The Estonian volunteers under Nazi control were fighting along the right bank of the Narva River against superior Soviet forces. Despite being outnumbered the Estonian SS attacked with great ferocity driving back the Russians on the front. Nugiseks received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for leading the capture of the Vaasa-Siivertsi-Vepsküla bridgehead. As the I Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 46 lost almost all of its officers, Nugiseks stepped in as the leader of the attack. He immediately changed tactics, loading a supply of hand grenade onto sledges so the stormtroopers would not have to crawl back for supplies over the minefields. Leo Tammiksaar (2001). Lühike ülevaade mõningatest Eesti üksustest Wehrmachtis, politseis ja SS-is. (A Brief Overview on some Estonian Units in Wehrmacht, Police, and SS. In Estonian). Lennuliiklusteeninduse AS, Tallinn With hand grenades being passed on along the line of trenches, a bridgehead was at last squeezed in from the north by "rolling" tactics, his platoon engaged in desperate hand-to-hand fighting using spades, hand grenades and bayonets. Nugiseks was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht and in the Nazi Signal magazine following his Knight's Cross award, which was personally given to him by the SA occupation head in Estonia, Karl-Siegmund Litzmann on 9 April 1944, while Nugiseks was recuperating in Türi hospital. Only the second Estonian to receive the honour, the whole ceremony was filmed for propaganda purposes. In the action the divisional commander Standartenfuhrer Franz Augsberger, an Austrian, was wounded and also received the Knights Cross. Unterscharfuhrer Nugiseks was only 22 years old leading a Zugfuhrer (platoon leader) of Estonians defending the homeland against invasion for his unit I.46. and the first non-officer to be so awarded.
