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Julius KuperjanovEstonian military leader, lieutenant
Date of Birth: 11.10.1894
Country:  Estonia |
Content:
Biography of Julius Kuperjanov
Julius Kuperjanov was an Estonian military figure, a lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Army, and the leader of a major partisan formation that fought against the Bolsheviks for Estonia's independence. He was born in Russia, in the Pskov province, in the village of Lyakhovo Dukhnovskaya volost near Novorzhev. Kuperjanov's grandfather, due to conflicts with a German settler, had to move to Russia in search of a better life with his family. In Russia, Kuperjanov's father inherited a small farm where Julius was born on October 11, 1894 (September 29, according to the old style). He was baptized on December 26 of the same year in the Lutheran Church of St. Jacob in Pskov. In 1904, the Kuperjanov family returned to their homeland and settled in the Tartu County.
Education and Military Service
Kuperjanov completed the ministerial school in Sipe (Tartu County) in 1909 and the Juriev (Tartu) Teachers' Seminary in 1914. After graduating from the seminary, Kuperjanov was appointed as a teacher in the parish school of Kambya. In February 1915, he was mobilized into the Russian army and received training at the Novgorod Reserve Battalion. He then completed a course at the St. Petersburg School of Ensigns at the Vladimir Military School. After completing his course, he was assigned to the 7th Reserve March Brigade in Belsk and later deployed to the front in the 5th Grenadier Regiment named after Tsarevich Alexei, near Baranovichi. In the regiment, Kuperjanov became the commander of the reconnaissance unit, where he proved himself as a brave officer. On July 19, 1917, during a reconnaissance mission, Kuperjanov was seriously wounded in the leg and was evacuated to Moscow. After being discharged, he went to Estonia and became the deputy commander of the reserve battalion of the Estonian National Division.
Partisan Activities and Death
During the German occupation of Estonia in 1918, Kuperjanov led the underground resistance and organized the Tartu Self-Defense Units (Omakaitse). In December 1918, Lieutenant Julius Kuperjanov received permission from the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division to form a partisan unit. The idea of creating a partisan unit arose due to the general disorder that prevailed in the last days of December 1918 on the Southern Front of the Estonian troops. After the capture of Tartu by the Red Army, Kuperjanov and his men retreated to the Pyltsamaa region, where he completed the formation of the Tartu Partisan Battalion near Puurmanni. Instead of the official name, the unit was called after its commander - Kuperjanov's Battalion. On January 14, 1919, the battalion played a direct role in the liberation of Tartu. On January 31, 1919, Kuperjanov was fatally wounded in the Battle of Paju near Valga. He passed away on February 2, 1919, in the Tartu hospital and was buried on the same day at the Raadi Cemetery in Tartu. He was posthumously awarded the Cross of Freedom of the First Class for military merits and the Second and Third Class for bravery.
Legacy
The symbol of the Kuperjanov Battalion was a skull with crossed bones, which they borrowed from the death battalions of the Russian army during the time of the Provisional Government. This symbolism was also used in the Armed Forces of South Russia (in the "strike" ("Kornilov") military units) and various German Freikorps fighting against the revolutionary movement in Germany and the Baltic States. By the order of Commander-in-Chief Johan Laidoner on February 3, 1919, the Tartu Partisan Battalion was renamed the Kuperjanov Partisan Battalion in honor of the fallen commander. This military unit proved itself in the battles of the War of Independence. On March 9, 1992, this legendary part of the Estonian Army was re-established under the name of the Kuperjanov Separate Infantry Battalion. In 1925, a monument was erected in his honor at the Raadi Cemetery in Tartu. After Estonia gained independence, streets in the cities of Tartu, Valga, and Pyltsamaa were named after Kuperjanov.
