The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states covers the period from the Soviet–Baltic mutual assistance pacts in 1939, to their invasion and annexation in 1940, to the mass deportations of 1941.
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In September and October 1939 the Soviet government compelled the much smaller Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave the Soviets the right to establish military bases there. Following invasion by the Red Army in the summer of 1940, Soviet authorities compelled the Baltic governments to resign. The presidents of Estonia and Latvia were imprisoned and later died in Siberia. Under Soviet supervision, new puppet communist governments and fellow travelers arranged rigged elections with falsified results. Shortly thereafter, the newly elected "people's assemblies" passed resolutions requesting admission into the Soviet Union. In June 1941 the new Soviet governments carried out mass deportations of "enemies of the people". Consequently, at first many Balts greeted the Germans as liberators when they occupied the area a week later.
Background

After the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939, in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact the Soviet forces were given freedom over Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, an important aspect of the agreement to the Soviet government as they were afraid of Germany using the three states as a corridor to get close to Leningrad.: 31 The Soviets pressured Finland and the Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance treaties. The Soviets questioned the neutrality of Estonia following the escape of a Polish submarine from Tallinn on 18 September. Six days later, on 24 September 1939, the Estonian foreign minister was given an ultimatum in Moscow. The Soviets demanded the conclusion of a treaty of mutual assistance to establish military bases in Estonia. The Estonians had no choice but to allow the establishment of Soviet naval, air and army bases on two Estonian islands and at the port of Paldiski. The corresponding agreement was signed on 28 September 1939. Latvia followed on 5 October 1939 and Lithuania shortly thereafter, on 10 October 1939. The agreements permitted the Soviet Union to establish military bases on the Baltic states' territory for the duration of the European war, and station 25,000 Soviet soldiers in Estonia, 30,000 in Latvia and 20,000 in Lithuania from October 1939.
The Soviets then turned their attention to Finland. The Soviets demanded that Finland cede or lease parts of its territory, as well as the destruction of Finnish defenses along the Karelian Isthmus. After the Finns rejected these demands, the Soviets responded with military force. The USSR launched the Winter War on 30 November 1939, with the goal of annexing Finland. Simultaneously, a puppet regime, called the Finnish Democratic Republic, was created by the Soviets to govern Finland after Soviet conquest. The initial period of the war proved disastrous for the Soviet military, taking severe losses while making little headway. On 29 January 1940, the Soviets put an end to their Finnish Democratic Republic puppet government and recognized the government in Helsinki as the legal government of Finland, informing it that they were willing to negotiate peace.
The Soviets reorganized their forces and launched a new offensive along the Karelian Isthmus in February 1940. As fighting in Viipuri raged and the hope of foreign intervention faded, the Finns accepted peace terms on 12 March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Fighting ended the following day. The Finns had retained their independence, but ceded 9% of Finnish territory to the Soviet Union. While the Baltic states were officially neutral in the Winter War, with the Soviets praising their relations with the USSR as exemplary, Soviet bombers had used bases in Estonia for bombing Finland.
Soviet occupation

The Soviet troops allocated for possible military actions against the Baltic states numbered 435,000 troops, around 8,000 guns and mortars, over 3,000 tanks, and over 500 armoured cars. On 3 June 1940 all Soviet military forces based in Baltic states were concentrated under the command of Aleksandr Loktionov. On 9 June the directive 02622ss/ov was given to the Red Army's Leningrad Military District by Semyon Timoshenko to be ready by 12 June to a) capture the vessels of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian navies in their bases or at sea; b) capture the Estonian and Latvian commercial fleets and all other vessels; c) prepare for an invasion and landing in Tallinn and Paldiski; d) close the Gulf of Riga and blockade the coasts of Estonia and Latvia in the Gulf of Finland and Baltic Sea; e) prevent an evacuation of the Estonian and Latvian governments, military forces and assets; f) provide naval support for an invasion towards Rakvere; and g) prevent Estonian and Latvian airplanes from flying either to Finland or Sweden.


On 12 June 1940, according to the director of the Russian State Archive of the Naval Department Pavel Petrov (C.Phil.) referring to the records in the archive, the Soviet Baltic Fleet was ordered to implement a total military blockade of Estonia. On 13 June at 10:40 a.m. Soviet forces started to move to their positions and were ready by 14 June at 10 p.m. Four submarines and a number of light navy units were positioned in the Baltic Sea, in the Gulfs of Riga and Finland, to isolate the Baltic states by the sea. A navy squadron including three destroyer divisions was positioned to the west of Naissaar in order to support the invasion and the 1st Marine Brigade's four battalions were positioned on the transport ships Sibir, 2nd Pjatiletka and Elton for landings on the islands Naissaare and Aegna. The transport ship Dnester and destroyers Storozevoi and Silnoi were positioned with troops for the invasion of the capital Tallinn; the 50th battalion was positioned on ships for an invasion near Kunda. 120 Soviet vessels participated in the naval blockade, including one cruiser, seven destroyers, and seventeen submarines, along with 219 airplanes including the 8th air-brigade with 84 DB-3 and Tupolev SB bombers and the 10th brigade with 62 airplanes.
