Estonian Auxiliary Police (, german: Estnische Hilfspolizei) were Estonian

collaborationist Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to t ...

police units during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Formation

Estonian units were first established on 25 August 1941, when under the order of Field Marshal

Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Wilhelm Josef Franz Ritter von Leeb (5 September 1876 – 29 April 1956) was a German field marshal and war criminal in World War II. Leeb was a highly decorated officer in World War I and was awarded the Military Order of Max Joseph which gra ...

, commander of the

Army Group North Army Group North (german: Heeresgruppe Nord) was a German strategic formation, commanding a grouping of field armies during World War II. The German Army Group was subordinated to the ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' (OKH), the German army high comma ...

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

citizens were permitted to be recruited into

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

service and grouped into volunteer battalions for security duties. In this context, General

Georg von Küchler Georg Carl Wilhelm Friedrich von Küchler (30 May 1881 – 25 May 1968) was a German field marshal and war criminal during World War II. He commanded the 18th Army and Army Group North during the Soviet-German war of 1941–1945. After the end ...

, commander of the 18th Army (Germany), formed six Estonian volunteer guard units (''Estnische Sicherungsgruppe'', ''Eesti julgestusgrupp''; numbered 181–186) on the basis of the

Omakaitse The Omakaitse ('home guard') was a militia organisation in Estonia. It was founded in 1917 following the Russian Revolution. On the eve of the Occupation of Estonia by the German Empire the Omakaitse units took over major towns in the country a ...

squads (with its members contracted for one year). After September 1941, the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (High Command of the Armed Forces) started to establish the Estonian Auxiliary Police Battalions (" Schuma") in addition to the aforementioned units for rear-security duties in the

Army Group North Rear Area Army Group North Rear Area (''Rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet Nord'') was one of the three Army Group Rear Area Commands, established during the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Initially commanded by General Franz von Roques, it was an area ...

. During the war, 26 "Schuma" battalions were formed in Estonia, numbered from 29th to 45th, 50th, and from the 286th to 293rd. Unlike similar units deployed in the

Reichskommissariat Ukraine During World War II, (abbreviated as RKU) was the civilian occupation regime () of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern-day Belarus and pre-war Second Polish Republic). It was governed by the Reich Min ...

and

White Ruthenia White Ruthenia ( cu, Бѣла Роусь, Bela Rous'; be, Белая Русь, Biełaja Ruś; pl, Ruś Biała; russian: Белая Русь, Belaya Rus'; ukr, Біла Русь, Bila Rus') alternatively known as Russia Alba, White Rus' or W ...

, which were controlled by the Germans, the Estonian Police battalions were made up of national staff and included only one German monitoring officer. As of 1 October 1942, the Estonian police forces comprised 10,400 men, with 591 Germans attached to them.

Operational history

The police battalions were mostly engaged in the Wehrmacht Army Group Rear Areas. The 37th and 40th battalions were employed on rear-security duties in the

Pskov Oblast Pskov Oblast (russian: Пско́вская о́бласть, ') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the west of the country. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

, as was the 38th battalion in the Luga-

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...

Gdov Gdov (russian: Гдов) is a town and the administrative center of Gdovsky District in Pskov Oblast, Russia, located on the river Gdovka, just from its outflow into Lake Peipus. Population: History It was first mentioned in the beginning of ...

region. The 288th battalion was engaged in the suppression of the Ronson's Partisan Republic.Eesti vabadusvõitlejad Teises maailmasõjas//Koostaja by August Jurs -

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, 1997. p. 146-155 Police Battalions 29, 31 and 32 fought in the

Battle for Narva Bridgehead The Battle of Narva Bridgehead ( et, Narva lahingud, german: Schlacht um den Brückenkopf von Narva, russian: Битва за плацдарм Нарва; 2 February – 26 July 1944) was the campaign that stalled the Soviet Estonian operati ...

. From 22 November to 31 December 1942 the 36th Estonian Police Battalion took part of the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

. On August 29, 1944 Police Battalions 37 and 38 participated in the fighting against the Soviet Tartu Offensive. As their largest operation, supported by the 3rd Battalion of the Estonian Waffen Grenadier Regiment 45, they destroyed the Kärevere bridgehead of two Soviet divisions west from Tartu and recaptured the Tallinn highway bridge over the Emajõgi by 30 August. The operation shifted the entire front back to the southern bank of the Emajõgi. This encouraged the II Army Corps to launch an operation attempting to recapture Tartu on 4 September.

Police battalions

* 29. Eesti Politseipataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 29'' * 30. Eesti Politseipataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 30'' * 31. Eesti Politseipataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 31'' * 32. Eesti Politseipataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 32'' * 33. Eesti Politseipataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 33'' * 34. Eesti Politsei Rindepataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Front-Bataillon 34'' * 35. Politsei Tagavarapataljon - ''Polizei-Ersatz-Bataillon 35'' * 36th Estonian Police Battalion – ''Schutzmannschaft-Front-Bataillon nr. 36'' * 37. Eesti Politseipataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Bataillon 37'' * 38. Eesti Politseipataljon - ''Estnische Polizei-Bataillon 38'' * 39. Kaitse Vahipataljon Oberpahlen – ''Schutzmannschaft-Wacht-Bataillon nr. 39'' * 40. Eesti Politseipataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Bataillon 40'' * 41. Kaitse Tagavarapataljon * 42. Kaitse Pioneeripataljon – ''Schutzmannschaft-Pioneer-Bataillon 42'' * 286. Politsei Jalaväepataljon – ''Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 286'' * 287. Politsei Vahipataljon – ''Polizei-Wacht-Bataillon 287'' * 288. Politsei Jalaväepataljon – ''Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 288'' * 289. Politsei Jalaväepataljon – ''Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 289'' * 290. Politsei Pioneeripataljon – ''Polizei Pionier-Bataillon 290'' * 291. Politsei Jalaväepataljon – ''Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 291'' * 292. Politsei Jalaväepataljon – ''Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 292'' * 293. Politsei Jalaväepataljon – ''Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 293'' * 521. Eesti Politseipataljon – ''Estnische Polizei-Füsilier-Bataillon 521''

References

{{reflist Police forces of Nazi Germany Auxiliary police units Schutzmannschaft Generalbezirk Estland Collaboration with the Axis Powers

Formation

Operational history

Police battalions

See also

References