Most of these photos are made by Estonian photographer Karl Hinzer and are now in Herder Institute (Germany). As about the copyright issues - i personally belive that all such material is free for non-commercial purposes and historical reseach. So please do not delete them.
Paul Maitla came to a sad end.
Before forum members read the following (SUPPOSEDLY an account of Maitla's death, which I cant vouch for, as his death is shrouded in mystery and the fog of war) please remember that there were brave soldiers on BOTH sides.
The author might be thought a revisionist by some, but take into consideration, that the Estonian people suffered immensely and see their participation in WWII as a struggle for the liberation of THEIR country from what they perceived as the yoke of communism.
So please no PC 'carp.' The following pics and text is the tale of the ignominious end of a highly decorated soldier at the hand of Czech communists. Im sure many highly decorated soldiers from the USSR likewise suffered at the hands of THEIR enemy.
Enough PC caveats - here goes. Food for thought and unique pics IMO;
World War II Pictures In Details: The Execution of Paul Maitla, Estonian Ritterkreuzträger
These photos were found from a little museum is the Czech republic several years ago. These murderes are still walking for free and treated like the "war heroes" in their countries. Like in the Czech Republik, also in Poland and ex-Jugo states... Murdering POW-s was a common practice, actually Maitla was even lucky that he was not tortued before murdering him.
As this is a non-political forum, I wont dwelve on this, but briefly mention the following; considering what some of the soldiers in WWII went through in uniform (no matter their flag, country, creed, colour of their uniform etc) its an ignominious end for a frontline soldier.
The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
House Carles at the Battle of Hastings
The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
House Carles at the Battle of Hastings
I know. I just wanted to avoid the usual trolls jumping out of the woodwork with their 'you-dont-know-for-sure' statements and PC 'carp' hence the caveats.
Too bad Maitla havent been repatriated.
But then that goes for a lot of heroes or villians (depending on your POV) from various countries.
The controversial Draza Mihailovic for one. He was executed as well. Though search parties have looked for his remains for repatriation, the search have so far been unsuccesful.
But then celebrating finding his remains might kick off yet another cycle of national fervor and violence.
Im glad everyone is enjoying the pics..i just spent the night learning a whole lot about Estonia's part in ww2,really fascinating..i have been to Tallinn before and loved it...on the political note,everything should be kept in the context of the time....As we all know here nothing is ever black and white and everything is open to interpretation..The fact that good men and women did bad things is part of the mystic about war..side note Estonia has some of the prettiest women ive seen lol
I have a friend from Perth who has been with us 3 times before on our excavations on the Narva Front , the first Aussie to be seen in the Auwere !!
The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
House Carles at the Battle of Hastings
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