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| Battles of the Courland Bridgehead | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theEastern Front ofWorld War II | |||||||
 Soviet advances from 1 September 1943 – 31 December 1944, the Courland Pocket is the white area west of theGulf of Riga | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Germany |
 Kurelis group [lt;lv;pl;ru] | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Ferdinand Schörner Lothar Rendulic Heinrich von Vietinghoff Carl Hilpert Walter Krüger | Ivan Bagramyan Andrey Yeryomenko Leonid Govorov | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Army Group North (prior to 25/01/1945) Army Group Courland (from 25/01/1945 onwards until surrender) | 1st Baltic Front 2nd Baltic Front | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| October 1944–8 May 1945 117,871 combat casualties (39,537 in February–March 1945)[4] 189,112 captured on 9 May 1945[4] | 16 Feb – 8 May 1945 30,501 killed, 130,447 wounded or sick[5] Total: 160,948 | ||||||
TheCourland Pocket[a] was an area of theCourland Peninsula whereArmy Group North ofNazi Germany and theReichskommissariat Ostland were cut off and surrounded by theRed Army for almost a year, lasting from July 1944 until 10 May 1945.
The pocket was created during the Red Army'sBaltic Offensive, when forces of the1st Baltic Front reached theBaltic Sea nearMemel (Klaipėda) during its lesserMemel Offensive Operation phases in October 1944. This action isolated the GermanArmy Group North from the rest of the German forces, having been pushed from the south by the Red Army, standing in a front betweenTukums andLibau inLatvia, with theBaltic Sea in the West, theIrbe Strait in the North and theGulf of Riga in the East behind the Germans. RenamedArmy Group Courland on 25 January, the Army Group in the Courland Pocket remained isolated until the end of the war. When they were ordered to surrender to the Soviet command on 8 May, they were in "blackout" and did not get the official order before 10 May, two days after thecapitulation of Germany. It was one of the last German groups to surrender in Europe.
Courland, with the rest of independent Latvia, had beenoccupied by the Soviets in June 1940. TheLatvian Soviet Socialist Republic, along with the rest of theBaltic eastern coast and islands, was overrun by the GermanArmy Group North during 1941. Army Group North spent most of the next two years attempting to takeLeningrad, without success. In January 1944, the Soviet Army lifted thesiege of Leningrad.
On 22 June 1944, the Red Army launched the Belorussian Strategic Offensive, codenamedOperation Bagration. The goal of this offensive was to recapture theByelorussian SSR fromGerman occupation. Operation Bagration was extremely successful, resulting in the almost complete destruction ofArmy Group Centre, and ended on 29 August. In its final stages (theKaunas andŠiauliai Offensives), Operation Bagration saw Soviet forces strike deep towards the Baltic coast, severing communications between the German 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 inOperation Doppelkopf. The Red Army fought theMemel Offensive Operation with the goal of isolating Army Group North by capturing the city of Memel (Klaipėda).
On 9 October 1944, the Soviet forces reached theBaltic Sea near Memel after overrunning the headquarters of the3rd Panzer Army. As a result, Army Group North was cut off fromEast Prussia. Hitler's military advisors—notablyHeinz Guderian, the Chief of theGerman General Staff—urged evacuation and utilisation of the troops to stabilise the front in central Europe. However,Hitler refused, and ordered the German forces in Courland and the Estonian islandsHiiumaa (Dagö) andSaaremaa (Ösel) to hold out, believing them necessary to protect German submarine bases along the Baltic coast. Hitler still believed the war could be won, and hoped that Dönitz's newType XXI U-boat technology could bring victory to Germany in theBattle of the Atlantic, forcing the Allies out of Western Europe. This would allow German forces to focus on the Eastern Front, using the Courland Pocket as a springboard for a new offensive.[6]
Hitler's refusal to evacuate the Army Group resulted in the entrenchment of more than 200,000 German troops largely of the16th Army and18th Army, in what was to become known to the Germans as the "Courland Bridgehead". Thirty-three divisions of the Army Group North, commanded by Field-MarshallFerdinand Schörner, were cut off from East Prussia and spread out along a front reaching fromRiga toLiepāja, retreating to the more defensible Courland position, abandoning Riga.[7]
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.[citation needed] The German two-phase withdrawals during the execution of the second stage of the SovietBaltic Offensive (14 September – 24 November 1944), subsequent to the pocket being formed in the Baltic Offensive's first stage, theMemel Offensive Operation.
