The 8th Estonian

Rifle Corps A rifle corps () was a Soviet corps-level military formation during the mid-twentieth century. Rifle corps were made up of a varying number of rifle divisions, although the allocation of three rifle divisions to a rifle corps was common during th ...

(2nd formation) (, ) was a formation in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, created on 6 November 1942, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. An 8th Rifle Corps (but not made up of Estonian personnel) had been previously formed, taking part in the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

as part of the 5th Army, and, on the outbreak of war on 22 June 1941, this first formation was part of the 26th Army in the

Kiev Special Military District Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, consisting of the 99th, the 173rd, and the 72nd Mountain Rifle Divisions. The first formation of the 8th Rifle Corps was destroyed in the first three months of the German invasion and is not present on the Soviet order of battle after August 1941. The 8th Estonian

was formed of mobilized ethnic Estonians, who were at first brought in Russia (where many of them died because of poor conditions); the battalions created in Estonia and incorporated former personnel of the

Republic of Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. In the order of battle, the corps appears in the Stavka Reserves by 1 November 1942 and is subordinated to the

Kalinin Front The Kalinin Front was a major formation of the Red Army active in the Eastern Front of World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions ...

by 1 December 1942. When 2nd formation was formed in 1942, the corps' structure consisted of the

7th Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season ep ...

and 249th Rifle Divisions stationed in Estonia, reinforced by volunteers from the

Estonian Communist Party The Communist Party of Estonia (, abbreviated EKP; in Russian: Коммунистическая партия Эстонии) was a regional branch of the Soviet communist party (CPSU) which in 1920–1940 operated illegally in Estonia and, aft ...

organisation. In an effort to increase overall formation experience, the battle-hardened 19th Guards Rifle Division later joined the 8th Rifle Corps. As a result, the corps was briefly re-designated as 8th Guards Rifle Corps. Throughout its entire existence, the rifle corps was commanded by

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Lembit Pärn.

War service

The corps fought a total 916 days in the war, and at different times it was in service on the Kalinin, the

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and the

2nd Baltic Front The 2nd Baltic Front () was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. History The 2nd Baltic Front was formed on October 20, 1943 as a result of the renaming of the Baltic Front, it ...

. For 344 days, parts of the corps were engaged with German forces, but no significant gains were made. For the next 123 days, the formation was engaging in the

Battle of Velikiye Luki The Battle of Velikiye Luki, also named Velikiye Luki offensive operation (), started with the attack by the forces of the Red Army's Kalinin Front against the Wehrmacht's 3rd Panzer Army during the Winter Campaign of 1942–1943 with the o ...

where 13,000 of the 27,000 men were killed or wounded. Then, 37 days were spent in the Battle of Narva, and the final 88 days were devoted to the Battle of Courland. During the Battle of Narva in 1944, the artillery of the rifle corps fired on the

20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) The 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) was a foreign infantry division of the Waffen-SS that served alongside the ''Wehrmacht'' during World War II. According to some sources, the division was under ''Reichsführer-SS'' Hei ...

, consisting of Estonians fighting in the

Waffen SS The (; ) was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both German-occupied Europe and unoccupied lands. ...

. The infantry of the corps was engaged in direct battle with the Estonians on the German side in the battles of

Porkuni Porkuni () is a village in Tapa Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northern Estonia. The settlement is located around the Lake Porkuni, which is the source of the Valgejõgi River. In 1944, the Battle of Porkuni was fought in the area. Porkuni cas ...

and Avinurme on 20 and 21 September 1944, where a detachment of the rifle corps murdered a number of wounded prisoners of war. On 22 September elements of the 7th Rifle Division, along with the 45th Estonian Tank Regiment and the 952nd SU Regiment (

SU-76 The SU-76 ('' Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 76'') was a Soviet light self-propelled gun used during and after World War II. The SU-76 was based on a lengthened version of the T-70 light tank chassis and armed with the ZIS-3 mod. 1942 76-mm divisional ...

s), formed the forward detachment of the corps and entered

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, for which all three units received the name of that city as a battle honor. The corps appears to have spent the last of its World War II service in the

42nd Army 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

Post-war

In total, 4100 settlements were captured by the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps. Of the whole rifle corps, one division, six regiments, and one battalion were decorated with an order. The 8th Estonian Rifle Corps was also given the honorific "Tallinn", and on 28 June 1945, the corps was renamed the ''41st Guards Estonian Tallinn Rifle Corps''. The two component divisions were also honored; the 7th became the 118th Guards Rifle Division and the 249th became the 122nd Guards Rifle Division. In 1946, both divisions were inactivated to provide personnel for other Soviet activities in the

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit (Republics of the Soviet Union, union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the Occupation o ...

.Feskov et al., Советская Армия в годы «холодной войны» (1945-1991), p. 47, Tomsk: Tomsk University Press, 2004 According to the 23 June 1945 decision of the

Presidium A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some countries' political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one. The term is also sometimes used for the ...

of the

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSUSSR) was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Based on the principle of unified power, it was the only branch of government in the So ...

, demobilization of the Red Army started. The first 8th Rifle Corps fighters were demobilized on 16 July 1945. By the end of 1946, 16,550 men were demobilized. Of those, 3,425 (20.7%) started to work in the administrative or legal bodies of the Soviet occupation regime (Communist Party,

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

, trade unions etc.).

Citations and references

Cited sources and further reading

* Боевой путь Эстонского стрелкового гвардейского корпуса / сост. В. Кюлаотс. — Таллин, 1945. — 251 стр. * И. Курчавов. Эстонская гвардия. — Таллин, 1946. * Эстонский национальный корпус Советской армии в Великой Отечественной войне, 1941—1945. — Таллин, 1949. * Ф. Паульман. Огонь и маневр: Артиллеристы эстонского стрелкового корпуса в Великой Отечественной войне 1941—1945. / вст. слово: К. Ару. — Таллин: Ээсти Раамат, 1968. * Pokrovsky, Gen. Col., Perecheni No.4: Headquarters of corps included in the structure of the active army during the years of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945, Military-Scientific Directorate of General Staff, Moscow, 1954 * ''Галицкий К. Н.'' Годы суровых испытаний. 1941—1944 (записки командарма) — М.: Наука, 1973. {{Authority control

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * "008", a fictional 00 Agent In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 (pronounced "Double O") is a field agent who ho ...

Military history of Estonia during World War II Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic

War service

Post-war

See also

Citations and references

Cited sources and further reading