The Courland Pocket was a

pocket A pocket is a bag- or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items. Pockets are also attached to luggage, backpacks, and similar items. In older usage, a pocket was a separate small bag o ...

located on the

Courland Peninsula The Courland Peninsula (, German: ''Kurland''), also sometimes known as the Couronian Peninsula, is a distinct geographical, historical and cultural region in western Latvia. It represents the north-westernmost part of the broader region of Co ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

on the Eastern Front of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

from 9 October 1944 to 10 May 1945.

Army Group North Army Group North () was the name of three separate army groups of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Its rear area operations were organized by the Army Group North Rear Area. The first Army Group North was deployed during the invasion of Pol ...

of the ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

'' were surrounded in western Latvia by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

after the Baltic Offensive, when forces of the

1st Baltic Front The First Baltic Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Прибалтийский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War. It was commanded by Army General Andrey Yeryomenko, succeeded by Army General Bagramyan. It ...

reached the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

near Memel (Klaipėda) after the collapse of

Army Group Centre Army Group Centre () was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the So ...

during

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern ...

. Army Group North retreated to the Courland Pocket and was renamed

Army Group Courland Army Group Courland () was a Nazi Germany, German Army Group on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front. It was created from remnants of the Army Group North, blockade, isolated in the Courland Peninsula by the advancing Soviet Army for ...

on 25 January, holding off six Red Army offensives until the

German Instrument of Surrender The German Instrument of Surrender was a legal document effecting the unconditional surrender of the remaining German armed forces to the Allies, ending World War II in Europe. It was signed at 22:43 CET on 8 May 1945 and took effect at 23 ...

was signed on 8 May 1945. Army Group Courland were in a communication " blackout" and did not get the official order until 10 May, becoming one of the last German groups to surrender in Europe.

Background

In June 1941,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

launched

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the invasion of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, with the goal of reaching the A-A Line. The ''

''s

swept through the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

, which had been occupied by the Soviets since June 1940, en route to capture the city of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Army Group North spent most of the next two years attempting to take Leningrad with little success, turning momentum of the war in the north against the Germans. In January 1944, the Soviets lifted the

siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

, prompting Army Group North to retreat to the Panther Line. On 22 June 1944, the Red Army launched

with the goal of recapturing the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

from German occupation. Operation Bagration was extremely successful, resulting in the almost complete destruction of

by late August. This exposed Army Group North at the Panther Line to the north and forced them to retreat back through the Baltic states. Soviet forces would strike deep towards the

coast in the

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

and

Šiauliai Offensive The Šiauliai offensive () was an operation of the Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front, commanded by General Hovhannes Bagramyan, conducted from 5 July to 29 August 1944, during the Second World War. It was part of the third phase of the Opera ...

s, severing communications between the Army Group North and the remnants of Army Group Centre. After Operation Bagration ended, the Soviet forces continued the clearing of the Baltic coast, despite German attempts to restore the front in

Operation Doppelkopf Operation Doppelkopf () and the following Operation Cäsar were German counter-offensives on the Eastern Front in the late summer of 1944 in the aftermath of the major Soviet advance in Operation Bagration with the aim of restoring a coherent ...

. The Red Army fought the Memel Offensive Operation with the goal of isolating Army Group North by capturing the city of Memel (Klaipėda).

Battles of the Courland Bridgehead

On 9 October 1944, the Red Army reached the Baltic Sea near Memel after overrunning the headquarters of the

3rd Panzer Army The 3rd Panzer Army () was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 3rd Panzer Group on 1 January 1942. 3rd Panzer Group The 3rd Panzer Group () was formed on 16 November 1940. It was a constituent part of Army Grou ...

. As a result, Army Group North was trapped in western

when the Soviets cut them off from

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

, and by extension the rest of the German forces. A

was formed from

Tukums Tukums (; ; ) is a town in Latvia and serves as the administrative center of Tukums Municipality. It is located in the eastern part of the historical region of Courland, and with more than 16,000 inhabitants Tukums is the 13th largest settlem ...

and Libau, with the Baltic Sea in the west, the

Irbe Strait Irbe Strait, also known as Irben Strait (, , ), forms the main exit out of the Gulf of Riga to the Baltic Sea, between the Sõrve Peninsula forming the southern end of the island Saaremaa in Estonia and Courland Peninsula in Latvia. It is wide ...

in the north, and the

Gulf of Riga The Gulf of Riga, Bay of Riga, or Gulf of Livonia (, , ) is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. The island of Saaremaa (Estonia) partially separates it from the rest of the Baltic Sea. The main connection between the gulf and t ...

in the east.

