About 6km north of Valga on the road to Tartu is the Paju Memorial. This commemorates the battle that took place here on 31 January 1919 between the Finns and Estonians on one side and the Latvians and Bolsheviks on the other. Although he won the battle, the Estonian commander Julius Kuperjanov died of his wounds two days later.
If you drive along the Tartu road in the direction of Sooru the imposing Monument
to Paju Battle (31 January 1919) attracts your attention. It was designed by
the architect Vello Lepik. The Valga Road Management Company constructed
an embankment on which a memorial stone made by the masons Ain Ilves and
Enn Koovit from Tartu was placed. The monument was opened on 31 January
1994 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Paju Battle. In the said battle
the Red Latvian Riflemen fought against the Estonian – Finnish troops, i.e. the
Kuperjanov’s battalion of partisans and the voluntary Finnish Northern Sons
unit. Julius Kuperjanov was mortally wounded in the battle.
In the park of the Paju manor (the estate was founded in 1873) a memorial
stone to the Finnish Northern Sons who were killed in the War of Independence
was opened on 4 December 1992.
