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88-585: The Estonian Land Forces ( Estonian : Maavägi ), unofficially referred to as the Estonian Army , is the name of the unified ground forces among the Estonian Defense Forces where it has an offensive military formation role. The Estonian Land Forces is currently the largest Estonian military branch, with an average size of approximately 6,000 soldiers, conscripts, and officers during peacetime. The Maavägi development priorities are

176-566: A Finnic language rather than a variety of Estonian. Modern standard Estonian evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries based on the dialects of northern Estonia. During the Medieval and Early Modern periods, Estonian accepted many loanwords from Germanic languages , mainly from Middle Low German (Middle Saxon) and, after the 16th-century Protestant Reformation , from the Standard German language. Estonia's oldest written records of

264-641: A Mercedes-Benz Unimog 435. The two brigades are not fully manned in peacetime. The only units fully manned at all times are the two brigade commands, the Scouts Battalion and the EOD/Demining Service. The 2nd Infantry Brigade was activated on 1 August 2014. The brigade will continue to activate further units to reach full strength by 2022 at the latest. The 1st Infantry Brigade will become a mechanized brigade with tracked infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery . In wartime,

352-455: A broad classical education and knew Ancient Greek , Latin and French . Consider roim 'crime' versus English crime or taunima 'to condemn, disapprove' versus Finnish tuomita 'to condemn, to judge' (these Aavikisms appear in Aavik's 1921 dictionary). These words might be better regarded as a peculiar manifestation of morpho-phonemic adaptation of a foreign lexical item. Article 1 of

440-648: A common feature of Estonian typologically over the course of history with the development of a rich morphological system. Word order is considerably more flexible than in English, but the basic order is subject–verb–object . The speakers of the two major historical languages spoken in Estonia, North and South Estonian , are thought by some linguists to have arrived in Estonia in at least two different migration waves over two millennia ago, both groups having spoken considerably different vernacular; South Estonian might be

528-437: A general that is subordinate to a corps ( korpus ). The division is bigger than a brigade ( brigaad ) but smaller than a corps. A division usually consists of 20,000 to 35,000 soldiers, and is further subdivided into brigades. A division is composed of two to four brigades 5,000 to 8,750 soldiers each, as well as a division leader ( diviisiiülem ) who is usually a major general ( kindralmajor ). His second in command

616-557: A platoon ( rühm ). A squad is one of the smallest military formation among the Estonian Ground Force infantry units. A squad usually consists of six to ten soldiers, and may be further subdivided into fireteams. A squad is composed of two fireteams of five soldiers each, as well as a squad leader ( jaoülem ; in Defence League jaopealik ) who is usually a sergeant ( seersant ). His second in command

704-424: A soldier that is subordinate to an infantry fireteam. The fire and maneuver team is bigger than an individual soldier but smaller than a fireteam. The fire and maneuver team is the smallest military formation among the Estonian Ground Force infantry units. The fire and maneuver team usually consists of two soldiers. The more experienced soldier leads a fire and maneuver team in the pair. One fire and maneuver team

792-478: A squad ( jagu ). A fireteam is one of the smallest military formation among the Estonian Ground Force infantry units. A fireteam usually consists of three to five soldiers, and may be further subdivided into fire and maneuver teams . A fireteam is composed of two fire and maneuver teams of two soldiers each, as well as a fireteam leader ( pooljao ülem ; in Defence League salgapealik ) who

880-545: A training and support frame for deployable units. Homeland security structure units can carry out territorial military tasks and support civil structures. The Land Forces are structured according to the principle of a reserve force , which means that the main part of the State's defence forces are units in a trained reserve. The reserve units are formed on the territorial principle, i.e. conscripts from one area are called up at one time to one unit and after service, they are sent to

968-418: Is a brigadier general ( brigaadikindral ) as an assistant of the division ( diviisiülema abi ). One division is meant to operate on a battlefield along with other divisions on a front which covers more than two counties. There is a logistical support element in a division's structure based on a reserve brigade. The formation transport is usually made up by 5,000 to 7,000 tactical transport vehicles such as

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1056-411: Is a logistical support element in a battalion's structure based on a reserve company. The formation transport is usually made up by 200 tactical transport vehicles such as a Mercedes-Benz Unimog 435. A regional unit ( malev ) is a county milita led by a senior officer that is subordinate to an infantry division. The term malev is historical. It was originally based on the manpower of a county and