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's military advisors — notably

Heinz Guderian Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who later became a successful memoirist. A pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of ...

, the Chief of the

German General Staff The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the Imperial German Army, German Army, responsible for the continuous stu ...

— urged an evacuation and utilisation of the troops in Courland to stabilise the front in

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

. However, Hitler refused, and ordered the German forces in Courland and the Estonian islands

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa ( , ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located within ...

(Dagö) and

Saaremaa Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

(Ösel) to hold out, believing them necessary to protect German

submarine base A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel. Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, N ...

s along the Baltic coast. Hitler still believed the war could be won, and hoped that Admiral

Karl Dönitz Karl Dönitz (; 16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German grand admiral and convicted war criminal who, following Adolf Hitler's Death of Adolf Hitler, suicide, succeeded him as head of state of Nazi Germany during the Second World ...

's new Type XXI U-boat technology could bring victory to Germany in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

, forcing the Allies out of

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

. This would allow German forces to focus on the Eastern Front, using the pocket as a

bridgehead In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over ...

for a new offensive. Hitler's refusal to evacuate the Army Group North resulted in the entrenchment of more than 200,000 German troops, largely of the 16th Army and 18th Army, in western Latvia. Thirty-three divisions of the Army Group North, commanded by '' Feldmarschall''

Ferdinand Schörner Ferdinand Schörner (12 June 1892 – 2 July 1973) was a German military commander and convicted war criminal, who held the rank of ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) in the ''Wehrmacht'' of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was the on ...

, were cut off from East Prussia and spread out along a front reaching from

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

, retreating to the more defensible position on the

, abandoning Riga. Kurland6pf20apr1945

Soviet forces launched six major offensives against the German and Latvian forces entrenched in the Courland Pocket between 15 October 1944 and 4 April 1945. The German two-phase withdrawals during the execution of the second stage of the Soviet Baltic Offensive (14 September – 24 November 1944), subsequent to the pocket being formed in the Baltic Offensive's first stage, the Memel Offensive Operation.

Timeline

From 15 to 22 October 1944 – Soviets launched the Riga Offensive Operation on the 15th at 10:00 after conducting a heavy artillery barrage. Hitler permitted Schörner to commence withdrawal from Riga on 11 October, and the city was taken by the 3rd Baltic Front on 13 October.* The front stabilised with the main remnant of Army Group North isolated in the peninsula. From 27 October to 25 November – Soviets launched an offensive trying to break through the front toward Skrunda and Saldus including at one point initiating a simultaneous attack by 52 divisions. Soviet forces also attacked southeast of Liepāja in an attempt to capture that port. 80 divisions assaulted the Germans from 1 to 15 November in a front 12 km wide. The Soviet breakthrough stalled after roughly 4 kilometers.Mangulis, V. Latvia in the Wars of the 20th Century. CHAPTER IX JULY 1941 TO MAY 8, 1945
. Historia.lv. The third phase of the fighting (also known as "the other Christmas Battle") started on 21 December with a Soviet attack on Germans near Saldus. The Soviet 2nd Baltic (northern sector) and 1st Baltic Fronts (southern sector) commenced a

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are ...

, precipitating the German defence of the Courland perimeter during Soviet attempts to reduce it. In this battle, serving with the 2nd Baltic Front's 22nd Army, the Latvian 130th Rifle Corps faced their opposites in the Latvian 19th SS Division. The battle ended on 31 December and the front was stabilized. On 25 January 1945, Army Group North was renamed

under Colonel-General Lothar Rendulic, while Schörner was transferred to Army Group Centre. In the middle of January, Guderian got Hitler's permission to withdraw 7 divisions from Courland, however, Hitler refused to consider a total withdrawal. The 4th Panzer Division, 31st, 32nd, 93rd Infantry Divisions, 11th SS Division Nordland and the remnants of the battered 227th, 218th and 389th Infantry Divisions and 15th Latvian SS-Division were evacuated over the sea. On 23 January, Soviet forces launched an offensive trying to break through the front toward Liepāja and Saldus. They managed to take the bridgeheads on Bārta and Vārtāja rivers, but were once prevented from a break through by the Germans. The fifth battle started on 12 February with a Soviet attack against the Germans towards Džūkste. Other attacks took place south of

where the Soviets massed 21 divisions, and south of

where 11 divisions tried to break through the German front and take the town. On 16 February, the Soviets started an offensive against the 19th Division.

