Erna Raid

Erna Raid (Estonian: Erna retk) was an annual international military exercise and competition, one of the longest and most difficult in the world, held every August from 1995 to 2011 in Estonia. It was organized by the Erna Society and commemorates the actions of the long-range reconnaissance group 'Erna' in the summer of 1941. ^[1]

Background

The competition is named after the Erna long-range reconnaissance group (Estonian: Erna luuregrupp) and themed after its activities in the summer of 1941. In 1993, a group of enthusiasts followed the historical route of the Erna group of 1941 and came up with the idea of organizing a commemorative competition. A first try with only Estonian participants was held in 1994. In the autumn of 1994, the Erna society was founded, and in 1995, the first annual international competition was held.

Competition

The traditional parts of the competition were:

landing, in rubber boats, onto a "hostile" shore;
cross-country tactical movement and navigation, without night camp down, over a distance of around 150 kilometers while avoiding and escaping from "hostile" security forces;
various (and varying over the years) minigames during the competition. These may involve grenade throwing, combat first aid, and other military skills.

Foreign teams were always welcome to partake in the competition. In 2007, 28 teams from nine different countries participated: Estonia (18 teams), the Czech Republic (one), Denmark (one), Finland (two), Germany (one), Norway (two), Portugal (one), Sweden (one), and the United States (one), of which Portugal and the Czech Republic are newcomers. Teams from the United Kingdom have participated in earlier years (most recently, a British Territorial Army team in 2006), but only observed in 2007. A team from Cyprus also observed. Teams from the People's Republic of China have been traditionally successful in the competition and took 1st and 2nd place in 2002. Other successful teams have come from Finland and Norway.

Due to the home advantage attributed to the intimate knowledge of the terrain by the local teams, changes to the competition were discussed in 2011. ^[2]

In 2013, the competition was renamed the Admiral Pitka Recon Challenge after the Estonian War of Independence hero Johan Pitka and is now held in different locations throughout Estonia each year. ^[3]

Past results

The table below records the final results for the year's competition. It does not include retired and disqualified teams. DL is the acronym for the Defense League.