1144-496: Is a reusable man-portable anti-tank shoulder-fired missile system. The 84 mm (3.3 in) AT4 is an unguided projectile that can destroy armor and bunkers at ranges up to 500 metres (1,600 feet). The 90 mm (3.5 in) C90-CR is a disposable, shoulder-fired, and one-man operated grenade launcher. Some motorized units are supported by Pvpj 1110 and M40-A1 recoilless rifles that are mounted on high-mobility utility vehicles . The 115 mm (4.5 in) MILAN -2 with

1232-409: Is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer (NCO) that is subordinate to an infantry company . A platoon is bigger than a squad ( jagu ) but smaller than a company ( kompanii ). A platoon is one of the smallest military formations among the Estonian Ground Force infantry units. A platoon usually consists of thirty to fifty soldiers, and is further subdivided into squads. A platoon

1320-408: Is an average military unit led by a senior officer that is subordinate to an infantry brigade. A battalion is bigger than a company ( kompanii ) but smaller than a brigade ( brigaad ). A battalion is one of the most basic military formation among the Estonian Ground Force infantry units. A battalion usually consists of 900 to 1,250 soldiers, and is further subdivided into companies. A battalion

1408-734: Is based on central dialects, it has no vowel harmony either. In the standard language, the front vowels occur exclusively on the first or stressed syllable, although vowel harmony is still apparent in older texts. Typologically, Estonian represents a transitional form from an agglutinating language to a fusional language . The canonical word order is SVO (subject–verb–object), although often debated among linguists. In Estonian, nouns and pronouns do not have grammatical gender , but nouns and adjectives decline in fourteen cases: nominative , genitive , partitive , illative , inessive , elative , allative , adessive , ablative , translative , terminative , essive , abessive , and comitative , with

1496-406: Is composed of five companies of 180 to 250 soldiers each, as well as a company leader ( kompaniiülem ) who is usually a lieutenant colonel ( kolonelleitnant ). His second in command is a major as an assistant of the battalion ( pataljoni staabiülem ). One battalion is meant to operate on a battlefield along with other battalion on a landscape no greater than 1,500 x 3,000 metres. There

1584-438: Is composed of five squads of ten soldiers each, as well as a platoon leader ( rühmaülem ; in Defence League rühmapealik ) who is usually a junior lieutenant ( nooremleitnant ). His second in command is known as a platoon sergeant ( rühmavanem ; in Defence League rühmapealiku abi ). One platoon is meant to operate on a battlefield along with other platoons on a landscape no greater than 300 × 400 metres. There

1672-432: Is known as an assistant squad leader ( jaoülema abi ; in Defence League jaopealiku abi ). One squad is meant to operate on a battlefield along with other squads on a landscape no greater than 100 x 200 metres. There are no logistical support elements in the structure of a squad. The formation transport is usually made up by one tactical transport vehicle such as a Mercedes-Benz Unimog 435 . A platoon ( rühm )

1760-421: Is meant to operate on a battlefield along with other fire and maneuver teams on a landscape no greater than 20 x 50 metres. There are no logistical support elements in the structure of a fire and maneuver team. A fireteam ( pooljagu ) is a small military unit led by a senior soldier that is subordinate to an infantry squad. The fireteam is bigger than a fire and maneuver team ( lahingpaar ) but smaller than

1848-416: Is no logistical support element in the structure of a platoon. The formation transport is usually made up by three to five tactical transport vehicles such as a Mercedes-Benz Unimog 435. A company ( Kompanii ) is a medium military unit led by a junior officer that is subordinate to an infantry battalion. A company is bigger than a platoon ( rühm ) but smaller than a battalion ( pataljon ). A company

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1936-407: Is one of the most basic military formation among the Estonian Ground Force infantry units. A company usually consists of 180 to 250 soldiers, and is further subdivided into platoons. A company is composed of five platoons of thirty to fifty soldiers each, as well as a company leader ( kompaniiülem ) who is usually a captain ( kapten ). His second in command is a lieutenant as an assistant of

2024-814: Is pronounced [æ], as in English mat . The vowels Ä, Ö and Ü are clearly separate phonemes and inherent in Estonian, although the letter shapes come from German. The letter õ denotes /ɤ/ , unrounded /o/ , or a close-mid back unrounded vowel . It is almost identical to the Bulgarian ъ /ɤ̞/ and the Vietnamese ơ , and is also used to transcribe the Russian ы . Additionally C , Q , W , X , and Y are used in writing foreign proper names . They do not occur in Estonian words , and are not officially part of

