killed or missing in action and 2.6 million prisoners of war (POW) dead (out of 5.2 million total POWs), plus 400,000 paramilitary and Soviet partisan losses. Officials at
1216-503: A hundred times as many tanks . The Red Army, however, had been hindered by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin 's Great Purge of 1937, reducing the army's morale and efficiency shortly before the outbreak of the fighting. With over 30,000 of its army officers executed or imprisoned, most of whom were from the highest ranks, the Red Army in 1939 had many inexperienced senior officers. Because of these factors, and high commitment and morale in
1368-547: A large-scale population movement into Estonia, as immigrants from Russia and other parts of the former USSR settled in Estonia. According to some Western scholars, relations between the Soviet Union and Estonian SSR were those of internal colonialism . All banks and accounts were essentially nationalised; a lot of industrial machinery was disassembled and relocated to other Soviet territories. Before retreating in 1941,
1520-506: A law on economic independence (May 1989) confirmed by the USSR Supreme Soviet that November; a language law making Estonian the official language (January 1989); and local and republic election laws stipulating residency requirements for voting and candidacy (August, November 1989). Although the majority of Estonia's numerous Soviet-era immigrants did not support full independence, the mostly ethnic Russian immigrant community
1672-454: A major reshuffling took place in the Soviet military administration. On 13 March 1918, the Soviet government accepted the official resignation of Krylenko and the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief was liquidated. On 14 March 1918, Leon Trotsky replaced Podvoisky as the Narkom of War Affairs. On 16 March 1918, Pavel Dybenko was relieved from the office of Narkom of Marine Affairs. On 8 May 1918,
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#17327868976641824-595: A result administration of Ivangorod was transferred from Narva to the Leningrad Oblast which having grown in population received the official status of town in 1954. In 1945 the Petseri County was annexed and ceded to the Russian SFSR where it became one of the districts of Pskov Oblast . After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia raised the question of a return to the borders under
1976-545: A stable nucleus. By 1925, this system provided 46 of the 77 infantry divisions and one of the eleven cavalry divisions. The remainder consisted of regular officers and enlisted personnel serving two-year terms. The territorial system was finally abolished, with all remaining formations converted to the other cadre divisions, in 1937–1938. The Soviet military received ample funding and was innovative in its technology. An American journalist wrote in 1941: Even in American terms
2128-521: A surrender the following day although some Japanese units continued to fight for several more days. A proposed Soviet invasion of Hokkaido , the second largest Japanese island, was originally planned to be part of the territory to be taken but it was cancelled. Military administration after the October Revolution was taken over by the People's Commissariat of War and Marine affairs headed by
2280-695: A threat running in the main Communist newspaper, Rahva Hääl , that "It would be extremely unwise to shirk elections. ... Only people's enemies stay at home on election day." Each ballot carried only the Soviet-assigned candidate's name, with the only way to register opposition being to strike out that name on the ballot. According to official election results, the Communist "Union of the Estonian Working People" bloc won 92.8% of
2432-793: A wide wealth gap in comparison with its neighboring countries (e.g. Finland and Sweden). For example, Estonian economy and standard of living were similar to that in Finland prior to World War II. Despite Soviet and Russian claims of improvements in standards, even three decades after World War II Estonia was rife with housing and food shortages and fell far behind Finland not only in levels of income, but in average life span. Eastern Bloc economies experienced an inefficiency of systems without competition or market-clearing prices that became costly and unsustainable and they lagged significantly behind their Western European counterparts in terms of per capita Gross Domestic Product. Estonia's 1990 per capita GDP
2584-605: Is only one way to prevent the restoration of the police, and that is to create a people's militia and to fuse it with the army (the standing army to be replaced by the arming of the entire people)." At the time, the Imperial Russian Army had started to collapse. Approximately 23% (about 19 million) of the male population of the Russian Empire were mobilized; however, most of them were not equipped with any weapons and had support roles such as maintaining
2736-645: The Cheka secret police. Conscription began in June 1918, and opposition to it was violently suppressed. To control the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Red Army soldiery, the Cheka operated special punitive brigades which suppressed anti-communists , deserters , and " enemies of the state ". The Red Army used special regiments for ethnic minorities, such as the Dungan Cavalry Regiment commanded by
2888-628: The Dungan Magaza Masanchi . It also co-operated with armed Bolshevik Party-oriented volunteer units, the Forces of Special Purpose from 1919 to 1925. The slogan "exhortation, organization, and reprisals" expressed the discipline and motivation which helped ensure the Red Army's tactical and strategic success. On campaign, the attached Cheka special punitive brigades conducted summary field court-martial and executions of deserters and slackers. Under Commissar Yan Karlovich Berzin ,
3040-737: The Fall of France . On 21 June 1940, the Soviet military occupation of the Republic of Estonia was complete. That day, the President Konstantin Päts (deported to Ufa , Russian SFSR on 30 July 1940 and arrested a few weeks later) was pressured into affirming the Andrei Zhdanov -appointed puppet government of Johannes Vares , following the arrival of demonstrators accompanied by Red Army troops with armoured vehicles to
3192-543: The Gulag . During the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army conscripted 29,574,900 men in addition to the 4,826,907 in service at the beginning of the war. Of this total of 34,401,807 it lost 6,329,600 killed in action (KIA), 555,400 deaths by disease and 4,559,000 missing in action (MIA) (most captured). Of the 4.5 million missing, 939,700 rejoined the ranks in the subsequently liberated Soviet territory, and
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#17327868976643344-906: The Imperial Japanese Army ), the doctrine was not used. Only in the Second World War did deep operations come into play. The Red Army was involved in armed conflicts in the Republic of China during the Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) , the Soviet invasion of Xinjiang (1934), when it was assisted by White Russian forces, and the Islamic rebellion in Xinjiang (1937) in Northwestern China . The Red Army achieved its objectives; it maintained effective control over
3496-622: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine led by Nestor Makhno , the anti-White and anti-Red Green armies , efforts to restore the defeated Provisional Government, monarchists, but mainly the White Movement of several different anti-socialist military confederations. "Red Army Day", 23 February 1918, has a two-fold historical significance: it was the first day of conscription (in Petrograd and Moscow), and
3648-610: The Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 9 August 1945 (three days after the first atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the same day the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki , while also being exact three months after the surrender of Germany). It was the largest campaign of the Soviet–Japanese War , which resumed hostilities between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Empire of Japan after almost six years of peace following
