Nordland's Reconnaissance Unit: Desertion and Withdrawal from Estonia

SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 Nordland

SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 Nordland

SS-Unterscharführer Markus Ledin and some Estonian Coastal Swedes

On September 17 1944, Panzergrenadier-Kompanie 3 of the battle-hardened Nordland Division's armoured reconnaissance battalion received orders to withdraw to Pernau in southwestern Estonia for evacuation. During the retreat the company was involved in rearguard battles and had two of its SPW half-tracks destroyed by air attacks. On the morning of September 21 1944, the company column was still on the road to Pernau when the Swedish Wiking veteran SS-Unterscharführer Markus Ledin's SPW was cut off behind enemy lines. Ledin and two fellow Swedes, SS-Sturmmann Sven Alm and SS-Rottenführer Ingemar Somberg, finally reached the Pernau suburbs only to discover it was already occupied by the Soviets. They turmed around and tried to reach Tallin. In the darkness of night they ran straight into two Red Army trucks, killing at least four soldiers, and were fired upon as they approached the suburbs of Tallin. The town was also occupied by the Soviets. They then made their way to Haapsalu on the west coast. During the journey, they had several skirmishes with the Soviets but escaped without their vehicle being hit. They manage to reach Haapsalu, only to find out the Soviets were already there. On September 23 1944, they reached the village Noarootsi near Haapsalu after three nights through enemy territory. According to various accounts, they run into some 15 Soviet soldiers who were busy looting and murdering the local inhabitants near or in Noarootsi, the Soviets made it a policy to loot and rape civilians in Soviet occupied territories. The Swedes surprised the Red Comrades. After the attack, some civilians began to kill the still surviving, but wounded Soviets in revenge. The Waffen-SS trio managed to leave Estonia together with some 140 Estonian refugees in a fishing boat on September 26 1944. When they reached the Finnish coast, they met patrols of the Finnish Coastal Guard (Finland was at this point no longer in war with the Soviet Union). Ledin and Alm had both served in the Swedish Volunteer Corps during the Russo-Finnish Winter War and their Finnish medals earned them all a quick release. The overloaded vessel reached the Swedish town Norrtälje north of Stockholm on October 4 1944. The Baltic crossing had not been without difficulties and dangers and six of the Estonian passengers had been washed overboard and drowned. Source: The Swedish SS-platoon in the Battles for the Baltics, Pomerania and Berlin 1943-45 and the author Lars T. Larsson. Top image: Swedish volunteers of the Nordland's recon unit checking for lice. Second man from the left is Ledin's commander SS-Untersturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson. Middle image: sitting in front is the Swede SS-Rottenführer Karl-Olof Holm and the NCO behind him is Ledin. Both photos taken in Estonia in the summer of 1944. Lars T. Larsson Archives. Fair use. Bottom image: the deserter Markus Ledin is seen here on the boat deck leaving his comrades behind in Latvia when the war seemed to be lost. Ledin had served with the Waffen-SS since January 1942. Screenshot from a private film. Public domain.