Tartu in the 1941 Summer War By Major Riho Rõngelep and Brigadier General Michael Hesselholt Clemmesen* he centre of Tartu city was heavily effort of the Army Group North was in land bridge between the Võrts Lake and damaged in July 1941 in a few days the axis east of the Lake Peipsi. the Lake Peipsi. of combat. The fighting took place because Only weak forces were initially detached It also took place because the Emajõgi the momentum of the German invasion for operations against Estonia. These Ger- River connecting the two lakes and di- of the northern part of the Soviet Union man forces had their objectives in North viding the town gave support to the hast- lapsed after the first couple of weeks of and Northwest Estonia, including the is- ily improvised Soviet defence. The fight- rapid advance, making it possible for the lands. That part of the country was used ing had three phases: Soviet forces to stabilise the front for bases by the Soviet air force and na- Initially the Estonian liberation and temporarily in central Estonia, and val aviation bomber forces. An Army defence of the southern part of Tartu and thereby gaining more time to prepare the Corps of two infantry divisions attacked Tartu county south of the Emajõgi. defences of Leningrad. towards Pärnu and Viljandi respectively, Thereafter the German-Soviet fight for The fighting in and around the town when determined Soviet resistance control of the river line, both sides rein- was a tactical sideshow in an operational stopped their lead elements. forcing their initially deployed forces, the sideshow of a strategic sideshow. The Ger- The fighting in Tartu took place be- engagements gradually moving away from man Army Group North offensive was cause an Estonian armed rebellion had the town. secondary to the main German effort, the liberated the Southeastern part of the Finally the isolation and defeat of the strategic offensive of Army Group Cen- country, making it logical for the Ger- Soviet forces north of the river, between tre against Moscow. The operational main man forces to test the possibilities of the the two large lakes. * Brigadier General Michael Hesselholt Clemmesen is the Commandant of the Baltic Defence College. Major Riho Rõngelep is a Directing Staff member at the Baltic Defence College. 165 166 Map of Tartu 1927 Courtesy of Tartu City Museum Archive It is no longer easy to uncover what ac- to build a heavy industry that could sup- European war was close, Stalin realised tually happened that July in and around port a massive, modern military machine. that he had to do everything possible Tartu. To the Soviet and German military By the mid-1930s he had succeeded in to compensate for his self-inflicted mili- historians it was an insignificant episode in creating a huge and well-officered force, tary weakness. He needed time to re- the fighting, preceding the Siege of in some conceptual and equipment areas stabilise the army. He also decided that Leningrad. To the Estonians it was much leading in the world. However, in his he needed geographical buffer space to more; it was an important manifestation of general campaign to destroy all other cen- reduce the strategic vulnerability which their will to regain independence. However, tres of independent power, the Soviet was the result of the 1920 borders. The from the return of the Russians in 1944 dictator turned against the Red Armys Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact gave him and until the late 1980s, the anti-Soviet ris- leadership and destroyed it in 1937-38, both. ing of 1941 could not be researched. After leaving the Independence in 1991, the reconstruction force without has been severely hampered by the very lim- its professional ited amount of sources left in Estonia. The brain and hav- main basis of the sources was the original ing lost the will interviews with surviving witnesses. to show initia- This is the first attempt to place the tive and inde- Estonian popular rising in South Esto- pendent action nia and Liberation of Tartu in early July on a battle- 1941 within the framework of the Ger- field, which is man operations, giving a more complete the core of picture of the Summer War. military effec- tiveness. Prologue When it be- The cornerstone of the Defence League building at the meeting of came clear in Võru and Riia Streets was laid 3rd September. Since the late 1920s Stalin had brutally spring 1939 Four weeks later the first Soviet troops had entered Estonia. mobilised and enslaved the Soviet society that a general Courtesy of Tartu City Museum Archive 167 Late September the eastern half of Po- was winning the European war, and that risen to more that 500.000, increasingly land was absorbed, and when demands for he could ignore any