Baltic Regiment
Karl Freiherr von Manteuffel
At the end of the First World War, Estonia was still under the control of the German 8th Army. As the German withdrawal became apparent and it simultaneously became clear that Soviet troops would advance into the Baltic region, the Reich Plenipotentiary August Winnig reached an agreement with the young Republic of Estonia on November 19, 1918, regarding the transfer of captured Russian military equipment. This was intended to enable the rapid establishment of an independent Estonian army.
In view of the immediate threat, the new Prime Minister and Minister of War, Konstantin Päts, saw himself compelled to mobilize all available forces. In a meeting on November 26, 1918, it was therefore decided, together with representatives of the Baltic German community, to form a protective force composed of Baltic German volunteers.
Already on November 27, the first core of what would later become the Baltic Regiment was formed in Rakvere (Wesenberg), initially as part of the 5th Estonian Regiment under Colonel Weiß. After heavy fighting and a retreat toward Imavere, this unit merged on December 29, 1918, with a second Baltic German formation under Rittmeister Viktor von zur Mühlen, which had previously been formed in Tartu (Dorpat) with German support. From this merger emerged the Baltic Battalion, numbering approximately 450 men, which grew to 700 to 800 soldiers in 1919.
The volunteers came predominantly from Baltic German student corps circles of the University of Dorpat and the Riga Polytechnic Institute - often sons of noble estate-owning families. The officers had mostly served in the Tsarist army. Equipment and weapons were partly taken over from the withdrawing German army or donated by the Baltic German population. In this way, the Baltic Regiment became a decisive contribution of the Baltic German community to the defense of Estonia amid the turmoil of the wars of independence.
Memorial sites commemorating the fallen members of the Baltic State Defense Force and the Baltic Regiment:
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- Monument in Tallinn Old Town
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- Monument in Schliersee
The Baltic Flag
'The Baltic Flag’ is a poem by Karl Freiherr von Manteuffel, which he wrote in 1920. It is set in the Baltic region during the liberation of Riga from the Red Army in 1919, in which the officer Baron Hans von Manteuffel-Szoege took part with his 1st Baltic German Combat Battalion of the Baltic State Defense Force and was killed in action. The song is often also titled after its opening line ‘Die Grenzwacht wird im Osten,’ but its actual name is ‘The Baltic Flag.’ Who composed the musical setting of this poem is unknown.
The border guard held in the East, long standing against the enemy,
Today its last post returns to the fatherland.
Exhausted and worn down, in loyal knighthood,
The best have remained behind, the rest of us lost our strength.
But we bring the flag that fought waving before us,
From Riga’s bloody plain, with all due honor.
Storm-tested, it never bowed before an enemy,
And today still and always shows the path to the East.
It rustles there as a reminder, to it the spirit of the fathers,
Despite all hardship, a foreboding that is called the German future.
Even if we have become strangers to you, brothers from the Reich,
From West and South and North, the banner remained the same.
Even if we perish here, do not concern yourselves with it,
To pass on the flag is our final duty.
I may not hesitate any longer, soon it will compel your resolve,
To carry it to the Eastern land, it wants it, it must go there.
To carry it to the Eastern land, it wants it, it must go there.
Baron Hans von Manteuffel-Szoeg
Sources: See Imprint