sources differ on what happened next. according to müller, when the german military retreated from estonia, estonian volunteers in the waffen-ss were forced to remain with their units. the author samuel mitcham states that all troops wishing to remain in estonia were released from german service. the author chris bishop states that in september 1944, many estonian troops were released from german service, and the remaining troops were evacuated from estonia to the neuhammer training grounds, where the formation was reconstructed from october onwards. in december 1944, the 37th and 38th estonian police battalions were absorbed by the division. the 20th waffen grenadier division was almost destroyed during fighting in late 1944 or early 1945.