Battle of Porkuni 1944
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 21 September 1944 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1944 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Estonia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 59.1778, 26.1603 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
Battle of Porkuni (Estonian: Porkuni lahing) was the largest engagement between Estonians serving in the Red Army and Estonian pro-independence and Waffen-SS units. It took place on 21 September 1944 between Lake Porkuni and the village of Sauvälja about seven kilometres northeast of the town of Tamsalu during the Leningrad Front's Tallinn Offensive Operation (17 September 1944 – 26 September 1944).
The 249th Rifle Regiment of the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps had heavy machine guns and mortars and were supported by artillery and tanks. Soldiers of the Estonian Waffen Grenadier Division had only light arms and antitank weapons in the form of German panzerfausts.
The 8th Rifle Corps surrounded about 1,500 Estonians retreating from the Tannenberg line in the Sinimäed Hills. In the ensuing battle, more than 500 surrounded Estonians were killed. Around 700 were captured.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Porkuni (revision 1370586426), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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All 178 battles of the World War II →
Browse more: battles in Estonia · Europe · World War II era battles