20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS ( 1st Estonian ) 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS ( 1st Estonian ) ( , ) was a unit of the " Waffen SS " established on 25 May 1944 in German occupied Estonia during World War II . Formed in Spring 1944 after the general conscription - mobilization was announced in Estonia on 31 January 1944 by the German occupying authorities , the cadre of the 3rd Estonian SS Volunteer Brigade , renamed the 20th Estonian SS Volunteer Division on 23 January 1944 , was returned to Estonia and reformed . Additionally 38 , 000 men were conscripted in Estonia and other Estonian units that had fought on various fronts in the German Army , and the Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 were rushed to Estonia . Estonian officers and men in other units that fell under the conscription proclamation and had returned to Estonia had their rank prefix changed from " SS " to " Waffen " ( " Hauptscharführer " would be referred to as a " Waffen - Hauptscharführer " rather than " SS - Hauptscharführer " ) . The wearing of SS runes on the collar was forbidden , and these formations began wearing national insignia instead . The Division fought the Red Army on the Eastern Front and surrendered in May 1945 . Historical context . On 16 June 1940 , the Soviet Union had invaded Estonia . The military occupation was complete by 21 June 1940 and rendered " official " by a communist coup d ' état supported by Soviet troops and the Nazi government under the 23 August 1939 agreement signed in Moscow between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union as a Treaty of Non - Aggression . A secret protocol of the pact defined domains of influence , with the Soviet Union gaining eastern Poland , Finland , Latvia , Estonia and the Romanian province of Bessarabia . Germany was to control western Poland and Lithuania . After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 , the Germans were perceived by most Estonians as liberators from the USSR and its repression , and hopes were raised for the restoration of the country ' s independence . The initial enthusiasm that accompanied the liberation from Soviet occupation quickly waned as Estonia became a part of the German - occupied " Reichskommissariat Ostland " By January 1944 , the front was pushed back by the Red Army almost all the way to the former Estonian border . On 31 January 1944 general conscription - mobilization was announced in Estonia by the German authorities . On 7 February Jüri Uluots , the last constitutional prime minister of the republic of Estonia , supported the mobilization call during a radio address in the hope of restoring the Estonian Army and the country ' s independence . 38 , 000 men were conscripted , the formation of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS ( 1st Estonian ) had begun . Formation . The 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS was formed in January 1944 via general conscription , from a cadre drawn on the 3 . Estnische SS Freiwilligen Brigade , and further troops from the Ost Battalions and the 287th Police Fusilier Battalion and the returned Estonian volunteers of the Finnish army unit 200 . Defence of Estonia . After the Soviet Kingisepp – Gdov Offensive , the division was ordered to be replaced on the Nevel front and transported to the Narva front , to defend Estonia . The arrival of the I . Battalion , 1st Estonian Regiment at Tartu coincided with the prepared landing operation by the left flank of the Leningrad Front to the west coast of Lake Peipus , 120 kilometres south of Narva . The I . Battalion , 1st Estonian Regiment was placed at the Yershovo Bridgehead on the east coast of Lake Peipus . Estonian and German units cleared the west coast of Peipsi of Soviets by 16 February . Soviet casualties were in thousands . Battle of Narva . On 8 February 1944 , the division was attached to " Gruppenführer " Felix Steiner ' s III SS ( Germanic ) Panzer Corps , then defending the Narva bridgehead . The division was to replace the remnants of the 9th and 10th Luftwaffe Field Division s , which were struggling to hold the line against a Soviet bridgehead north of the town of Narva . Upon arriving at the front on 20 February , the division was ordered to eliminate the Soviet bridgehead . In nine days of heavy fighting , the division pushed the Soviets back across the river and restored the line . The division remained stationed in the Siivertsi and Auvere sectors , being engaged in heavy combat . In May , they were pulled out of the front line and reformed with the recently returned " Narwa " battalion into the division as the reconnaissance battalion . By that time , active conscription of Estonian men into the German armed forces was well under way . By Spring 1944 , approximately 32 , 000 men were drafted into the German forces , with the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division consisting of some 15 , 000 men . Battle of Tannenberg Line . When Steiner ordered a withdrawal to the Tannenberg Line on 25 July , the division was deployed on the Lastekodumägi Hill , the first line of defence for the new position . Over the next month , the division was engaged in a heavy defensive battle in the Sinimäed hills . On 26 July , pursuing the withdrawing defenders , the Soviet attack fell onto the Tannenberg Line . The Soviet Air Force and artillery bombarded the German positions , destroying most of the forest on the hills . On the morning of 27 July , the Soviet forces launched another powerful artillery barrage on the Sinimäed . The heaviest Soviet attack took place on 29 July . By noon , the Red Army had almost seized control of the Tannenberg Line . The last reserve on the front , I . Battalion , 1st Estonian Regiment had been spared from the previous counterattacks . The scarcity of able - bodied men forced " Sturmbannführer " Paul Maitla to request reinforcements from patients in the field hospital . Twenty injured men responded , joining the remmnants of other units including a part of the Kriegsmarine and supported by the single remaining Panther tank . The counterattack started from the parish cemetery south of the Tornimägi with the left flank of the assault clearing the hill of Soviet soldiers . The attack continued towards the summit under heavy Soviet artillery and bomber attack , culminating in close combat on the Soviet positions . The Estonian troops moved into the trenches . Running out of ammunition , they used Soviet grenades and automatic weapons taken from the fallen . According to some veterans , it appeared that low - flying Soviet bombers were attempting to hit every individual Estonian soldier moving between craters , some of them getting buried under soil from the explosions of Soviet shells . The Soviets were forced to retreat from the Grenaderimägi Hill . The battle took many casualties in the division , including " Sturmbannführer " Georg Sooden who was killed on 28 July and " Hauptsturmführer " Oskar Ruut on 3 August . Battle of Tartu . In mid - August , the division ' s 45th " Estland " and 46th regiments were formed into the " Kampfgruppe " Vent and sent south to help defend the Emajõgi river line , seeing heavy fighting . At the end of August , the III . Battalion , 1st Estonian Regiment was formed from the 1st Battalion of the Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 recently returned to Estonia . As their largest operation , supported by Estonian Police Battalions No . 