2112-492: Is pronounced) and in the use of 'i' and 'j'. Where it is very impractical or impossible to type š and ž , they are replaced by sh and zh in some written texts, although this is considered incorrect. Otherwise, the h in sh represents a voiceless glottal fricative , as in Pasha ( pas-ha ); this also applies to some foreign names. Modern Estonian orthography is based on the "Newer orthography" created by Eduard Ahrens in

2200-537: Is the Estonian version of the digital camouflage uniform and its various patterns are designed for use in woodland, desert, urban, and winter warfare environments. Soldiers of Estonian Land Force get the PASGT combat helmet, a ballistic vest, and a night vision device . This a partial list of planned and ongoing equipment procurements for the Land Forces: Estonian language Estonian belongs to

2288-429: Is usually a corporal ( kapral ). One fireteam is meant to operate on a battlefield along with others on a landscape no greater than 50 x 100 metres. There are no logistical support elements in the structure of a fireteam. A squad ( jagu ) is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer (NCO) that is subordinate to an infantry platoon . A squad is bigger than a fireteam ( pooljagu ) but smaller than

2376-757: The idamurre or eastern dialect on the northwestern shore of Lake Peipus . One of the pronunciation features of the Saaremaa dialect is the lack of the 'õ' vowel. A five-metre monument erected in 2020, marking the "border" between the vowels 'õ' and 'ö', humorously makes reference to this fact. South Estonian consists of the Tartu, Mulgi, Võro and Seto varieties. These are sometimes considered either variants of South Estonian or separate languages altogether. Also, Seto and Võro distinguish themselves from each other less by language and more by their culture and their respective Christian confession. Estonian employs

2464-666: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Estonian and English: 180th Rifle Division [REDACTED] Order of Suvorov 2nd class (2nd formation) The 180th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Red Army , formed thrice. The division was first formed in September 1939 but this unit was disbanded a few months later. It was reformed in August 1940 from Estonian personnel after

2552-561: The 9x19mm USP semi-automatic pistols . Some units are supplemented with a variety of specialized weapons, including the Galil-ARM and Negev light machine gun , to provide suppressive fire at the fire-team level. Indirect fire is provided by the M-69 and CG M3 grenade launchers. The 18.53 mm (0.730 in) Benelli-M3T dual-mode shotgun is used for door breaching and close-quarters combat. The domestically produced modification of

2640-630: The Baltic Special Military District . It was part of the 22nd Territorial Rifle Corps (Estonian) and was composed of Estonian People's Force personnel. It was commanded by Major General Richard Tomberg , the former commander of the Estonian Air Force . On 3 June 1941, Major General Ivan Missan replaced Tomberg in command. On 22 June 1941, it was based in Võru , which was in the rear area. While moving forward, it

2728-634: The Finnic branch of the Uralic language family . Other Finnic languages include Finnish and some minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea and in northwestern Russia. Estonian is typically subclassified as a Southern Finnic language, and it is the second-most-spoken language among all the Finnic languages. Alongside Finnish, Hungarian , and Maltese , Estonian is one of the four official languages of

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2816-712: The Germanic languages have very different origins and the vocabulary is considered quite different from that of the Indo-European family, one can identify many similar words in Estonian and English, for example. This is primarily because Estonian has borrowed nearly one-third of its vocabulary from Germanic languages, mainly from Low Saxon ( Middle Low German ) during the period of German rule , and High German (including standard German ). The percentage of Low Saxon and High German loanwords can be estimated at 22–25 percent, with Low Saxon making up about 15 percent. Prior to

2904-581: The Latin script as the basis for its alphabet . The script adds the letters ä , ö , ü , and õ , plus the later additions š and ž . The letters c , q , w , x and y are limited to proper names of foreign origin, and f , z , š , and ž appear in loanwords and foreign names only. Ö and Ü are pronounced similarly to their equivalents in Swedish and German. Unlike in standard German but like Swedish (when followed by 'r') and Finnish, Ä

2992-536: The Proto-Finnic language , elision has occurred; thus, the actual case marker may be absent, but the stem is changed, cf. maja – majja and the Ostrobothnia dialect of Finnish maja – majahan . The verbal system has no distinct future tense (the present tense serves here) and features special forms to express an action performed by an undetermined subject (the "impersonal"). Although Estonian and

