THE RED ARMY
In the summer of 1940 after the Soviets annexed Estonia, the Estonian army was incorporated into Red Army as the 22nd Territorial Corps with two divisions: the 180th and the 192nd. There were six infantry regiments, five artillery regiments and several independent units mainly of battalion size. The 180th Division was was formed from units in the northern part of Estonia and the 192nd in the south. The strength of the Corps in june 1940 was ca 12500 men.
At first life in the new Soviet Corps coninued as before. Soon, howver, there were changes. Political officers were attached to units and most of the officers above the rank of captain were sent to Russia for trainig. This training soon proved to be a cover for imprisonment and executions. It was policy of the new regime to get rid of the leading members of the Estonian society in all walks of life and the military was no exception, indeed it is fairly obvious that the representatives of the old military establishment were the most dangerous part of the former elite. After all, most of these men had fought twenty years ago against the very might that now had taken over their country.
The posts left vacant were filled with junior officers and non-commissioned officers who, although mostly highly professional soldiers, were not trained for their new offices. Russian officers with mainly no Estonian laguage skills were also brought over to ensure that the new Soviet Corps would be reformed as a true Red Army formation.
The Kaitseliit was disbanded and their arms confiscated. In place of this volunteer organization was set up a new, communist-orientated paramilitary Rahva Omakaitse (RO, People's Self-Defence). The nature of this organization was evident from the spontaneous nickname "Röövlid omavahel" (robbers amongst themselves, RO). Also, the basic nature of the new organization was not a volunteer military part-time training organization but rather a paramilitary police formation meant primarily for stifling any opposition to the Soviet order. When the war started in 1941 the RO units were used as a basis for the infamous destruction battalions (Hävituspataljonid)
When the Germans launched their assault in 1941, the main thrust in the Baltic area was directed towards Leningrad. This meant that the axis of attack bypassed Estonia's northern parts. The frontline stabilized for some weeks in the middle of Estonia with the Southern part in German control and the North still under Soviet rule. This gave the Soviets a chance to mobilize Estonians to augment the territorial corps. The strength after mobilization was ca 30000 men. These numbers were filled up with ethnic Russians and Estonians living in Russia.
The augmented Corps was deployed in defensive battles against the advancing Germans. Both of the divisions were pulled back before the advancing Germans to Russia proper. The Estonian units saw little motivation in fighting for the Soviets outside their own country for the regime that had overthrown their legal government and therefore suffered from poor morale and a great number of Estonians surrendered willingly to the Germans. Even complete battalions chose not to fight for their new regime but rather surrendered to the Wehrmacht which was seen as a potential ally in the fight against the Soviet might.
The Estonian Territorial Corps (22nd Rifle Corps) was disbanded in August 1941 and the men were sent to work in the Urals region. They were nominally deployed as construction units but in effect they lived in prison camp conditions. The food was scarce, work hard and thousands of men died of malnutrition. The survivors of the original corps plus Estonians living in the Soviet Union were used to create a new corps and this corps, the Estonian Rifle Corps, had two divisions, both created in 1942.
The Corps fought at Velikiye Luki but even with this German stronghold surrounded, many Estonians deserted and crossed the line to the German side. After this the Corps was used in rear of the Narva area and apparently only their artillery was used in fighting the Germans in the battle of Narva before the German withdrawal. With the Germans pulling back, the Estonian Corps was sent towards Tallinn and saw only fairly light combat until the Saaremaa operation.
The two divisions of the Corps were numbered the 7th and the 249th and the Corps was called the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps.
