Where exactly did the Estonian volunteers fight?
Postitatud: T Jaan 07, 2020 2:26 pm
Hello everyone interested in the Estonian volunteers who went to Finland and fight.
A friend of mine has Estonian ancestry and has told me a bit about the Estonian's fights for independence, sometimes together with the other two Baltic countries, and also that many Estonians have fought together with the Finns, the Germans and even the Soviets (although not for the sake of becoming independent). This has caused me to look into this a bit and the fights in Estonia during WW2, which one hasn't heard or read a lot about earlier, has really amazed me.
Another thing that amazed me, or at least made me a bit confused, was that my friend's father who never really told any of his children anything about the war in Finland said that he and his fellow Estonian volunteers had been to Stalingrad. My friend was sure that his old dad must have mixed things up and had been meaning to say Leningrad. But as we both know that the so called Finnish Boys were positioned on the Mannerheim Line and around Viipuri we decided that I should check with you on this forum.
As far as I know there were Estonian volunteers in IR200 and also in the 3rd Battalion of IR47. And according to the book Finland's War of Choice Mannerheim stalled the Finnish advance south towards Leningrad and required of the Germans that they got closer to Leningrad and managed to surround it more before the Finns would go further south.
The only Finns or Estonians that would have been close to Leningrad were the once in the SS-divisions. It is maybe possible that my friend's dad was thinking about those when he said that they had been to Leningrad (although he actually mentioned Stalingrad) and was using "we" as a way of saying "us Estonians" whether those Estonians were in the Finnish army or the SS-divisions.
But I still wonder if my friend's dad could be correct in what he said about that Estonian volunteers, either from IR47 or IR200, being close to Leningrad or if they always stayed further north?
If you don't speak very good English you can reply in Estonian or Russian. I would use Google Translate or Systran Translate to get it to English.
A friend of mine has Estonian ancestry and has told me a bit about the Estonian's fights for independence, sometimes together with the other two Baltic countries, and also that many Estonians have fought together with the Finns, the Germans and even the Soviets (although not for the sake of becoming independent). This has caused me to look into this a bit and the fights in Estonia during WW2, which one hasn't heard or read a lot about earlier, has really amazed me.
Another thing that amazed me, or at least made me a bit confused, was that my friend's father who never really told any of his children anything about the war in Finland said that he and his fellow Estonian volunteers had been to Stalingrad. My friend was sure that his old dad must have mixed things up and had been meaning to say Leningrad. But as we both know that the so called Finnish Boys were positioned on the Mannerheim Line and around Viipuri we decided that I should check with you on this forum.
As far as I know there were Estonian volunteers in IR200 and also in the 3rd Battalion of IR47. And according to the book Finland's War of Choice Mannerheim stalled the Finnish advance south towards Leningrad and required of the Germans that they got closer to Leningrad and managed to surround it more before the Finns would go further south.
The only Finns or Estonians that would have been close to Leningrad were the once in the SS-divisions. It is maybe possible that my friend's dad was thinking about those when he said that they had been to Leningrad (although he actually mentioned Stalingrad) and was using "we" as a way of saying "us Estonians" whether those Estonians were in the Finnish army or the SS-divisions.
But I still wonder if my friend's dad could be correct in what he said about that Estonian volunteers, either from IR47 or IR200, being close to Leningrad or if they always stayed further north?
If you don't speak very good English you can reply in Estonian or Russian. I would use Google Translate or Systran Translate to get it to English.