3800-588: The Tallinn Higher Military-Political Construction School . In the Soviet system, all local proceeds were initially appropriated into the federal budget at Moscow, and some of them were then invested back in the local economies. The figures for those investments were made available to the public, thus promoting a positive impression of the Soviet Federal Centre's contributions to the periphery,
3952-686: The Tartu Offensive and the rest of the country in the Baltic Offensive . Faced with the country being re-occupied by the Soviet Army, 80,000 people fled from Estonia by sea to Finland and Sweden in 1944. 25,000 Estonians reached Sweden and a further 42,000 Germany. During the war about 8,000 Estonian Swedes and their family members had emigrated to Sweden. After the retreat of the Germans, about 30,000 partisans remained in hiding in
4104-964: The United States . In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $ 11 billion in materials ($ 180 billion in the 2020 money value): over 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386 of which were M3 Lees and 4,102 M4 Shermans ); 14,015 aircraft (of which 4,719 were Bell P-39 Airacobras , 2,908 were Douglas A-20 Havocs and 2,400 were Bell P-63 Kingcobras ) and 1.75 million tons of food. Soviet soldiers committed mass rapes in occupied territories, especially in Germany . The wartime rapes were followed by decades of silence. According to historian Antony Beevor , whose books were banned in 2015 from some Russian schools and colleges, NKVD (Soviet secret police) files have revealed that
4256-627: The Wehrmacht in combat. The Axis's numeric superiority rendered the combatants' divisional strength approximately equal. A generation of Soviet commanders (notably Georgy Zhukov ) learned from the defeats, and Soviet victories in the Battle of Moscow , at Stalingrad , Kursk and later in Operation Bagration proved decisive. In 1941, the Soviet government raised the bloodied Red Army's esprit de corps with propaganda stressing
4408-502: The Wehrmacht was especially harsh. Per a 1941 Stalin directive , Red Army officers and soldiers were to "fight to the last" rather than surrender; Stalin stated: "There are no Soviet prisoners of war, only traitors". During and after World War II freed POWs went to special " filtration camps ". Of these, by 1944, more than 90% were cleared, and about 8% were arrested or condemned to serve in penal battalions . In 1944, they were sent directly to reserve military formations to be cleared by
4560-587: The brigade and regimental levels. The commissars also had the task of spying on commanders for political incorrectness . In August 1918, Trotsky authorized General Mikhail Tukhachevsky to place blocking units behind politically unreliable Red Army units, to shoot anyone who retreated without permission. In 1942, during the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) Joseph Stalin reintroduced the blocking policy and penal battalions with Order 227 . The Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 occurred at
4712-483: The lines of communication and the base areas. The Tsarist general Nikolay Dukhonin estimated that there had been 2 million deserters, 1.8 million dead, 5 million wounded and 2 million prisoners. He estimated the remaining troops as numbering 10 million. While the Imperial Russian Army was being taken apart, "it became apparent that the rag-tag Red Guard units and elements of
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4864-539: The residence of the Estonian president . The flag of Estonia was replaced with a Red flag on Tallinn's Pikk Hermann tower. On 14–15 July 1940, rigged extraordinary parliamentary elections were held by the occupation authorities, in which voters were presented with a single list of pro-Stalinist candidates. To maximise voter turnout to legitimise the new system, the voters' documents were stamped in voting facilities for future identification of voting, along with
5016-738: The "Second Soviet-Finnish War") which was a conflict fought by Finland and Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944. In accordance with the Soviet-Nazi Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939, the Red Army invaded Poland on 17 September 1939, after the Nazi invasion on 1 September 1939. On 30 November, the Red Army also attacked Finland, in the Winter War of 1939–1940. By autumn 1940, after conquering its portion of Poland, Nazi Germany shared an extensive border with
5168-466: The 1929 Field Regulations and became codified in the 1936 Provisional Field Regulations (PU-36). The Great Purge of 1937–1939 and the 1941 Red Army Purge removed many leading officers from the Red Army, including Tukhachevsky himself and many of his followers, and the doctrine was abandoned. Thus, at the Battle of Lake Khasan in 1938 and in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 ( major border conflicts with
5320-542: The 1932–1939 Soviet–Japanese border conflicts . The Red Army, with support from Mongolian forces, overwhelmed the Japanese Kwantung Army and local Chinese forces supporting them. The Soviets advanced on the continent into the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo , Mengjiang (the northeast section of present-day Inner Mongolia which was part of another puppet state) and via an amphibious operation
5472-426: The 1970s, the Soviet economy experienced stagnation, exacerbated by the growth of a shadow economy. National income per capita was higher in Estonia than elsewhere in the USSR (44% above the Soviet average in 1968), however, the income levels exceeded those of the USSR in independent Estonia as well. Official Estonian sources maintain that Soviet rule had significantly slowed Estonia's economic growth, resulting in
5624-542: The 20 Estonian ships in British ports. He failed to obtain reassurance, so the majority went to the Soviet Union. The Irish experience was different. There was a fight between Peter Kolts, who hoisted the hammer and sickle and Captain Joseph Juriska who wanted to remove it. The Garda Síochána were called. The next day, Justice Michael Lennon sentenced Kolts to a week in jail. Following this verdict and sentence,
5776-646: The All-Russian Chief Headquarters was created, headed by Nikolai Stogov and later Alexander Svechin . On 2 September 1918, the Revolutionary Military Council (RMC) was established as the main military administration under Leon Trotsky, the Narkom of War Affairs. On 6 September 1918 alongside the chief headquarters, the Field Headquarters of RMC was created, initially headed by Nikolai Rattel . On
5928-513: The Baltic states included. Investment figures alone, however, do not represent actual income; rather, they resemble the spending side of the national budget . In Estonian SSR by 1947, the private sector had entirely disappeared, accompanied by a rapid industrialization that occurred soon after Soviet reoccupation. Soviet planners expanded oil shale mining and processing in the late 1940s, taking over that industry in northeast section of Estonia. In
6080-636: The Bolshevik Revolution took place there were few machines in Russia. Marx said Communism must come in a highly industrialized society. The Bolsheviks identified their dreams of socialist happiness with machines which would multiply production and reduce hours of labour until everyone would have everything he needed and would work only as much as he wished. Somehow this has not come about, but the Russians still worship machines, and this helped make
6232-504: The Destruction Battalion must be mobilised. 15 workers are needed for the execution of each demolition and 10 people are needed for protection.... In order to carry out demolition works, 225 kg of TNT, 150 metres of rope/fuse and 100 primers are needed, since there is no demolition material on the spot. 11 lorries, which are available but which lack petrol, are needed for carrying the ruins away." After Stalin's death,
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6384-567: The Eastern Front consisted of an estimated 3,604,800 KIA/MIA within the 1937 borders plus 900,000 ethnic Germans and Austrians outside the 1937 border (included in these numbers are men listed as missing in action or unaccounted for after the war) and 3,576,300 men reported captured (total 8,081,100); the losses of the German satellites on the Eastern Front approximated 668,163 KIA/MIA and 799,982 captured (total 1,468,145). Of these 9,549,245,
