ESTONIAN LEGION
Estonian Legion was a name used in recruiting Estonians for the SS. At no time was this name an official designation of any unit or formation.
Enter SS
With the frontline east of Estonia, the country was transferred under nazi civil authority. This meant that another nazi organization, the SS gained more influence and lobbied successfully so that in August 28th 1942 Himmler authorized recruitment for an Estonian SS unit. Estonian response was lukewarm at best and only a small amount of true volunteers joined in. Additional manpower was ordered from e.g.police battalions and civil police. Since police formations were, like the SS, under Himmler's ultimate command, it was easier to transfer men to the fledgling Legion. On the other hand, being under same command served to increase the hostility felt by Estonians, since the police battalions had been mismanaged from the beginning. Also, Estonian officers involved felt that the German army would be a more suitable force since it lacked the political undertones of the SS.
Training was started on October 1st in Poland for the initial strength of ca 500 volunteers, about half of whom were transferred from police battalions. By mid-April the strength of the Legion was about 3000 with some 200 Germans, some of whom had some links to Estonia. At this time the legion was oganized as a regiment with three battalions plus regimental HQ company, engineer, anti-tank and heavy mortar companies.
In March 1943 the first battalion was detached and sent to SS-Division Wiking as a replacement for the Finnish battalion, whose treaty had expired and the men sent back to Finland for disbanding of the battalion. The Wiking division was fighting in the Ukraine, so sending an Estonian battalion there was against all promises made by Germans. From the very beginning it had been agreed that Estonian units would only be employed in defence of Estonia or in areas where Red Army was an immediate threat to her.
Battalion Narva
The battalion detached was sent to the Wiking division was named Narwa, which is the German spelling of the Estonian town Narva near the border between Estonia and Soviet Union. The four companiesof this battalion were fully motorized and in its ranks were concentrated ca 800 Estonians most fluent with the German language. The battalion joined the Wiking division during the spring and took part in defensive fighting during the summer. The losses were very heavy and the decimated battalion was finally brought home to estonia in the March of 1944. The remaining men formed the basis for the fusilier battalion in the estonian formation which during the year of their absence had expanded into a division.
Freiwilligen-Brigade
With the Narva Battalion detached, the Legion was named the 1st Estonian Volunteer Regiment. By May 1943 the regiment had been expanded to a brigade by recruiting more Estonians but also by transferring more Germans from other SS units. The new brigade's official title was Estnische SS-Freiwilligen-Brigade ( Estonian Volunteer Brigade)
In May 1943 the brigade consisted of two regiments with three battalions each. In the 1st regiment there were also a heavy mortar company, an anti-tank company and an angineer company. The 2nd regiment had only an engineer company in addition to the grenadier battalions.
The Brigade was further expanded and additional units raised so that by the end of 1943 there were, in addition to the two grenadier regiment, the following units: anti-tank battalion, artillery battalion, anti-aircraft battalion, signals company and a field replacement battalion. at this time there were little more than 5000 officers and other ranks in the Brigade.
Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division
At the beginning of 1944 Himmler ordered that the brigade was to be expanded to a division by adding a third regiment of infantry and supporting units. The divisional commander was Standartenf�hrer Augsberger, an Austrian by birth who had commanded the Brigade from July 1943.
Initially the third regiment only had two battalions. The expansion included a reconnaissance battalion, artillery was expanded to a regiment size unit, engineer battalion was added and the signals unit was expanded to a battalion. The manpower was obtained by enrolling conscripted Estonians. Specialist units like signals and antitank battalions were manned largely by Germans.
In Defence of Estonia
Exile
