Excerpts from Estonian military awards and decorations, 1918-1940
1939 – 1944, Serving in the Finnish armed forces, and the Winter War
During this period an estimated 3,352 Estonian men crossed the frozen Gulf of Finland to fight in the Finnish armed forces (410 would form 10% of the Finnish Navy). Among those, was the Estonian reconnaissance unit ERNA, trained for action behind enemy lines. They would later return to Estonia’s front providing significant data to Finnish and German commands. ERNA together with the Forest Brothers, opposed to Russian occupation, would effectively fight against the Russian fighter battalion and military intelligence units.
A little more background on the Defense League:
On October 1st, 1917 the Tallinn Citizen’s Self-Defense Force under the command of CPT Johan Pika and merchant Eduard Saarepera was founded. The Self-Defense Force was founded out of political and practical needs. Great Russian chauvinism and Bolsheviks internationalism threatened to suffocate the idea of Estonian national self-determination. Estonia’s provisional government was unable to run the country and chaos reigned. Things at the WWI front were worsening for the Russians, when on 21 August information regarding the German occupation of Riga, Latvia was received. This spread panic among the Estonians, creating a new wave of refugees while Russian troops stationed in Estonia began robbing people.
The Self-Defense Force displayed great vitality and took effective measure to stop the Bolsheviks ‘evacuation all the while under German occupation and illegal actions (such as the battle in the vicinity of the electric power station in Tallinn and the large beach gate on 24 February 1918). On 11 November 1918 the German occupation of Estonia ended and the Self-Defense Force was replaced by the Estonian Defense League. The Defense League, now directly subordinate to the Minister of War, began its activities under the leadership of MG Ernst Põdder and the chairmanship of Johan Pitka. Acting only upon the principle of acting with honor and in a manner for the good of the State, the Defense League operated without standing orders and statutes.
A short piece of history regarding the Estonian Shooting Union – in order to give you an idea as to the Defense League’s and Defense Forces’ marksmanship capabilities.
In November of 1930 representatives of the Defense League, Defense Forces, Border Guard and Police formed the Estonian Shooting Union Working Group, uniting shooting sportsmen and developing relations with shooting societies and unions in other countries.
From 1935 to 1939 during competitions in Rome, Helsinki and Lucerne, Estonians broke four world records, six team and four individual world titles and twice winning The Argentina Cup for best free rifle team. By 1940 there were no less than 51 Grand Masters in Estonia. During four shooting events with large and small caliber rifle, free and combat pistol, Estonians won the Grand Masters title 77 times. They also held three triple and twenty double Grand Master titles.
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