Alfons Rebane Alfons Vilhelm Robert Rebane , known simply as Alfons Rebane ( June 24 , 1908 – March 8 , 1976 ) was an Estonian military commander . He was the most highly decorated Estonian military officer in the course of the Second World War , serving in various German military units against the armed forces of the Soviet Union . After World War II Rebane joined the British Secret Intelligence Service ( MI6 ) where he played a key role in assisting the armed resistance to Soviet rule in Estonia and other Baltic countries . He led the Estonian portion of MI6 ' s Operation Jungle well into the 1950s . In 1961 , Rebane retired from the British intelligence services and moved to Germany , where stayed until his death in Augsburg in 1976 . The 1999 reburial of Rebane in Estonia with state honors triggered a number of controversies . Early life . Rebane was born in Valga in southern Estonia , then part of the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire . In 1920 Rebane , son of a railway official , attended the Russian secondary school in Narva . From 1926 to 1929 he attended Tartu University and graduated from the Estonian War College with first class honours . He served as an infantry officer on the armoured train " Captain Irv " of the 1st Armored Train Regiment as a second lieutenant in 1929 . Married in 1931 to Agnia Soomets , they had one daughter Tiiu who died soon afterwards . On Estonian Independence Day on February 24 , 1933 , Rebane was promoted to first lieutenant . From 1935 to 1939 he served as junior instructor in the Defence League Viljandi County Territorial Regiment , between 1939 - 1940 in the Lääne County Territorial Regiment . From January to June 1940 Rebane was the Commandant of Lihula . World War II . Rebane served as an officer in the Estonian Army until the Soviet troops occupied the country in 1940 . The Soviets disbanded and absorbed most of the Estonian Armed Forces and arrested and executed the entire Estonian high command . Many junior officers , such as Rebane , were dismissed due to their lack of " political reliability " and were liable to be deported . For a while , Rebane worked in construction , then fled into the forests when the Soviets began mass deportations in 1941 . He established and led an anti - Soviet Forest Brothers unit in Virumaa ( Northern Estonia ) in May 1941 . After Germany had taken control of Estonia , he joined the German Wehrmacht and went on to fight against the Soviets in Northwestern Russia , subsequently becoming the captain of the 184th Security Battalion , then Major of the Estonian 658th Eastern Battalion . In February 1944 Major Rebane ' s unit was transferred to the Narva Front and attached to the Wehrmacht ' s 26th Army Corps on March 2 . On April 27 , 1944 , the unit was released from the Wehrmacht and Rebane was reluctantly drafted into the newly - formed 20th ( Estonian ) Division of the Waffen - SS , eventually becoming colonel of the 47th Waffen - Grenadier Regiment . The Estonian division played a significant role in the Battle of Narva and the Battle of Emajõgi , holding back the Soviet re - occupation of Estonia until the Soviet Tallinn Offensive , September 1944 while suffering heavy casualties . Rebane ' s unit was then evacuated to Germany for refitting and saw more action on the Eastern Front in the spring of 1945 . Despite being encircled several times , Rebane was amongst a small group of Estonian soldiers who in the final days of the war evaded capture by the Soviets and managed to reach the western allies to surrender . Soldiers who fought in units under his command were colloquially referred to as " fox cubs " ( " Rebane " translates to " fox " in Estonian ) . Rebane was nicknamed " Estonian Rommel " for his leadership and tactical skills . Decorations . According to Carlos Caballero Jurado , Nigel Thomas , and Darko Pavlović : Alfons Rebane was " the most decorated and probably the most talented and charismatic Baltic soldier during WWII " . Rebane became one of the most decorated Estonians . During his days in the Estonian Army , he was awarded the Defence League White Cross 3rd Class and the Latvian Aizsargi Cross of Merit . In the German army he was awarded the Iron Cross first and second class , the War Merit Cross with swords second class , the Eastern Front Medal , the silver Infantry Assault Badge and the silver Ostvolk Medal for bravery . Rebane was also decorated with the silver Close Combat Clasp , awarded for hand - to - hand fighting by unsupported infantry for a total of 30 days . In February 1944 he was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross and in April 1945 he was promoted to " Waffen - Standartenführer " and awarded the Knight ' s Cross with Oakleaves for extreme bravery in the battlefield . Rebane did not receive the award or confirmation of the promotion until 1975 . At the end of the war there were some rumours that Rebane had been awarded the Oak Leaves but no official notification reached Rebane at the time . The archives were moved to Great Britain and returned to Germany in 1975 . At that time Rebane asked if the rumours held any truth and he was then formally notified that he had been in fact given the award and promoted by the then - Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz at the war ' s end . Post war . In 1947 Rebane moved to England and joined the British Secret Intelligence Service ( MI6 ) as the Estonian expert at the Intelligence School in London . There he played a key role in assisting the armed resistance to Soviet rule in Estonia and other Baltic countries . He led the Estonian portion of MI6 ' s Operation Jungle well into the 1950s . In 1961 , Rebane retired from the British intelligence services and moved to Germany , where stayed until his death in Augsburg in 1976 . Controversies . In 1977 , Patrice Chairoff and Beate Klarsfeld alleged Rebane was a war criminal . Investigations conducted by the KGB after World War II found no evidence confirming the accusations against Colonel Alfons Rebane and his army unit , while in the West during the Nuremberg trials and during his subsequent work for the MI6 and his life in West Germany no charges against Rebane were ever made . The return and reburial of Rebane ' s ashes with military honours at a national cemetery during 1999 in Estonia sparked some controversy . The American Jewish Congress protested the reburial served as an " indication that fascist ideology is recognized in Estonia " . A tombstone to Rebane , unofficially erected in 2004 but unveiled before Pärnumaa District Parliamentarian and former Foreign Minister Trivimi Velliste , was protested by Russia ' s Chief Rabbi , Berl Lazar and the Russian Jewish Congress . The citations of the Judgement of the Nuremberg Tribunal by the Russian Federation ' s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in according criminal responsibility ( and thus charges of historical revisionism in Estonia ) has been criticized as inaccurate by the EU Presidency . The Nuremberg Tribunal in declaring the Waffen SS a criminal organization explicitly exempted conscripts who had committed no crimes from that judgement , which included the Baltic Waffen - SS divisions . It is mention of this exemption from the Nuremberg judgement that is omitted by the Russia Federation . The United States officials have declared the Baltic Waffen SS units not to be hostile to the Government of the United States and the units were " considered as separate and distinct in purpose , ideology , activities and qualification from the regular SS According to Andrew Mollo , a British authority on the SS : " the Estonian SS were very different from other SS units : Estonia had been occupied by the Red Army in 1940 , the Estonians fought for the independence of their country and were brought under the SS umbrella against their will . " The Estonian authorities assert that the Estonian Waffen SS units engaged solely in combat operations at the front to defend Estonia ' s independence and had nothing to do with punitive operations in the territories occupied by the Nazi Germany . According to the President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves " We are witnesses to the information war against Estonia which already reminds of an ideological aggression " . According to the editor of " Virumaa Teataja " newspaper Rein Sikk : " Alfons Rebane was a good soldier according to our historians . He was never convicted of war crimes and [ the allegations ] are just a political game to try to show that Estonia has lots of fascists . "