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Estonia

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(39)

1932

May

04
- The Soviet–Estonian non-aggression pactOn 4 May 1932 in Moscow the USSR and Estonia signed a non-aggression treaty. The 1939 bases pact called it a foundation of their relations.

1939

June

07
- Germany's non-aggression pacts with Estonia and LatviaOn 7 June 1939 in Berlin, Estonia and Latvia signed ten-year non-aggression pacts with the Reich. In August Hitler handed them to Stalin in a secret protocol.

September

18
- The escape of Orzeł from TallinnOn the night of 17–18 September 1939 ORP Orzeł, interned in Tallinn, escaped. Moscow said Estonia could not guard its neutrality and began to apply pressure.
24
- Soviet demands on EstoniaOn 24 September 1939 Molotov demanded that Estonia's Selter sign a mutual assistance pact with Soviet bases, threatening force if Estonia refused.
28
- The Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance PactOn 28 September 1939, under threat of war, Estonia signed a mutual assistance pact in Moscow, giving the USSR bases and the right to station 25,000 troops.

October

18
- The Red Army enters EstoniaOn 18 October 1939 the Red Army entered Estonia to occupy the bases granted by the pact. That day the first ship carrying Baltic Germans left Tallinn.

1940

June

July

August

03
- Key eventThe USSR annexes the Baltic statesOn 1–7 August 1940 the Supreme Soviet incorporated Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as union republics and formed the Moldavian SSR from land taken from Romania.

1941

June

14
- The June deportationOn the night of 13–14 June 1941 the NKVD began deporting people from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Over 40,000 were taken in days, Poles from Wilno among them.

July

03
- The Summer War in EstoniaFrom 3 July 1941 the Estonian Forest Brothers attacked Soviet units in the south. The Germans entered Estonia on 7 July and the front halted on the Emajõgi.

August

September

15
- Hjalmar Mäe’s Estonian Self-AdministrationOn 15 September 1941 the rear-area commander of Army Group North set up the Estonian Self-Administration under Hjalmar Mäe. Independence was not restored.

October

05
- The Germans take the Estonian islandsOn 5 October 1941 Saaremaa fell after three weeks of fighting, and Hiiumaa on 21 October. The Germans took the islands from which bombers had flown to Berlin.

December

02
- The evacuation of HankoOn 2 December 1941 the last convoy left the Soviet base at Hanko. That night the transport Iosif Stalin, with 5,500 troops, hit mines in the Gulf of Finland.

1944

January

19
- The Leningrad–Novgorod offensiveOn 19 January 1944 the Red Army took Ropsha and Krasnoye Selo near Leningrad, and Novgorod the next day. The German 18th Army began retreating west.

February

March

June

23
- The declaration of the National Committee of the Estonian RepublicThe manifesto “To the Estonian people”, dated 23 June 1944, proclaimed Estonia's continuity as a state. Issued in Stockholm in July, in Estonia in August.

July

August

19
- Uluots's appealOn 19 August 1944, as the Red Army advanced on Tartu, Jüri Uluots called on Estonians by radio to fight. That day volunteers from Finland returned to Paldiski.

September

October

03
- The capture of HiiumaaOn 2 October 1944 the Red Army landed on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. The Germans withdrew to Saaremaa, and by 3 October the whole island was taken.

November

25
- The capture of SaaremaaOn the night of 23–24 November 1944 the Germans evacuated the Sõrve peninsula. All of Saaremaa, most of it taken on 5–8 October, was now in Soviet hands.

December

15
- The loss of RuhnuOn 15 December 1944 the Germans left Ruhnu in the Gulf of Riga, the last scrap of Estonia they held. Soviet troops took the island on 19 December.