Omakaitse
Sign in to saveThe Omakaitse ('self guard') was a militia organisation in Estonia. It was founded in 1917 following the Russian Revolution. On the eve of the occupation of Estonia by the German Empire, the Omakaitse units took over major towns in the country allowing the Salvation Committee of the Estonian Provincial Assembly to proclaim the independence of Estonia. After the German Occupation the Omakaitse became outlawed.
Key facts
- Military unit.unit_name
- Omakaitse
- Military unit.dates
- 1917–1918;3 July 1941 – 17 September 1944
- Military unit.country
- Estonia
- Military unit.allegiance
- (1917–1918) (1941–1944)
- Military unit.branch
- Militia
- Military unit.role
- defence from Soviet Armed Forces
- Military unit.size
- 40,000
- Military unit.battles
- Russian revolution, World War II: Summer War, Tartu Offensive, Tallinn Offensive
- Military unit.disbanded
- September 1944
- Military unit.notable_commanders
- Friedrich Kurg, Johannes Soodla, Jaan Maide, Arnold Sinka
- Military unit.identification_symbol
- White armband
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- organization
- Country
- Estonia
- Headquarters
- Tallinn
- Chairperson
- Johannes Soodla
- Image
- Metsavennad-omakaitselased Pärnu linnas 1941.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- dissolved, abolished or demolished date
- 1944-09-00
- inception
- 1941-07-03
- member count
- 65000
- native label
- Omakaitse
- Commons category
- Omakaitse
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Background
- Formation and Summer War
- German occupation
- Notes
- References
The Omakaitse ('self guard') was a militia organisation in Estonia. It was founded in 1917 following the Russian Revolution. On the eve of the occupation of Estonia by the German Empire, the Omakaitse units took over major towns in the country allowing the Salvation Committee of the Estonian Provincial Assembly to proclaim the independence of Estonia. After the German Occupation the Omakaitse became outlawed.
The Estonian Defence League was dissolved in 1940 after the Soviet occupation of Estonia.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Omakaitse” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.