Position	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999
1st	Scouts Battalion	DL Põlva	DL Tartu 1	DL Tartu 2	Reserve Officers	Reserve Officers	Scouts Bat. 1	Scouts Bat. 2	Finland 2	China 2	DL Järva	Border Guard	Border Guard
2nd	Kirde KRK	Scouts Battalion	DL Tartu 2	Reserve Officers / DL Tallinn	DL Tartu	Scouts Bat. 1	Recce Bat.	Reserve Officers	Scouts Bat.	China 1	Finland 2	Norway	Kalev Inf. Bat.
3rd	DL Harju 1	DL Tartu 2	Military Academy 2	Kuperjanovi Single Infantry Bn	Finland 2	Military Academy	Military Academy	Scouts Bat. 1	DL Järva	DL Harju	Border Guard	DL Harju	DL Pärnu
4th	Military Academy	Military Academy 1	Kuperjanovi Single Inf Bn	Border Guard	Police	DL Järva	Finland 1	Military School	Recce Bat.	Security Police	Logistics Bat.	AA Battery	China 2
5th	Border Guard	DL Järva 1	DL Tallinn 2	DL Tallinn 1	DL Järva	Scouts Bat. 2	China 2	DL Pärnu	China 2	Military Academy	China 2	Logistics Bat.	Finland 1
6th	DL Järva 2	DL Järva 2	DL Järva 1	Military Academy	Border Guard	DL Tartu	China 1	DL Järva	Military Academy	DL Järva	Reserve Officers	Finland 1	Guard Bat.
7th	DL Põlva	Border Guard	Military Academy 1	EDF Logistics Centre	Viru Bat.	Police	Air Defence Div.	Denmark 1	Border Guard	DL Tallinn	AA Battery	Reserve Officers	DL Võru
8th	DL Pärnu 2	DL Tartu 1	DL Põlva	DL Tartu 1	DL Tallinn / Reserve Officers	DL Tallinn	Sweden	Finland 2	China 1	Lithuania	China 1	Kalev Inf. Bat.	Denmark
9th	Finland 3	NE Territorial Defence District	DL Harju	DL Valga	Pärnu Bat.	Germany	Germany	Lithuania	Denmark	Reserve Officers	Guard Bat.	EDF HQ	DL Järva
10th	DL Pärnu 1	Kuperjanovi Inf Bn	Finland 2	Germany	Finland 1	Border Guard	Reserve Officers	Recce Bat.	DL Harju 2	Scout Bat.	Security Police	Security Police	Norway 1
11th	Nth. Guard Bat.	DL Tallinn Nõmme	DL Järva 2	DL Järva	Germany	EDF HQ	DL Järva	Logistic Bat.	DL Tallinn 2	Border Guard	Rescue Service	Finland 2	Military Academy
12th	Finland 2	DL Harju 1	EDF Log Centre CS Training Centre	Viru Single Infantry Bn	DL Harju	Canada	Guard Bat.	China 2	DL Tallinn 1	Finland	DL Tallinn	Military Academy	Reserve Officers
13th	Denmark 2	DL Tallinn 2	Finland 1	Reserve Officers 2	Scouts Bat.	Guard Bat.	DL Tartu	Air Defence Bat.	DL Võrumaa	Military School	Norway 1	Sweden	DL Põlva
14th	DL Tartu	DL Harju 2	Border Guard	DL Pärnu	Guard Bat.	Finland 1	Denmark 2	Military Academy	DL Pärnumaa	DL Võrumaa	Norway 2	Norway 2	China 1
15th	DL Tallinn 2	Lithuania	DL Women’s Corps Saaremaa	Lithuania	USA	Viru Bat.	DL Tallinn	Denmark 2	DL Harju 1	Norway 1	Signal Bat.	DL Võru	Sweden
16th	DL Järva	Belgium	DL Võru	DL Alutaguse Women’s Team	Denmark	Finland 2	Finland 2	China 1	Reserve Officers	Norway 2	Military Academy	Germany	United Kingdom
17th	DL Tallinn Nõmme	DL Pärnu	Denmark 1	Denmark 1	Military Academy	DL Valgamaa	Scouts Bat.	DL Võru	Austria	Romania	DL Põlva	DL Tallinn	Norway 2
18th	DL Pärnu 3	Military Academy 2	Denmark 2	DL Tallinn 2 (Toompea subunit)	Norway 1	USA	DL Võru	Finland 1	Engineering School	AA Battalion	Finland 1	Denmark 1	Italy 2
19th	Lithuania	Sweden 1	DL Tallinn 1	Denmark 3	Sweden	Denmark 1	Denmark 1	Sweden	Military School	Denmark 1	Sweden	China 1	Women's DL
20th	DL Harju Männiku	DL Harju 3	DL Women’s Corps Võru	Single Guard Bn	Women's DL	Great Britain	Pärnu Bat.	Germany	Finland 1	Finland 2	DL Harju	DL Järva	UK
21st	DL Tallinn Kalevi	DL Alutaguse Women's Team	DL Tallinn 3	Denmark 2	DL Võru	Belgium	USA	Guard Bat.	Lithuania	Sweden	EDF HQ	China 2
22nd	DL Harju 2	Sweden 2		USA	Norway 2	Artillery Group	DL Pärnu	Belgium	Police	text	Denmark	Rescue Service
23rd	Belgium	Finland 2		Belgium	Portugal	Women's DL Võru	Belgium	DL Tallinn	Rescue Service	Italy	USA Maryland	Italy 1
24th	Finland 4	Denmark		DL Women’s Corps Rapla		Denmark 3	Women's DL Võru	Romania	Sweden	EDF HQ	United Kingdom	United Kingdom
25th	Denmark 1			Norway 1		Latvia	Italy	Turkey	Guard Bat.	Rescue Service	Women's DL	Women's DL
26th	Prison Service					Denmark 2		Women's DL	United Kingdom	Women's DL	Lithuania	Italy 1
27th	Finland 1							USA	Poland	United Kingdom	Recce Battalion
28th	1.Infantry Bde Logistics Bat							United Kingdom		United Kingdom
29th	Georgia

