In June 2021, 80 years will have passed since the beginning of military action of the WW II on the territories of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The time frames of the warfare in the Baltics stretch from 22 June 1941when Germany started offensive operations, to 21 October 1941 when the Wehrmacht 61st Infantry Division took the Island of Hiiumaa. In the context of the war at sea, it can be stretched to early December when the Soviet Baltic Fleet evacuated the naval bases of Osmussaar and Hanko to Kronstadt and Leningrad.

At our annual Baltic Military History Conference 2021, we would like to discuss the following topics in more detail:
1. The impact of the geopolitical situation on the strategies of the opposing parties on the territories of the Baltic states: goals, opportunities, obstacles and outcome.
2. The role and impact of political and military leadership during the summer campaign 1941 and German occupation.
3. Operational art and operations: the Wehrmacht offensive
and the withdrawal of the Red Army and the Baltic Fleet;
The Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland as war zones in 1941.
4. The role and cooperation of the combat arms and services in defence and offensive operations: roles of air force and navy, land forces.
5. Role of the Forest Brothers and irregular warfare during 1941 in the Baltics.
6. Propaganda and contemporary memory: winning hearts and minds next to war propaganda and terror, Weltanschauungskrieg (The war of worldviews).
7. Social impact of the war: mobilization, the evacuation of human and material resources to the Soviet rear area.

Please send an abstract of up to 4,000 characters and a brief,
one-page CV in English by 15 June 2021 to conference@esm.ee or/and milhist@baltdefcol.org. The length of presentations will be 20 minutes plus discussion. Articles based on presentations will be published in the Estonian Yearbook of Military History of 2021. This conference is the 11th annual Conference on Baltic Military History of the Baltic Defence College, and the 12th international military history conference of the Estonian War Museum — General Laidoner Museum.