sentimental French concentrated in the South, close to the bases in the Baltic states were backed by a and British support to the Baltic states German border. Thus the 11th Rifle Di- massive deployment of troops towards independence. The three states were in- vision, which arrived at Tartu in Febru- their borders, the three governments gave vaded mid June following an ultimatum ary from Kuressaare, moved on to Vilnius in to the pressure. By 28 September, Es- to each country and annexed into the in May (again according to the Swedish tonia entered a Pact of Mutual Assistance Soviet Union after rigged elections. Esto- intelligence). with the Soviet Union, accompanied by nia was invaded by 80.000 troops on 17 The situation in Estonia had become the deployment of 30.000 Soviet troops June. According to the Swedish intelli- disastrous. The Soviet Union controlled on its national territory (twice the Esto- gence, Tartu became the garrison of the all the institutions of the state, all areas of nian Defence Force total). The Soviet 90th Rifle Division. life. During that spring the pressure Union had gained rights to create naval The Estonian military leadership dis- against the Baltic peoples grew dramati- and air bases on the Saaremaa, the Hiiumaa appeared as a result of deportations and cally, with its peak in massive and well- and at Paldiski as well as the right to use death in prisons or camps. The army was prepared deportations on 14 June. Tallinn Port for two years. However, the transformed to form the main part of the Around 10.000 persons were picked up arriving generals also demanded air bases 22nd Territorial Rifle Corps of the Red in Estonia alone, including the families inland, and the Estonian government was Army (with the 180th, 181st and 182nd Rifle of those already deported or killed dur- in no position to reject that demand. Divisions, the first and last with head- ing the previous months. The pressure Where the Red forces established their quarters in Estonia). The surviving cadre and the risk of deportations led many to bases, Estonia lost all control. Thus, when was exposed to pressure and brainwash- hide in the woods to avoid being picked- the Soviet demands for bases in Finland ing. The voluntary defence force, Kaitseliit up, becoming Forest Brothers. were rejected by the Finns, and the Win- (Defence League) was disbanded and dis- The Baltic peoples had had their expe- ter War followed, the air bases in inde- armed. The Baltic Sea Fleet moved its rience of what Soviet rule under Stalin pendent and neutral Estonia were used headquarters to Tallinn, and the 8th Army meant. The naivety about what could be by the Soviet bomber forces. established itself in Rakvere. expected which had contributed to the In the early summer of 1940 it became In the late spring of 1941, the number decisions not to resist had gone. It was clear to Stalin that his partner, Germany, of Soviet troops in the Baltic states had concluded that only Germany could help. 168 June, splitting the defending Soviet 8 th the Finnish Gulf along the Luga river 22 June to 9 July the framework and 11 th Armies. The Baltic Sea Navy ending at the Ilmen lake was now selected started to evacuate its bases in Latvia on as the main forward defence of the city. The German invasion came as a sur- 29 June. On that day Manstein broke out All construction work in the city stopped prise to Stalin, but his subordinates had of the Daugavpils bridgehead in spite of and 30.000 workers were sent to develop continued and intensified preparations for hard and aggressive resistance by the So- the defences in a special Rear Lines Con- war in the weeks of May and June. Even viet forces, and continued towards struction Administration created for that if the 14 June deportations may have been Ostrov. Other German forces captured purpose on 29 July. A special operational unconnected to the defence preparations, Riga on 1 July. group for the control of the defence line they added to the pressure on the Baltic The 18 th German Army1 that followed was established one week later. On 30 June populations and removed potentially dis- the Panzer Group and covered its West- the decision was taken to raise a locally loyal elements. ern flank, also attacked with its main ef- drafted militia army. Without training On 20 June followed the announce- fort East of the Lake Peipsi via Pskov. this loose mob was sent to man the Luga ment of General Mobilisation in Estonia, The Germans correctly did not expect line, only armed with light weapons and including both the former national army, the Soviets to deploy large forces in de- slaughtered by the advancing Germans on now the 22nd Territorial Rifle Corps, and fence of Estonia, and the 18 th Army only their arrival.