The Battle of Kautla ( et, Kautla lahing, ''Kautla veresaun'' or ''Kautla veretöö'') was a battle between

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

destruction battalions Destruction battalions,, uk, Винищувальні батальйони, be, Zniszczalnyja batalëny, , et, hävituspataljonid, lt, Naikintojų batalionai, lv, Iznīcinātāju bataljoni, group=nb colloquially istrebitels (истреби� ...

and Estonian

Forest Brothers The Guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an armed struggle which was waged by the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian partisans, called the Forest Brothers (also: the "Brothers of the Wood" and the "Forest Friars"; et, metsavennad, lv, mež ...

in Kautla,

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

in July 1941. It included series of murders of civilians committed by

, known as Kautla massacre. On 24 July 1941, an extermination battalion murdered Gustav and Rosalie Viljamaa of Simisalu farm and set the farm on fire. In the coming days, the extermination battalion undertook the systematic murder of all civilians in the region and burning their farms. The Kautla farm was burned down by the Red Army with the family and staff inside, thus constituting a murder of Johannes Lindemann, Oskar Mallene, Ida Hallorava, Arnold Kivipõld, Alfred Kukk and Johannes Ummus. In total, more than twenty people, all civilians, were murdered — many of them after

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

— and tens of farms destroyed. The low toll of human deaths in comparison with the number of burned farms is due to the

Erna long-range reconnaissance group The Erna long-range reconnaissance group ( et, Erna luuregrupp) was a Finnish Army unit of Estonian volunteers, that fulfilled reconnaissance duties in Estonia behind Red Army lines during World War II. The unit was formed by Finnish military i ...

breaking the Red Army blockade on the area, allowing many civilians to escape.Jüri Liim: Kautla lahingud
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References

Soviet World War II crimes 1941 in Estonia 1941 in the Soviet Union Massacres in Estonia Massacres in the Soviet Union NKVD Massacres committed by the Soviet Union Mass murder in 1941 July 1941 events Russian war crimes in Estonia {{Estonia-hist-stub