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

Document Type: 
Collection: 
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
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
June 13, 1955
Content Type: 
CABLE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP80-00810A007000410008-4.pdf145.71 KB
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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 i ~- - - STATE _.L---- - -1---i - -~ X 7W ARMY e X NAVY x AIR (Note: Washington distribution indicated by X'; Field distribution by IN FORMAT Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP80-00810A007000410008-4 Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA007000410008-4 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