MILITARY AND PARA-MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AND ORDER OF BATTLE ESTONIAN SSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A007000410008-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: June 13, 1955
• Content Type: CABLE

Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP80-00810A007000410008-4
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Rapionage Laws, Title
18, U.B.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in may manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
COUNTRY USSR (Estonian SSR)
SUBJECT Military and Para-military
Installations and Order of Battle,
Estonian SSR
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 113 Jun.. 1955
NO. OF PAGES 2
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
1. Until August 1953, Estonian youths were called to military service on an
individual basis, but in that month posters and newspapers announced a 25X1
general draft call-up. Induction was to take place in October. All those
born in 1935 were called up in October 1954. Military service was for
three years, and the training was conducted in the Russian language. Those
who were to be trained as officers were sent to military schools in Riga
and Minsk, since there was no military school in Estonia. Most of the
Estonian conscripts appeared to perform their service in Estonia
about 10 in numbe spent New Year and other
holidays at home. Most of them were serving in the Esto-
nian Corps.
On wind.:l_ees days in summer, artillery fire could be heard far away to
~-Ee viest of Rakvere. Rumors said that it was from Aegvi u and Jagala.
Since then, no armor has been seer near
its healquarters was
in Tallinn, it also had some quarters at Lasnamae in Tallinn,
at Aegviidu 45 km. east-southeast of Tallinn), and at Jagala (25 km.
east of Tallinn). Many of the troops and some of the junior officers
were Estonians. Colonel Oktav Pahla, who was in this Corps, is an
Estonian.
Ort night in the summer of 1953, a column of armored trc. p: passed through
the town of Rakvere from east to west. Rumors said that they were bound
for Germany, Not all the vehicles were tanks, but the noise lasted coon-,
t nun Ly for five or six hours. They camped for one day Sr. two columns,
one in. a w- rd. at Maeta use, three km. southwest of Rakvere, and the other
a w 'rod -at Nlada {
25X1
25X1
Sz all columns of army vehlcle3 were often seen ar. the a~_lann-Narva road,
which rune three km. northeast of Rakvere, an average of 25X1
about J vehicles each. way per day. The most common vehicles were , eep:s
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IN FORMAT
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and covered trucks of the following types: 21-tor, GAZ-51, ZIS-5, and
ZIS-50. It was not possible to see whether they were full or em t . Un-
like civilian vehicles they were all ted dark teen
The general stand-
r o maintenance varied widely, some vehicles being new and others very
dilapidated. The drivers were all Russians. Hitch-hiki rarely occurred,
because civilians feared robbery by the troops. There were no military
mctor transport workshops along the road. No tracked vehicles, guns, or
special vehicles were seen on this road.
5. No military trains were known to have passed through Rakvere, at least
since 1952.
7.
No army troops were stationed in Rakvere, and soldiers were rarely seen
there. There was a frontier guard unit, however, stationed on Kalinin
Street at the former Nord Hotel, which served as barracks and headquarters
offices. These troops numbered about 200, and wore green cap-bands.
8. The Rakverc yo7enkmat ras at No. 46 Kalinin Street in a house formerly
owned by a lawyer named Kutt (fnu). Military conscription osiers issued
by t h,. voye ~t ,sere signed with two Russian names
itakvere MVD headquarters was at No. 12 Viktor Kingisepp Street. The per-
sonnel were often in civilian clothes, but when in uniform they wore army
uniforms with red cap-bands. They all seemed to be officers. When making
arrests, they called on the o of the frontier guard unit. Major
Yelisarov (fnu) was chief of the MVD in Rakvere until
1953, when he became ca o a sovkhoz at Vinni, near Rakvere.
10. The only police station in Rakvere was at No. 10 Viktor Kingisepp Street
(formerly Vabaduse Street). Many of the police were Russians, and could
be seen in pairs in the market on market days. Otherwise, they were seen
very little. Lieutenant Kallijoe (fnu), an Estonian who was Chief of Po-
lice in Rakvere, was replaced by a Russian in 1953.
11. The prewar 5th Infantry Battalion barracks, immediately west of Rakvere
airfield, were occupied by Soviet Air Force troops. The prewar artillery
barracks, immediately north of the infantry barracks, were destroyed dur-
ing the war and have not been rebuilt. The prewar 1st Infantry Division
headquartersa, on the southwest outskirts of Rakvere, was being used as a
civilian teachers' college.
12. There was rio soldiers' club in Rakvere, but there was an air force offi-
cers' club on Kalinin Street. Officers in transit sometimes stayed,
like civilian travellers, at the only hotel in Rakvere, the Hotel Ok-
toober on Tallinn Street; but troops and officers did not live regularly
in this hotel.
S te; C -A-B-T
Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA007000410008-4