6536-624: The Estonian Government suggested that they stuck strictly to the Pact of Mutual Assistance. To guarantee the fulfilment of the Pact, additional military units entered Estonia, welcomed by the Estonian workers who demanded the resignation of the Estonian government. On 21 June under the leadership of the Estonian Communist Party political demonstrations by workers were held in Tallinn, Tartu , Narva and other cities. On
6688-483: The Estonian SSR as the 15th (i.e., "the last on the list") constituent "republic". On 23 July 1940, the new Stalinist regime nationalised all land, banks and major industrial enterprises in Estonia. Farmers were allotted small plots of land during the land reforms. Most small businesses were nationalised soon afterwards. The Soviet central government launched the colonisation of the occupied country by promoting
6840-648: The Estonian SSR was the Supreme Soviet that represented the highest body of state power accordance with the Constitution. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the permanent body of the Supreme Council. It consisted of a Chairman of the Presidium , two vice-chairmen, Secretary and 9 members. Was elected to the Presidium of the 25th for the first time August 1940th The Presidium of the law and
6992-435: The Estonian forests, waging a guerrilla war until the early 1950s. After re-occupation, the Soviet nationalization policy of 1940 was reimposed, as well as the collectivization of farms. Over 900,000 hectares were expropriated in the few years following reoccupation, while much of that land was given to new settlers from Russia or other locations in the Soviet Union. Rapid collectivization began in 1946, followed in 1947 by
7144-533: The Estonian-Russian border in the Narva area, as the new constitution of Estonia (adopted in 1992) recognises the 1920 Treaty of Tartu border to be currently legal. The Russian Federation, however, considers Estonia to be a successor of the Estonian SSR and recognises the 1945 border between two former national republics. Officially, Estonia has no territorial claims in the area, which is also reflected in
7296-640: The Finnish forces, Finland was able to resist the Soviet invasion for much longer than the Soviets expected. Finnish forces inflicted stunning losses on the Red Army for the first three months of the war while suffering very few losses themselves. Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty . Finland ceded 9% of its pre-war territory and 30% of its economic assets to
7448-436: The German army throughout the war. An anti-communist guerrilla group called the Forest Brothers also assisted the Wehrmacht. Estonia was incorporated into the German province of Ostland . The Soviet Union retook Estonia in 1944, thereafter occupying it for nearly another half century. This began when the Red Army re-occupied Estonian Ingria , Narva and eastern Vaivara Parish in the Battle of Narva , Southeast Estonia in
7600-440: The KGB tracked him down and attempted to arrest him in 1978. He drowned in a lake, when the KGB agent, disguised as a fisherman, was after him. During the first post-war decade of Soviet rule, Estonia was governed by Moscow via Russian-born ethnic Estonian functionaries. Born into the families of native Estonians in Russia, the latter had obtained their education in the Soviet Union during the Stalin era. Many of them had fought in
7752-494: The Kremlin. The Soviet ultimatum to Estonia was issued on 16 June 1940. The Estonian government decided, in accordance with the Kellogg–Briand Pact , to not respond to the ultimatums by military means. Given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, the order was given not to resist to avoid bloodshed and open war. On 16–17 June 1940, the Red Army emerged from its military bases in Estonia and, aided by an additional 90,000 Soviet troops, took over
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#17327868976647904-399: The Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway , and successfully installed a pro-Soviet regime in Xinjiang . The Soviet–Japanese border conflicts , also known as the "Soviet–Japanese Border War" or the first "Soviet–Japanese War", was a series of minor and major conflicts fought between the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan from 1932 to 1939. Japan's expansion into Northeast China created
8056-418: The NKVD. Further, in 1945, about 100 filtration camps were set for repatriated POWs, and other displaced persons , which processed more than 4,000,000 people. By 1946, 80% civilians and 20% of POWs were freed, 5% of civilians, and 43% of POWs were re-drafted, 10% of civilians and 22% of POWs were sent to labor battalions, and 2% of civilians and 15% of the POWs (226,127 out of 1,539,475 total) were transferred to
8208-401: The Pact of Mutual Assistance was signed which allowed the USSR to station a limited number of Soviet Army units in Estonia. Economic difficulties, dissatisfaction with the Estonian government's policies "sabotaging fulfilment of the Pact and the Estonian government", and political orientation towards Nazi Germany lead to a revolutionary situation in June 1940. A note from the Soviet government to
8360-506: The Parliament reinstated the 1938 constitution, and the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed the Republic of Estonia. On 20 August 1991, the Estonian Parliament adopted a resolution confirming its independence from the Soviet Union. First to recognise Estonia as an independent country was Iceland, on 22 August 1991. On 6 September 1991, the State Council of the USSR recognised the independence of Estonia, immediately followed by recognitions from other countries. On 23 February 1989,
8512-495: The Party membership vastly expanded its social base to include more ethnic Estonians. By the mid-1960s, the percentage of ethnic Estonian membership stabilised near 50%. One positive aspect of the post-Stalin era in Estonia was the regranting of permission in the late 1950s for citizens to make contact with foreign countries. Ties were reactivated with Finland, and in 1965, a ferry service was opened between Tallinn and Helsinki. President of Finland Urho Kekkonen had visited Tallinn in
8664-425: The Red Army (in the Estonian Rifle Corps), few of them had mastered the Estonian language. For the latter reason they were known under a derogatory term " Yestonians ", alluding to their Russian accent. Although the United States and the United Kingdom, the major allies of the USSR against Nazi Germany during the later stages of World War II, both implicitly acknowledged (de facto) the occupation of Estonia by USSR at
8816-421: The Red Army consisted of 299 infantry regiments . The civil war intensified after Lenin dissolved the Russian Constituent Assembly (5–6 January 1918) and the Soviet government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918), removing Russia from the First World War. Freed from international obligations, the Red Army confronted an internecine war against a variety of opposing anti-Bolshevik forces, including
8968-404: The Red Army during World War II, 8 million of which were non-Slavic minorities. Officially, the Red Army lost 6,329,600 killed in action (KIA), 555,400 deaths by disease and 4,559,000 missing in action (MIA) ( mostly captured ). The majority of the losses, excluding POWs, were ethnic Russians (5,756,000), followed by ethnic Ukrainians (1,377,400). Of the 4.5 million missing, 939,700 rejoined
9120-460: The Red Army finally achieving a Soviet-Mongolian victory over Japan and Manchukuo at the Battles of Khalkhin Gol in September 1939. The Soviet Union and Japan agreed to a ceasefire. Later the two sides signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact on 13 April 1941, which resolved the dispute and returned the borders to status quo ante bellum . The Winter War ( Finnish : talvisota , Swedish : finska vinterkriget , Russian: Зи́мняя война́ )
9272-445: The Red Army instituted amnesty weeks to prohibit punitive measures against desertion which encouraged the voluntary return of 98,000–132,000 deserters to the army. In September 1918, the Bolshevik militias consolidated under the supreme command of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic ( Russian : Революционный Военный Совет , romanized : Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet (Revvoyensoviet) ). The first chairman
