Soviet re-occupation of the Baltic states (1944)
Part of a series of articles on the |
Occupation of the Baltic states |
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The
The German forces were deported and the leaders of Latvian collaborating forces were executed as traitors.[
Soviet offensives and re-occupation
The day is not far off when we will completely liberate the
Second Battle of Kiev, November 1943[2]
By 2 February 1944 the
Soon after the Soviet reoccupation of the Estonian capital
The NKVD also targeted members of the
In Latvia, NKVD units were the main anti-partisan force fighting against 10,000 active members of the resistance forces. The Soviets signed separate ceasefire agreements with the different resistance forces, which did not become active until after the end of the war; the agreement in Lithuania differed from those in Estonia and Latvia.
Attempts to restore independence
There were efforts to restore independence during the German occupation. In 1941, the Lithuanians had overthrown Soviet rule two days before the Germans arrived in Kaunas. The Germans allowed the Provisional Government to function for over a month.[7] Towards the end of the war, once it became clear that Germany would be defeated, many Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians joined the Germans once again.[8]
It was hoped that by engaging in such a war the Baltic countries would be able to attract Western support for the cause of independence from the USSR.[9] In Latvia an underground nationalist Latvian Central Council was formed on 13 August 1943. An analogous body, the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania, emerged on 25 November 1943.
On 23 March 1944, the underground National Committee of the Estonian Republic was founded. Thousands of Estonians not willing to side with the Nazis joined the Finnish Defence Forces to fight against the Soviet Union. The Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 was formed out of the volunteers known colloquially as the "Finnish Boys" (Estonian: soomepoisid). On 2 February 1944, the front reached the former Estonian border, starting the battle of Narva. The city was evacuated.[10]
Jüri Uluots, the last legitimate prime minister and the head of the National Committee of the Republic of Estonia delivered a radio address that implored all able-bodied men born from 1904 through 1923 to report for military service. Prior to this, Uluots had opposed the mobilisation. The call drew support from across the country: 38,000 conscripts jammed registration centers.[11] Two thousand Finland Boys returned.[12]
In 1943 and 1944,
On 1 August 1944, the Estonian National Committee pronounced itself Estonia’s highest authority, and on 18 September 1944, acting Head of State Jüri Uluots appointed a new government led by Otto Tief. Over the radio, in English, the Estonian government declared its neutrality in the war. The government issued two editions of the State Gazette. On 21 September, nationalist forces seized the government buildings in Tallinn and ordered the German forces to leave.[13]
The
Allied powers and the Baltic states
Western Allies' lack of interest
The Baltic states did not have
The Germans' defeat in 1945 left Eastern Europe within the Soviet sphere of influence. However, despite territorial losses and a heavy reparations burden in the
Western Allies acquiesce on Stalin's hold of the Baltics
The precedent under
Despite Welles's statement, the Baltic states soon reprised their centuries-long role as pawns in the conflicts of larger powers. After visiting Moscow in the winter of 1941–1942, British Foreign Minister
In March, 1942, Churchill wrote to Roosevelt urging the sacrifice of the Baltic states: "The increasing gravity of the war has led me to feel that the principles of the Atlantic Charter ought not to be construed so as to deny Russia the frontiers she occupied when Germany attacked here. ... I hope therefore that you will be able to give us a free hand to sign the treaty which Stalin desires as soon as possible."[19]
By 1943 Roosevelt had also consigned the Baltic states and Eastern Europe to Stalin. Meeting with his confidante, Archbishop (later, Cardinal) Spellman in New York on September 3, Roosevelt stated, "The European people will simply have to endure Russian domination, in the hope that in ten or twenty years they will be able to live well with the Russians."[20] Meeting with Stalin in Tehran on 1 December 1943, Roosevelt "said that he fully realized the three Baltic Republics had in history and again more recently been part of Russia and jokingly added, that when the Soviet armies re-occupied these areas, he did not intend to go to war with the Soviet Union on this point."[21] A month later, Roosevelt related to Otto von Habsburg that he had told the Russians they could take over and control Romania, Bulgaria, Bukovina, Eastern Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Finland.[22]
The future was sealed when on 9 October 1944, Churchill met with Stalin in Moscow and penciled out the post-war partition of Europe. Churchill recounts: "At length I said, 'Might it not be thought rather cynical if it seemed that we had disposed of these issues, so fateful to millions of people, in such an offhand manner? Let us burn the paper.' — 'No, you keep it,' said Stalin."[23] The February 1945 Yalta Conference, widely regarded as determining the future of Europe, invoked the Atlantic Charter and the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; however, it did not directly address the issue of the Baltic states, paving the path to unopposed Soviet hegemony over post-war Eastern Europe.
The attitude taken by the Western Allies with regard to the Baltic states following World War II was summarized by Hector McNeil, the Under-Secretary of the Foreign Affairs (1945-1946), before the House of Commons on 10 February 1947. McNeil stated that the British government recognized the absorption of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union de facto but not de jure. He also agreed that the annexation violated the self-determination principle of the Atlantic Charter, but that it should be kept in mind that the Baltic states had been part of the Russian Empire before 1918.[24]
Withdrawal of the occupational army from the Baltic states
On 11 March 1990, the
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Dear (2001). p. 85.
- TIME Magazine, November 15, 1943
- ^ Bellamy (2007). p. 621.
- ^ Bellamy (2007). p. 622.
- ^ a b c Bellamy (2007). p. 623.
- ^ Bellamy (2007). p. 624.
- ^ Hiden & Salmon (1994). p. 120.
- ISBN 0-312-16192-1
- ISBN 0-312-16192-1
- ISBN 0-7603-0745-8
- ISBN 0-7603-0745-8
- ^ a b Mart Laar (2006). Sinimäed 1944: II maailmasõja lahingud Kirde-Eestis (in Estonian). Tallinn: Varrak.
- ^ By Royal Institute of International Affairs. Information Dept. Published 1945
- ^ Gerner & Hedlund (1993). p. 60.
- ^ Hiden & Salmon (1994). p. 125.
- ^ U.S.-Baltic Relations: Celebrating 85 Years of Friendship at state.gov
- ^ The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania By David J. Smith; Page 138
- ^ Harriman, Averell & Abel, Elie. Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin 1941–1946, Random House, New York. 1974. p. 1135.
- ^ Berthon, Potts. Warlords: An Extraordinary Re-Creation of World War II Through the Eyes and Minds of Hitler, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Da Capo Press and Methuen Publishing. 2006. p. 138.
- ^ Gannon, Robert. The Cardinal Spellman Story. Doubleday, New York. 1962. pp. 222–223
- ^ Minutes of meeting, Bohlen, recording. Foreign Relations of the United States, The Conferences of Cairo and Tehran, 1943, pp. 594–596
- ^ Bullitt, Orville. For the President: Personal and Secret. Houghton-Mifflin, Boston. 1972. p. 601.
- ^ Churchill, Winston. The Second World War (6 volumes). Houghton-Mifflin, Boston. 1953. v. 6. pp. 227–228.
- ^ "Annexations". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 10 February 1947. col. 5–6.
- ^ ISBN 9986-738-66-0. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-333-78022-0.
- Dear, Ian; Foot, Richard (2001) [1995]. The Oxford companion to World War II (illustrated reprint ed.). England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860446-4.
- Gerner, Kristian; Hedlund, Stefan (1993). The Baltic States and the end of the Soviet Empire. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07570-X.
- Hiden, Johan; Salmon, Patrick (1994) [1991]. The Baltic Nations and Europe (Revised ed.). Harlow, England: Longman. ISBN 0-582-25650-X.