A RARE SECOND WORLD WAR ESTONIAN VOLUNTEERS OFFICERS PEAKED CAP of khaki cloth with bullion insignia, gilt buttons and black peak (some wear and moth) together with a related enamel breast badge by Roman Tavast, Tallinn, a small collection of photographs, and other emphemra The Republic of Estonia declared neutrality at the beginning of the Second World War but fell under the Soviet pressure, mainly due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and was occupied by the Russians in 1940. Mass political arrests, deportations, and executions followed. In 1941 the pro-independence Group the Forest Brothers captured South Estonia from before the arrival of the German Army. At the same time, Soviet forces carried out punitive operations, including looting and killing, based a scorched earth policy ordered by Stalin. Estonia was occupied by Germany and incorporated into Reichskommissariat, Ostland. From 1941 to 1944, Estonians were conscripted into the 8th Estonian Rifle Corp as part of the German Army, many men who avoided these mobilisations, fled to Finland. WW2 losses in Estonia, are estimated at around 25% of the population, approx. 81,000, among the highest proportion in Europe.These include deaths through Soviet deportations in 1941, Soviet executions, German deportations, and victims of the Holocaust in Estonia.