TALLINN. Aug 2 (Interfax) - The Erna Raid international military-sporting games, named in commemoration of the Erna reconnaissance and subversive team, active behind the Soviet Army's lines in 1941, will be held in Estonia on August 4 to 7.
The games will begin with landing in rubber boats on the coast of Salmistu in the Gulf of Kolga, and firing, swimming mine-planting and mine clearing competitions, as well as competitions in handling explosives and weapons, and a long cross-country tactical movement with varying mini-games on the move, Erna society said on its website.
Held since 1994 the games are joined by 26 commands from Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania and Belgium.
A team of Estonian volunteers, named "Erna," was sent to the Soviet Union from Finland on July 10, 1941 to obtain intelligence and to carry out subversive acts for aiding the Finnish armed forces and the advancing Nazi forces.
On July 31, the Soviet Union's police NKVD launched a sweep operation to clean up Red Army troops. The Soviet government officially announced that the Erna team had been eliminated, but some of its members broke through the encirclement and crossed the frontline on August 4. They formed the Erna battalion later.