Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn

The Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn (Estonian: Tallinna Kaitseväe kalmistu), sometimes called the Tallinn Military Cemetery (Estonian: Tallinna Sõjaväekalmistu), is military cemetery in Tallinn. It is situated about 3 kilometres outside the centre of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. During Estonian independence before the Soviet and German occupations of the 1940–1991 period, it was Estonia's foremost military cemetery.

History

The cemetery was established at the end of the 19th century as the cemetery of the Imperial Russian garrison Tallinn. The oldest grave dates back to 1916 and holds Russian, Estonian, and German soldiers killed during World War I.

Also buried there are one British merchant seaman and four Royal Navy personnel from the same war who died before the Armistice, in addition to seven Royal Navy and two British Army personnel who died during the period of the Estonian War of Independence, and one non-world war grave. Eight of the Royal Navy personnel had been reburied here from Tallinn Old Cemetery.

The graves from 1918 to 1944, the gravestones of the Estonian soldiers and the monuments of the Estonian War of Independence were largely destroyed by the Soviet authorities and the graveyard was taken over by the Red Army for use by the Soviet occupation forces after World War II.

The graves of the fifteen British servicemen who died mostly in the Estonian War of Independence between 1918 and 1920 were repaired in 1994. Queen Elizabeth II appointed Linda Soomre an honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for dedication and bravery in protecting the British graves during the years of the Soviet rule. Soomre was in charge of the Tallinn City Centre Cemetery for 35 years. After the destruction of the gravestones she had made the ground overnight a maintenance area saving the remains of the British soldiers from being violated.