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#17327868976649424-481: The Red Army numbered some 6.5 million men, many of whom the Army had difficulty supporting, around 581,000 in the two operational fronts, western and southwestern. Around 2.5 million men and women were mobilized in the interior as part of reserve armies. The XI Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (RCP (b)) adopted a resolution on the strengthening of the Red Army. It decided to establish strictly organized military, educational and economic conditions in
9576-483: The Red Army's defeat of Pyotr Wrangel in the south in 1920 allowed the foundation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in December 1922. Historian John Erickson sees 1 February 1924, when Mikhail Frunze became head of the Red Army staff, as marking the ascent of the general staff , which came to dominate Soviet military planning and operations. By 1 October 1924 the Red Army's strength had diminished to 530,000. The list of Soviet divisions 1917–1945 details
9728-411: The Red Army's strength was 401 divisions. The Soviet forces were apparently unprepared despite numerous warnings from a variety of sources. They suffered much damage in the field because of mediocre officers, partial mobilization, and an incomplete reorganization. The hasty pre-war forces expansion and the over-promotion of inexperienced officers (owing to the purging of experienced officers) favored
9880-409: The Red Army, following the scorched earth policies, burnt most industrial constructions, destroying power plants, vehicles and cattle. Millions of dollars worth of goods were allegedly moved from Estonia to Russia during the evacuation of 1941. There was excess mortality among common people, too, that has been attributed to malnutrition . Immediately following the June 1940 Estonian occupation by
10032-403: The Republic of Estonia, which had survived or had been restored during the German occupation, continued. On 15 April 1945, in Pärnu , a monument by Amandus Adamson , erected to 87 persons who had fallen in the Estonian War of Independence , was demolished. The dismantling of war memorials continued for several years and occurred across all districts of the country. A comprehensive file concerning
10184-473: The Russian Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) maintain that their database lists the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel. The majority of the losses, excluding POWs, were ethnic Russians (5,756,000), followed by ethnic Ukrainians (1,377,400). As many as 8 million of the 34 million mobilized were non-Slavic minority soldiers, and around 45 divisions formed from national minorities served from 1941 to 1943. The German losses on
10336-402: The Soviet Union and incorporation as a result of a Soviet-supported Communist coup d'état , the only foreign powers to recognise the Soviet annexation were Nazi Germany and Sweden. Shipping was nationalized. Ships were ordered to fly the hammer and sickle and head for a Soviet port. August Torma , the envoy appointed by previous Estonian government, sought protection and reassurance for
10488-518: The Soviet Union made Red Army logistical support difficult because many depots (and most of the USSR's industrial manufacturing base) lay in the country's invaded western areas, obliging their re-establishment east of the Ural Mountains. Lend-Lease trucks and jeeps from the United States began appearing in large numbers in 1942. Until then, the Red Army was often required to improvise or go without weapons, vehicles, and other equipment. The 1941 decision to physically move their manufacturing capacity east of
10640-421: The Soviet Union. In June 1918, Leon Trotsky abolished workers' control over the Red Army, replacing the election of officers with traditional army hierarchies and criminalizing dissent with the death penalty . Simultaneously, Trotsky carried out a mass recruitment of officers from the old Imperial Russian Army , who were employed as military advisors ( voenspetsy ). The Bolsheviks occasionally enforced
10792-415: The Soviet Union. Soviet losses on the front were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. The Soviet forces did not accomplish their objective of the total conquest of Finland but did receive territory in Karelia , Petsamo , and Salla . The Finns retained their sovereignty and improved their international reputation, which bolstered their morale in the Continuation War (also known as
10944-481: The Soviet Union. This somewhat more open media environment was important in preparing Estonians for their vanguard role in extending perestroika during the Gorbachev era. In the late 1970s, Estonian society grew increasingly concerned about the threat of cultural Russification to the Estonian language and national identity. In 1980, Tallinn hosted the sailing events of the 1980 Summer Olympics . By 1981, Russian
11096-485: The Soviet authorities. This graveyard was then re-used by the Red Army after World War II. Other cemeteries destroyed by the authorities during the Soviet era in Estonia include Baltic German cemeteries, Kopli cemetery (established in 1774), Mõigu cemetery and the oldest cemetery in Tallinn, the Kalamaja cemetery (from the 16th century). After the re-occupation of Estonia in 1944, the dismantling of monuments from
11248-436: The Soviet defence budget was large. In 1940 it was the equivalent of $ 11,000,000,000, and represented one-third of the national expenditure. Measure this against the fact that the infinitely richer United States will approximate the expenditure of that much yearly only in 1942 after two years of its greatest defence effort. Most of the money spent on the Red Army and Air Force went for machines of war. Twenty-three years ago when
11400-490: The Soviets released 3,572,600 from captivity after the war, thus the grand total of the Axis losses came to an estimated 5,976,645. Regarding POWs, both sides captured large numbers and had many die in captivity – one recent British figure says 3.6 of 6 million Soviet POWs died in German camps, while 300,000 of 3 million German POWs died in Soviet hands. In 1941, the rapid progress of the initial German air and land attacks into
11552-621: The State Assembly adopted the Constitution of the Estonian SSR, renamed itself the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR and approved the Council of People's Commissars of the Estonian SSR. After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the Wehrmacht reached Estonia in July 1941. The Germans were perceived by many Estonians as liberators from the USSR and Communism in general. Thousands of Estonian men fought directly alongside
11704-414: The Supreme Soviet ended the use of the Soviet symbols as state symbols together with the name Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and adopted Republic of Estonia as the official name of the state. The parliament of Estonia declared the re-establishment of full independence on 20 August 1991. The Soviet Union formally recognised the independence of Estonia on 6 September 1991. The Nazi-Soviet Pact which
11856-614: The Treaty of Tartu. Estonia dropped this claim in November 1995. Estonia and Russia signed and ratified the Estonian-Russian Border Treaty, and it went into effect 18 May 2005: the preamble noted that the international border had partly changed, in accordance with Article 122 of the Estonian Constitution. After the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991, there have been some disputes about
12008-622: The USSR, with whom it remained neutrally bound by their non-aggression pact and trade agreements . Another consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina , carried out by the Southern Front in June–July 1940 and Soviet occupation of the Baltic states . These conquests also added to the border the Soviet Union shared with Nazi-controlled areas. For Adolf Hitler ,