Russian accusations of glorifying Nazism

Since the competition's initiation, sectors of the Russian media have claimed the competition's namesake was an attempt to glorify collaboration with Nazi Germany. [1] [2] [3] ^[4] In 2007, high-ranking government officials sharply criticized the competition, calling it "the glamorization of Nazism" and expressing outrage over NATO members participating in the competition. ^[5]^[6] Estonian officials attribute this recent development to the ongoing campaign for the 2008 Russian presidential election. ^[7] Russian officials claim that the commemoration of the Erna group today is part of alleged efforts by the Estonian authorities to glorify the Nazi past (other parts of it being the relocation of a memorial to Red Army invaders and an official greeting from the Minister of Defense to veterans of a unit of Estonians conscripted into a division organized within the Waffen SS to defend Estonia). ^[5]

An analyst of the US-based think tank Jamestown Foundation believes this view follows Soviet and post-Soviet Russia's official logic on two counts: first, that resistance to the Red Army was inherently illegitimate and conflatable with "fascism" in an occupied country or one targeted for occupation; second, that Estonia should be criticized for remembering an act of national resistance and its casualties. ^[8]

Estonia's Minister of Defense, Jaak Aaviksoo, called the accusations "regrettable" and recalled that the Erna group saved the lives of many civilians from the vengeful Soviet paramilitary units, and specifically pointed out cases of burning farmers alive along with their farms in Kutla. ^[9]^[10]

References

^ British Embassy in Tallinn August 5, 2006: ERNA RAID 2006 1–5 August Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
^ "This Year's Erna Endurance Event Could Be Last in Current Location". ERR. 2011-07-29. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
^ "Erna Raid Renamed After Admiral Pitka". ERR. 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
^ Об участии эстонского легиона СС в военных преступлениях в 1941-1945 гг. и попытках пересмотра в Эстонии приговора Нюрнбергского трибунала Archived 2012-07-30 at archive.today (in Russian)
^ ^a ^b "Поход Эрна-2007". Часть истории или популяризация нацизма? (in Russian)
^ Russia complains about military competition
^ Eesti Päevaleht 7 August 2007: Paet: süüdistused on osa Vene valimiskampaaniast
^ "PACE Chairman bending to the Kremlin wind against Estonia". Jamestown Foundation. 2007-08-03. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
^ "Erna Raid and NKVD Destruction Battalions". Estonian Ministry of Defence. 2007-08-09. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
^ "Aaviksoo: Erna retk ei möödunud ilma Venemaa laimukampaaniata" (in Estonian). Postimees. 2007-08-09. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2007-08-09.

External links

[uk-emb-20062-1] British Embassy in Tallinn August 5, 2006: ERNA RAID 2006 1–5 August Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine

[2] "This Year's Erna Endurance Event Could Be Last in Current Location". ERR. 2011-07-29. Retrieved 2011-08-14.

[3] "Erna Raid Renamed After Admiral Pitka". ERR. 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2017-08-18.

[cir_ru2-4] Об участии эстонского легиона СС в военных преступлениях в 1941-1945 гг. и попытках пересмотра в Эстонии приговора Нюрнбергского трибунала Archived 2012-07-30 at archive.today (in Russian)

[rian2-5] "Поход Эрна-2007". Часть истории или популяризация нацизма? (in Russian)

[6] Russia complains about military competition

[7] Eesti Päevaleht 7 August 2007: Paet: süüdistused on osa Vene valimiskampaaniast

[Jamestown2-8] "PACE Chairman bending to the Kremlin wind against Estonia". Jamestown Foundation. 2007-08-03. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-08-09.

[9] "Erna Raid and NKVD Destruction Battalions". Estonian Ministry of Defence. 2007-08-09. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-10.

[10] "Aaviksoo: Erna retk ei möödunud ilma Venemaa laimukampaaniata" (in Estonian). Postimees. 2007-08-09. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2007-08-09.

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