MEREMEHED RINDEL: MEREDESSANTPATALJON EESTI VABADUSSÕJAS
ESTONIAN MARINE BATALLION IN THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

Summary/Abstract: Unlike the other Baltic countries Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia was able to create and build up its navy during the war. The Estonian Navy participated in most of the battles in the Estonian War of Independence (28.11.1918–02.02.1920). Latvia and Lithuania built their navies in the 1920s–1930s. The Estonian Marine Batallion was a one of a kind unit that existed for a short time (5.03.–26.05.1919) in the Estonian Navy. What makes this batallion stand out among the other Baltic countries’ armed forces that fought against Soviet Russia in 1918–1920 is that Estonians were the only ones who used marine infantry. Such units were not used after the war. The marine batallion was created by Johan Pitka, the commander-in-chief of the Estonian naval forces, mainly because in the course of the war more military units were needed to hold back the advancing Soviets. The marine batallion took part in three campaigns during the War of Independence: the Battle of Orava village 19–21.03. 1919, the Battle for Heinaste city 06.–09.05.1919 and the beach landings in the bays of Luuga and Kopor´e 15.–25.05.1919. Until today no articles have been written about the history of the Estonian Marine Batallion although the batallion has been generaly mentioned in some history books that give an overview of the war. Judging from the history books, the reputation of the batallion has not been good. The main reason is that two out of the three battle campaigns in which the marines took part failed. Also, the batallion’s casualties per unit in the Battle of Orava village were among the highest compared to other Estonian forces. The Battle for Heinaste has been considered the greatest strategical failure of the Estonian Navy. On the other hand, the beach landings in Luuga and Kopor´e bays were a good example how marines managed to defeat a much superior force. This resulted in pushing the Estonian battle front further outside the Estonian borders. Therefore this article gives a different perspective to the quality of the batallion. Relying mainly on the Estonian National Archive documents I have re-evaluated the batallion. The article explains why these two battles ended in failure and that the marines did everything they could to complete their military objectives. The reason why two of the battles were unsuccessful was the fault of the higher military command rather than of the marines.

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