Estonia's army in the 1920's and 30's

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Balrog
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#31

Post by Balrog » 01 Aug 2003, 07:38

the web link for the "st. george cross' holders. was that medal a estonia decoration? were the generals in those photos wearing czarist russian medals too?

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#32

Post by Reigo » 01 Aug 2003, 13:27

who were estonia's allies in the 1920's and 30's? the swedish? the finns?


The only official military ally was Latvia. There was military cooperation with other countries (Finland for example), but there was no political alliance.
did anyone give military advisors( i noticed the 'exchage officer' from sweden) and equipment to the estonian army? did estonia have any countries that supplied them with financial help?


As far as I know for everything Estonia had to pay. During the War of Independence the greatest supplier was Great-Britain.
estonia seems to have had money to afford a well equipped army.


That is not true. Big part of the artillery, airplanes were already obsolete. The biggest problem in the 30-ies was money.
was estonia relatively rich nation? or was it bankrupt? was th eeconomy in estonia health in the 20's and 30's?


The Great Depression also hit Esonia pretty hard. But the second half of the 30-ies was good period for the economy. I don't know if Estonia was rich, probably not. But it wasn't poor either.
was the arrrested estonia president kept under house arrest in russia or was he left to die in a gulag?


He was kept under house arrest.
reading over the web links, it seems the soviets murdered almost the entire estonian government, officer corps, and viirtually anyone of any importance at all.


Well many survived, but true - many were murdered. The Soviet s didn't murder the entire officer corps - only the "bad" element there. Almost the entire general corps was murdered.
i read even the entire families of prominent citizens were shipped of to gulags. is there anyone alive in estonia today that is a grandchild of any of these government or military officers? did any of the family members manage to survive the russian gulag system?
There was GULAG and there was deportation to Siberia where they had to live in certain villages. There were many GULAG survivors. Also about half of those who were deported came back.
the web link for the "st. george cross' holders. was that medal a estonia decoration? were the generals in those photos wearing czarist russian medals too?
The St. Georges Cross and Order were the most prestigious awards of the Czarist Russia. On those photos there are indeed also czarist awards.


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#33

Post by Reigo » 01 Aug 2003, 13:31

You can find additional information about Estonian history also here:
http://www.estonica.org/

http://www.estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?m ... kst_id=656

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#34

Post by Reigo » 01 Aug 2003, 18:57

A little bit more:

http://www.mil.ee/index_eng.php?s=ajalugu


Some articles from The Baltic Defence Review might also be interesting:
http://www.bdcol.ee/bdcol/publications.php?id=01

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Balrog
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#35

Post by Balrog » 01 Aug 2003, 23:57

what government built the large naval fortress with the massive guns? the photos of the normandy style coastal artillery? was that fortress left over from czarist russia or was it new construction by the estonian republic? how did estonia raise the money to purchase new submarines from england in the 1930's?

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#36

Post by Reigo » 02 Aug 2003, 15:30

what government built the large naval fortress with the massive guns? the photos of the normandy style coastal artillery? was that fortress left over from czarist russia or was it new construction by the estonian republic? how did estonia raise the money to purchase new submarines from england in the 1930's?
I have to check exactly about the naval fortress. The money for the submarines partly came from the selling of two destroiers to Peru.

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#37

Post by Balrog » 02 Aug 2003, 16:21

i would like to now how many men estonia had in its active duty military in the 20's and 30's, and how many men in reserves? did the estonians ever have any kind of storm trooper/assualt units? what became of the german land holders after the end of the war in the early 1920's?

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Galicia
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#38

Post by Galicia » 02 Aug 2003, 17:15

Well, if one looks at the Online Mannherheim Museum, you'll see that Mannerheim, a fmr. General in the Imperial Russian Army, still wears his White Russian Decorations alongside his Finnish Republican Decorations.

And some very impressive Russian decorations they were!

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#39

Post by Reigo » 02 Aug 2003, 17:59

i would like to now how many men estonia had in its active duty military in the 20's and 30's, and how many men in reserves?
Check the links wich were provided during this discussion.
(fex this: http://www.geocities.com/kumbayaaa/estonia.html)
did the estonians ever have any kind of storm trooper/assualt units?
During the War of Independence the units formed from volunteers were considered as elite. After the war probably the sea fortresses were considered as the elite. But I guess there were no storm trooper/assualt units.
what became of the german land holders after the end of the war in the early 1920's?
Their land was mostly taken away with the landreform. So they had to conform with the new circumstances...

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#40

Post by Reigo » 04 Aug 2003, 11:44

The guns of the Naval Fortresses were mostly from the Russian Naval Fortress of Peter the Great. When the Germans left Estonia in 1918 they tried to damage the fortress as much as possible. The Estonians later repaired and also modernized the fortress.

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Juha Tompuri
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#41

Post by Juha Tompuri » 05 Aug 2003, 23:06

Reigo wrote:The only official military ally was Latvia. There was military cooperation with other countries (Finland for example), but there was no political alliance.
Hi!

Interesting discussion!
Estonia and Finland had a secret defence alliance. At naval and coastal artillery defence the co-operation was deepest. The countries had a combined coastal artillery fire control system (the Finns could control Estonian artillery fire and visa versa). The Estonian subs were equipped with the same torpedo and mine "systems" as the Finnish ones. "Veljien Valtiosalaisuus" (State secret of Brothers) by Jari Leskinen even states that if hostilities between Finland and Estonia versus Soviet Union would broke out, Lembit and Kalev would be placed under Finnish high command.

Regards, Juha
Attachments
v-salaisuus.JPG
The map is from the "Veljien Valtiosalaisuus" The dot lines between Tallinn and Helsinki are secret underwater seacables. A minefield was proposed between Naissaari and Porkkala.
v-salaisuus.JPG (81.2 KiB) Viewed 5050 times

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#42

Post by Chris S » 09 Aug 2003, 21:21

The British helped the Estonians win their first War of Independence by the supply of arms, training for there use, and the Royal Navy in its fire support assistance.

The graves of British Naval ranks and a few Army lie within 500 metres of where I live.

The Estonians became very Finn orientated after the British sighed a Baltic treaty with the Germans in 1938……….they still are………but it is changing as they join NATO

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#43

Post by Mark V » 10 Aug 2003, 02:02

Reigo wrote:The guns of the Naval Fortresses were mostly from the Russian Naval Fortress of Peter the Great. When the Germans left Estonia in 1918 they tried to damage the fortress as much as possible. The Estonians later repaired and also modernized the fortress.
Yes,

Estonia and Finland inherited propably the most effective coastal defence system of the time from Russian empire. Together they could have effectively blocked whole Soviet Baltic Fleet to the eastern bay of Gulf of Finland.


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#44

Post by Balrog » 10 Aug 2003, 06:51

do any of the coastal artillery fortresses still exist today, or did the russians wreck them when the soviet union collapsed?

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#45

Post by Balrog » 10 Aug 2003, 20:57

were the nobility in the baltics all germans? were there any estonian or latvian noble families?

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