12160-486: The Ural Mountains kept the main Soviet support system out of German reach. In the later stages of the war, the Red Army fielded some excellent weaponry, especially artillery and tanks. The Red Army's heavy KV-1 and medium T-34 tanks outclassed most Wehrmacht armor, but in 1941 most Soviet tank units used older and inferior models. The Red Army was financially and materially assisted in its wartime effort by
12312-559: The Vares government—had not been approved by the upper house of parliament, as required by the Estonian constitution. The upper house had been dissolved soon after the Soviet occupation and was never reconvened. Once the elections were concluded, authorities which had previously denied any intention of setting up a Soviet regime began openly speaking of Sovietisation and incorporation into the Soviet Union. The newly "elected" " People's Parliament " met on 21 July 1940. Its sole piece of business
12464-579: The Yalta Conference in 1945, both governments, and most of the other western democracies did not recognise it de jure according to the Sumner Welles ' declaration of 23 July 1940 Some of these countries recognised Estonian diplomats who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments. These consuls persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Estonia's independence in 1991. Special care
12616-468: The above organizations." In the event of an entire unit wanting to join the Red Army, a "collective guarantee and the affirmative vote of all its members would be necessary." Because the Red Army was composed mainly of peasants, the families of those who served were guaranteed rations and assistance with farm work. Some peasants who remained at home yearned to join the Army; men, along with some women, flooded
12768-508: The annexation of Estonia de jure . The Russian government and officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of Estonia was legitimate. Pre-Perestroika Soviet sources reflecting Soviet historiography described the events in 1939 and 1940 as follows: in a former province of the Russian Empire , the Province of Estonia (Russian: Эстляндская губерния ), Soviet power was established in the end of October 1917. The Estonian Soviet Republic
12920-619: The annexation of Estonia by the USSR illegal following the Stimson Doctrine —a stance that made the doctrine an established precedent of international law . Although the US, the UK, the other Allies of World War II recognised the occupation of the Baltic states by USSR at Yalta Conference in 1945 de facto , they retained diplomatic relations with the exiled representatives of the independent Republic of Estonia, and never formally recognised
13072-636: The army. However, it was recognized that an army of 1,600,000 would be burdensome. By the end of 1922, after the Congress, the Party Central Committee decided to reduce the Red Army to 800,000. This reduction necessitated the reorganization of the Red Army's structure. The supreme military unit became corps of two or three divisions. Divisions consisted of three regiments. Brigades as independent units were abolished. The formation of departments' rifle corps began. After four years of warfare,
13224-512: The battle at Raua Street lasted for several hours until sundown. There was one dead, several wounded on the Estonian side and about 10 killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. Finally the military resistance was ended with negotiations and the Independent Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed. By 18 June 1940, large-scale military operations for the occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were complete. In
13376-576: The beginning of its existence, the Red Army functioned as a voluntary formation, without ranks or insignia. Democratic elections selected the officers. However, a decree on 29 May 1918 imposed obligatory military service for men of ages 18 to 40. To service the massive draft, the Bolsheviks formed regional military commissariats ( voyennyy komissariat , abbr. voyenkomat ), which as of 2023 still exist in Russia in this function and under this name. Military commissariats, however, should not be confused with
13528-480: The brigades took hostages from the villages of deserters to compel their surrender; one in ten of those returning was executed. The same tactic also suppressed peasant rebellions in areas controlled by the Red Army, the biggest of these being the Tambov Rebellion . The Soviets enforced the loyalty of the various political, ethnic, and national groups in the Red Army through political commissars attached at
13680-682: The circumstance was no dilemma, because the Drang nach Osten ("Drive towards the East") policy secretly remained in force, culminating on 18 December 1940 with Directive No. 21, Operation Barbarossa , approved on 3 February 1941, and scheduled for mid-May 1941. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army's ground forces had 303 divisions and 22 separate brigades (5.5 million soldiers) including 166 divisions and brigades (2.6 million) garrisoned in
13832-674: The country, occupying the entire territory of the Republic of Estonia. Most of the Estonian Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League surrendered according to the orders, and were disarmed by the Red Army. Only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed at Raua Street in Tallinn began armed resistance. As the Soviet troops brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicles,
13984-476: The decisions adopted. Between sessions of the Supreme Council met in some of its functions: changes to the legislation of the Estonian SSR, Soviet ministries and state committees and to the abolition of the SSR Council of Ministers and the persons appointment and removal of the Supreme Council for approval by relevant laws. The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic did not have armed forces of its own. Because of
14136-620: The defense "of the Soviet authority, the creation of a basis for the transformation of the standing army into a force deriving its strength from a nation in arms, and, furthermore, the creation of a basis for the support of the coming Socialist Revolution in Europe." Enlistment was conditional upon "guarantees being given by a military or civil committee functioning within the territory of the Soviet Power, or by party or trade union committees or, in extreme cases, by two persons belonging to one of
14288-549: The defense of Motherland and nation, employing historic exemplars of Russian courage and bravery against foreign aggressors. The anti-Nazi Great Patriotic War was conflated with the Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon , and historical Russian military heroes, such as Alexander Nevsky and Mikhail Kutuzov , appeared. Repression of the Russian Orthodox Church temporarily ceased, and priests revived
14440-499: The depth of the enemy's ground forces, inducing catastrophic defensive failure. The deep-battle doctrine relies upon aviation and armor advances with the expectation that maneuver warfare offers quick, efficient, and decisive victory. Marshal Tukhachevsky said that aerial warfare must be "employed against targets beyond the range of infantry , artillery , and other arms. For maximum tactical effect aircraft should be employed en masse , concentrated in time and space, against targets of
14592-589: The duration of the European war". The government of Estonia yielded to the ultimatum, signing the corresponding mutual assistance agreement on 28 September 1939. On 12 June 1940, the order for total military blockade of Estonia was given to the Soviet Soviet Baltic fleet . On 14 June, the Soviet military blockade of Estonia went into effect while the world's attention was focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany . Two Soviet bombers shot down
14744-527: The failure of the Hungarian uprising broke the morale of 700 men still remaining under cover. According to Soviet data, up until 1953 20,351 partisans were defeated. Of these, 1,510 perished in the battles. During that period, 1,728 members of the Red Army, NKVD and the Estonian Police were killed by the "forest brothers". August Sabbe , the last surviving "brother" in Estonia, committed suicide when