3080-681: The Staraya Russa area. In September 1941, the division fought in the Demyansk Defensive Operation . It then fought in the Demyansk Pocket in early 1942. On 3 May 1942, the division became the 28th Guards Rifle Division for its actions. The second formation of the division was created at Cherepovets in June 1942 from the 41st Rifle Brigade. It fought at Kiev , Târgu Frumos , and Budapest . The division

3168-576: The Unimog and DAF series general-purpose trucks and light utility vehicles such as the Unimog 416 , Unimog 435 , DAF YA4440 , and MB 250GD . There are varieties of different MAN and Sisu built military logistics vehicles , such as the MAN 4520 , 4620 , 4640 , KAT1 , and Sisu E13TP , in use of the ground force, which are capable of serving as a cargo/troop carrier, artillery tractors, weapons platform and ambulance, among other roles. The ESTDCU ,

3256-557: The 1303rd Separate Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion was activated along with a separate Reactive Artillery Battalion. In 1980, the Separate Motor Transport Battalion became the 1041st Separate Material Supply Battalion. During the same year, the 136th Artillery Regiment absorbed the reactive artillery battalion. During the Cold War, the division was maintained at 16% strength. On 1 December 1989, the division

3344-510: The 14th Rifle Division in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi , part of the 14th Guards Army . On 19 February 1962, the 276th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion was activated along with the 244th Separate Missile Battalion. On 17 November 1964, the 88th Motor Rifle Division became the 180th Motor Rifle Division, restoring its World War II numbering. In 1967, the 14th Army became the 14th Guards Army . On 15 November 1972,

3432-485: The 1870s to the 1890s) tried to use formation ex nihilo ( Urschöpfung ); i.e. they created new words out of nothing. The most well-known reformer of Estonian, Johannes Aavik (1880–1973), used creations ex nihilo (cf. 'free constructions', Tauli 1977), along with other sources of lexical enrichment such as derivations, compositions and loanwords (often from Finnish; cf. Saareste and Raun 1965: 76). In Aavik's dictionary (1921) lists approximately 4000 words. About 40 of

3520-926: The 1930s. There are 9 vowels and 36 diphthongs , 28 of which are native to Estonian. All nine vowels can appear as the first component of a diphthong, but only /ɑ e i o u/ occur as the second component. A vowel characteristic of Estonian is the unrounded back vowel /ɤ/, which may be close-mid back , close back , or close-mid central . Word-initial b, d, g occur only in loanwords and some old loanwords are spelled with p, t, k instead of etymological b, d, g : pank 'bank'. Word-medially and word-finally, b, d, g represent short plosives /p, t, k/ (may be pronounced as partially voiced consonants), p, t, k represent half-long plosives /pː, tː, kː/, and pp, tt, kk represent overlong plosives /pːː, tːː, kːː/; for example: kabi /kɑpi/ 'hoof' — kapi /kɑpːi/ 'wardrobe [ gen sg ] — kappi /kɑpːːi/ 'wardrobe [ ptv sg ]'. Before and after b, p, d, t, g, k, s, h, f, š, z, ž ,

3608-536: The 1990s. After 1992 became Ukrainian 27th Mechanized Brigade. The 27th Mechanized Brigade was disbanded, most likely in the early 2000s. The 180th Rifle Division was formed in September 1939 by the expansion of a regiment of the 6th Rifle Division in the Oryol Military District , but was disbanded in January 1940. The 180th Rifle Division was formed again during August and September 1940 in

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3696-524: The 19th century during the Estophile Enlightenment Period (1750–1840). The birth of native Estonian literature was during the period 1810–1820, when the patriotic and philosophical poems by Kristjan Jaak Peterson were published. Peterson, who was the first student to acknowledge his Estonian origin at the then German-language University of Dorpat , is commonly regarded as a herald of Estonian national literature and considered

3784-490: The 200 words created by Johannes Aavik allegedly ex nihilo are in common use today. Examples are * ese 'object', * kolp 'skull', * liibuma 'to cling', * naasma 'to return, come back', * nõme 'stupid, dull'. Many of the coinages that have been considered (often by Aavik himself) as words concocted ex nihilo could well have been influenced by foreign lexical items; for example, words from Russian , German , French , Finnish , English and Swedish . Aavik had

