Summer War
The Summer War (Estonian: "Suvesõda)" was the occupation of Estonia which was fought between the Forest Brothers (Metsavennad), the Omakaitse, and the Wehrmacht's 18th Army against the forces of the 8th Army of the USSR and the NKVD during the Second World War. Background. On June 17, 1940, the USSR occupied Estonia and on August 6, Estonia became a Soviet Socialist Republic. The Soviets now occupied Estonia. Civilians of Estonia and potential political opponents of the Soviets were repressed and sent to prison camps and settlements in the Soviet Union during the deportation in June. Course of  the invasion. When battle broke out between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, there was hope that the Germans would liberate the Baltics from Soviet rule as a result of the war. The Army Group Nord, led by Marshal General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, invaded Estonia. In Northern Estonia, the Soviets' Destruction battalions defended the area greatly, as the area was the last area to be occupied by Germany, Around 12,000 partisans of the Estonian Forest Brothers attacked the NKVD forces and the 8th Army. After the German 18th Army crossed the Estonian southern border  on July 7–9, the Forest Brothers organized bigger units. They took on the 8th Army units and destruction battalions at Antsla on 5 July 1941. Kautla Massacre. Additionally in the Kautla Massacre, twenty civilians were murdered and many of them were tortured before being killed. The proportion of destroyed properties to murdered civilians were because the Finnish volunteer group commanded by Henn-Ants Kurg named the ‘Erna long-range reconnaissance' broke the Red Army's blockade and evacuated civilians. Liberation of territory. On July 6, 1941, a larger offensive happened in Vastseliina where the Forest Brothers prevented Soviet destruction of  the town and trapped the extermination battalion chiefs and local communist administrators. On July 7, the Forest Brothers were able to hoist the Estonian flag in Vasteliina. Võru was subsequently liberated and the Forest Brothers had organised into the Omakaitse militia. The battle of Tartu lasted for two weeks and destroyed a large part of the city. Under the leadership of Friedrich Kurg, the Forest Brothers drove the Soviets out of Tartu, behind the Pärnu River – Emajõgi River line and secured southern Estonia by July 10. The NKVD murdered 193 people in a Tartu Prison on their retreat on July  8 The 18th Army resumed their advance in Estonia by working in cooperation with the Forest Brothers. The joint Estonian-German forces took Narva on 17 August. Capture of Tallinn. By the end of August, Tallinn was surrounded, while in the harbor was the majority of the Baltic Fleet. On August 19, the final German assault on Tallinn began. The joint Estonian-German forces took the Estonian capital on August 28. The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn carried heavy losses. On that day, the Red flag was taken down on Pikk Hermann was replaced with the flag of Estonia. After the  Soviets were driven out from Estonia, German troops disarmed all the Forest Brother groups. The Estonian flag was replaced shortly with the flag of Germany. Operation Beowulf. On September 8, German and Estonian units launched Operation Beowulf to clear Soviet forces from the West Estonian archipelago. They were a series of diversionary attacks to confuse and distract the Soviet defenders. By October 21, the Islands were captured Costs of the war. Civilian casualties. Alongside the battle against the partisan group and the Soviet forces and the reintroduction of the Scorched Earth policy, the NKVD committed acts of terror against the  civilian population, such as burning buildings, because they were seen as co-conspirators with the partisans. Thousands of other civilians were killed, while many towns, schools, services, and other buildings were burnt down. In August 1941, the whole population of Viru-Kabala were killed, including a six-day-old infant and a two year old child. The Soviets' Destruction battalions also would occasionally burn people alive. Overall, the battalions killed 1,850 unarmed civilians or partisans. Physical damages. During the fires of July 12-3, the headquarters of the Estonian Defence League, the campus of the Faculty of Veterinary and Agriculture  of the University of Tartu and more university buildings were burnt down. Several libraries of the university and 135 major private libraries were destroyed, totalling 465,000 books, many archive materials and 2,500 pieces of art lost. Among them were the libraries of Aino and Gustav Suits and Aurora and Johannes Semper. 3,237 farms were destroyed, 13,500 buildings were destroyed. The data of the 1939 livestock differed from the 1942 by the following numbers: there were 30,600 (14%) fewer horses, 239,800 (34%) fewer dairy cattle, 223,600 (50%) fewer pigs, 320,000 (46%) fewer sheep, and 470,000 (27.5%) fewer fowl. Many other supplies  were also evacuated to be used in the Soviet Union. Result. After the Summer War, the Wehrmacht troops used the Baltics to further invade the Soviet Union, and to conscript more people to be part of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS.