despite initial german policy not to recruit estonians into the german army, the commander of the german 18th army, "generaloberst" georg von küchler, established 26 estonian-manned security detachments (), which by august 1941 had been formed into the 181st–186th security battalions (), each of 700 men. motivated by hatred of the soviet union, volunteers were plentiful, and while the original intent was for these units to serve as guards in estonia, they were sent to the front line and acquitted themselves well. by march 1942, there were 16 estonian battalions and companies in the soviet union, totalling 10,000 men. in october 1942, the existing security battalions were re-organised into "eastern" battalions, with the 181st becoming the 658th, the 182nd becoming the 659th, one company of the 184th becoming the 657th "eastern" company, the rest of the 184th becoming the 660th "eastern" battalion, and the 186th being converted into the "eastern" depot battalion "narwa". these were retitled as "estonian" battalions on 1 january 1943.