Evi Mihkelson

Activity in the Ruusna and Altermann squads (1949)

Mihkelson became a partisan or forest sister fighting for a free Estonia in 1949.^[5][6] As Operation Priboi began, a mass deportation of state targets to Siberia, Mihkelson and her husband fled into the forests to avoid exile and joined up with a squad of partisans, called Forest brothers. Mihkelson's daughter, Ene, lived with relatives while Mihkelson was in hiding.^{[4][3]: para. 2}

Mihkelson and her husband were linked to both Hugo Ruusna’s squad and Ülo Altermann's squad.^{[7][8]: para. 1} The Altermann squad was a resistance unit that operated from 1948 until the late 1954 across Järva and Põltsamaa counties. The group was led by Altermann, a veteran of the Estonian SS Legion who fought at the Battle of the Tannenberg Line. The group consisted of individuals evading Soviet mobilisation, deportations, and political arrests.^[9] The squads linked together approximately one hundred individuals. Following Ruusna's death during a raid on 16 March 1953, Soviet security documents began attributing the group mainly to Altermann.^[7]: cf These groups engaged in partisan operations which consisted of evasion, logistical survival, and occasional acts of sabotage against Soviet infrastructure.^[7]

Mihkelson's network included several women, such as Aime Juga, Johanna Kirusk, Linda Tamm, Helgi Riimets, Linda Kruleht, and Salme Stamm. Many, like Mihkelson, had gone into hiding to avoid the March 1949 deportation.^[7] In the forests, Mihkelson operated alongside other women, such as her sister-in-law Aime Juga and Johanna Martins.^[10]: cf Several other individuals served with Mihkelson under Altermann, including Mihkelson's brother Voldemar Juga, Elmar Martins (Johanna Martins' husband), Hans Sapp, and Erich Teor.^[9][11]

To sustain an underground unit of nearly a dozen people over six years, the squad routinely raided Soviet infrastructure. In October 1952, the squad executed an armed robbery of the Soviet state-run Kütimäe Cooperative Store in the Põltsamaa district, seizing goods and provisions valued at 25,000 rubles.^[12]: 104 They also raided local collectivised Soviet farms (kolhoos), such as the "Kiir" and "Suureküla" kolkhozes, forcibly taking cattle and grain to feed their group and sympathetic locals.^[12]: 104

The group also robbed the Peetri Cooperative Store in the Põltsamaa district and the Oisu butter factory in the Türi district between April and May 1953, yielding food supplies valued at approximately 50,000 rubles.^[12]: 105

Activity in Lõimetsa and death of husband Heino Mihkelson (1953)

A military operation was organized in February 1953 to try to capture the Altermann group. On 16 February 1953,^[8] KGB surveillance units and an MGB operational branch tracked the squad to Lõimetsa village. While the Soviet troops ambushed, Sapp and Heinrich Mihkelson managed to kill MVD soldier Orehhov. They also fatally wounded Private Kukuškin.^[12]: 105 Sapp managed to escape, however, in the firefight, Mihkelson's husband, Heino, was killed.^{[4]: 105 [10]: cf}

Following her husband's death, in the summer of 1953, Mihkelson was still with the group.^{[10]: cf [2][4]} They documented some of their activity that year through photographs they took on a camera they gained during a raid. These images were taken while they stayed in a bunker in Tamsi forest.^[9]: cf

Activity near Päinurme and death of group leader Altermann (1954)

Mihkelson herself managed to evade the authorities for several more years. However, sustained pressure from the Soviets eventually compromised the squad.^[9]

On 17 April 1954, the KGB successfully compromised the group via human intelligence. They recruited the squad's external supply runner, Lembit Markus, who had been recruited as an informant by Soviet security in 1953. Markus turned on the group with the help of squad member Johanna Martins. Markus lured Altermann into an ambush near Päinurme, where the commander was shot dead.^[9] Following Altermann's death, the squad dissolved.^[9]

Legalisation (1955)

Following the ambush and disbandment of the squad, Mihkelson began hiding with fellow group member Hans Sapp. By late 1954, Mihkelson and Sapp were the only ones who still remained in hiding from their former group.^[9][12]

Sapp recalled meeting with Mihkelson in the autumn of 1955, during which she expressed her intention to emerge from hiding and legalise her status before the year ended.^{[13][4]: 14} Sapp felt that the clandestine life in the forest had impacted Mihkelson's wellbeing.^[4]: 14

Mihkelson had sought guidance from her brother, who suggested that since she was not responsible for serious crimes against the state, she might be able to hand herself in with minimal punishment, especially as former prisoners were already beginning to return from Siberia.^[4]: 14 However, fearing that security forces might coerce information from her under duress,^[4]: 14 and to prevent Mihkelson from inadvertently giving away his position, Sapp decided to relocate from his known bunker to an unknown position.^[4]: 14

While Mihkelson had continued to hide in the forest along with Sapp, the other surviving group members eventually emerged from hiding through the Soviet legaliseerus (legalisation) process, ^[4]: 14 which allowed certain insurgent fighters and evaders to surrender and register with the authorities. Mihkelson was the second-to-last member to come forward. Mihkelson was legalised on 30 December 1955.^[4]: 14 She avoided harsh punishment following her re-emergence.^[5]

The Soviets initially tried to use Mihkelson as an asset to draw out Sapp. She was tasked by the Soviets with convincing fellow squad member Sapp to legalise, a task which she put minimal effort into.^[13][5] Sapp remained in hiding for nearly three more years, finally surrendering to the Soviets on 7 September 1958, making him the last member of the squad to surrender.^[9][13] Mihkelson had failed to provide any information regarding Sapp's possible whereabouts to the authorities.^[12]: 105