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Estonian SS volunteers and history

Article about: The people who live on the Eastern shore of the Baltic Sea are no strangers to adversity. Historically plagued by invading armies and oppressors, from the Teutonic Knights to the Czars of Ru

  1. #31
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    Default Re: Estonian SS volunteers and history

    Great thread, guys! Interesting reading with some amazing photos!

    Mike

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  3. #32

    Default Re: Estonian SS volunteers and history

    this is truly a super thread. I read it a coupy years ago, forgot and read it all again today and even though its an old thread, I had to respond.

    Great history and material of forgotten facit of the war in the east!

    regards,

    -Jager

  4. #33
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    Default Re: Estonian SS volunteers and history

    Estonian SS volunteers and historyEstonian SS volunteers and historyEstonian SS volunteers and history

    Seyffardt HQ old Farm ,
    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

  5. #34

    Default Re: Estonian SS volunteers and history

    Very interesting! My brothers bosses dad fought in the SS estonian legion. He was 17 when he fought in the battle of Narva, he is a really cool guy! 89 years old.

  6. #35

    Default Estonian Officer Tunic

    Here are some photos of my SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer tunic from the Estonian Division. It is tailor-made, as is with most officer tunics, but not in a tailor shop. It was made by tailors working in a Bekleidungswerke facility. They made quality uniforms, but not as good as tailors with their own shops and staffs. Several interesting features: the shoulder straps are slip on but the tongues have been cut off and sewn onto the end of the tunic. The sleeve eagle is a standard embroidered type.

    Here's the scoop: At MAX III, the first MAX in Baltimore, Bill Shea had this grouping one of his beaters got out of Germany. It had two tunics (this SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer and an SS-Obersturmfuhrer, which had the foreign volunteer collar tab in addition to the sleeve shield), two pair of pants, two overseas caps (piping in white) and two greatcoats. The original owner, (I've got to find it), was wounded in the field and a medic cut the left sleeve to get to the wound and treat it. He ended up in a hospital in Germany at the end of the war. The first buyer of this tunic didn't like the cut (and repaired) sleeve so he substituted another one for it, transferring the insignia and discarding the original sleeve. As you can see, the dyes didn't match up exactly, which is not all that unknown. I bought this from Shea when it came back to him. Estonian SS volunteers and historyEstonian SS volunteers and historyEstonian SS volunteers and historyEstonian SS volunteers and history

  7. #36

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    Has anybody ever hear about Lithuania and what she put up in defenses? Even though they were liberated first, they never provided any defense mechanism. The Latvians fought the hardest with two divisions and the Estonians with one. It is funny how the Latvians celebrate their two divisions of Waffen-SS troops each year now. These two fought hard against the Soviets. They had experience living under the Soviets for a couple of years before being liberated by the Germans in 1941.

  8. #37

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    great thread and interesting read. The Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians were no strangers to enemy occupiers. The lived first under the the Czars, Bolsheviks and Soviets (reds) then the Nazi Germans and then the Soviets till 1989 in modern times. Its no wonder some chose o become Forest Brothers instead of soviet slavery.

  9. #38

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    Hello lads great thread!
    I hope what I’m about to write is allowed/approved, I am new here

    My Estonian grandmother first told me about my Estonian/Latvian great-grandfather 1 month ago, I’m 19 and she is in her late 80's. I did not even know his name until one month ago, let alone what he did during the war. Long story short, she told me his name and that he fought with the Germans against the "f***ing" communists, as she put it.

    Today i asked her, and she told me some more about what his history was. First, she told me that my great-grandfather (Robert Paff b. 1899) and his brother (Eduard Pahv (Paff)) fought in ww1 against the Germans and in the "Estonian War of Independence". Winning some medals, which he wore some point later on (in 1940), a red army soldier took these medals and threw them away, saying "we don't use these anymore" because they were from the tsar era.

    My grandmother told me that their family was kicked out of their apartment in Tallin, because it was to be used by soviet officers, they then moved, and later avoided being deported to Siberia because they were not at home, a neighbor later told them.

    I was more interested in his time during ww2, and i learned that he served with the Estonian waffen ss, only because my grandfather said that he once found his German ID papers stating, that he was an "Unterscharführer". I could feel my grandmother didn't want to tell me, that he was part of the SS. But at this point she eased up. I learned that he fought at Narva and some other places i didn't quite get. He earned some medals during his service, and my grandparents keep them in a bank box in their town, they are very old-school, so things of value are hidden away in a bank box, which mean i will properly first get to see the medals when they have passed away, but i promise to post pictures of the medals and what ever else i can get them to show me.
    What i find interesting is, that my father did not even know these stories either. He had seen the medals at some point, but was told at the same time as me, that his grandfather Robert was a former SS Unterscharführer.

    At some point Robert knew that the germans wasn't going to win and he had gotten into a conflict with a german or estonian ss officer, and they(Robert, his wife and my grandmother and sis/brothers) left from tallinn on a boat called "Salmi" hedding for stockholm, the boat was stopped by a german u-boat telling them to return or something, but they continued to stockholm, after the u-boat had left. My grandmother settled in Denmark at some point, the rest of the family stayed in Sweden.

    At this point, it is just a great story, but I’m keen on learning more especially about my great-grandfathers time in the Waffen ss, and what his role was, he was an old man in his 40's during ww2. And why his brother Eduard was killed in 1942, from what I remember he was either killed by the Germans or the red army.

    it is not easy to get a lot of info out of my grandmother because she is old and has Parkinson disease and my grandfather who is 94, mainly wants to tell me detailed stories, like how he change the oil on his lawn mower

    I do have a question for you unofficial experts of this wonderful site, is it possible for me to research my great-grandfathers service in the waffen SS, I mean in archives and so on? Or what would you suggest I should do to obtain this knowledge, because I don’t suspect to get much more out of my grandparents before they pass away, making it possible to uncover documents/photos etc. Related to Robert Paff among the sea of documents they have stored in their house

    I’m sorry this turned out to be a novel and I apologize for my bad English.
    Regards
    -Fred

    Estonian SS volunteers and history
    My great-grandfather: Robert Paff (b. 1899 Riia, Läti/Riga, Latvia -d. 1974)

    Estonian SS volunteers and history
    His brother (Eduard Pahv (Paff) (b. 1897 - d. 1942

  10. #39

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    Sorry, I can't help you with your research but what an interesting post. If you glean any more info about your families military history I'd love to hear about it.
    By the way your English is excellent, better than a good proportion of the UK population.

    Tom.

  11. #40
    CBH
    CBH is offline
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    Welcome to the forum Fred , you might want to start a new thread in the Historical Research section with your inquirers . I'm sure service records from this period would be difficult if not impossible to find . But you might find some answers from someone here , good luck . Also it would be great to see the medals if you ever get a chance to photograph them . Keep keep us posted , and your English is fine .

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