14896-717: The first day of combat against the occupying Imperial German Army . The Red Army controlled by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic also against independence movements, invading and annexing newly independent states of the former Russian Empire. This included three military campaigns against the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic , in January–February 1918, January–February 1919, and May–October 1920. Conquered nations were subsequently incorporated into
15048-638: The flag of the Estonian SSR was lowered on Pikk Hermann, and replaced with the blue-black-white flag of Estonia on 24 February 1989. In 1992, Heinrich Mark , the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia in Exile, presented his credentials to the newly elected President of Estonia Lennart Meri . The last Russian troops withdrew from Estonia in August 1994. The Russian Federation officially ended its military presence in Estonia after it relinquished control of
15200-427: The following days, the Soviet troops organised and supported Stalinist "demonstrations" in Tallinn and other larger cities. Thereafter, state administrations were liquidated and replaced by Soviet cadres, followed by mass repression. Time magazine reported on 24 June, that "Half a million men and countless tanks" of the Red Army "moved to safeguard [Russia's] frontier against conquest-drunk Germany," one week before
15352-569: The formations of the Red Army in that time. In the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, Soviet military theoreticians – led by Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky – developed the deep operation doctrine, a direct consequence of their experiences in the Polish–Soviet War and in the Russian Civil War. To achieve victory, deep operations envisage simultaneous corps - and army-size unit maneuvers of simultaneous parallel attacks throughout
15504-456: The highest tactical importance." "To the Red army, Stalin has dealt a fearful blow. As a result of the latest judicial frameup, it has fallen several cubits in stature. The interests of the Soviet defense have been sacrificed in the interests of the self-preservation of the ruling clique." Trotsky on the Red Army purges of 1937. Red Army deep operations found their first formal expression in
15656-561: The hundreds of thousands, and possibly as many as two million. While the Soviets considered the surrender of Germany to be the end of the "Great Patriotic War", at the earlier Yalta Conference the Soviet Union agreed to enter the Pacific Theater portion of World War II within three months of the end of the war in Europe . This promise was reaffirmed at the Potsdam Conference held in July 1945. The Red Army began
15808-489: The imperial army who had gone over the side of the Bolsheviks were quite inadequate to the task of defending the new government against external foes." Therefore, the Council of People's Commissars decided to form the Red Army on 28 January 1918. They envisioned a body "formed from the class-conscious and best elements of the working classes." All citizens of the Russian republic aged 18 or older were eligible. Its role being
15960-423: The installation of a Stalinist government which, backed by the occupying Soviet Red Army , declared Estonia a Soviet constituency, the Estonian SSR was subsequently incorporated into the Soviet Union as a union republic on 6 August 1940. Estonia was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941, and administered as a part of Reichskommissariat Ostland until it was reconquered by the USSR in 1944. The majority of
16112-426: The institution of military political commissars . In the mid-1920s, the territorial principle of manning the Red Army was introduced. In each region, able-bodied men were called up for a limited period of active duty in territorial units, which constituted about half the army's strength, each year, for five years. The first call-up period was for three months, with one month a year thereafter. A regular cadre provided
16264-705: The largest land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II , and its invasion of Manchuria assisted the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan . During its operations on the Eastern Front , it accounted for 75–80% of the casualties that the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS suffered during the war, and ultimately captured the German capital, Berlin . Up to 34 million soldiers served in
16416-417: The leadership knew what was happening, but did little to stop it. It was often rear echelon units who committed the rapes. According to professor Oleg Rzheshevsky, "4,148 Red Army officers and many privates were punished for committing atrocities". The exact number of German women and girls raped by Soviet troops during the war and occupation is uncertain, but historians estimate their numbers are likely in
16568-423: The life of any soldier and (almost any) officer of the unit to which he was attached. In 1942, Stalin established the penal battalions composed of gulag inmates, Soviet PoWs, disgraced soldiers, and deserters, for hazardous front-line duty as tramplers clearing Nazi minefields, et cetera. Given the dangers, the maximum sentence was three months. Likewise, the Soviet treatment of Red Army personnel captured by
16720-459: The loyalty of such recruits by holding their families as hostages. As a result of this initiative, in 1918 75% of the officers were former tsarists . By mid-August 1920 the Red Army's former tsarist personnel included 48,000 officers, 10,300 administrators, and 214,000 non-commissioned officers . When the civil war ended in 1922, ex-tsarists constituted 83% of the Red Army's divisional and corps commanders. In 1919, 612 "hardcore" deserters of
16872-593: The main base for the units located in Ämari in 1952. In November 1967, the 88th Aviation Regiment of Fighter-Bombers was formed at the airfield, remaining until August 1984, after which it was relocated to Kanatovo airfield, at Kirovograd, Ukraine. From 1967 to 1973 the regiment flew the MiG-17 , from 1970 to 1980 - the MiG-21 PFM, and since 1980 - the MiG-27 D (K). In 1977, the 321st fighter-bomber aviation regiment
17024-752: The military forces of the new nation's adversaries during the Russian Civil War , especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army . In February 1946, the Red Army (which embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces alongside the Soviet Navy ) was renamed the " Soviet Army " – which in turn became the Russian Army on 7 May 1992, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Red Army provided
17176-795: The monuments of the Estonian War of Independence, compiled by the Military Department of the EC(b)P Central Committee in April 1945, has been preserved in the Estonian State Archives. Monuments are listed by counties in this file and it specifies the amount of explosive and an evaluation concerning the transportation that were needed. An extract regarding Võrumaa reads: "In order to carry out demolition works, 15 Party activists and 275 persons from
17328-490: The new Estonian-Russian border treaty, according to which Ivangorod remains part of Russia. Although the treaty was signed in 2005 by the foreign ministers of Estonia and Russia, Russia took its signature back, after Estonian parliament added a reference to the Tartu Peace Treaty in the preamble of the law ratifying the border treaty. A new treaty was signed by the foreign ministers in 2014. The legislative body of
17480-654: The northern portion of Korea . Other Red Army operations included the Soviet invasion of South Sakhalin , which was the Japanese portion of Sakhalin Island (and Russia had lost to Japan in 1905 in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War ), and the invasion of the Kuril Islands . Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan on 15 August. The commanding general of the Kwantung Army ordered
17632-718: The nuclear reactor facilities in Paldiski in September 1995. Estonia joined the European Union and NATO in 2004. In the aftermath of the Estonian War of Independence, Estonia established control also over Ivangorod , in January 1919, a move which was recognised by Soviet Russia in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu . In January 1945, the Narva River was defined as the border between the Estonian SSR and Russian SFSR, and as
