Jaak Kilmi and Kiur Aarma's historical documentary "Lahkumine Tallinnast. 1941" (Leaving Tallinn. 1941) tells the story of the Juminda Battle, which involved the Soviet evacuation from Tallinn.

In the face of the advancing German forces, the Red Army began evacuating Tallinn on August 27, 1941 in the direction of Kronstadt in Russia. Approximately 30,000 people, including survivors of the Red Army units defending Tallinn, fleeing communists, enlisted soldiers, and civilian evacuees were packed onto more than 200 ships.

Over the subsequent hours and days, 60 of those ships either hit mines that the Finns and Germans had laid along the Northern Estonian coast, were torpedoed or were bombed from the air. An estimated 15,000 evacuees died.

The Juminda Battle claimed more lives than Pearl Harbor or Dunkirk but is relatively unknown today.

"There are complex political reasons for this, but in short, it remained untold because, after the war and all these events, there was no one left to tell it. Those who 'won' this battle — the German-Finnish alliance — kept silent, while those who lost did not make a big deal out of it, and there simply were no other storytellers," Aarma told Monday's "Ringvaade." "Not many people know that such a major historical event happened right on our doorstep."

In 1941, the Soviet authorities, fleeing the advancing German forces, carried out a rushed and chaotic evacuation of Tallinn.

"Basically, they picked up everything that could float and sent it toward Leningrad, but at the same time, the Finns and Germans had built a trap along the route, and that trap snapped shut," Aarma said.

He compared the situation at the time to a scene from a Tarantino film. "A saloon scene where there are five characters, each with a revolver in both hands, all pointed at one another. There were Finns, Germans, Estonians, Red Estonians, Russians, and none of them trusted each other — in that situation, everyone was against everyone else."

"According to various estimates, about 15,000 people perished out of the approximately 40,000 evacuees placed on 200 ships. The ships were trapped near the Juminda Peninsula, caught in a minefield laid by the Finns and Germans," Kilmi recounted.

Many Estonians on board were not there voluntarily. "These were forcibly conscripted young boys, 19- to 20-year-olds, Estonian sailors who just happened to be on the ships they were on, whether it was a cargo ship or a former passenger vessel," Aarma noted.

The evacuation also involved two iconic vessels for Estonians, the icebreaker Suur Tõll and the submarine Lembitu.

"Suur Tõll led the evacuation convoy. The convoy stretched 50 kilometers long. Suur Tõll was used as a shield at the front, and it was pure luck and fate's mercy that it did not hit a mine," Kilmi said.

Premiered at Docpoint, "Lahkumine Tallinnast. 1941" will hit theaters at the end of the week.

It can be viewed with English subtitles on March 21 and 25. More info here.

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