3872-721: The 22nd Territorial Rifle Corps was a former major general of the Estonian army, Gustav Jonson , who was later arrested by the NKVD and shot. Most of the corps' officer posts were occupied by former officers of the Estonian Army. By the middle of June 1941, before the German invasion of the Soviet Union; most of the Estonian Army officers were arrested and replaced by newcomers from the Soviet Red Army officers. Many of

3960-464: The 23 mm (0.91 in) ZU-23-2 twin-barreled anti-aircraft cannons mounted on trucks make up the backbone of the defense forces' air defense. The ground force does not operate any main battle tanks , although some types were in service of the ground force till the Soviet occupation in 1940. The Estonian Ministry of Defence has indicated a need to obtain main battle tanks by 2020 according to

4048-607: The 5th at Rakvere , the 6th Single Infantry Battalion was located at Pärnu , the 8th Single Infantry Battalion at Valga , the 9th at Pärnu , and the 10th Single Infantry Battalion was located at Tallinn . A reorganisation took place on 1 February 1940 and a fourth division was created. The 4th Division staff was based in Viljandi . The division was made up by the Pärnu-Viljandi Military District and Valga Military District . The division's commander

4136-613: The 7.62mm M14 selective fire automatic rifle TP2 and IMI Galil -S are used by the snipers, along with the 8.6 mm (0.34 in) Sako TRG and the 12.7 mm (0.50 in) Hecate II heavy sniper rifles are used long-range marksmen. Hand grenades, fragmentation and smoke grenades along with the grenade launcher systems, such as the HK-GLM and HK-79N , are used. The defense force also employs various crew-served weapons to provide medium and heavy firepower at ranges exceeding that of individual weapons. The 7.62mm MG-3 and KSP-58 are

4224-533: The Estonian officers of the 22nd Territorial Rifle Corps body were arrested and died in 1941 and 1942 in camps in the Soviet Union; many were shot. The former commander of the 180th Rifle Division , 22nd Corps, Richard Tomberg , survived after dismissal only because from 1942 He was claimed by the Frunze Military Academy as a teacher. He was arrested in February 1944 (He was later released from

4312-603: The Estophile educated class admired the ancient culture of the Estonians and their era of freedom before the conquests by Danes and Germans in the 13th century. When the Republic of Estonia was established in 1918, Estonian became the official language of the newly independent country. Immediately after World War II , in 1945, over 97% of the then population of Estonia self-identified as native ethnic Estonians and spoke

4400-463: The European Union that are not Indo-European languages . In terms of linguistic morphology , Estonian is a predominantly agglutinative language . The loss of word-final sounds is extensive, and this has made its inflectional morphology markedly more fusional , especially with respect to noun and adjective inflection. The transitional form from an agglutinating to a fusional language is

4488-482: The Finnic languages date from the 13th century. The "Originates Livoniae" in the Livonian Chronicle of Henry contains Estonian place names, words and fragments of sentences. The earliest extant samples of connected (north) Estonian are the so-called Kullamaa prayers dating from 1524 and 1528. In 1525 the first book published in Estonian was printed. The book was a Lutheran manuscript, which never reached

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4576-559: The Soviet occupation of that country. The first wartime formation of the division became the 28th Guards Rifle Division in May 1942. The second wartime formation was formed in June 1942, and served through the rest of the war. The division briefly became the 14th Rifle Division in 1955, then 88th Motor Rifle Division 1957, but became 180th Kiev Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Motor Rifle Division in 1965 and remained under that title until

4664-410: The alphabet. Including all the foreign letters, the alphabet consists of the following 32 letters: Although the Estonian orthography is generally guided by phonemic principles, with each grapheme corresponding to one phoneme , there are some historical and morphological deviations from this: for example preservation of the morpheme in declension of the word (writing b, g, d in places where p, k, t

4752-406: The battalion ( kompaniiülema abi ). One company is meant to operate on a battlefield along with other companies on a landscape no greater than 500 x 500 metres. There is a logistical support element in a company's structure based on a reserve platoon. The formation transport is usually made up by twenty tactical transport vehicles such as a Mercedes-Benz Unimog 435. A battalion ( Pataljon )

4840-415: The battalion into a regiment-sized unit with the same unit number. It would have included 3 infantry battalions, Signal Company, Engineering Company, Ski-Bicycle Company, Cavalry Company , Building Company, Commandant Commando, and a CB Commando ; all in total of 3,153 men. The 2nd Single Infantry Battalion was located at Tartu , the 3rd Single Infantry Battalion was located at Valga , the 4th at Jõhvi ,