From 15 to 22 October 1944 – Soviets launched theRiga Offensive Operation on the 15th at 10:00 after conducting a heavy artillery barrage.[8] Hitler permitted the Army Group Commander,Ferdinand Schörner, to commence withdrawal from Riga on 11 October, and the city was taken by the3rd Baltic Front on 13 October.[9] 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 towardSkrunda andSaldus including at one point initiating a simultaneous attack by 52 divisions.[8] 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.[citation needed] The Soviet breakthrough stalled after roughly 4 kilometers.[10][page needed]
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 Soviet2nd Baltic (northern sector) and1st Baltic Fronts (southern sector) commenced a blockade, precipitating the German defence of the Courland perimeter during Soviet attempts to reduce it. In this battle, serving with the 2nd Baltic Front's22nd Army, theLatvian 130th Rifle Corps faced their opposites in theLatvian 19th SS Division. The battle ended on 31 December and the front was stabilized.
On 15 January 1945, Army Group North was renamedArmy Group Courland under Colonel-GeneralLothar Rendulic. In the middle of January, Guderian got Hitler's permission to withdraw 7 divisions from Courland, however, Hitler refused to consider a total withdrawal.[10][page needed] The4th Panzer Division,31st,32nd,93rd Infantry Divisions,11th SS Division Nordland and the remnants of the battered227th,218th and389th Infantry Divisions and15th 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 onBārta and Vārtāja rivers but were once again driven off by the Germans.[citation needed]
The fifth battle started on 12 February with a Soviet attack against the Germans towardsDžūkste [lv]. Other attacks took place south of Liepāja where the Soviets massed 21 divisions, and south of Tukums 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.
On 8 May, Germany'sHead of State and PresidentKarl Dönitz ordered Colonel-GeneralCarl Hilpert – the Army Group's last commander – to surrender. Hilpert, his personal staff, and staffs of three Armies surrendered to MarshalLeonid Govorov, the commander of the Leningrad Front. At this time, the group still consisted of the remnants of 27 divisions and one brigade.[11]
On 8 May, General Otto Friedrich Rauser succeeded in obtaining better surrender terms from the Soviet command.[12] On 9 May, the Soviet commission in Peilei started to interrogate the captive staff of Army Group Courland, and general collection of prisoners began.[citation needed]
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 theprisoners of war were initially held at theValdai Hills camps.[citation needed]
According to Robert Forczyk, the Battle of Courland was very costly for the Soviets, who lost over 1,000 tanks there.[13]
Army Group North (to 25 January 1945)
Army Group Courland (25 January 1945 to 8 May 1945)[14]
GeneraloberstHeinrich von Vietinghoff – from 10 March 1945GeneraloberstLothar Rendulic – from 25 March 1945 GeneraloberstCarl Hilpert
General der InfanterieCarl Hilpert – from 10 March 1945 General der InfanterieErnst-Anton von Krosigk (KIA) – from 16 March General der GebirgstruppenFriedrich-Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach
General der InfanterieEhrenfried Boege
Security Divisions
Luftwaffe
Marine
(Army GeneralLeonid Govorov) 1 May 1945
The First Courland Battle was intended to destroy German forces. After that failure, official accounts ignore Courland, stating only that the Soviet goal was to prevent the Germans from escaping.[15]
In this account, the Soviet actions in Courland were defensiveblocking operations. Hostilities consisted of containing German breakout attempts, and the Red Army made no concerted effort to capture the Courland Pocket,[citation needed] which was of little strategic importance after the isolation of Army Group North, whereas the main offensive effort was required for theVistula-Oder andBerlin Offensives. Soviet forces suffered correspondingly low casualties. The modern research ofGrigoriy Krivosheev indicates a total of 160,948 Soviet casualties between 16 February and 8 May 1945": 30,501 "irrecoverable" and 130,447 "medical" losses.[5]
According to the Russian historianAleksei 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. 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.[16]
Stalin 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."[15] As late as March 1945, Stalin was still making claims that German forces in Courland would soon be defeated.[15] This victory was necessary, in Stalin's eyes, to re-establish Soviet control over its 1941 frontiers following the annexation of the Baltic states.[17]
The Soviets launched six offensives to defeat Army Group Courland.[8][15] 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.[15] The Soviet operations were hampered by the difficult terrain and bad weather.[15]
The German army group reported inflicting heavy losses on the Soviets.[15][18] However, in the absence of heavy weaponry and a near total lack of air support, total German casualties in Courland were heavy as well, and estimated to be over 150,000.[15]
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.[15] By the start of April 1945, the Soviets viewed the German forces in Courland as not much more than self-supporting prisoners.[15]
On 9 May 1945, GeneralIvan Bagramyan accepted the surrender of German forces atEzere Manor in southwest Latvia.[citation needed] According to Russian records, 146,000 German and Latvian troops were taken prisoner, including 28 generals and 5,083 officers,[8] and taken to camps in the USSR interior and imprisoned for years. Current scholarship puts the count of those surrendering at about 190,000:[15] 189,112 Germans including 42 generals—among them Hilpert, who was executed for war crimes after trial in Soviet captivity in 1947[15]—and approximately 14,000 Latvians.[19]
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.[8]
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