This week, seventy years ago, the first units of the Red Army entered the tiny Baltic nation of Estonia, pursuant to the agreement it had executed with its giant neighbor, on September 28, 1939. Four days earlier, the Red Navy had appeared off the Estonian coast, while the sky was filled with Soviet warplanes. The Soviet Leningrad Military District, which bordered Estonia, ordered the mobilization of 17 divisions and ordered them to concentrate on the border. Estonian Foreign Minister Karl Selter had arrived in Moscow on the 25th, expecting to discuss trade between the two nations. Instead, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov greeted him with the statement that, “Periscopes have been seen in the Baltic!” The Estonian Foreign Minister was then presented with a copy of the proposed “Soviet - Estonian Mutual Assistance Pact.”
    The “periscopes,” to which Soviet Foreign Minister referred, was that of the Polish sub Orzel (Eagle), which had briefly taken refuge in the Estonian port, and capital, of Tallinn, on the Gulf of Finland. It arrived on September 14, 1939, discharged its sick captain, Lt. Commander Henryck Kloczkowski, before departing/escaping, on September 18, under the command of Lt. Commander Jan Grudzinski. For most of the next month, it vainly searched for targets of opportunity in the Baltic Sea. On October 14, 1939, it arrived at the Royal Navy base at Rosyth, Scotland.
    On September 28, 1939, Estonia executed the agreement which its Foreign Minister had received from Foreign Minister Molotov. It granted  the Soviet Union the right to establish bases and station 25,000 troops there, divided between two infantry divisions and an air force brigade. As soon as Hitler learned of this, he ordered the evacuation of all those of German descent to the Fatherland. Immediately, 86,000 were shipped from Estonia and Latvia, where the same thing was occurring. Latvia executed a similar agreement on October 5,1939.
    Like Germany, the Soviet Union wanted to reverse the results of World War I and its aftermath. As a result of the defeat of Russia in The Great War, and the ensuing Civil War, Russia had lost The Ukraine, Belorussia, Finland, Bessarabia, Estonia, Latvia, and much of Lithuania. Although parts of Ukraine and Belarus were recovered, the rest had not been. In addition, the Soviet Union was looking to protect itself from Germany in the struggle which it knew was coming. When Germany and the Soviet Union executed their Non-Aggression Pact, in August, included were secret provisions which granted to each country spheres of influence. Latvia and Estonia, having been a part of the Russian Empire for two centuries prior to World War I, were in the Soviet Sphere. Of course, the “Orzel Incident” was merely a convenient pretext for the actions which the Soviets intended to take in any event.
    On September 27, representatives of the German Reich and the Soviet Union met, in Moscow, to discuss the fate of Lithuania, which had been placed in the German sphere. Comrade Stalin proposed two options: (1) leave it there; or (2) trade it to the U.S.S.R. for more territory in the Soviet sphere of what had formerly been Poland, which was the option that Stalin favored and encouraged the Germans to select. On the 28th, the Germans agreed to that option, and unbeknownst to the Lithuanians, their country came within the Soviet sphere.
    In exchange for the reunification with its historic capital of Vilnius, Lithuania agreed that the Soviet Union could station 20,000 soldiers in the country. This equaled the size of the Lithuanian army. The agreement was signed in Moscow on October 10,1939. Lithuania had already ceded the city of Memel to Germany, in March. That is now the third largest Lithuanian city of Klaipeda, and its only seaport. The Soviets turned over Vilnius to the Lithuanians on October 28, 1939. The country’s size was increased by 2,602 square miles and 430,000 additional citizens.
    This was only the beginning of the process which would eventually result in the incorporation of the three Baltic countries into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The New York Times decried it as the, “...virtual sacrifice of independence.”  A popular Lithuanian slogan, at the time, went, “Vilnius is ours, but Lithuania is Russia’s.”  The first Soviet troops arrived on November 14, 1939.
     In June 1940, Molotov accused the Baltic states of conspiring against the Soviet Union. As the world’s attention was focused on the fall of France and the sound of German jackboots goose stepping down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in the French capital, hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops occupied the three countries. On July 21, 1940, the Estonian,  Lithuanian and Latvian Soviet Socialist Republics were formed and requested admission into the U.S.S.R.  They became the 13th, 14th and 15th members, respectively, of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, during the first week of August 1940. Immediately, young men were conscripted into the Red Army, skilled workers were shipped to work in Russian factories and the educated were shipped to gulags in Siberia.
    This state of affairs lasted less than a year. Even so, it was enough to cause the citizens of the three countries to welcome the advancing German Wehrmacht as liberators. Even after the German conquerors had revealed their true selves, Latvia supplied two SS divisions - the 15th and 19th SS Grenadier Divisions, commanded by Herbert von Obwurzer and Bruno Streckenbach, respectively, while Estonia supplied the 20th SS Grenadier Division commanded by Franz Augsberger.
    These three divisions, together with the 11th SS Nordland Panzergrenadier Division, which included a regiment of Danes and one of Norwegians, commanded by Joachim Ziegler, comprised the III SS Panzer Corps, commanded by Felix Steiner. The III SS Panzer Corps fought like tigers, at the battle of Narva, Estonia, in August 1944. The Latvians and Estonians knew the stakes should the Red Army triumph and reoccupy their countries and reincorporate them into the U.S.S.R. In fact, it was the German units which gave way! During the battle, the men of the Estonian SS division faced their countrymen serving in the Soviet Eighth Estonian Rifle Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Lembit Päm. Elements of the two Latvian divisions ended the war defending Berlin.
    Some Estonians, who wished to fight the Soviets, but did not relish the thought of fighting under the German Swastika, crossed the Baltic Sea to aid their Finnish cousins, where they formed Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 - JR 200. There, they served under the Finnish Swastika! Their motto was, “For the freedom of Finland and the honor of Estonia.” The regiment consisted of 1,973 Estonians and 361 Finns, divided into two infantry battalions, a mortar company and an antitank company. It was part of the Finnish 10th Division and participated in the defensive battles during the summer of 1944. In August, as Finland was exiting the war, JR 200 returned to Estonia to help defend it from the Soviet onslaught. About 3400 Estonians served in the Finnish Army, during the “Continuation War.”
    In addition to the 20th SS Grenadier Division, and JR 200, other Estonian units rose to defend their country during the months-long Battle of Narva. These included the Estonian Regiment Reval, several police battalions and some anti-aircraft and coastal battery units. The Reval Regiment was commanded by Major Rubach and contained three battalions. The First Battalion was commanded by Captain Purre and was drawn from Viljandi County. The Second Battalion was from neighboring Pärnu County and was commanded by Captain Möldre. Men from Estonia’s capital of Tallinn and neighboring Tartu County served in the Third Battalion under Lt. Parts.
    Although Lithuania did not supply any SS divisions, its citizens did contribute significantly to the “Final Solution.”  Lithuania’s prewar Jewish population was estimated at 208 - 210,000. By October 1941, 80,000 had been murdered. Another 100,000 perished by the end of the year. No more than 15,000 of Lithuania’s prewar Jewish population survived. Some say this is because the Jews were supportive of the Communist regime that had been so cruel to the rest. However, Israel has recognized 723 Lithuanians as “Righteous Among the Nations,” for risking their lives to help save Jews during the German occupation.
    A little more than 10 percent of each country’s population died during the war, with many more being displaced and/or injured. And, of course, there was another 45 years of Communist rule.

Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own.