After heavy fighting, the Tartu-Valga group of the Estonian Army pushed the Red Latvian Riflemen out of the Paju Manor.

Their main objective was liberating north Estonia including Narva, which was achieved by 17 January.

On 14 January the Tartumaa Partisan Battalion, organised and led by Lt. Julius Kuperjanov, and armoured trains liberated Tartu.

At that time the only working railway connection to Riga, which the Red Army had captured on 3 January, passed through Valga, so defending it had strategic importance for Soviet Russia.

[2] Commander-in-chief Johan Laidoner reinforced the Estonian advance in the south, including Finnish volunteers, The Sons of the North, led by Col. Hans Kalm.

In the evening the Estonians and Finns finally pushed into the park of the estate where heavy hand-to-hand combat started, which resulted in the capture of the manor.