4928-426: The battalion would reorganize itself into a regiment with a similar order of battle as the two initial reaction force regiments covering the eastern and southern borders. Each battalion's peacetime strength was a total of 237 soldiers in a regimental staff, a Signal Platoon, an Engineering Platoon, a Ski-Bicycle Platoon, a Building Platoon, and three infantry companies. The wartime order of battle would have transformed

5016-457: The camp and rehabilitated in 1956). Some officers of the 22nd Rifle Corps, among them Alfons Rebane , managed to escape from the authorities in the period between dismissal from the army and the plan for their arrest. Some managed to escape abroad, others came out of hiding only after the arrival of German troops in July and August 1941, some of them volunteered for the Estonian units that fought on

5104-593: The capability to participate in missions outside the national territory and perform operations to protect the territory of Estonia, also in co-operation with the Allies. The Maavägi component of the operational structure consists of an infantry brigade and a homeland security structure. Deployable infantry battalion tactical group and some deployable CS, CSS units will develop in the Army structure in accordance with NATO Force Proposals requirements. The infantry brigade will be

5192-413: The case and number of the adjective always agreeing with that of the noun (except in the terminative, essive, abessive and comitative, where there is agreement only for the number, the adjective being in the genitive form). Thus the illative for kollane maja ("a yellow house") is kollasesse majja ("into a yellow house"), but the terminative is kollase majani ("as far as a yellow house"). With respect to

5280-422: The end of the 20th century has brought the proportion of native Estonian-speakers in Estonia now back above 70%. Large parts of the first- and second-generation immigrants in Estonia have now adopted Estonian (over 50% as of the 2022 census). The Estonian dialects are divided into two groups – the northern and southern dialects, historically associated with the cities of Tallinn in the north and Tartu in

5368-589: The founder of modern Estonian poetry. His birthday, March 14, is celebrated in Estonia as Mother Tongue Day. A fragment from Peterson's poem "Kuu" expresses the claim reestablishing the birthright of the Estonian language: In English: In the period from 1525 to 1917, 14,503 titles were published in Estonian; by comparison, between 1918 and 1940, 23,868 titles were published. In modern times A. H. Tammsaare , Jaan Kross , and Andrus Kivirähk are Estonia 's best-known and most translated writers. Estonians lead

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5456-573: The ground force do not have any utility helicopters , attack helicopters or aircraft of its own, the ground force does operate several types of unmanned aerial vehicles and rotorcrafts . There are no operational armed drones in service of the ground force. In 2014, the Estonian Ministry of Defence announced that Estonia, along with 12 other NATO members, plans to purchase Global Hawk drones to increase its military reconnaissance capabilities. The defense forces' most common vehicles are

5544-417: The ground force standard medium machine guns. The 12.7mm Browning M2HB heavy machine gun is generally used as a vehicle-mounted machine gun used by motorised infantry . The ground force uses two types of mortar for indirect fire support when heavier artillery may not be appropriate or available. The smallest of these are the 81 mm (3.2 in) M252 , B455 , and L16A1 mortars that normally assigned at

5632-601: The infantry company level. At higher echelon, infantry battalions are supported by a section of 120 mm (4.7 in) M-41D and 2B11 mortars, which are usually employed by motorized units. Fire support for infantry units is mainly provided by towed howitzers , including the lighter 122 mm (4.8 in) D-30H63 a/small> | colspan=2| /small> | colspan=2| nd heavier 155 mm (6.1 in) FH-70 field howitzers. Estonia has started to procure increasing numbers of self-propelled artillery vehicles to provide fire support for its increasingly mechanized infantry, reducing

5720-403: The language. When Estonia was invaded and reoccupied by the Soviet army in 1944, the status of Estonian effectively changed to one of the two official languages (Russian being the other one). Many immigrants from Russia entered Estonia under Soviet encouragement. In the 1970s, the pressure of bilingualism for Estonians was intensified. Although teaching Estonian to non-Estonians in local schools

5808-565: The national defense development plan. As of 2014, the infantry fighting vehicle CV9035 is the ground force's main battle and frontline troop carrier vehicle, is fitted with a 35 mm (1.4 in) autocannon turret, and carries up to 8 fully equipped soldiers. The ground forces' most common armored vehicles are the Pasi series armored personnel carriers of which some have been fitted into ambulance and command post vehicles roles. The similar Pasi 180 and Pasi 188 armored personnel carriers are

