Gustav Jonson

Jaan Tõnisson (left) and Gustav Jonson (right) in 1938

Gustav Jonson (8 January 1880 Päri Parish – 15 November 1942 Chelyabinsk) was an Estonian military soldier of the Russian Empire, Estonia, and the Soviet Union.^[1]

In 1914 he graduated from Riga Polytechnical Institute. He participated in World War I. In 1917 he returned to Estonia, and he formed the 1st Cavalry Regiment. The regiment participated in the Estonian War of Independence. From 1918 to 1924 he was the commander of the 1st Cavalry Regiment. From 1927 to 1928 he was the head of Estonian Military Academy. From 1934 to 1939 he was the assistant officer (Estonian: käsundusohvitser) of the state elder Konstantin Päts.^[1]

In 1939, the then 59-year-old Jonson resigned from active service with the rank of Major General due to exceeding the age limit, but a year later he was reinstated by Konstantin Päts, who appointed Jonson Commander of the Estonian Army – the former Commander-in-Chief Johan Laidoner was forced to resign on 22 June at the request of the Soviet authorities, who had demanded that Estonia allow the Soviet Union establish military bases and station 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for the duration of the war in September 1939.^[1]

Next, Jonson was the commander of the so-called Estonian People's Army and then, from 3 September, the commander of the 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps. In that capacity he was promoted in February 1941 to Lieutenant General of the Red Army.^[1]

At the beginning of June 1941, all Estonian generals were released from the command of the corps. On 13 June, Jonson was sent to the General Staff Academy in Moscow, where he was arrested on 19 July. On 15 May 1942, Jonson was sentenced to death. Jonson died in Chelyabinsk on 15 November 1942.^[2]

Memorial to Jonson at Kudu farm in Viljandi County, Jonson's birthplace.

Awards[]

• Saint George Sword (1917)
• Order of Saint Anna, II Class
• Order of Saint Anna, II Class
• Order of Saint Stanislaus, III Class
• Cross of Liberty, I/3 (1920)
• Cross of Liberty, II/2 (1920)
• Order of Lāčplēsis, III class (1924)
• Order of the Cross of the Eagle, I Class (1933)^[3]
• Order of the Estonian Red Cross, I Class, II Grade (1934)
• Order of the Three Stars, II Class
• Order of Polonia Restituta, II Class
• Order of the Sword, I Class
• Order of the White Rose of Finland, II Class

References[]