The Blue Hills

This Second World War documentary tells the story of the conscription of Estonian volunteers by the German Army for the Eastern Front. As the German Army retreated westwards in 1944, the Estonian volunteers returned to defend their homeland from the advancing Soviet Red Army who were not seen as liberators but instead brought back memories of the oppressive 1940 Stalinist occupation that had resulted from the Molotov/Ribbentrop Pact. A war diary written by Estonian Captain Paul Maitla is used as the primary source material. There are also present day interviews with soldiers who took part in the war including Estonians, Germans and Russians as well as present day reminiscences by Paul Maitla's daughter. The last stand of the Estonian Army in the region known as the Blue Hills (Sinimaed in Estonian) in Estonia, allowed 80,000 Estonian refugees sufficient time to escape to the West and to avoid the resulting Soviet occupation.