37 , 38 and Mauritz Freiherr von Strachwitz ' s tank squadron , they destroyed the bridgehead of two Soviet divisions and recaptured Kärevere Bridge by 30 August . The operation shifted the entire front back to the southern bank of the Emajõgi and encouraged the II Army Corps to launch an operation attempting to recapture Tartu . The attack of 4 – 6 September reached the northern outskirts of the city but was repulsed by units of the Soviet 86th , 128th , 291st and 321st Rifle Divisions . Relative calm settled on the front for the subsequent thirteen days . Withdrawal from Estonia . When Adolf Hitler authorised the full withdrawal from Estonia in mid September , all men who wished to stay to defend their homes were released from service . Many chose this offer , fighting the Soviets alongside other Estonian units and then withdrawing into the forests to become the Forest Brothers ( partisans ) . Severely weakened by this , the division was withdrawn to Neuhammer to be refitted . On 19 September 1944 the liquidation of the Klooga concentration camp , in close proximity to the division ' s training camp started . Approximately 2 , 500 prisoners from the Vaivara camp complex had been brought there in the course of the evacuation . The training and replacement units of the division based at Klooga under the command of " Sturmbannführer " Georg Ahlemann provided guards for the perimeters . Final battles . Eventually , the reformed division , which numbered roughly 11 , 000 Estonians and 2 , 500 Germans , returned to the front line in late February , just in time for the Soviet Vistula - Oder Offensive . This offensive forced the German forces back behind the Oder and Neisse rivers . The division was pushed back to the Neisse , taking heavy casualties . The division was then trapped with the " XI . Armeekorps " in the Oberglogau - Falkenberg Niemodlin area in Silesia . On 17 March 1945 , the division launched a major escape attempt , which despite making headway , failed . On 19 March , the division tried again , this time succeeding , but leaving all heavy weapons and equipment behind in the pocket . In April , the remnants of the division were moved south to the area around Goldberg . After the Prague Offensive , the division attempted to break out to the west , in order to surrender to the western Allies . The local Czech population resumed their hostilities on the surrendered Estonian troops regardless of their intentions . In what veterans of the Estonian Division who had laid their weapons down in May 1945 recall as the ' Czech Hell ' , the local people chased , tortured and humiliated the Waffen SS men and murdered more than 500 Estonian POWs . Some of the Estonians who had reached the western allies were handed back to the Soviets . Aftermath . Guard duty during the Nuremberg Trials . In the spring of 1946 , out of the ranks of those who had surrendered to the Western allies in the previous year , a total of nine companies were formed . The most notable was the " 4221 Guard Company " , formed from some 300 veterans , with a mission to guard the external perimeter of the Nuremberg International Tribunal courthouse and the various depots and residences of US officers and prosecutors connected with the trial . The men were also entrusted with guarding the accused Nazi war criminals held in prison during the trial , up until the day of execution . Created on 26 December 1946 , and led by Captain Vaido Viitre , the company consisted of six armed platoons and one staff platoon . Each platoon consisted of four squads , totalling 40 men ; the staff platoon included medics , supplymen , cooks , carpenters , drivers , mechanics and secretaries , a total of 30 men . Outcome of Nuremberg Trials . The Nuremberg Trials , in declaring the Waffen SS a criminal organization , explicitly excluded conscript s in the following terms : Position of the US Displaced Persons Commission . In 13 April 1950 , a message from the Allied High Commission ( HICOG ) , signed by John J . McCloy to the Secretary of State , clarified the US position on the " Baltic Legions : " they were not to be seen as " movements " , " volunteer " , or " SS . " In short , they had not been given the training , indoctrination , and induction normally given to SS members . Subsequently the US Displaced Persons Commission in September 1950 declared that : Legacy . Most living veterans of the division belong to the 20th Estonian Waffen Grenadier Division Veterans Union ( Estonian : " 20 . Eesti Relvagrenaderide Diviisi Veteranide Ühendus " ) . It was founded in 2000 and gatherings of veterans of the division are organised by the union on the anniversaries of the battle of the Tannenberg Line in the Sinimäed hills . Since 2008 , the chairman of the union , Heino Kerde , is a former member of the 45th Regiment . Modern controversy . In 2002 , the Estonian government forced the removal of a monument to Estonian soldiers erected in the Estonian city of Pärnu . The inscription " To Estonian men who fought in 1940 - 1945 against Bolshevism and for the restoration of Estonian independence " was the cause of the controversy . The monument was rededicated in Lihula in 2004 but was soon removed because the Estonian government opposed the opening . On 15 October 2005 the monument was finally moved to the grounds of the Museum of Fight for Estonia ' s Freedom in Lagedi near the Estonian capital , Tallinn . On 28 July 2007 , a gathering of some 300 veterans of the 20th Waffen - Grenadier - Division and of other units of the " Wehrmacht " , including a few " Waffen SS " veterans from Austria and Norway , took place in Sinimäe , where the battle between the German and Soviet armies had been particularly fierce . This gathering takes place every year and has seen veterans from Estonia , Norway , Denmark , Austria and Germany attending . According to Andrew Mollo , a British authority on SS uniform s , 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 .