5896-402: The night-firing ability and 148 mm (5.8 in) MAPATS laser-beam riding anti-tank guided missiles are the ground forces' main anti-tank weapon systems. The purchase of the 127 mm (5.0 in) FGM-148 Javelin fire-and-forget anti-tank missiles increased the ground forces' anti-armor units capabilities. The 90mm Mistral is an infrared homing surface-to-air missile, which along with

5984-656: The procurement of 36 K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers from South Korea, 18 of which had been delivered by December 2022, with the rest scheduled to arrive by 2026 at the latest. The order is in line with the strategy to transform the 1st Infantry Brigade into a mechanized brigade . In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Estonia signed a contract with the United States for the procurement of six HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems , which are set to be delivered by end of 2024 and 12 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers , which are to be delivered in 2024-2025. While

6072-721: The reader and was destroyed immediately after publication. The first extant Estonian book is a bilingual German-Estonian translation of the Lutheran catechism by S.   Wanradt and J.   Koell dating to 1535, during the Protestant Reformation period. An Estonian grammar book to be used by priests was printed in German in 1637. The New Testament was translated into the variety of South Estonian called Võro in 1686 (northern Estonian, 1715). The two languages were united based on Northern Estonian by Anton thor Helle . Writings in Estonian became more significant in

6160-515: The reserve as one unit. The 1st and 2nd Divisions were created during the Estonian War of Independence ; the 1st Division in December 1918 and the 2nd Division in January 1919. The Scouts Single Infantry Battalion was formed on 21 December 1918. Eight 'Single Infantry Battalions' were formed on 21 November 1928. The battalions were created to train conscripts during peacetime. In wartime,

6248-638: The role of towed artillery. Estonia donated nine D-30s as well as an unspecified number of FH-70 howitzers to Ukraine as part of its military support to Ukraine's defence against the Russian invasion of 2022 . In 2023, Estonia announced that it would donate all its towed artillery pieces to Ukraine. Estonia gave Ukraine 36 122mm D-30s and 24 155mm FH-70s. The ground force uses a variety of shoulder fired missiles , recoilless rifles , and anti-tank guided missiles to provide infantry and mechanized units with an anti-armor capability. The 82 mm (3.2 in) B-300

6336-492: The second half of the 19th   century based on Finnish orthography. The "Older orthography" it replaced was created in the 17th   century by Bengt Gottfried Forselius and Johann Hornung based on standard German orthography. Earlier writing in Estonian had, by and large, used an ad hoc orthography based on Latin and Middle Low German orthography. Some influences of the standard German orthography – for example, writing 'W'/'w' instead of 'V'/'v' – persisted well into

6424-461: The side of Nazi Germany or enlisted in Estonian organisations controlled by the Germans. The 22nd Territorial Rifle Corps was part of the 'operational army' during World War II from 22 June 1941 to 31 August 1941. On 22 June 1941, the 22nd Territorial Rifle Corps headquarters was stationed in the village of Rev. A fire and maneuver team ( lahingpaar ) is a small Estonian military unit led by

6512-419: The sounds [p], [t], [k] are written as p, t, k , with some exceptions due to morphology or etymology. Representation of palatalised consonants is inconsistent, and they are not always indicated. ŋ is an allophone of /n/ before /k/. While peripheral Estonian dialects are characterized by various degrees of vowel harmony , central dialects have almost completely lost the feature. Since the standard language

6600-405: The south, in addition to a distinct kirderanniku dialect, Northeastern coastal Estonian . The northern group consists of the keskmurre or central dialect that is also the basis for the standard language, the läänemurre or western dialect, roughly corresponding to Lääne County and Pärnu County , the saarte murre (islands' dialect) of Saaremaa , Hiiumaa , Muhu and Kihnu , and

6688-473: The standard troop carrier vehicles of the ground forces. The Pasi XA-180's, which were acquired first, have been used by the defense forces' expeditionary units on peacekeeping operations in Central Asia and Africa . In recent years BTR-80 amphibious armored personnel carriers have been used as training vehicles and are now being phased out. The Estonian Ministry of Defence has signed contracts for