Surrender

On 8 May, the

was signed, officially ending World War II in Europe. Dönitz, now the

Head of State A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and President of Germany, ordered Colonel-General Carl Hilpert – the Army Group Courland's last commander – to surrender. However, German forces in the Courland Pocket had their communications severed, and the " blackout" meant they did not receive their orders until 10 May, two days after the war had ended. General Otto Friedrich Rauser succeeded in obtaining better surrender terms from the Soviet command. Hilpert, his personal staff, and staffs of three Armies surrendered to Marshal

Leonid Govorov Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov (; – 19 March 1955) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military commander. Trained as an artillery officer, he joined the Red Army in 1920. He graduated from several Soviet military academies, including the Military Aca ...

, the commander of the

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

. At this time, the group still consisted of the remnants of 27 divisions and one brigade. As a result, Army Group Courland became one of the final major German formations to surrender. On 9 May, the Soviet commission in Peilei started to interrogate the captive staff of Army Group Courland, and general collection of prisoners began. By 12 May, approximately 135,000 German troops surrendered in the Courland Pocket. On 23 May, the Soviet collection of the German troops in the Courland Pocket was completed. A total of about 180,000 German troops were taken into captivity from the Baltic area. The bulk of the German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union were initially held at the

Valdai Hills The Valdai Hills, sometimes shortened to Valdai, are an upland region in the north-west of central European Russia running north–south, about midway between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, spanning Leningrad, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, and Smolensk ...

camps.

German Order of Battle (March 1945)

Army Group North (to 25 January 1945)
Army Group Courland (25 January 1945 to 8 May 1945)
Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff – from 10 March 1945 Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic – from 25 March 1945 Generaloberst Carl Hilpert

German 16th Army

General der Infanterie Carl Hilpert – from 10 March 1945 General der Infanterie Ernst-Anton von Krosigk (KIA) – from 16 March General der Gebirgstruppen Friedrich-Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach * XVI. Armeekorps – Generalleutnant Ernst-Anton von Krosigk – from 10 March Generalleutnant

Gottfried Weber Jacob Gottfried Weber (1 March 1779 – 21 September 1839) was a German writer on music (especially on music theory), composer, and jurist. Biography Weber was born at Freinsheim. From 1824 to 1839, he was the editor of ''Cäcilia'', a musical ...

** 81. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Franz Eccard von Bentivegni ** 300. Infanterie-Division z. b. V. – Generalmajor Anton Eberth ** 21. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division – Generalleutnant Albert Henze, 16 February 1945 Generalmajor Otto Barth * VI. SS-Armeekorps – SS-Obergruppenführer Walter Krüger ** 24. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor Harald Schultz ** 12. Panzer-Division – Generalleutnant Erpo von Bodenhausen, from 14 April 1945 Generalmajor Horst von Usedom ** 19. SS-Grenadier-Division – SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Bruno Streckenbach * XXXVIII. Armeekorps – General der Artillerie

Kurt Herzog __NOTOC__ Kurt Herzog (27 March 1889, Quedlinburg – 8 May 1948) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. A war criminal, Herzog surrendered to the Soviet troops in Ma ...

** 122. Infanterie-Division – General der Infanterie Friedrich Fangohr, from 20 January 1945 Generalmajor Bruno Schatz ** 290. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor Hans-Joachim Baurmeister, from 25 April 1945 Generalmajor Carl Henke, from 27 April 1945 Generalleutnant Bruno Ortler ** 329. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Konrad Menkel, from 1 January 1945 Generalmajor Werner Schulze

German 18th Army

General der Infanterie Ehrenfried Boege * I. Armeekorps – General der Infanterie Friedrich Fangohr, from 21 April 1945 Generalleutnant Christian Usinger ** 218. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Viktor Lang, from 25 December 1944 Generalmajor Ingo von Collani, from 1 May 1945 Generalleutnant Werner Ranck ** 132. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Herbert Wagner, from 8 January 1945 Generalmajor Rudolf Demme * II. Armeekorps – General der Infanterie Johannes Mayer, from 1 April 1945 Generalleutnant Alfred Gause ** 263. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Alfred Hemmann ** 563. Volksgrenadier-Division – Generalmajor Ferdinand Brühl, from 25 February 1945 Generalmajor Werner Neumann * X. Armeekorps – General der Artillerie Siegfried Thomaschki ** 87. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor Helmuth Walter, from 16 January 1945 Generalleutnant

Mauritz Freiherr von Strachwitz __NOTOC__ Mauritz Freiherr von Strachwitz (12 December 1898 – 10 December 1953) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Strachwitz surrendered to the Soviet forces in May 1945 in the ...

