During this battle, the Nordland's commander, SS-Gruppenführer Fritz von Scholz, was fatally wounded by an artillery round. For his actions, Schrijnen was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.ĭespite the tenacity of the volunteer and conscript formations, the SS-men were forced back from the Orphanage Hill late on 27 July. Over a 48 hour period, Schrijnen, acting as loader and gunner for his 7.5cm PaK 40 Anti-Tank gun, personally halted several Soviet tank attacks which otherwise would have encircled the Langemarck and Estland. On the 27 July, the defenders, again with the help of Jähde's Tigers, and elements of Nordland's Hermann von Salza Panzer Abt, fought off several Soviet combined arms attacks and destroyed 113 Soviet armoured vehicles, including many T-34s and assault guns.ĭuring these attacks, Flemish SS-Unterscharführer Remi Schrijnen of the Langemarck's anti-tank company singlehandedly destroyed over a dozen Russian tanks while wounded and cut off from the rest of the Kampfgruppe.
Wallonien's Kampgruppe, personally led by Léon Degrelle, and elements of Estland regiment of the 20.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Estnische Nr.1) were sent up to Orphanage Hill to bolster the defence.ĭuring the next week, the Langemarck, Estland, Norge and Wallonien saw extremely heavy fighting on the gentle slopes of Orphanage Hill. Elements of SS-Sturmbannführer Willy Jähde's 502.schwere Panzer Abteilung were sent to help out the beleaguered infantry, and after fierce fighting, the Hill was still in the hands of Steiner's SS men. Govorov's Leningrad Front began their assaults even before the vastly outnumbered Langemarck and Norge had dug in. The Langemarck was thrown into the line defending Kinderheimhöhe, with the Norge regiment of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland alongside it. SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Wallonien and 6. The corps was bolstered by the newly arrived Kampfgruppen of the Belgian volunteer units, the 5. Nonetheless, the formations of SS-Gruppenführer Felix Steiner's III SS (Germanic) Panzer Corps halted their withdrawal and fell into defensive positions on these hills. These three hills, known as the Blue Hills, were less than imposing, and resembled gently sloping mounds rather than defensible heights.
The eastern hill was known as Orphanage Hill, the centre was Grenadier Hill and the westernmost Tower Hill. The Tannenbergstellung consisted of three hills, running east to west. 3.6 Soviet attempts to regain Grenadier HillĪfter defending the Narva bridgehead for six months, the defenders of Narva had been ordered to fall back to the Tannenbergstellung (Tannenberg Line).3.5 Estonian re-capture of Grenadier Hill.3.3 Soviet encirclement of Grenadier Hill.It also made possible for Finland to start peace negotiations with Soviet Union and to exit the war, staying independent. As a result of the battle, Soviet offensive was stopped and more than 100,000 Estonian people could escape to Germany and Sweden. The strategic aim of the Soviet assault was to occupy Estonia as a favourable basis for invasions of Finland and East-Prussia. Roughly a half of the infantry consisted in the local Estonian volunteers and conscripts from 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian). The battle is also known as the great Battle of the European or Germanic SS because of the large number of Waffen-SS foreign volunteers engaged on the German side. The Soviet offensive to capture the Blue Hills, the combat on the hills and the defenders' counter-offensive was one of the biggest Soviet defeat in 1944.
The battle was bloodiest in the history of Estonia. Soviets lost about 200,000 men and 200 tanks.
The Waffen-SS decisively defeated a Red Army attack against Blue Hills in Estonia. It took place between July 26 and August 12, 1944. The Battle of Blue Hills or Battle of Tannenberg Line (German: Die Schlacht um die Tannenbergstellung Estonian: Sinimägede lahing) was a strategically important fighting on the Eastern Front of World War II. Two Estonian border defense ( Grenzschutz) regiments
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