Courland Pocket
Battles of the Courland Bridgehead | |||||||
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Part of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||
![]() Soviet advances from 1 September 1943 – 31 December 1944, the Courland Pocket is the white area west of the Gulf of Riga | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ferdinand Schörner Lothar Rendulic Heinrich von Vietinghoff Carl Hilpert Walter Krüger |
Ivan Bagramyan Andrey Yeryomenko Leonid Govorov | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Army Group Courland |
1st Baltic Front 2nd Baltic Front | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
October 1944–8 May 1945 117,871 combat casualties (39,537 in February–March 1945)[1] 189,112 captured on 9 May 1945[1] |
16 Feb – 8 May 1945 30,501 killed, 130,447 wounded or sick[2] Total: 160,948 | ||||||
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The Courland Pocket[a] was an area of the Courland Peninsula where Army Group North of Nazi Germany and the Reichskommissariat Ostland were cut off and surrounded by the Red Army for almost a year, lasting from July 1944 until 10 May 1945.
The pocket was created during the Red Army's
Background
On 22 June 1944, the Red Army launched the Belorussian Strategic Offensive, codenamed
After Operation Bagration ended, the Soviet forces continued the clearing of the Baltic coast, despite German attempts to restore the front in Operation Doppelkopf. 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
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/1945-05-01GerWW2BattlefrontAtlas.jpg/220px-1945-05-01GerWW2BattlefrontAtlas.jpg)
On 9 October 1944, the Soviet forces reached the Baltic Sea near Memel after overrunning the headquarters of the 3rd Panzer Army. As a result, Army Group North was cut off from East Prussia. Hitler's military advisors—notably Heinz Guderian, the Chief of the German 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 islands Hiiumaa (Dagö) and Saaremaa (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 new Type XXI U-boat technology could bring victory to Germany in the Battle 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.[3]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Kurland6pf20apr1945.jpg/170px-Kurland6pf20apr1945.jpg)
Hitler's refusal to evacuate the Army Group resulted in the entrenchment of more than 200,000 German troops largely of the 16th Army and 18th 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-Marshall Ferdinand Schörner, were cut off from East Prussia and spread out along a front reaching from Riga to Liepāja, retreating to the more defensible Courland position, abandoning Riga.[4]
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.[
Timeline
From 15 to 22 October 1944 – Soviets launched the
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.[5] 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.[7][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 Soviet 2nd Baltic (northern sector) and 1st 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'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 15 January 1945, Army Group North was renamed
The fifth battle started on 12 February with a Soviet attack against the Germans towards
Surrender
On 8 May, Germany's
On 8 May, General Otto Friedrich Rauser succeeded in obtaining better surrender terms from the Soviet command.[9] 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 the prisoners of war were initially held at the Valdai Hills camps.[citation needed]
German Order of Battle (March 1945)
See also Army Group Courland
Army Group North (to 25 January 1945)
Army Group Courland (25 January 1945 to 8 May 1945)[10]
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
- 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
- Erpo von Bodenhausen, from 14 April 1945 Generalmajor Horst von Usedom
- 19. SS-Grenadier-Division – SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Bruno Streckenbach
- Kurt Herzog
- 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
- 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
- Kurt Hähling
- 30. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor Otto Barth, from 30 January 1945 Generalleutnant Albert Henze
- 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, 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 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
1st Baltic Front (Army General Ivan Bagramyan)
- 51st Army (Army General Yakov Kreizer)
- 6th Guards Army (Colonel General Ivan Chistyakov)
- 4th Shock Army (Army General Pyotr Malyshev)
- Vladimir Petrovich Sviridov)
- 1st Shock Army (Lieutenant General Vladimir N. Razuvaev)
- 10th Guards Army (Lieutenant General Mikhail Kazakov)
Historiography
Soviet and Russian accounts
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.[11]
In this account, the Soviet actions in Courland were defensive
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. 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.[12]
Western sources
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1985-0531-500%2C_Kurland%2C_Evakuierung_aus_Windau.jpg/170px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1985-0531-500%2C_Kurland%2C_Evakuierung_aus_Windau.jpg)
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."[11] As late as March 1945, Stalin was still making claims that German forces in Courland would soon be defeated.[11] This victory was necessary, in Stalin's eyes, to re-establish Soviet control over its 1941 frontiers following the annexation of the Baltic states.[13]
The Soviets launched six offensives to defeat Army Group Courland.[5][11] 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.[11] The Soviet operations were hampered by the difficult terrain and bad weather.[11]
The German army group reported inflicting heavy losses on the Soviets.[11][14] 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.[11]
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.[11] By the start of April 1945, the Soviets viewed the German forces in Courland as not much more than self-supporting prisoners.[11]
Aftermath
On 9 May 1945, General Ivan Bagramyan accepted the surrender of German forces at Ezere 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,[5] and taken to camps in the USSR interior and imprisoned for years. Current scholarship puts the count of those surrendering at about 190,000:[11] 189,112 Germans including 42 generals—among them Hilpert, who was executed for war crimes after trial in Soviet captivity in 1947[11]—and approximately 14,000 Latvians.[15]
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.[5]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b Frieser 2007, p. 661.
- ^ ISBN 5-224-01515-4.
- ISBN 0-521-56626-6.
- ISBN 978-1-4349-6159-4.
- ^ OCLC 11845651.
- ISBN 978-0-8117-3371-7.
- ^ a b Mangulis, V. Latvia in the Wars of the 20th Century. CHAPTER IX JULY 1941 TO MAY 8, 1945 Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Historia.lv.
- ^ Kozlov, M. M., ed. (1985). Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voina 1941–1945: Entsiklopediya [The Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945: An Encyclopaedia] (in Russian). Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia. p. 442.
- ^ Thorwald, Jürgen (1951). Wieck, Fred (ed.). Flight in the Winter: Russia Conquers, January to May 1945. New York: Pantheon. p. 64.
- ^ "ordersofbattle.com article". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59-114-345-1.
- ^ Isayev, Aleksey (28 December 2009). "Unknown Winter of 1945". Price of Victory (Interview) (in Russian). Interviewed by Dmitriy Zakharov. Moscow: Echo of Moscow. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
- ISBN 978-1849081900.
- ISBN 978-0-313-39592-5.
- ISBN 978-3895555909.
Literature
- Dallas, Gregor., 1945: The War That Never Ended, Yale University Press, Yale, 2006 ISBN 0-300-10980-6
- )
- Richard P. Wade: "The Survivors of the Kurland Pocket 1944-1945". American Military University, Charlestown, West Virginia, 2015.