On 14 June 1940 the Soviets issued an ultimatum to Lithuania. The Soviet military blockade of Estonia went into effect while the world's attention was focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany. Two Soviet bombers downed the Finnish passenger airplane Kaleva flying from Tallinn to Helsinki carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U.S. legations in Tallinn, Riga and Helsinki. The US Foreign Service employee Henry W. Antheil Jr. was killed in the crash.
On 16 June 1940 the Soviets issued an ultimatum to Estonia and to Latvia.
On 18 June 1940 the German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Graf von der Schulenburg in his telegram have said that earlier V. Molotov had "warmly" congratulated him on Germany's recent success in France and added that:
«[…] it had become necessary to put an end to all the intrigues by which England and France had tried to sow discord and mistrust between Germany and the Soviet Union in the Baltic States. […]Lithuanian border was evidently inadequately guarded. The Soviet Government would, therefore, if requested, assist the Lithuanian Government in guarding its borders.»
Red Army invades
Molotov had accused[when?] the Baltic states of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and delivered an ultimatum to all Baltic countries for the establishment of Soviet-approved governments. Threatening invasion and accusing the three states of violating the original pacts as well as forming a conspiracy against the Soviet Union, Moscow presented ultimatums, demanding new concessions, which included the replacement of their governments and allowing an unlimited number of troops to enter the three countries.
The Baltic governments had decided that, given their international isolation and the overwhelming Soviet forces on their borders and already on their territories, it was futile to actively resist and better to avoid bloodshed in an unwinnable war. The occupation of the Baltic states coincided with a communist coup d'état in each country, supported by the Soviet troops.
On 15 June the USSR invaded Lithuania. The Soviet troops attacked the Latvian border guards at Masļenki before invading Latvia and Estonia on 16 June. According to a Time magazine article published at the time of the invasions, in a matter of days around 500,000 Soviet Red Army troops occupied the three Baltic states – just one week before the Fall of France to Nazi Germany. The Soviet military forces far outnumbered the armies of each country.
Most of the Estonian Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League surrendered according to the orders of the Estonian Government and were disarmed by the Red Army. Only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed in Tallinn at Raua Street showed resistance to the Red Army and "People's Self-Defence" Communist militia, fighting the invading troops on 21 June 1940. As the Red Army brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicles, the battle lasted several hours until sundown. Finally the military resistance was ended with negotiations and the Independent Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed. There were two dead Estonian servicemen, Aleksei Männikus and Johannes Mandre, and several wounded on the Estonian side and about ten killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. The Soviet militia that participated in the battle was led by Nikolai Stepulov.
Western reaction
Estonia was the only of the three Baltic states that established a government in exile. It had legations in London and was the government recognized by the Western world during the Cold War. With the reestablishment of independence by the Soviet Republics leaving the USSR in 1990–1991, the government in exile was integrated into the new governing establishment. Latvia and Lithuania managed to preserve exile diplomatic services that had received emergency powers to represent the countries abroad, that worked as de facto governments-in-exile.
Sovietization of the Baltic states
Political repressions followed with mass deportations of around 130,000 citizens carried out by the Soviets.: 48 The Serov Instructions, "On the Procedure for carrying out the Deportation of Anti-Soviet Elements from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia", contained detailed procedures and protocols to observe in the deportation of Baltic nationals.
The Soviets began a constitutional metamorphosis of the Baltic states by first forming transitional "People's Governments". Led by Stalin's close associates, and local communist supporters as well as officials brought in from the Soviet Union, they forced the presidents and governments of all three countries to resign, replacing them with the provisional People's Governments.
On 14–15 July, following illegal amendments to the electoral laws of the respective states, rigged parliamentary elections for the "People's Parliaments" were conducted by local Communists loyal to the Soviet Union. The laws were worded in such a way that the Communists and their allies were the only ones allowed to run. The election results were completely fabricated: the Soviet press service released them early, with the results having already appeared in print in a London newspaper a full 24 hours before the polls closed. The "People's Parliaments" met on 21 July, each with only one piece of business—a request to join the Soviet Union. These requests carried unanimously. In early August, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR accepted all three requests. The official Soviet narrative was that all three Baltic states simultaneously carried out socialist revolutions and voluntarily requested to join the Soviet Union.
The new Soviet-installed governments in the Baltic states began to align their policies with Soviet practices at the time. According to the prevailing doctrine in the process, the old "bourgeois" societies were destroyed so that new socialist societies, run by loyal Soviet citizens, could be constructed in their place.
- Soviet propaganda demonstration in Liepāja, 1940. Posters in Russian say: We demand the full accession to the USSR!
- Plaque on the building of Government of Estonia, Toompea, commemorating government members killed by communist terror
- Soviet propaganda newspaper in Lithuanian language. Black text in the right square says: The Stalinist Constitution's sun already shines to the Lithuanian land and so our hearts rejoice by singing in honor of the great Stalin.
- 1941 Soviet internal-passport issued in occupied Latvia, shortly before the German invasion. The holder was an elderly Jewish man being evacuated at the end to Kuybyshev.
See also
- June deportation – 1941 deportation of people from Soviet-occupied territories
- Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
- Soviet re-occupation of the Baltic states (1944)
Notes
- This telegram and other important documents were originally published by the U.S. State Department. As authors of the pulibcation claimed, the documents, including telegram, were copied verbatim and translated. The documents originate from German Foreign Office archive captured by British and US troops in 1945. The next sources in Russian are duplicates of the same report and telegram translated into Russian.: 154 : 207
References
Citations
- Moorehouse, Roger (2014). The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941 (Kindle, Chapter 3: Sharing the Spoils; loc 1961 ed.). New York: Basic Books.