17784-459: The other hand Western thoughts and customs began to infiltrate Soviet Estonia. By the beginning of the Gorbachev era, concern over the cultural survival of the Estonian people had reached a critical point. The ECP remained stable in the early perestroika years but waned in the late 1980s. Other political movements, groupings and parties moved to fill the power vacuum. The first and most important
17936-490: The period 1940–1991. On 16 November 1988, Estonia became the first of the then Soviet-controlled countries to declare state sovereignty from the central government in Moscow. On 30 March 1990, the newly elected parliament declared that the Republic of Estonia had been illegally occupied since 1940, and formally announced a transitional period for the restoration of the country's full independence. Subsequently, on 8 May 1990,
18088-529: The postwar reconstruction program. The first Five Year Plan , called the fourth Five Year Plan, prescribed a total of 3.5 billion roubles of investments for enterprises in Estonia. Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army , often shortened to the Red Army , was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union . The army was established in January 1918 by Leon Trotsky to oppose
18240-561: The previous year and the ferry line is widely credited to Kekkonen. Some Estonians began watching Finnish television as the Helsinki television tower broadcast from just 80 kilometres (50 mi) and the signal was strong enough in Tallinn and elsewhere on the north Estonian coast. This electronic "window on the West" afforded Estonians more information on current affairs and more access to Western culture and thought than any other group in
18392-599: The ranks in liberated Soviet territory, and a further 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. The official grand total of losses amounted to 8,668,400. This is the official total dead , but other estimates give the number of total dead up to almost 11 million. Officials at the Russian Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) maintain that their database lists the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel. In September 1917, Vladimir Lenin wrote: "There
18544-585: The recruitment centres. If they were turned away, they would collect scrap metal and prepare care-packages. In some cases, the money they earned would go towards tanks for the Army. The Council of People's Commissars appointed itself the supreme head of the Red Army, delegating command and administration of the army to the Commissariat for Military Affairs and the Special All-Russian College within this commissariat. Nikolai Krylenko
18696-524: The restoration of Soviet power in Estonia and proclaimed the 'Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic'. On 22 July the declaration of Estonia's wish to join the USSR was ratified and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was petitioned accordingly. The request was approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 6 August 1940. On 23 July the State Assembly proclaimed all land to be people's property while banks and heavy industry were nationalised. On 25 August
18848-562: The same day the fascist government was overthrown, and the People's government led by Johannes Vares was formed. On 14–15 July 1940 elections for the Estonian Parliament, the State Assembly ( Riigikogu ) were held. The "Working People’s Union", created by an initiative of the Estonian Communist Party received with 84.1% turnout 92.8% of the votes. On 21 July 1940 the State Assembly adopted the declaration of
19000-696: The same day the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was created, and initially assigned to Jukums Vācietis (and from July 1919 to Sergey Kamenev ). The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces existed until April 1924, the end of Russian Civil War . In November 1923, after the establishment of the Soviet Union, the Russian Narkom of War Affairs was transformed into the Soviet Narkom of War and Marine Affairs. At
19152-585: The same time as the general Soviet move into the areas abandoned by the Ober Ost garrisons that were being withdrawn to Germany in the aftermath of World War I . This merged into the 1919–1921 Polish–Soviet War , in which the Red Army invaded Poland, reaching the central part of the country in 1920, but then suffered a resounding defeat in Warsaw , which put an end to the war. During the Polish Campaign
19304-603: The ships in Irish ports choose to remain. The Soviet Union unsuccessfully pursued the issue of ownership through the Irish Courts and made a 'most emphatic' protest to the Irish government. There were three Estonian ships in Irish ports, plus two from Latvia and one Lithuanian. This had a significant effect on Ireland's ability to continue trading during the war, due to the small size of its own merchant navy. The United States, United Kingdom and several other countries considered
19456-413: The strategic geographical location, Estonia was considered as a strategic zone for the Soviet Armed Forces . The territory was therefore heavily militarised and added to the Soviet Baltic Military District which included a strong presence of the Soviet Air Defence , Navy and also the Strategic Rocket Forces . The Baltic Military District included the following units: Military training was provided by
19608-465: The total 837,000 draft dodgers and deserters were executed following Trotsky's draconian measures. According to Figes, "a majority of deserters (most registered as "weak-willed") were handed back to the military authorities, and formed into units for transfer to one of the rear armies or directly to the front". Even those registered as "malicious" deserters were returned to the ranks when the demand for reinforcements became desperate". Forges also noted that
19760-475: The tradition of blessing arms before battle. To encourage the initiative of Red Army commanders, the CPSU temporarily abolished political commissars , reintroduced formal military ranks and decorations, and introduced the Guards unit concept. Exceptionally heroic or high-performing units earned the Guards title (for example 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps , 6th Guards Tank Army ), an elite designation denoting superior training, materiel, and pay. Punishment also
19912-412: The votes with 84.1% of the population attending the elections. Time magazine reported that, following the elections, tribunals were set up to judge and punish "traitors to the people", which included opponents of Sovietization and those who did not vote for incorporation in the Soviet Union. This election is considered illegal, since the amended electoral law—along with hundreds of other laws passed by
20064-413: The wars against Israel. After 1975, the units replaced their obsolete MiGs for Sukhoi planes. Later, Ämari was home to 321 and/or 170 MShAP (321st and/or 170th Naval Shturmovik Aviation Regiment) flying Su-24 aircraft. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Air Force continued to administer the base until it was handed over to Estonia in 1994. The Estonian Air Force Air Surveillance Wing
20216-568: The western military districts. The Axis forces deployed on the Eastern Front consisted of 181 divisions and 18 brigades (3 million soldiers). Three Fronts, the Northwestern , Western , and Southwestern conducted the defense of the western borders of the USSR. In the first weeks of the Great Patriotic War (as it is known in Russia), the Wehrmacht defeated many Red Army units. The Red Army lost millions of men as prisoners and lost much of its pre-war matériel. Stalin increased mobilization, and by 1 August 1941, despite 46 divisions lost in combat,
20368-492: The world's countries did not recognise the incorporation of Estonia into the Soviet Union de jure and only recognised its Soviet administration de facto or not at all. A number of countries continued to recognise Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in the name of their former government. This policy of non-recognition gave rise to the principle of legal continuity, which held that de jure , Estonia remained an independent state under occupation throughout
