The Baltic Brigade

The shoulder tag worn by members of the Baltic Brigade

During the Soviet invasion of Germany, although Soviet forces were able to advance rapidly through NATO territory, they nonetheless lost many soldiers due to their being captured or even surrendering to NATO forces. West German intelligence officers interrogating Soviet POWs noticed that soldiers from non-Russian minorities of the USSR were surrendering in disproportionate numbers, and that Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians in particular made up large numbers of captured Soviet personnel, many of whom were apathetic or even hostile to the Soviet Union, especially as rumours of Soviet crackdowns in the Baltic states filtered through to NATO-held territory.

As part of the buildup for a counteroffensive against Soviet forces in Germany, West German and Danish intelligence officers organised 800 Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian soldiers into a "Baltic Brigade" that owed allegiance to the Baltic governments in exile. Although formally responsible to their exiled legations in North America, in practice the expectation was clear - that they would fight under NATO command to push back the Soviet offensive in West Germany. More than 2000 prisoners of war volunteered to join the Brigade, but most were not accepted, chiefly due to suspicions of their loyalty or concerns about their psychological health.

The unit was divided into three companies along national lines and placed under the command of an Estonian Colonel. West German officers were placed in every platoon, and the chief of staff of the brigade was a *Bundeswehr* Major. The Brigade was integrated into the West German 10th Panzer Division and was mostly equipped with captured Soviet and East German weapons, since its soldiers were already familiar with these armaments. The soldiers wore West German uniforms with stitched-on Baltic Brigade flags.

During the battles of 1985 and early 1986 the Brigade's forces fought their way across central Germany and into East Germany. Doubts about the unit's reliability were dispelled and, although casualties were high, the unit retained cohesion and fought effectively in several major engagements, albeit never as an independent force. Baltic soldiers in the Soviet Army would often seek out the Brigade in order to surrender to it, and many of them brought renewed stories of Soviet atrocities in the Baltic states that further motivated the Brigade's soldiers. As part of the 1986 offensive into Poland the Brigade was provided with some updated British and West German equipment and was assigned to support the joint British-American assault along the Baltic coast.

When the NATO offensive collapsed the Brigade was still a relatively cohesive unit. The Brigade split in half three months ago when one-third of the Brigade, mostly made of Lithuanians, chose to attack Free Polish forces that were occupying Lithuanian territory around Druskinikai in order to "liberate" the town. The Estonians and Latvians, still viewing the Free Poles as allies, withdrew towards the sea before entering an agreement with a group of Polish villages near the Kaliningrad border and bivouacing for the winter.

The Brigade numbers about 600 soldiers, all of whom are well trained. They use a mix of Soviet, West German and British weapons. The Brigade maintains two T-72 tanks and three Chieftain tanks, all converted to run on ethanol. The soldiers include 200 Estonians, 250 Latvians, 20 Lithuanians and 30 hangers-on of other nationalities (a few Poles, a few of the German and Danish advisors who have stuck with the Brigade, and even a couple of Russian defectors).