** 126. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor/Generalleutnant Gotthard Fischer, from 5 January 1945 Oberst/Generalmajor Kurt Hähling ** 30. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor Otto Barth, from 30 January 1945 Generalleutnant Albert Henze * L. Armeekorps – General der Gebirgstruppe Friedrich Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach, from 11 April 1945 Generalleutnant Erpo von Bodenhausen ** 205. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor Ernst Biehler, from 15 November 1944 Generalmajor Karl-Hans Giese ** 225. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Walter Risse ** 11. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Hellmuth Reymann, from 18 November 1944 Generalleutnant Gerhard Feyerabend ** 14. Panzer-Division – Generalmajor

Oskar Munzel __NOTOC__ Oskar Munzel (13 March 1899 – 1 January 1992) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II and in the Bundeswehr of West Germany who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the I ...

, from 25 November 1944 Generalmajor Martin Unrein, from 19 February 1945 Oberst Friedrich-Wilhelm Jürgen, from 22 March 1945 Oberst Paul Lüneburg, from 25 March 1945 Oberst Karl-Max Gräßel Security Divisions * 52nd Security Division : ''Festung Libau'' – Generalleutnant Albrecht Digeon von Monteton * 201st Security Division – Generalmajor Anton Eberth * 207th Security Division – only Staff Luftwaffe * Jagdgeschwader 54 – Oberst Dietrich Hrabak Marine * 9. Marine-Sicherungsdivision * 1. Minensuchflottille * 3. Minensuchflottille * 25. Minensuchflottille * 31. Minensuchflottille * 1. Räumbootsflottille –

Kapitänleutnant , short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( or ''lieutenant captain'') is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the modern German . The rank is rated Ranks and insignia of NATO navies' officers, OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to i ...

Carl Hoff * 17. Räumbootsflottille * 3. Vorpostenflottille * 9. Vorpostenflottille * 17. Vorpostenflottille * 3. Sicherungsflottille * 14. Sicherungsflottille * 13. Landungsflottille * 21. Landungsflottille * 24. Landungsflottille * 3. U-Jagdflottille * 11. U-Jagdflottille * 1. Schnellboot-Schulflottille * 2. Schnellboot-Schulflottille * 3. Schnellboot-Schulflottille

Soviet Order of Battle

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

(Army General

) 1 May 1945 * 51st Army (Army General

Yakov Kreizer Yakov Grigorevich Kreizer (; 4 November 1905, Voronezh – 29 November 1969, Moscow) was a Soviet field commander. Before the war Kreizer's Jewish parents were granted permission to live outside the Jewish pale of settlement because his gr ...

) ** 1st Guards Rifle Corps ( 53rd Guards, 204th, 267th Rifle Divisions) ** 10th Rifle Corps ( 91st, 279th, 347th Rifle Divisions), ** 63rd Rifle Corps ( 77th, 87th, 417th Rifle Divisions) * 6th Guards Army (Colonel General Ivan Chistyakov) **

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

( 9th Guards, 71st Guards, and

166th Rifle Division The 166th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army that fought in World War II, formed twice. The division's first formation was formed in 1939 and wiped out in the Vyazma Pocket in October 1941. In January 1942, the ...

s), ** 22nd ( 46th Guards Rifle, 16th Lithuanian, and 29th Rifle Divisions), and ** 30th Guards Rifle Corps ( 45th Guards, 63rd Guards, and 64th Guards Rifle Divisions) * 4th Shock Army (Army General Pyotr Malyshev) ** 84 Corp (164, 270 infantry division) ** 92 Corp (156, 179, 257 infantry division), ** 32 infantry division * 42nd Army (Lieutenant General Vladimir Petrovich Sviridov) ** 14 Rifle Corps (11, 288 infantry division), ** 122 Rifle Corps (56, 85 infantry division), ** 130th Latvian Rifle Corps (43 Guards,308 Latvian Rifle Division), ** 118 Fortified Region * 1st Shock Army (Lieutenant General Vladimir N. Razuvaev) ** 1 Corp (306, 344, 357 infantry division) ** 8 Estonian. Corp (7, 249 Estonian infantry division) ** 119 Corp (201, 360, 374 infantry division) ** 123 Corp (21 guards, 376 infantry division) ** 6 Guards, 20 Breakthrough Artillery division * 10th Guards Army (Lieutenant General Mikhail Kazakov) ** 7 Guards Corp (7, 8 и 119 Guards division), ** 15 Guards Corp (29, 30 и 85 Guards division), ** 19 Guards Corp (22, 56 и 65 Guards, 198 infantry division) * 15th Air Army

