Soviet evacuation of Tallinn The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn , also called " Soviet Dunkerque " or " Tallinn disaster " was a Soviet operation to evacuate parts of the Baltic Fleet and Red Army units from the encircled city of Tallinn in Soviet - occupied Estonia during August 1941 . After the German invasion of the Soviet Union began on 22 June 1941 , German forces advanced rapidly through the Soviet - occupied Baltic states , and by the end of August the Estonian capital of Tallinn was surrounded by German forces , while a large part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet was bottled up in Tallinn harbour . In expectation of a Soviet breakthrough , the Kriegsmarine and the Finnish Navy had started on 8 August 1941 to lay minefields off Cape Juminda at the coast of Lahemaa . While Soviet minesweepers tried to clear a path for convoys through the minefields , German coastal artillery installed a battery of guns near Cape Juminda and the Finnish navy gathered their 2nd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla with patrol boats VMV9 , VMV10 , VMV11 and VMV17 . At the same time the German 3 . Schnellbootflottille with E - boat s S - 26 , S - 27 , S - 39 , S - 40 and S - 101 was concentrated at Suomenlinna outside Helsinki . German Junkers Ju 88 bombers from Kampfgruppe 806 based on airfields in Estonia were put on alert . On 19 August the final German assault on Tallinn began . During the night of 27 / 28 August 1941 the Soviet 10th Rifle Corps disengaged from the enemy and boarded transports in Tallinn . The embarkation was protected by smoke screens , however , the mine - sweeping in the days before the evacuation began was ineffective due to bad weather , and there were no Soviet aircraft available for protecting the embarkation . This , together with heavy German shelling and aerial bombardment killed at least 1 , 000 of the evacuees in the harbor . Gauntlet in the Gulf of Finland . Four convoys totaling 20 transports , one tanker , 8 auxiliary ships , 9 small transports , one tug , and one tender were organized , protected by the Soviet cruiser " Kirov " , with Admiral Vladimir Tributs on board , 2 flotilla leaders , 9 destroyers , 3 torpedo boats , 12 submarines , 10 modern and 15 obsolete minehunters , 22 minesweepers , 21 submarine chasers , 3 gun boats , one minelayer , 13 patrol vessels and 11 MTB . The armada started to move out at 2200 on the evening of the August 27 . Five ships were sunk on 28 August by German Ju 88 bombers . At 1600 , August 28 , the first ship approached the heavily mined waters off Cape Juminda . The first ship to hit a mine and sink was the steamer " Ella " , and a few moments after her , several other ships hit mines , while German bombers and Finnish coastal artillery opened fire . In the attempt to force the passage the Soviet Navy lost 5 destroyers , 2 torpedo boats , one patrol vessel , 3 minehunters , 3 submarines , 2 gun boats , 2 smaller warcraft and 15 transports ; one flotilla leader , 2 destroyers , one minehunter and one transport were damaged . Later that evening the armada was attacked by Finnish and German torpedo boats , and the chaotic situation made organized mine sweeping impossible . Darkness fell at 2200 and the Soviet armada stopped and anchored at midnight in the heavily mined water . Early on 29 August Ju 88 bombers attacked the remains of the convoys off Suursaari , sinking 2 transports . Meanwhile the undamaged ships made best speed to reach the safety of the Kronstadt batteries . The heavily damaged " Kazakhstan " disembarked 2300 men of the 5000 on board on Steinskär before steaming off to Kronstadt . In the following days ships operating from Suursaari rescued 12 , 160 survivors . The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn succeeded in evacuating 165 ships , 28 , 000 passengers and 66 , 000 tons of equipment . At least 12 , 400 are reckoned to have been drowned in what , albeit little known outside the former USSR ( what happened was long downplayed by the Communist regime after the war , and is not so publicly remembered by the Western - aligned Estonian government today ) , might well have been the bloodiest naval disaster since at least the battle of Lepanto .