20520-462: Was $ 10,733 compared to $ 26,100 for Finland. Estonian sources estimate the economic damage directly attributable to the second Soviet occupation (from 1945 to 1991) to lie in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars . Similarly, the damage to Estonian ecology were estimated at US$ 4 billion. On 21 May 1947, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) authorised collectivization of Estonian agriculture. Initially it
20672-402: Was Trotsky, and the first commander-in-chief was Jukums Vācietis of the Latvian Riflemen ; in July 1919 he was replaced by Sergey Kamenev . Soon afterwards Trotsky established the GRU (military intelligence) to provide political and military intelligence to Red Army commanders. Trotsky founded the Red Army with an initial Red Guard organization and a core soldiery of Red Guard militiamen and
20824-405: Was a petition to join the Soviet Union, which passed unanimously. The Estonian SSR was formally annexed into the Soviet Union on 6 August 1940, becoming nominally the 16th constituent part (or "union republic" ) of the USSR. After another "union republic", the Karelo-Finnish SSR was demoted to an "ASSR" , or to an "autonomous union republic" in 1956, until 1991 the Soviet authorities referred to
20976-434: Was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland . It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland . The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union on 14 December 1939. The Soviet forces led by Semyon Timoshenko had three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and
21128-412: Was an administrative subunit ( union republic ) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia in 1940–1941 and 1944–1991. The Estonian SSR was nominally established to replace the until then independent Republic of Estonia on 21 July 1940, a month after the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet military invasion and occupation of the country during World War II . After
21280-628: Was announced that the aerial assets from the American Operation Atlantic Resolve would be based there. In September 2015, Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fighters visited Ämari. From April 2023, RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets of IX Squadron were based at Ämari, as part of the Quick Reaction Force for Operation Azotize, Nato 's Baltic Air Policing mission, replacing the Luftwaffe 's Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 71 "Richthofen" squadron (Typhoon). Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic , (abbreviated Estonian SSR , Soviet Estonia , or simply Estonia )
21432-427: Was created in January 1998 and is located at the base. After Estonia's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2004, the base was made NATO interoperable. NATO aircraft have been stationed at the base since 2014. Since April 2014, the base has hosted NATO Baltic Air Policing patrols. On 30 April 2014 this mission began with the arrival of four Royal Danish Air Force F-16s . During 2015 it
21584-438: Was divided in terms of opinions on the "sovereign republic". In March 1990, some 18% of Russian-speakers supported the idea of a fully independent Estonia, up from 7% the previous autumn. By early 1990 only a small minority of ethnic Estonians were opposed to full independence. On 16 November 1988, the first freely elected parliament during the Soviet era in Estonia had passed the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration . On 8 May 1990,
21736-467: Was formed at the airfield. The regiment operated Su-7B aircraft. In 1987, the regiment was retrained on the Su-24 and transferred to the 132nd Bomber Aviation Division. In 1994, the regiment was disbanded at the airfield. During the Vietnam War the base was a training facility for Soviet pilots to fly MiG-15 , MiG-15bis, Mig-17 and MiG-19 aircraft before deployment to North Vietnam as "Military advisor pilots" and deployment to Arab countries during
21888-511: Was implemented with great difficulties in the Baltic republics but it was facilitated by mass deportations of dissident farmers, termed 'kulaks'. As a result, by the end of April 1949, half of the remaining individual farmers in Estonia had joined kolkhozes . 99.3% of farms had been collectivised by 1957. A number of large-volume capital investments were undertaken by the Soviet central power to exploit resources on Estonian territory of oil shale , lumber and, later, uranium ore , as part of
22040-419: Was killed on 20 November 1917. Nikolai Podvoisky was appointed as the Narkom of War Affairs, leaving Dybenko in charge of the Narkom of Marine Affairs and Ovseyenko – the expeditionary forces to the Southern Russia on 28 November 1917. The Bolsheviks also sent out their own representatives to replace front commanders of the Russian Imperial Army . After the signing of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918,
22192-426: Was proclaimed in Narva on 29 November 1918 but fell to counter-revolutionaries and the White Armies in 1919. In June 1940 Soviet power was restored in Estonia as workers overthrew the fascist dictatorship in the country. According to Soviet sources, pressure from the working people of Estonia forced its government to accept the 1939 proposal for a mutual assistance treaty by the Soviet Union. On 28 September 1939
22344-470: Was signed on 23 August 1939, a week before the outbreak of World War II, secretly assigned Estonia to the Soviet " sphere of influence ". On 24 September 1939, warships of the Soviet Navy blocked the major ports of Estonia, a neutral country , and Soviet bombers began patrolling over and around its capital city Tallinn . Moscow demanded that Estonia allow the USSR to establish Soviet military bases on its territory and station 25,000 troops in these bases "for
22496-408: Was taken to change the ethnic structure of population, especially in Ida-Viru County. For example, a policy of prioritising immigrants before returning war refugees in assigning dwelling quarters was adopted. Estonian graveyards and monuments from the period of 1918–1944 were dismantled. Among others, in the Tallinn Military Cemetery the majority of gravestones from 1918 to 1944 were destroyed by
22648-601: Was taught already in the second grade of Estonian-language primary schools and in some urban areas was also being introduced into Estonian pre-school teaching. Soviet authorities began to lure in Finnish tourists and the much needed foreign exchange they could bring. The Soviet travel agency Inturist contracted Finnish construction company Repo to build Hotel Viru in central Tallinn. Estonians saw very different construction equipment, methods and work morale. An improved ferry MS Georg Ots between Tallinn and Helsinki came into operation. Estonia gained Western currency, but on
22800-545: Was the Estonian Popular Front , established in April 1988 with its own platform, leadership and broad constituency. The Greens and the dissident-led Estonian National Independence Party soon followed. By 1989 the political spectrum had widened, and new parties were formed and re-formed almost every week. Estonia's " Supreme Soviet " transformed from a powerless rubber stamp institution into an authentic regional lawmaking body. This relatively conservative legislature passed an early declaration of sovereignty (16 November 1988);
22952-521: Was the supreme commander-in-chief, with Aleksandr Myasnikyan as deputy. Nikolai Podvoisky became the commissar for war, Pavel Dybenko , commissar for the fleet. Proshyan, Samoisky, Steinberg were also specified as people's commissars as well as Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich from the Bureau of Commissars. At a joint meeting of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries , held on 22 February 1918, Krylenko remarked: "We have no army. The demoralized soldiers are fleeing, panic-stricken, as soon as they see
23104-402: Was used; slackers, malingerers, those avoiding combat with self-inflicted wounds cowards, thieves, and deserters were disciplined with beatings, demotions, undesirable/dangerous duties, and summary execution by NKVD punitive detachments. At the same time, the osobist (NKVD military counter-intelligence officers) became a key Red Army figure with the power to condemn to death and to spare
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