Front Reserves

*8 Guards Rocket Artillery Division (26, 27, 28 Guards Rocket Brigade) *21, 28 Artillery Divisions * 3rd Guards Tank Corp

Historiography

Soviet and Russian accounts

The First Courland Battle was intended to destroy German forces. After that failure, official Soviet accounts ignore Courland, stating only that the Soviet goal was to prevent the Germans from escaping. In this account, the Soviet actions in Courland were defensive blocking operations. Hostilities consisted of containing German breakout attempts, and the Red Army made no concerted effort to capture the Courland Pocket, which was of little strategic importance after the isolation of Army Group North, whereas the main offensive effort was required for the Vistula-Oder and Berlin Offensives. Soviet forces suffered correspondingly low casualties. The modern research of Grigoriy Krivosheev indicates a total of 160,948 Soviet casualties between 16 February and 8 May 1945": 30,501 "irrecoverable" and 130,447 "medical" losses. According to the Russian historian Aleksei Isaev, Courland was a peripheral front for both the Soviets and Germans. The Soviet goal was to prevent the German troops there from being transported by sea to reinforce the defense of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Soviet operations intended to further isolate and also destroy the enemy, but the strength of the attacking troops was too low to make any significant progress in the difficult terrain. The Soviet commanders worked competently and as a result the reported casualties were low.

Western sources

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

had initially been intent on destroying the German forces in Courland, reporting in September 1944 that he was "mopping up" in the Baltics, and in November, that the Germans were "now being hammered to a finish." As late as March 1945, Stalin was still making claims that German forces in Courland would soon be defeated. This victory was necessary, in Stalin's eyes, to re-establish Soviet control over its 1941 frontiers following the annexation of the Baltic states. The Soviets launched six offensives to defeat Army Group Courland. Throughout the campaign against the Courland pocket, Soviet forces did not advance more than 25 miles anywhere along the front, ending no more than a few kilometers forward of their original positions after seven months of conflict. The Soviet operations were hampered by the difficult terrain and bad weather. Army Group Courland reported inflicting heavy losses on the Soviets. However, in the absence of heavy weaponry and a near total lack of

air support Close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as Strafing, strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS r ...

, total German casualties in Courland were heavy as well, and estimated to be over 150,000. According to Robert Forczyk, the Battle of Courland was very costly for the Soviets, who lost over 1,000

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s there. The withdrawal of Soviet units starting from December 1944 indicates that the Soviet command did not consider Courland to be as important as other sectors of the Eastern Front. Destroying the German forces there was not worth the effort and the goal was now to keep them from breaking out. The next three offensives were most likely intended to prevent the evacuation of German troops by sea. By the start of April 1945, the Soviets viewed the German forces in Courland as not much more than self-supporting prisoners.

Aftermath

On 9 May 1945, General Ivan Bagramyan accepted the surrender of German forces at Ezere Manor in southwest Latvia. According to Russian records, 146,000 German and Latvian troops were taken prisoner, including 28 generals and 5,083 officers, and taken to camps in the Soviet interior and imprisoned for years. Current scholarship puts the count of those surrendering at about 190,000: 189,112 Germans including 42 generals — among them Hilpert, who was executed for

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

after trial in Soviet captivity in 1947—and approximately 14,000

Latvians Latvians () are a Baltic ethnic group and nation native to Latvia and the immediate geographical region, the Baltics. They are occasionally also referred to as Letts, especially in older bibliography. Latvians share a common Latvian language ...

. The Soviets detained all males between the ages of 16 and 60, and conducted widespread deforestation campaigns, burning tracts of forest to flush out resisters.

Notes

References

Literature

*Dallas, Gregor., ''1945: The War That Never Ended'', Yale University Press, Yale, 2006 * * Richard P. Wade: "The Survivors of the Kurland Pocket 1944-1945". American Military University, Charlestown, West Virginia, 2015. {{Authority control Military history of Latvia during World War II Military operations of World War II involving Germany Battles and operations of the Soviet–German War Encirclements in World War II 1944 in Latvia 1945 in Latvia Trench warfare Battles involving Latvia Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic Generalbezirk Lettland

Background

Battles of the Courland Bridgehead

Timeline

Surrender

German Order of Battle (March 1945)

German 16th Army

German 18th Army

Soviet Order of Battle

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

Front Reserves

Historiography

Soviet and Russian accounts

Western sources

Aftermath

See also

Notes

References

Literature