wagons: the Kapten Irv, which served in the Estonian War of Independence, and the Onu Tom. On 30 November 1934, a regiment in Valga (in southern Estonia) was moved to Tapa. The regiment's base, located on the southern edge of town around Tapa Manor's main building, played a considerable role in the town's life and contributed to the town's continued development. In January 1941, however, the regiment was dissolved by Soviet forces. Seven months later, on 14 August 1941, Nazi German troops took over Tapa. During the German occupation, German military items were housed where the Estonian armoured train regiment's headquarters had been. In 1972, the engineering-technical education military unit no. 67665 of the Soviet army was on the site. There has been an airfield on the southern edge of Tapa since 1932. The Tapa Aerial Union () held its first fly in on 30 September 1934. The Russians began building a military airfield on the site in the fall of 1939. The Soviets began extensive construction of a military airfield in the spring of 1952. MiG-17s were stationed at the base by the end of the same year. Later, Tapa Airfield was made home to the Soviet 656th Interceptor Aviation Regiment. In 1993, the Estonian Defence Ministry assumed control of the airfield. On 18 June 1993, the first civilian plane touched down on the cement runway. As the Soviet troops and their families left Tapa, the town's population dropped from 10,395 in 1989 to 6,800 in 2000. Tapa was left with a vacant, ransacked, poorly constructed military district. Yet, its life as a military town did not end. In January 2002, following changes in the structure of Estonian defence units, Tapa again became the home of a military base. The Northeast Defence District () in Tapa includes an army training center, an artillery battalion, an anti-aircraft battalion and an engineer battalion. The base is also home to a British-led eFP battlegroup, as part of 1st Infantry Brigade. Today, on the north wall of Tapa's railway station, there is a bronze plaque, originally dedicated on 9 January 1934 and re-dedicated on 20 February 1993, that commemorates the Estonian War of Independence. On the plaque is the symbol of Tapa's armoured train regiment. Called "Flying Death on the Railway", the symbol is a skull with a pair of angel wings and wagon train wheels behind it. Religion and culture Throughout Tapa's