Estonian Auxiliary Police Estonian Auxiliary Police were Estonian units that fought in World War II under command of Germany . Estonian regular units allied with Nazi Germany began to be established on 25 August 1941 , when under the order of Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb , commander of the Army Group North , the Baltic citizens were permitted to be recruited to the Wehrmacht service and grouped into the Special units and volunteer battalion s to fight against partisans In this context , Colonel General Georg von Küchler , commander of the 18th Army ( Germany ) , formed six Estonian volunteer guard units ( " Estnische Sicherungsgruppe " , " Eesti julgestusgrupp " ; numbered 181 - 186 ) on the basis of the Omakaitse squads ( with its members contracted for one year ) . Since September 1941 , the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht has started to establish the Estonian Auxiliary Police Battalions ( " Schuma " ) in addition to the aforementioned units to perform the guard duties and to fight against partisans in the rear of the Army Group North . During the war , 26 " Schuma " battalions were formed in Estonia in all numbered from 29th to the 45th , the 50th and from the 286th to 293rd . Unlike the similar units deployed in Reichskommissariat Ukraine and White Ruthenia , and controlled by the Germans the Estonian Police battalions were made up of national staff and included only one German monitoring officer . Moreover , as a sign of special trust , the Wehrmacht ranking system was introduced in the Estonian Police Battalions . As of October 1 , 1942 , the Estonian Police forces comprised 10 400 men in all with 591 Germans attached thereto . Battles . The police battalions were mostly engaged in the Eastern Front , occasionally fighting against Soviet partisans . The 36th Estonian Police Battalion participated in the Battle of Stalingrad . On the way to Stalingrad , the train carrying the battalion fell under Soviet mortar fire as it arrived in the railway station Surovikino in the morning of November 22 , 1942 . Fighting erupted on the northern outskirt of Surovikino . The battalion was quickly unloaded and assumed defense positions at 09 . 30 . After connducting attacks at 15 . 00 the battalion was forced to defend the line of Nizny Osinovski , Lukitsevski , Starikovski , Zirkov . That evening , Commanding Major Julius Renter was replaced and lieutenant Harald Riipalu took over the battalion . Forty two men were awarded with the Iron Cross after the battle , among them Harald Riipalu , who later became Knight ' s Cross holder . The 37th and 40th battalions were fighting against the partisans in the Pskov Oblast , as was the 38th battalion in the Luga - Pskov - Gdov region . The 288th battalion was engaged in the suppression of the Ronson ’ s Partisan Republic . Police Battalions 29th , 31st and 32nd fought in the Battle for Narva Bridgehead . On August 29 , 1944 Police Battalions 37 and 38 participated in the Battle of Emajõgi . As their largest operation , supported by III . Battalion , Estonian Waffen Grenadier Regiment 45 , they destroyed the Kärevere bridgehead of two Soviet divisions west from Tartu and recaptured the Tallinn highway bridge over the Emajõgi by 30 August . The operation shifted the entire front back to the southern bank of the Emajõgi . This encouraged the II Army Corps to launch an operation attempting to recapture Tartu on 4 September . On September 19 , 1944 Police Battalion 287 had a clash in Klooga concentration camp with members of the German " Sonderkommando " , who tried to execute prisoners in the camp .