- Attitudes of Major Soviet Nationalities (PDF). Vol. II. The Baltics. Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1973. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- Gerner & Hedlund (1993). p. 59.
- Buttar, Prit (21 May 2013). Between Giants. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 978-1-78096-163-7.
- Hiden & Salmon (1994). p. 110.
- The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by David J. Smith, Page 24, ISBN 0-415-28580-1
- Manninen (2008), pp. 37, 42, 43, 46, 49
- Reiter (2009), p. 124
- Tanner (1956), p. 114
- Trotter (2013), p. 58, 61
- Trotter (2002), pp. 234–235
- Enkenberg (2020), p.215
- Mälksoo (2003). p. 83.
- Crowe (1993), p.139
- Mikhail Meltyukhov Stalin's Missed Chance p. 198, available at [1]
- Pavel Petrov, p. 153
- Pavel Petrov, p. 154
- (in Finnish) Pavel Petrov at Finnish Defence Forces home page
- (in Russian) documents published Archived 2005-02-19 at the Wayback Machine from the State Archive of the Russian Navy
- Pavel Petrov, p. 164
- The Last Flight from Tallinn Archived 2009-03-25 at the Wayback Machine at American Foreign Service Association
- Sontag R., James; Stuart B., James (1948). Nazi-Soviet relations, 1939–1941: Documents from the archives of the German foreign office. Washington: State Department.
- СССР — Германия. 1939–1941. Секретные документы [USSR-Germany relations, 1939-1941: Secret documents] (in Russian). Moscow: ЭКСМО. 2011. ISBN 978-5-699-50365-0. OCLC 746463927.
- Юрий, Г. Фельштинский (9 February 2004). "Оглашению подлежит: СССР-Германия 1939–1941 (Документы и материалы)". lib.ru. Archived from the original on 26 February 2013. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ИнфоРост, Н. П. "Посол Шуленбург – в МИД Германии. Телеграмма. Москва. 18 июня 1940 г." docs.historyrussia.org. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- Фельштинский, Юрий; Серебренников, А. «СССР — Германия, 1939», изд. «Телекс», 1983 г (in Russian). Vol. 1. telex.
- The World Book Encyclopedia ISBN 0-7166-0103-6
- For Lithuania see, for instance, Remeikis, Thomas (Winter 1975). "The decision of the Lithuanian government to accept the Soviet ultimatum of 14 June 1940". Lituanus. 21 (4). Retrieved 3 March 2007.
- see report of Latvian Chargé d'affaires, Fricis Kociņš, regarding the talks with Soviet Foreign Commissar Molotov in Grava-Kreituse, I.; Feldmanis, I.; Goldmanis, J.; Stranga, A. (1995). Latvijas okupācija un aneksija 1939–1940: Dokumenti un materiāli [The Occupation and Annexation of Latvia: 1939–1940. Documents and Materials] (in Latvian). pp. 348–350. Archived from the original on 6 November 2008.
- for Estonia see, for instance, Kerikmäe, Tanel; Vallikivi, Hannes (2000). "State Continuity in the Light of Estonian Treaties Concluded before World War II". Juridica International (I 2000): 30–39. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2007.
- Smith, David James (2002). The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Psychology Press. p. 19. ISBN 0-415-28580-1.
- Subrenat, Jean-Jacques; Cousins, David; Harding, Alexander; Waterhouse, Richard C. (2004). Estonia: Identity and Independence. Rodopi. ISBN 90-420-0890-3.
- "Five Years of Dates". Time. 24 June 1940. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
- The Occupation of Latvia Archived 2007-11-23 at the Wayback Machine at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia
- Germany Over All, TIME Magazine, 24 June 1940
- Courtois, Stephane; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis; Kramer, Mark (1999). The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-07608-7.
- Ertl, Alan (2008). Toward an Understanding of Europe. Universal-Publishers. p. 394. ISBN 978-1-59942-983-0.
June 14 the Estonian government surrendered without offering any military resistance; The occupation authorities began...by disarming the Estonian Army and removing the higher military command from power
- Miljan, Toivo (2004). Historical Dictionary of Estonia. Scarecrow Press. p. 111. ISBN 0-8108-4904-6.
The Estonian armed forces were disarmed by the Soviet occupation in June 1940
- Baltic States: A Study of Their Origin and National Development, Their Seizure and Incorporation Into the U.S.S.R. W. S. Hein. 1972. p. 280. ISBN 9780930342418.
- "The President of the Republic acquainted himself with the Estonian Defence Forces". Press Service of the Office of the President. 19 December 2001. Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- (in Estonian)51 years from the Raua Street Battle at Estonian Defence Forces Home Page
- 784 AE. "Riigikogu avaldus kommunistliku režiimi kuritegudest Eestis" [Riigikogu's statement on the crimes of the communist regime in Estonia] (in Estonian). Riigikogu. Archived from the original on 21 June 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- Lohmus, Alo (10 November 2007). "Kaitseväelastest said kurja saatuse sunnil korpusepoisid" [Forced by evil fate, the soldiers became corpsmen] (in Estonian). Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- "Põlva maakonna 2005.a. lahtised meistrivõistlused mälumängus" (in Estonian). kilb.ee. 22 February 2005. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- Miljan, Toivo (2004). Historical Dictionary of Estonia. Scarecrow Press. p. 332. ISBN 0-8108-4904-6.
- Misiunas & Taagepera 1993, p. 20.
- in addition to the envoys accredited in Baltic countries, Soviet government sent the following special emissaries: to Lithuania: Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs Dekanozov; to Latvia: Vishinski, the representative of the Council of Ministers; to Estonia: Regional Party Leader of Leningrad Zhdanov. "Analytical list of documents, V. Friction in the Baltic States and Balkans, June 4, 1940 – September 21, 1940". Telegram of German Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Schulenburg) to the German Foreign Office. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
- Misiunas & Taagepera 1993, pp. 26–7
- Mangulis, Visvaldis (1983). "VIII. September 1939 to June 1941". Latvia in the Wars of the 20th century. Princeton Junction, New Jersey: Cognition Books. ISBN 0-912881-00-3.
- O'Connor 2003, p. 117
Bibliography
- Brecher, Michael; Wilkenfeld, Jonathan (1997). A Study of Crisis. University of Michigan Press. p. 596. ISBN 978-0-472-10806-0.
- Crowe, David (1993). The Baltic States And The Great Powers: Foreign Relations, 1938-1940. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0813304816.
- Enkenberg, Ilkka (2020). Talvisota Väreissä [Winter War in Värei] (in Finnish). Readme.fi. ISBN 978-952-373-053-3.
- Gerner, Kristian; Hedlund, Stefan (1993). The Baltic States and the end of the Soviet Empire. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07570-X.
- Hiden, John; Salmon, Patrick (1994) [1991]. The Baltic Nations and Europe (Revised ed.). Harlow, England: Longman. ISBN 0-582-25650-X.
- Mälksoo, Lauri (2003). Illegal Annexation and State Continuity: The Case of the Incorporation of the Baltic States by the USSR. The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 978-90-411-2177-6.
- O'Connor, Kevin (2003). The History of the Baltic States. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 113–145. ISBN 978-0-313-32355-3.
- Rislakki, Jukka (2008). The Case for Latvia. Disinformation Campaigns Against a Small Nation. Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-420-2424-3.
- Plakans, Andrejs (2007). Experiencing Totalitarianism: The Invasion and Occupation of Latvia by the USSR and Nazi Germany 1939–1991. AuthorHouse. p. 596. ISBN 978-1-4343-1573-1.
- Wyman, David; Rosenzveig, Charles H. (1996). The World Reacts to the Holocaust. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 365–381. ISBN 978-0-8018-4969-5.
- Frucht, Richard (2005). Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-57607-800-6.
- Manninen, Ohto (2008). Miten Suomi valloitetaan: Puna-armeijan operaatiosuunnitelmat 1939–1944 [How to Conquer Finland: Operational Plans of the Red Army 1939–1944] (in Finnish). Edita. ISBN 978-951-37-5278-1.
- Misiunas, Romuald J.; Taagepera, Rein (1993), The Baltic States, years of dependence, 1940–1990, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-08228-1
- Senn, Alfred Erich (2007). Lithuania 1940: Revolution from Above. Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-42-02225-6.
- Petrov, Pavel (2008). Punalipuline Balti Laevastik ja Eesti 1939–1941 (in Estonian). Tänapäev. ISBN 978-9985-62-631-3.
- Hiden, John; Vahur Made; David J. Smith (2008). The Baltic question during the Cold War. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-37100-1.
- Reiter, Dan (2009). How Wars End. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691140605. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
- Talmon, Stefan (1998). Recognition of governments in international law. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-826573-3.
- McHugh, James; James S. Pacy (2001). Diplomats without a country: Baltic diplomacy, international law, and the Cold War. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-31878-6.
- Tanner, Väinö (1956). The Winter War: Finland Against Russia, 1939–1940, Volume 312. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.
- Trotter, William (2013). A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939–1940. Algonquin Books.
- Trotter, William R. (2002) [1991]. The Winter War: The Russo–Finnish War of 1939–40 (5th ed.). Aurum Press. ISBN 1-85410-881-6.
Further reading
- Žiemele, Ineta, ed. (2002). Baltic Yearbook of International Law (2001). Vol. 1. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 978-90-411-1736-6. ISSN 1569-6456.
- Dawisha, K.; Parrott, B., eds. (June 1997). The Consolidation of Democracy in East-Central Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-59938-2.
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The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states covers the period from the Soviet Baltic mutual assistance pacts in 1939 to their invasion and annexation in 1940 to the mass deportations of 1941 Soviet occupation of the Baltic states 1940 Part of World War II the occupation of the Baltic states and military occupations by the Soviet UnionSoviet troops in Riga Latvia 1940 Date15 June 6 August 1940 1940 06 15 1940 08 06 LocationBaltic states Estonia Latvia and Lithuania ResultSoviet victory Soviet troops militarily occupy the Baltic states Baltic governments deposed Rigged elections produce communist governments under Soviet control which request admission to the USSR Baltic states annexed de facto as republics of the Soviet Union not widely recognized by the outside world Beginning of partisan resistance to Soviet ruleBelligerentsEstonia Latvia Lithuania Soviet Union Estonian Communist Party Latvian Communist Party Lithuanian Communist Party Diplomatic support GermanyCommanders and leadersKonstantin Pats Juri Uluots Nikolai Reek Johan Laidoner Karlis Ulmanis Krisjanis Berkis Janis Balodis Antanas Smetona Antanas MerkysJoseph Stalin Vyacheslav Molotov Semyon Timoshenko Aleksandr Loktionov Andrey Vyshinsky Johannes Vares Karl Sare Augusts Kirhensteins Janis Kalnberzins Justas Paleckis Antanas Snieckus In September and October 1939 the Soviet government compelled the much smaller Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave the Soviets the right to establish military bases there Following invasion by the Red Army in the summer of 1940 Soviet authorities compelled the Baltic governments to resign The presidents of Estonia and Latvia were imprisoned and later died in Siberia Under Soviet supervision new puppet communist governments and fellow travelers arranged rigged elections with falsified results Shortly thereafter the newly elected people s assemblies passed resolutions requesting admission into the Soviet Union In June 1941 the new Soviet governments carried out mass deportations of enemies of the people Consequently at first many Balts greeted the Germans as liberators when they occupied the area a week later BackgroundSoviet expansion in 1939 1940 After the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939 in accordance with the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact the Soviet forces were given freedom over Latvia Lithuania and Estonia an important aspect of the agreement to the Soviet government as they were afraid of Germany using the three states as a corridor to get close to Leningrad 31 The Soviets pressured Finland and the Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance treaties The Soviets questioned the neutrality of Estonia following the escape of a Polish submarine from Tallinn on 18 September Six days later on 24 September 1939 the Estonian foreign minister was given an ultimatum in Moscow The Soviets demanded the conclusion of a treaty of mutual assistance to establish military bases in Estonia The Estonians had no choice but to allow the establishment of Soviet naval air and army bases on two Estonian islands and at the port of Paldiski The corresponding agreement was signed on 28 September 1939 Latvia followed on 5 October 1939 and Lithuania shortly thereafter on 10 October 1939 The agreements permitted the Soviet Union to establish military bases on the Baltic states territory for the duration of the European war and station 25 000 Soviet soldiers in Estonia 30 000 in Latvia and 20 000 in Lithuania from October 1939 The Soviets then turned their attention to Finland The Soviets demanded that Finland cede or lease parts of its territory as well as the destruction of Finnish defenses along the Karelian Isthmus After the Finns rejected these demands the Soviets responded with military force The USSR launched the Winter War on 30 November 1939 with the goal of annexing Finland Simultaneously a puppet regime called the Finnish Democratic Republic was created by the Soviets to govern Finland after Soviet conquest The initial period of the war proved disastrous for the Soviet military taking severe losses while making little headway On 29 January 1940 the Soviets put an end to their Finnish Democratic Republic puppet government and recognized the government in Helsinki as the legal government of Finland informing it that they were willing to negotiate peace The Soviets reorganized their forces and launched a new offensive along the Karelian Isthmus in February 1940 As fighting in Viipuri raged and the hope of foreign intervention faded the Finns accepted peace terms on 12 March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty Fighting ended the following day The Finns had retained their independence but ceded 9 of Finnish territory to the Soviet Union While the Baltic states were officially neutral in the Winter War with the Soviets praising their relations with the USSR as exemplary Soviet bombers had used bases in Estonia for bombing Finland Soviet occupationSchematics of the Soviet military blockade and invasion of Estonia and Latvia in 1940 Russian State Naval Archives The Soviet troops allocated for possible military actions against the Baltic states numbered 435 000 troops around 8 000 guns and mortars over 3 000 tanks and over 500 armoured cars On 3 June 1940 all Soviet military forces based in Baltic states were concentrated under the command of Aleksandr Loktionov On 9 June the directive 02622ss ov was given to the Red Army s Leningrad Military District by Semyon Timoshenko to be ready by 12 June to a capture the vessels of the Estonian Latvian and Lithuanian navies in their bases or at sea b capture the Estonian and Latvian commercial fleets and all other vessels c prepare for an invasion and landing in Tallinn and Paldiski d close the Gulf of Riga and blockade the coasts of Estonia and Latvia in the Gulf of Finland and Baltic Sea e prevent an evacuation of the Estonian and Latvian governments military forces and assets f provide naval support for an invasion towards Rakvere and g prevent Estonian and Latvian airplanes from flying either to Finland or Sweden Baltic States right before the Soviet Invasion 1940 Soviet repressions in Kuressaare Estonia 1941 On 12 June 1940 according to the director of the Russian State Archive of the Naval Department Pavel Petrov C Phil referring to the records in the archive the Soviet Baltic Fleet was ordered to implement a total military blockade of Estonia On 13 June at 10 40 a m Soviet forces started to move to their positions and were ready by 14 June at 10 p m Four submarines and a number of light navy units were positioned in the Baltic Sea in the Gulfs of Riga and Finland to isolate the Baltic states by the sea A navy squadron including three destroyer divisions was positioned to the west of Naissaar in order to support the invasion and the 1st Marine Brigade s four battalions were positioned on the transport ships Sibir 2nd Pjatiletka and Elton for landings on the islands Naissaare and Aegna The transport ship Dnester and destroyers Storozevoi and Silnoi were positioned with troops for the invasion of the capital Tallinn the 50th battalion was positioned on ships for an invasion near Kunda 120 Soviet vessels participated in the naval blockade including one cruiser seven destroyers and seventeen submarines along with 219 airplanes including the 8th air brigade with 84 DB 3 and Tupolev SB bombers and the 10th brigade with 62 airplanes On 14 June 1940 the Soviets issued an ultimatum to Lithuania The Soviet military blockade of Estonia went into effect while the world s attention was focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany Two Soviet bombers downed the Finnish passenger airplane Kaleva flying from Tallinn to Helsinki carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U S legations in Tallinn Riga and Helsinki The US Foreign Service employee Henry W Antheil Jr was killed in the crash On 16 June 1940 the Soviets issued an ultimatum to Estonia and to Latvia On 18 June 1940 the German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Graf von der Schulenburg in his telegram have said that earlier V Molotov had warmly congratulated him on Germany s recent success in France and added that it had become necessary to put an end to all the intrigues by which England and France had tried to sow discord and mistrust between Germany and the Soviet Union in the Baltic States Lithuanian border was evidently inadequately guarded The Soviet Government would therefore if requested assist the Lithuanian Government in guarding its borders Red Army invades Molotov had accused when the Baltic states of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and delivered an ultimatum to all Baltic countries for the establishment of Soviet approved governments Threatening invasion and accusing the three states of violating the original pacts as well as forming a conspiracy against the Soviet Union Moscow presented ultimatums demanding new concessions which included the replacement of their governments and allowing an unlimited number of troops to enter the three countries The Baltic governments had decided that given their international isolation and the overwhelming Soviet forces on their borders and already on their territories it was futile to actively resist and better to avoid bloodshed in an unwinnable war The occupation of the Baltic states coincided with a communist coup d etat in each country supported by the Soviet troops On 15 June the USSR invaded Lithuania The Soviet troops attacked the Latvian border guards at Maslenki before invading Latvia and Estonia on 16 June According to a Time magazine article published at the time of the invasions in a matter of days around 500 000 Soviet Red Army troops occupied the three Baltic states just one week before the Fall of France to Nazi Germany The Soviet military forces far outnumbered the armies of each country Most of the Estonian Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League surrendered according to the orders of the Estonian Government and were disarmed by the Red Army Only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed in Tallinn at Raua Street showed resistance to the Red Army and People s Self Defence Communist militia fighting the invading troops on 21 June 1940 As the Red Army brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicles the battle lasted several hours until sundown Finally the military resistance was ended with negotiations and the Independent Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed There were two dead Estonian servicemen Aleksei Mannikus and Johannes Mandre and several wounded on the Estonian side and about ten killed and more wounded on the Soviet side The Soviet militia that participated in the battle was led by Nikolai Stepulov Western reaction Estonia was the only of the three Baltic states that established a government in exile It had legations in London and was the government recognized by the Western world during the Cold War With the reestablishment of independence by the Soviet Republics leaving the USSR in 1990 1991 the government in exile was integrated into the new governing establishment Latvia and Lithuania managed to preserve exile diplomatic services that had received emergency powers to represent the countries abroad that worked as de facto governments in exile Sovietization of the Baltic statesPolitical repressions followed with mass deportations of around 130 000 citizens carried out by the Soviets 48 The Serov Instructions On the Procedure for carrying out the Deportation of Anti Soviet Elements from Lithuania Latvia and Estonia contained detailed procedures and protocols to observe in the deportation of Baltic nationals The Soviets began a constitutional metamorphosis of the Baltic states by first forming transitional People s Governments Led by Stalin s close associates and local communist supporters as well as officials brought in from the Soviet Union they forced the presidents and governments of all three countries to resign replacing them with the provisional People s Governments On 14 15 July following illegal amendments to the electoral laws of the respective states rigged parliamentary elections for the People s Parliaments were conducted by local Communists loyal to the Soviet Union The laws were worded in such a way that the Communists and their allies were the only ones allowed to run The election results were completely fabricated the Soviet press service released them early with the results having already appeared in print in a London newspaper a full 24 hours before the polls closed The People s Parliaments met on 21 July each with only one piece of business a request to join the Soviet Union These requests carried unanimously In early August the Supreme Soviet of the USSR accepted all three requests The official Soviet narrative was that all three Baltic states simultaneously carried out socialist revolutions and voluntarily requested to join the Soviet Union The new Soviet installed governments in the Baltic states began to align their policies with Soviet practices at the time According to the prevailing doctrine in the process the old bourgeois societies were destroyed so that new socialist societies run by loyal Soviet citizens could be constructed in their place Soviet propaganda demonstration in Liepaja 1940 Posters in Russian say We demand the full accession to the USSR Plaque on the building of Government of Estonia Toompea commemorating government members killed by communist terror Soviet propaganda newspaper in Lithuanian language Black text in the right square says The Stalinist Constitution s sun already shines to the Lithuanian land and so our hearts rejoice by singing in honor of the great Stalin 1941 Soviet internal passport issued in occupied Latvia shortly before the German invasion The holder was an elderly Jewish man being evacuated at the end to Kuybyshev See alsoJune deportation 1941 deportation of people from Soviet occupied territories Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 Soviet re occupation of the Baltic states 1944 NotesThis telegram and other important documents were originally published by the U S State Department As authors of the pulibcation claimed the documents including telegram were copied verbatim and translated The documents originate from German Foreign Office archive captured by British and US troops in 1945 The next sources in Russian are duplicates of the same report and telegram translated into Russian 154 207 ReferencesCitations Moorehouse Roger 2014 The Devils Alliance Hitler s Pact with Stalin 1939 1941 Kindle Chapter 3 Sharing the Spoils loc 1961 ed New York Basic Books Attitudes of Major Soviet Nationalities PDF Vol II The Baltics Center for International Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1973 Retrieved 22 January 2020 Gerner amp Hedlund 1993 p 59 Buttar Prit 21 May 2013 Between Giants Bloomsbury USA ISBN 978 1 78096 163 7 Hiden amp Salmon 1994 p 110 The Baltic States Estonia Latvia and Lithuania by David J Smith Page 24 ISBN 0 415 28580 1 Manninen 2008 pp 37 42 43 46 49 Reiter 2009 p 124 Tanner 1956 p 114 Trotter 2013 p 58 61 Trotter 2002 pp 234 235 Enkenberg 2020 p 215 Malksoo 2003 p 83 Crowe 1993 p 139 Mikhail Meltyukhov Stalin s Missed Chance p 198 available at 1 Pavel Petrov p 153 Pavel Petrov p 154 in Finnish Pavel Petrov at Finnish Defence Forces home page in Russian documents published Archived 2005 02 19 at the Wayback Machine from the State Archive of the Russian Navy Pavel Petrov p 164 The Last Flight from Tallinn Archived 2009 03 25 at the Wayback Machine at American Foreign Service Association Sontag R James Stuart B James 1948 Nazi Soviet relations 1939 1941 Documents from the archives of the German foreign office Washington State Department SSSR Germaniya 1939 1941 Sekretnye dokumenty USSR Germany relations 1939 1941 Secret documents in Russian Moscow EKSMO 2011 ISBN 978 5 699 50365 0 OCLC 746463927 Yurij G Felshtinskij 9 February 2004 Oglasheniyu podlezhit SSSR Germaniya 1939 1941 Dokumenty i materialy lib ru Archived from the original on 26 February 2013 Retrieved 2022 06 01 InfoRost N P Posol Shulenburg v MID Germanii Telegramma Moskva 18 iyunya 1940 g docs historyrussia org Retrieved 2022 06 01 Felshtinskij Yurij Serebrennikov A SSSR Germaniya 1939 izd Teleks 1983 g in Russian Vol 1 telex The World Book Encyclopedia ISBN 0 7166 0103 6 For Lithuania see for instance Remeikis Thomas Winter 1975 The decision of the Lithuanian government to accept the Soviet ultimatum of 14 June 1940 Lituanus 21 4 Retrieved 3 March 2007 see report of Latvian Charge d affaires Fricis Kocins regarding the talks with Soviet Foreign Commissar Molotov in Grava Kreituse I Feldmanis I Goldmanis J Stranga A 1995 Latvijas okupacija un aneksija 1939 1940 Dokumenti un materiali The Occupation and Annexation of Latvia 1939 1940 Documents and Materials in Latvian pp 348 350 Archived from the original on 6 November 2008 for Estonia see for instance Kerikmae Tanel Vallikivi Hannes 2000 State Continuity in the Light of Estonian Treaties Concluded before World War II Juridica International I 2000 30 39 Archived from the original on 29 June 2007 Retrieved 3 March 2007 Smith David James 2002 The Baltic States Estonia Latvia and Lithuania Psychology Press p 19 ISBN 0 415 28580 1 Subrenat Jean Jacques Cousins David Harding Alexander Waterhouse Richard C 2004 Estonia Identity and Independence Rodopi ISBN 90 420 0890 3 Five Years of Dates Time 24 June 1940 Archived from the original on 30 September 2007 The Occupation of Latvia Archived 2007 11 23 at the Wayback Machine at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Germany Over All TIME Magazine 24 June 1940 Courtois Stephane Werth Nicolas Panne Jean Louis Paczkowski Andrzej Bartosek Karel Margolin Jean Louis Kramer Mark 1999 The Black Book of Communism Crimes Terror Repression Harvard University Press ISBN 0 674 07608 7 Ertl Alan 2008 Toward an Understanding of Europe Universal Publishers p 394 ISBN 978 1 59942 983 0 June 14 the Estonian government surrendered without offering any military resistance The occupation authorities began by disarming the Estonian Army and removing the higher military command from power Miljan Toivo 2004 Historical Dictionary of Estonia Scarecrow Press p 111 ISBN 0 8108 4904 6 The Estonian armed forces were disarmed by the Soviet occupation in June 1940 Baltic States A Study of Their Origin and National Development Their Seizure and Incorporation Into the U S S R W S Hein 1972 p 280 ISBN 9780930342418 The President of the Republic acquainted himself with the Estonian Defence Forces Press Service of the Office of the President 19 December 2001 Archived from the original on 21 August 2009 Retrieved 2 January 2009 in Estonian 51 years from the Raua Street Battle at Estonian Defence Forces Home Page 784 AE Riigikogu avaldus kommunistliku reziimi kuritegudest Eestis Riigikogu s statement on the crimes of the communist regime in Estonia in Estonian Riigikogu Archived from the original on 21 June 2007 Retrieved 2 January 2009 Lohmus Alo 10 November 2007 Kaitsevaelastest said kurja saatuse sunnil korpusepoisid Forced by evil fate the soldiers became corpsmen in Estonian Archived from the original on 21 August 2009 Retrieved 2 January 2009 Polva maakonna 2005 a lahtised meistrivoistlused malumangus in Estonian kilb ee 22 February 2005 Archived from the original on 15 June 2008 Retrieved 2 January 2009 Miljan Toivo 2004 Historical Dictionary of Estonia Scarecrow Press p 332 ISBN 0 8108 4904 6 Misiunas amp Taagepera 1993 p 20 in addition to the envoys accredited in Baltic countries Soviet government sent the following special emissaries to Lithuania Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs Dekanozov to Latvia Vishinski the representative of the Council of Ministers to Estonia Regional Party Leader of Leningrad Zhdanov Analytical list of documents V Friction in the Baltic States and Balkans June 4 1940 September 21 1940 Telegram of German Ambassador in the Soviet Union Schulenburg to the German Foreign Office Retrieved 2007 03 03 Misiunas amp Taagepera 1993 pp 26 7 Mangulis Visvaldis 1983 VIII September 1939 to June 1941 Latvia in the Wars of the 20th century Princeton Junction New Jersey Cognition Books ISBN 0 912881 00 3 O Connor 2003 p 117 Bibliography Brecher Michael Wilkenfeld Jonathan 1997 A Study of Crisis University of Michigan Press p 596 ISBN 978 0 472 10806 0 Crowe David 1993 The Baltic States And The Great Powers Foreign Relations 1938 1940 MIT Press ISBN 978 0813304816 Enkenberg Ilkka 2020 Talvisota Vareissa Winter War in Varei in Finnish Readme fi ISBN 978 952 373 053 3 Gerner Kristian Hedlund Stefan 1993 The Baltic States and the end of the Soviet Empire London Routledge ISBN 0 415 07570 X Hiden John Salmon Patrick 1994 1991 The Baltic Nations and Europe Revised ed Harlow England Longman ISBN 0 582 25650 X Malksoo Lauri 2003 Illegal Annexation and State Continuity The Case of the Incorporation of the Baltic States by the USSR The Netherlands Martinus Nijhoff Publishers ISBN 978 90 411 2177 6 O Connor Kevin 2003 The History of the Baltic States Greenwood Publishing Group pp 113 145 ISBN 978 0 313 32355 3 Rislakki Jukka 2008 The Case for Latvia Disinformation Campaigns Against a Small Nation Rodopi ISBN 978 90 420 2424 3 Plakans Andrejs 2007 Experiencing Totalitarianism The Invasion and Occupation of Latvia by the USSR and Nazi Germany 1939 1991 AuthorHouse p 596 ISBN 978 1 4343 1573 1 Wyman David Rosenzveig Charles H 1996 The World Reacts to the Holocaust Johns Hopkins University Press pp 365 381 ISBN 978 0 8018 4969 5 Frucht Richard 2005 Eastern Europe An Introduction to the People Lands and Culture ABC CLIO p 132 ISBN 978 1 57607 800 6 Manninen Ohto 2008 Miten Suomi valloitetaan Puna armeijan operaatiosuunnitelmat 1939 1944 How to Conquer Finland Operational Plans of the Red Army 1939 1944 in Finnish Edita ISBN 978 951 37 5278 1 Misiunas Romuald J Taagepera Rein 1993 The Baltic States years of dependence 1940 1990 University of California Press ISBN 0 520 08228 1 Senn Alfred Erich 2007 Lithuania 1940 Revolution from Above Rodopi ISBN 978 90 42 02225 6 Petrov Pavel 2008 Punalipuline Balti Laevastik ja Eesti 1939 1941 in Estonian Tanapaev ISBN 978 9985 62 631 3 Hiden John Vahur Made David J Smith 2008 The Baltic question during the Cold War Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 37100 1 Reiter Dan 2009 How Wars End Princeton University Press ISBN 978 0691140605 Retrieved 29 October 2010 Talmon Stefan 1998 Recognition of governments in international law Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 826573 3 McHugh James James S Pacy 2001 Diplomats without a country Baltic diplomacy international law and the Cold War Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 0 313 31878 6 Tanner Vaino 1956 The Winter War Finland Against Russia 1939 1940 Volume 312 Palo Alto Stanford University Press Trotter William 2013 A Frozen Hell The Russo Finnish Winter War of 1939 1940 Algonquin Books Trotter William R 2002 1991 The Winter War The Russo Finnish War of 1939 40 5th ed Aurum Press ISBN 1 85410 881 6 Further readingZiemele Ineta ed 2002 Baltic Yearbook of International Law 2001 Vol 1 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers ISBN 978 90 411 1736 6 ISSN 1569 6456 Dawisha K Parrott B eds June 1997 The Consolidation of Democracy in East Central Europe Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 59938 2