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
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 ...
with the aim of restoring a coherent front between Army Group North and Army Group Centre. The operation's codename was a reference to the German card game ''
Doppelkopf
Doppelkopf (, lit. ''double-head''), sometimes abbreviated to Doko, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for four players.
In Germany, Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat (card game), Skat, especially in Northern Germany and the R ...
''.
Strategic situation
By the end of July 1944, Soviet mechanised forces had reached 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 ...
following their headlong advance 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, part of the third and final 'pursuit' phase of the strategic offensive
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 ...
. The Soviet
2nd Guards Army had exploited a breach between the German
Sixteenth Army of
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 ...
and the neighbouring
Third Panzer Army 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 ...
, and severed the connection between them. German counter-attacks failed to restore it, and significant elements of the German armed forces were left isolated.
The ''
Oberkommando des Heeres
The (; abbreviated OKH) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat ...
'' made immediate plans for an offensive to restore the connection between the two Army Groups.
Planning
A number of armoured formations were assembled under Army Group Centre in
Courland with orders to attack towards Jelgava (), cutting off the Soviet spearheads. The XXXX Panzer Corps, with the
7th and
14th Panzer Divisions, the
Grossdeutschland Division and the
1st Infantry Division, was assembled at
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 ...
/ Libau, while the XXXIX Panzer Corps was assembled at
Tauroggen.
Deployments
''Wehrmacht''
*
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 ...
(Colonel-General
Georg-Hans Reinhardt
Georg-Hans Reinhardt (1 March 1887 – 23 November 1963) was a German general of the ''Wehrmacht'' during World War II, who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. He commanded the 3rd Panzer Army from 1941 to 1944, and Army Group Centre in 1 ...
) (from 16 August)
**
Third Panzer Army (General
Erhard Raus) (from 16 August)
***
XL Panzer Corps (General
Otto von Knobelsdorff)
***
XXXIX Panzer Corps (General
Dietrich von Saucken
Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Kasimir Dietrich von Saucken (16 May 1892 – 27 September 1980) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 2nd Army and the Army East Prussia. Turning down an offer to escape by air, he surrendered t ...
)
Red Army
* Elements of
3rd Belorussian Front (General
Ivan Chernyakhovsky)
* Elements of
1st Baltic Front (General
Hovhannes Bagramyan)
The offensive
The operation commenced with an attack by the 7th Panzer Division on 15 August towards
Kelmė. The main offensive began the following day, but there was strong resistance against the XXXX Panzer Corps from ten Soviet infantry divisions supported by three artillery divisions and anti-tank units.
Von Saucken's XXXIX Panzer Corps opened operations on 18 August. Its left flank, an ''ad hoc'' formation under
Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz von Groß-Zauche und Camminetz, was preceded by a heavy artillery bombardment from the cruiser ''
Prinz Eugen''; forces inside the pocket attacked to link up with Strachwitz's force. Strachwitz reached Sixteenth Army at
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 ...
by midday.
By 27 August, the corridor between Third Panzer Army and Sixteenth Army had been enlarged to 18 miles in width, though the latter had come under renewed pressure from a fresh Soviet offensive against
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 ...
. The operation had also failed in its more ambitious objectives of retaking
Šiauliai
Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...
or of cutting off the 6th Guards Army threatening Riga.
Operation Cäsar
A second German 'spoiling' attack, was planned to destroy Bagramyan's forces in the salient below Riga and push the front out to a straight line between the Segewold position and Šiauliai. The main strike force was the reorganised XXXIX Panzer Corps, Third Panzer Army having been placed under the temporary overall control of Army Group North. The attack began on 16 September, in response to the Soviet
Riga Offensive Operation, but by 19 September it had ground to a halt in the face of intense Soviet resistance after having penetrated only a few miles. The German forces then assumed a defensive configuration.
Aftermath
The Red Army attacked again on 5 October, in the
Memel Offensive Operation. Five days later, they reached the Baltic Sea and finally cut off Army Group North in what eventually became the
Courland Pocket
The Courland Pocket was a Pocket (military), pocket located on the Courland Peninsula in Latvia on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 9 October 1944 to 10 May 1945.
Army Group North of the ''Wehrmacht'' were ...
. The German
XXVIII Corps was isolated from the remainder of Third Panzer Army in a bridgehead at
Memel.
See also
*
Baltic Offensive, the Soviet strategic offensive against Army Group North
*
Battle of Tannenberg Line, the parallel defensive battles of Army Group North
Footnotes
References
*
*
Raus, E. ''Panzer Operations'', Da Capo, 2005,
*
Further reading
*The memoirs of
Erhard Raus cover the operations of
Third Panzer Army during this period in some detail.
*Another former general and author, Gerd Niepold, wrote a book-length study, ''Panzeroperationen Doppelkopf und Casar'' (Mittler, 1987, ).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Operation Doppelkopf
Doppelkopf
Doppelkopf (, lit. ''double-head''), sometimes abbreviated to Doko, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for four players.
In Germany, Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat (card game), Skat, especially in Northern Germany and the R ...
Doppelkopf
Doppelkopf (, lit. ''double-head''), sometimes abbreviated to Doko, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for four players.
In Germany, Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat (card game), Skat, especially in Northern Germany and the R ...
Doppelkopf
Doppelkopf (, lit. ''double-head''), sometimes abbreviated to Doko, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for four players.
In Germany, Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat (card game), Skat, especially in Northern Germany and the R ...
Doppelkopf
Doppelkopf (, lit. ''double-head''), sometimes abbreviated to Doko, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for four players.
In Germany, Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat (card game), Skat, especially in Northern Germany and the R ...
Tank battles of World War II
Tank battles involving Germany
Tank battles involving the Soviet Union
Military history of Lithuania during World War II
August 1944 in Europe
Operation Doppelkopf
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
Generalbezirk Lettland