by january 1944, the front was pushed back by the red army almost all the way to the border of german-occupied estonia. on 24 january, the 3rd ss volunteer brigade was expanded into the 20th estonian ss volunteer division (), under the command of augsberger, now an "ss-oberführer". initially, the main fighting formations of the division were the 45th and 46th ss volunteer regiments, and the 20th ss volunteer artillery regiment. a week later, general conscription-mobilization was announced in estonia by the german authorities. on 7 february, the pre-war prime minister jüri uluots switched his stand on mobilization when the soviet army reached the estonian border. at the time the estonian units under german control had about 14,000 men. counting on a german debacle, uluots considered it imperative to have large numbers of estonians armed, through any means. uluots even managed to tell it to the nation through the german-controlled radio: estonian troops on estonian soil have "a significance much wider than what i could and would be able to disclose here". this led to 38,000 men registering for the military, according to romuald misiunas and rein taagepera. rolf-dieter müller states that 30,000 volunteered in addition to those conscripted, and another source states that the 20th ss division received 15,000 volunteers, which was enough for it to reach full strength. the estonian history commission reported 32,000 men were conscripted after uluots's call. after the mobilised men had made known their reluctance in being a part of the waffen-ss and wearing the ss uniform, "ss-obersturmführer" bernhardt redefined the concept of volunteering: individuals do not matter any more and can no longer decide on volunteering; it is effectively the occupier who chooses which men, how many and for what purpose. the 20th ss division received reinforcements, bringing the total of estonian units up to 50,000 or 60,000 men. during the whole period at least 70,000 estonians joined the german army, more than 10,000 may have died in action, about 10,000 reached the west after the war ended.