Armed Combat Union
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Armed Combat Union (, abbreviation RVL) was an
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 ...
n underground organization of the
Forest Brothers The guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an insurgency waged by Baltic states, Baltic (Latvian partisans, Latvian, Lithuanian partisans, Lithuanian and Estonian partisans, Estonian) partisans against the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1956. Known ...
established in the spring of 1946 in Läänemaa in response to the
Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into three differe ...
. The head of the RVL was Endel Redlich.


Goals

The aim of the organization was to prepare for an armed uprising in the event of a war between the United States, Britain and the USSR. Attempts were made in each city and municipality to set up their own branch organizations under the auspices of the center. You only knew the people in your organization and their nicknames. The union had its own statutes, conspiracy apartments and informants. People opposed to Soviet rule were recruited as members and had to take an oath. Leaflets and posters were distributed, shops were robbed, information about the communists was collected for later sabotage, ambushes, or infiltration.


History

In the second half of 1945, several leaders of the forest brothers of
Lääne County Lääne County ( or ''Läänemaa'', literally "Western land"; ; ) is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in western Estonia and borders the Baltic Sea to the north, Harju County to the north-east, Rapla County to the east, Pärnu Cou ...
and
Pärnu County Pärnu County ( or ''Pärnumaa''; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in the south-western part of the country, on the coast of Gulf of Riga, and borders Lääne and Rapla counties to the north, Järva and Viljandi counties to ...
began to coordinate the activities of their regiments and discuss the need for an Estonian underground resistance organization. A nationwide resistance organization was set up, called the Armed Forces Union or RVL. RVL established county organizations in
Lääne County Lääne County ( or ''Läänemaa'', literally "Western land"; ; ) is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in western Estonia and borders the Baltic Sea to the north, Harju County to the north-east, Rapla County to the east, Pärnu Cou ...
,
Pärnu County Pärnu County ( or ''Pärnumaa''; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in the south-western part of the country, on the coast of Gulf of Riga, and borders Lääne and Rapla counties to the north, Järva and Viljandi counties to ...
,
Harju County Harju County ( or ''Harjumaa''), is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the southeast, Rapla Count ...
,
Järva County Järva County ( or ''Järvamaa''; ; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in the central part of the country and borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Jõgeva County to the south-east, Viljandi County to the south, Pärnu County t ...
,
Tartu County Tartu County ( or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% of the territory of E ...
,
Võru County Võru County ( or ''Võrumaa''; ) is a county in southern Estonia. It is bordered by Valga and Põlva counties, Latvia's Alūksne and Ape municipalities, and Russia's Pskov Oblast (making it the only Estonian county to border two countries) ...
,
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 ...
and
Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...
. In
Ida-Viru County Ida-Viru County ( or ; ) is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. It is the most northeastern part of the country. The county contains large deposits of oil shale the main mineral mined in Estonia. Oil shale is used in the production of shale oil ...
and
Viljandi County Viljandi County ( or ''Viljandimaa''; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in southern Estonia bordering Pärnu, Järva, Jõgeva, Tartu and Valga counties as well as Latvia. History Viljandimaa, under the German name of ''Krei ...
, the organization was represented as individual detachments. The Armed Forces Union considered it important to prevent possible
mass deportations Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...
. The head of the rural municipality organization had the right to arbitrarily use the force at his disposal to prevent
deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...
. According to the general plan, RVL's units would attack communications stations, party committees and railway stations everywhere in the event of deportation across
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 ...
. About 500 members of the RVL were arrested and killed by the
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
occupation authorities. By the decision of the Central Staff, it was subordinated only to the
Government of the Republic of Estonia The Government of the Republic of Estonia (''Estonian: Vabariigi Valitsus'') is the cabinet of Estonia. Under the Constitution, it exercises executive power pursuant to the Constitution and laws of Estonia. The cabinet carries out the country ...
. It was also planned to send its delegates to Stockholm to establish official relations, but the MGB managed to arrest the selected men. In the autumn of 1948, a decision of a special meeting of the
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
sentenced 59 people involved in the RVL to a prison camp for a longer or shorter period. Vello Malmre was one of the leaders of the Armed Combat Union.
Heino Mandri Heino Mandri (11 September 1922 – 3 December 1990) was an Estonian film and stage actor. Biography Heino Mandri was born in Kohtla-Järve, but his family moved to Tallinn when Mandri was two years old. In 1946, Mandri graduated in the only cla ...
, an actor, was also convicted of participating in RVL's activities.


Structure

The structure of the Armed Combat Union was built on the principle of rural municipality organizations. The aim was to create a sub-organization in each
rural municipality A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipality (Canada), Rural municipalities in Canada, a Lists of municipalities in Canada, type of municipa ...
, the activities of which were to be managed by a person elected by the Central Staff. The head of the rural municipality recruited new members within his or her own municipality, kept in touch with the active forest brothers and was accountable to the Central Staff. In the more active regions of the RVL, county leaders were also appointed, who were responsible for the rural municipality organizations of their county. A person who became a member of RVL had to fill in a questionnaire and choose a pseudonym. The headquarters were located in Lääne County for a long time. In addition to the head and members of the staff, it included a counter-intelligence team, an economic group and a court, as well as a staff security unit. The RVL bunker in Põrguhaua, Lääne County, was surrounded by an embankment about a meter high.


Endel Redlich

Endel Redlich (7 March 1923 – 28 June 1949) was an Estonian partisan and the leader of the Armed Combat Union. In 1944, Redlich fled to the forests during Soviet re-occupation, and, in 1946, he created the RVL. Redlich died in June 1949 in a Soviet-organized ambush near Kullamaa Parish.


References

{{Reflist Organizations based in Estonia Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic