59°26′N 24°44′E / 59.433°N 24.733°E
| Tallinn offensive | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Eastern Front (World War II) | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||
|
 Soviet Union |
 Estonian pro-independence troops | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
| Ferdinand Schörner | Leonid Govorov | Johan Pitka | ||||||
| Strength | ||||||||
|
50,000 troops[1] 50 vessels[2] | 195,000 troops[3] | 2,000 troops[4] | ||||||
The Tallinn offensive (Russian: Таллинская наступательная операция) was a strategic offensive by the Red Army's 2nd Shock and 8th armies and the Baltic Fleet against the German Army Detachment Narwa and Estonian units in mainland Estonia on the Eastern Front of World War II on 17–26 September 1944. Its German counterpart was the abandonment of the Estonian territory in a retreat codenamed Operation Aster (German: Unternehmen Aster).
The Soviet offensive commenced with the Soviet 2nd Shock Army breaching the defence of the II Army Corps along the Emajõgi River in the vicinity of Tartu. The defenders managed to slow the Soviet advance sufficiently for Army Detachment Narwa to be evacuated from mainland Estonia in an orderly fashion.[5] On 18 September, the constitutional Government of Estonia captured the government buildings in Tallinn from the Germans and the city was abandoned by the German forces by 22 September. The Leningrad Front seized the capital and took the rest of mainland Estonia by 26 September 1944.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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hiiowas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
losseswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Toomas Hiio (2006). Combat in Estonia in 1944. In: Toomas Hiio, Meelis Maripuu, Indrek Paavle (Eds.). Estonia 1940–1945: Reports of the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity. Tallinn. p. 963.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Sean M. Mcateer (2008). 500 Days: The War in Eastern Europe, 1944–1945. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Red Lead Press. p. 273. ISBN 9781434961594.