In the past year and a half, the Estonian War Museum has arranged for the reburial of around 2,500 former Red Army soldiers, who were previously in common graves. In Saaremaa, the remains of nearly 300 Red Army soldiers who died in the Second World War have so far been reburied.

On Monday morning, excavation work began in Tehumardi, where as many as a few hundred Red Army soldiers may be buried. The existing grave markers , which contain names will not be put back in place, however a sword-shaped obelisk will remain in Tehumardi, though with some of the text covered up.

The request for the reburial at Tehumardi was made by Saaremaa Municipality, Deputy Mayor Liis Lepik told ERR, adding that any remains would be reburied at Vananõmme Cemetery.

"This place here will be cleaned up at a later point, and what may become of it the future, we don't know. Once the remains here are identified and reburied, after that we will not have to mark any graves here," Lepik said.

So far, the remains of 294 people have been reburied in Saaremaa.

The list of names suggests that a few hundred people may have been buried at Tehumardi, however, there is no precise prior knowledge of the exact numbers, said Arnold Unt, an archaeologist at the Estonian War Museum.

"There is a diagram that has been floating around of the site, which shows the layout of graves, and was drawn up by one of the  medical-sanitary battalions. How much has or has not been added since then, only the excavation will tell," Unt said.

The excavated remains will not be subjected to any form of DNA analysis, but will simply be reburied in the cemetery, Unt added.

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