Arthur-Alexander Iosipovich Saueselg (Sauselg) ( Est. Artur Aleksander Saueselg (Sauselg) ; October 17, 1894 , Jausa ( Hiiumaa island), Gapsal district , Estland province , Russian Empire - August 29, 1965 , Tallinn , ESSR , USSR ) - Estonian and Soviet military leader, participant in the War of Independence of Estonia and the Great Patriotic War. During the Second World War, he commanded the 249th Infantry Division.
| Arthur-Alexander Iosipovich Saueselg | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| est. Artur Aleksander Saueselg | |||||||||
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| Date of Birth | October 17, 1894 | ||||||||
| Place of Birth | Jausa ( Hiiumaa Island ), Kane Parish, Gapsal County , Estland Province , Russian Empire [1] | ||||||||
| Date of death | August 29, 1965 (aged 70) | ||||||||
| Place of death | Tallinn , USSR | ||||||||
| Affiliation |  Russian empire Estonia the USSR | ||||||||
| Type of army | infantry | ||||||||
| Years of service | 1914 - 1918 1919 - 1940 1940 - 1944 | ||||||||
| Rank |  Staff Captain Staff Captain RIA colonel of the estonian army Colonel of the USSR Armed Forces | ||||||||
| Part | 182nd Infantry Division | ||||||||
| Commanded | Kachanovsky battalion (2nd Infantry Division) [2] 171st Infantry Regiment ( 182th Infantry Division ) 249th Estonian Rifle Division | ||||||||
| Battles / wars | Estonian Liberation War The Great Patriotic War | ||||||||
| Awards and prizes |
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Biography
Before serving in the army, Saueselg was a sailor on a sailing ship.
In 1913 he graduated from the city school in the city of Rakvere. Then he worked as an electrician at a cement plant in the city of Azeri (Estonia).
In World War I in December 1914 he voluntarily entered the military service and was enlisted in the 2nd reserve battalion in the city of Oranienbaum.
On June 15, 1915 he was sent to the 3rd Petrograd Ensign School, after which on August 15 of the same year he was promoted to ensign and sent to the front. Until December 1917 he served as a junior company officer, company commander and battalion as part of the 227th Epifansky Infantry, 605th Infantry and 768th Graevsky Infantry Regiments. He fought with them in Poland and Romania, rose to the rank of headquarters captain . For military distinctions he was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 3rd art. with ribbons and bow, St. Stanislav 3rd art. with swords, ribbons and bow, St. Anne 4th art. with the inscription "For courage."
In December 1917, he left on vacation from the 768th Traevsky Infantry Regiment. While in the city of Rakvere, I received a telegram about the dissolution of the regiment, after which, from January 10, 1918, he was also assigned to the 4th Estonian Infantry Regiment as the head of the machine gun command.
In the Civil War, from November 1918, Saueselg with the rank of staff captain commanded a battalion in the 5th infantry regiment of the Estonian People’s Army (on the Narva and Southern Fronts), from September 1919 he was commander of a separate Kachalovsky battalion (Petseri district). As part of these units, he took part in battles against the Red Army, for which he was awarded the Order of the Cross of Liberty by the bourgeois Estonian government.
Since August 1920, he commanded a company in a partisan regiment in Sakala (Tartu region). Since December, he was the company and battalion commander in the 5th Estonian Army in the Verro district, Rakvere, and since January 1923, he was the junior officer and head of the training team of the 6th Estonian Army regiment in the city of Pernov.
From January to July 1925, Captain Saueselg was studying at the courses of personnel officers in the city of Tallinn, and upon returning to the 6th regiment he was appointed regimental adjutant. Since July 1926 he commanded a battalion in Sakala partisan regiment, then again in the 6th regiment in the city of Pernov. Since October 8, 1928, Lt. Col. Saueselg is a student at the Military Academy in Tallinn, after which in August 1929 he was appointed commander of the 3rd Separate Battalion in Valk. Since January 1930, he served as chief of staff of the 2nd Division of the Estonian Army in the city of Tartu. In April 1934 he was appointed head of the Tallinn Military School. On June 14, 1934, Arthur Saueselg led the tactical exercises in Valdeki. It was his fault that an accident occurred: in the immediate vicinity of a group of soldiers a shell exploded, which was dropped by cadet Johannes Cattay. The explosion killed 10 people. On March 15, 1935, Saueselga was found guilty of negligence and sentenced to an 8-month arrest. From September 1936 to January 1940, he was the head of the Vilna and Pernovsky military districts; from August 1940, he was the commander of the 4th division in the city of Viljandi.
With the entry of the Republic of Estonia into the USSR, by order of the NGOs dated 11/15/1940, Saueselg was enlisted in the Red Army personnel with the assignment of a military rank — colonel and was appointed commander of the 171st territorial infantry regiment PribOVO ( 182th infantry division ) in the city of Petseri. In June 1941 he was sent to study at KUVNAS at the Military Academy of the Red Army named after M.V. Frunze.
In World War II, Saueselg graduated from courses in December 1941 and was left at the academy as a teacher in the department of tactics. In January 1942 he was sent to the Ural Military District as commander of the 354th Infantry Regiment of the 7th Estonian Infantry Division. Until April, the division was formed in the Kamyshlovsky camps of the Sverdlovsk region, then transferred to the city of Yegoryevsk, Moscow region, where it continued to engage in combat training. On September 28, Colonel Saueselg was appointed commander of the 249th Estonian Rifle Division, which was being finalized in the area of Kolomna. Since October 22, she has been in the reserve of the Supreme High Command, and in early November she was relocated to the Kalinin Front. Since December 13, it, as part of the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army, has taken up defense in the area of Zarechye, Kamenkino, Fishkovo, Lake. Kisloe, Rylova and on December 19 entered into battle with the Nazi forces in the Velikiye Luki area on the eastern bank of the Lovat River, participating in the Velikiye Luki offensive operation . As a division commander, Saueselg showed himself on the negative side: during the operation, he was confused and could not control the battle. For this, on December 29, he was removed from his post and placed at the disposal of the Military Council of the Kalinin Front, and Johann Lombak took his place. Since January 14, 1943 - Senior Lecturer in Tactics at the Shot courses. In August 1944, he was transferred to the post of head of tactics of the Kharkov Advanced Training Course for Infantry Officers. At the request of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Estonia, Comrade Karotamma On November 9, 1944, Colonel Saueselg was credited to the reserve of the Red Army under Art. 43, p. "A" (for use in Soviet work).
After his dismissal, he served as head of the department of military physical training of the People's Commissariat of Education of the Estonian SSR, then deputy minister of education of the republic. Since July 1947 he was the head of the administrative department of the Ministry of Education of the Estonian SSR. Since November 1952, he worked as the foreman of the workshop at the Norma tin-lithographic plant in Tallinn.
Arthur's sister, Alma, was married to Nikolai Karotamm .
Notes
- ↑ Now in Hiiumaa County, Estonia .
- ↑ Russians in the Estonian Liberation War (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment September 21, 2012. Archived January 10, 2012.
Literature
- World War II: Divisional Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary. T. 5. - M .: Kuchkovo field, 2014 .-- S. 313-315. - 1,500 copies - ISBN 978-5-9950-0457-8
- Magnus Ilmjärv. Hääletu alistumine. Eesti, Läti ja Leedu välispoliitilise orientatsiooni kujunemine ja iseseisvuse kaotus 1920. aastate keskpaigast anneksioonini. Argo 986lk.