The Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn ( et, Tallinna Kaitseväe kalmistu), sometimes called the Tallinn Military Cemetery ( et, Tallinna Sõjavae kalmistu), is one of the three cemeteries of the Tallinn City Centre Cemetery (Estonian: ''Siselinna kalmistu''). It is situated about 3 kilometres outside the centre of

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

, the capital of

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 ...

. During Estonian independence before the Soviet and German occupations of the 1940-1991 period, it was the Estonian equivalent of

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

in the USA - the foremost military cemetery of independent Estonia.

History

The cemetery was established in the years of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as the cemetery of the Tallinn garrison. The oldest grave dates back to 1916 and holds

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Estonian, and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

soldiers killed during World War I. Also buried there are one British merchant seaman and four

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

personnel from the same war who died before the Armistice, in addition to seven Royal Navy and two

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

personnel who died during the period of the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westw ...

, and one non-world war grave. Eight of the Royal Navy personnel had been reburied here from Tallinn Old Cemetery.Named Tallinn Military Cemetery by the CWGC. The graves from 1918 to 1944, the gravestones of the Estonian soldiers and the monuments of the

were largely destroyed by the Soviet authorities and the graveyard was taken over by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

for use by the Soviet occupation forces after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The graves of the fifteen

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

servicemen who died mostly in the

between 1918 and 1920 were repaired in 1994. Queen Elizabeth II awarded Linda Soomre honorary Membership of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for dedication and bravery in protecting the British graves during the years of the Soviet rule. Soomre was in charge of the Tallinn City Centre Cemetery for 35 years. After the destruction of the gravestones she had made the ground overnight a maintenance area saving the remains of the British soldiers from being violated.
The graves are in a kerbed gravelled plot 75 yards inside from the cemetery main gate, in two rows, but because their exact locations could not be marked each man has a Special Memorial headstone. The graves are maintained by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

. Linda Soomre also saved the graves of two Estonian generals, Johan Unt and

Ernst Põdder Ernst-Johannes Põdder VR I/1 (10 February 1879 – 24 June 1932) was a famous Estonian military commander in the Estonian War of Independence. In 1900 Põdder graduated from the Vilnius Military Academy. In the Russo-Japanese war he achieved ...

, by keeping the burial sites covered with dirt. The monument for the generals, originally unveiled in 1933, was restored on 22 February 1998. On 28 November 2012 the monument to those fallen in the Estonian War of Independence, originally unveiled in 1933, was restored. The registration book of people buried at this cemetery between years 1918–1944, with over 1,150 names, is maintained in

city central archives. The only graves from 1918 to 1944 that survived the Soviet era in the graveyard was a dolomite statue in commemoration of the victims of Männiku explosion from 15 June 1936. In mid-1990s a headstone which reads "To the Unknown Soldier: 1941–1945" in Estonian and

was placed on the cemetery, financed by the Russian Embassy in Estonia. A notable monument, "To those fallen in World War II", is the

Bronze Soldier The Bronze Soldier ( et, Pronkssõdur, russian: Бронзовый солдат, ''Bronzovyj soldat'') is the informal name of a controversial Soviet World War II war memorial in Tallinn, Estonia, built at the site of several war graves, which w ...

, a two-meter statue of a soldier in

uniform with an accompanying stone structure. The statue was a part of a former

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

memorial by the sculptor Enn Roos and supervising architect Arnold Alas, and was moved from central Tallinn to the cemetery on 30 April 2007.

References

External links

Military CemeteryEstonia and the United Kingdom 1918-2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tallinn, Defence Forces Cemetery Of Cemeteries in Tallinn Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Monuments and memorials in Estonia 1916 establishments in the Russian Empire Military history of Estonia Soviet military memorials and cemeteries in Estonia Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in Estonia

History

See also

References

External links