6776-465: The standard weapons used by the ground force are the domestically upgraded variants of the 7.62 mm (0.300 in) Automatkarbin 4 and 5.56 mm (0.219 in) Galil-AR assault rifles , both of which are scheduled to be replaced by 2021, as well as the 9 mm (0.35 in) variant of the MP5 submachine gun for special operations force . The primary sidearms are the 9x18mm Makarov PM and

6864-413: The traditional division structure. A malev' s commanding officer is commonly a major or colonel. A modern malev is typically composed of three to five companies or battalions, depending on the area and available manpower of a given county. Each malev can operate independently on a battlefield encompassing an area of 10 km × 15 km. A division ( diviis ) is a large military unit led by

6952-541: The two brigades will be brought to full strength with reserve soldiers. Besides the two Land Force brigades, the Estonian Defense Forces also field a large number of smaller light infantry units of the Estonian Defense League , which are tasked with local defense; respectively stay-behind operations. Land Forces have more than 2,700 full time soldiers and 3,900 conscripts. There were only 15 women in 2013 that were in conscript service. Previously, there

7040-514: The wave of new loanwords from English in the 20th and 21st centuries, historically, Swedish and Russian were also sources of borrowings but to a much lesser extent. In borrowings, often 'b' and 'p' are interchangeable, for example 'baggage' becomes 'pagas', 'lob' (to throw) becomes 'loopima'. The initial letter 's' before another consonant is often dropped, for example 'skool' becomes 'kool', 'stool' becomes 'tool'. Estonian language planners such as Ado Grenzstein (a journalist active in Estonia from

7128-464: The world in book ownership, owning on average 218 books per house, and 35% of Estonians owning 350 books or more (as of 2018). Writings in Estonian became significant only in the 19th century with the spread of the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment , during the Estophile Enlightenment Period (1750–1840). Although Baltic Germans at large regarded the future of Estonians as being a fusion with themselves,

7216-583: Was Colonel Jaan Maide . The four divisions were active until the Soviet occupation of Estonia . On 17 August 1940, after Estonia was occupied by the Soviets , the 22nd Territorial Rifle Corps of the Red Army was formed at Tallinn . The Army was created as a territorial Estonian body based on military units and institutions of the Estonian army. All soldiers and officers kept the Estonian Army 1936-spec uniforms but with Soviet insignia. The first commander of

7304-595: Was attacked by German aircraft. The division entered combat on 26 June against the LVI Panzer Corps , which was attacking the 27th Army in the Daugava region. On 9 July, the division and its parent formation, the 22nd Rifle Corps , were transferred from the 27th Army to the 11th Army . It fought in defensive battles, making counterattacks in Soltsy , Porkhov and Novorzhev . In August it had retreated back to

7392-525: Was formally compulsory, in practice, the teaching and learning of Estonian by Russian-speakers was often considered unnecessary by the Soviet authorities. In 1991, with the restoration of Estonia's independence , Estonian went back to being the only official language in Estonia. Since 2004, when Estonia joined the European Union, Estonian is also one of the (now 24) official languages of the EU . The return of former Soviet immigrants to their countries of origin at

7480-429: Was led by a county leader ( vanem ). A malev was bigger than a battalion ( pataljon ) and smaller than a division ( diviis ). A malev was the largest military formation among the Estonian Defense League infantry units. A malev is usually a sub-component of a division, a larger unit consisting of two or more malevs ; however, some brigades are classified as a separate brigade and operate independently from

7568-469: Was one fully professional infantry battalion – ( Scouts Battalion ) in the Land Forces. Since 2017, the unit also trains conscripts in mechanized infantry role. Estonian Land Forces organizes Spring Storm ( Kevadtorm ) exercises every year. 9,000 soldiers participated in the exercise in 2017. Although the defense force employs various individual weapons to provide light firepower at short ranges,

7656-416: Was ordered to become the 5775th Weapons and Equipment Storage Base, but this was appears to have been delayed to at least 1991. In 1990, CFE treaty data showed the division had 61 T-64 tanks, 13 T-54 tanks and 12 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers, among other equipment. In January 1992, the storage base was taken over by Ukraine. It became the 27th Separate Mechanized Brigade and was subordinated to

7744-519: Was part of the 53rd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front in May 1945. During the war, the division was awarded the honorific Kiev for its actions during the 1943 capture of Kiev. It was awarded the Order of the Red Banner , the Order of Suvorov 2nd class and the Order of Kutuzov 2nd class. In 1955, it became the 14th Rifle Division . On 17 May 1957, the 88th Motor Rifle Division was activated from

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