also in august 1941, the german police established defence detachments () in estonia to combat partisans. in november the defence detachments were combined into defence battalions () or schuma battalions, and by october 1942 there were 5,400 estonians in 14 battalions, with another 5,100 estonian civil police. in december 1943, the remaining 18 schuma battalions were retitled "estonian police battalions". of these, eleven served in operational areas outside estonia.