Courland Pocket
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The Courland Pocket was created in late 1944 when, during the Belorussian Offensive, the Soviets reached the Baltic Sea near Memel. This action cut off and isolated Army Group North from the rest of the German Army. Re-named Army Group Courland, the army group remained isolated until the end of the war. By the time Army Group Courland surrendered on 7 May 1945, it was the only substantial German formation left intact.
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[edit] Background
In 1941, at the start of the Soviet-German War on Germany's Eastern Front, the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa. Courland, along with the rest of the Baltic eastern coast, was overrun by Army Group North. Army Group North was commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb. Army Group North spent most of the next several years attempting to take Leningrad. But Lenigrad would not fall.
In 1944, the Soviet Army lifted the siege of Leningrad.
On 22 June 1944, codenamed Operation Bagration, the Soviets launched the Belorussian Offensive. The goal of this offensive was to re-conquer the Baltic area from the Germans along with much of the Ukraine and Belarus. Operation Bagration was relatively successful and lasted until to 19 August.
After Operation Bagration ended, the Soviets fought the Battle of Memel. The goal of this battle was to take the city of Memel on the Baltic Sea and isolate German Army Group North from the rest of the German Army.
[edit] Isolation of Courland
On Tuesday, 10 October 1944, the Soviets reached the Baltic Sea near Memel. As a result, what was then known as Army Group North was cut off in from the rest of the German Army. More importantly, this army was to stay cut off in Latvia for the remainder of the war. Thus isolated, approximately 200,000 German troops in roughly twenty-six divisions were in what was to become known as the Courland Pocket. Some sources indicate that there may have been as many as thirty-one divisions trapped. [1].
There were six major battles in the Courland Pocket between 15 October, 1944, and 4 April, 1945. The six battles were as follows:
- The first - From 15 October, 1944, to 22 October, 1944
- The second - From 27 October, 1944, to 25 November, 1944
- The third - From 23 December, 1944, to 31 December, 1944
- The fourth - From 23 January, 1945, to 3 February, 1945
- The fifth - From 12 February, 1945, to 19 February, 1945
- The sixth - From 17 March, 1945, to 4 April, 1945
Colonel-General Heinz Guderian, the Chief of the German General Staff, insisted to German dictator Adolf Hitler that the troops in the Courland Pocket be evacuated by sea and used for the defense of the Third Reich. However, Hitler refused and ordered the German forces in Courland to hold out. He believed them necessary to protect German submarine bases along the Baltic coast.
On January 15, 1945, Army Group North was renamed Army Group Courland (Heeresgruppe Kurland) under Colonel-General Dr. Lothar Rendulic. Until the end of the war, Army Group Courland (including divisions such as the Latvian Freiwilligen SS Legion) successfully defended the Latvian peninsula.
Army Group Courland held out until May 8, when German Head of State (Staatsoberhaupt) and President (Reichspräsident) Karl Dönitz ordered Colonel-General Carl Hilpert, the army group's last commander, to surrender. He, his personal staff, and three divisions surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov, the commander of the opposing Soviet forces on the Courland perimeter. At this time the group still consisted of approximately twenty-six divisions of varying strength.
On May 8, a General Rauser succeeded in obtaining better surrender terms from the Soviets. On May 9, the Soviet commission in Peilei started to interrogate the captive staff of Army Group Courland. A general round-up of all remaining German troops began.
On May 12, approximately 135,000 German troops surrendered in the Courland Pocket. On May 23, the Soviet round-up of the German troops in the Courland Pocket was completed. A total of about 180,000 German troops were taken into captivity. Captive German officers were turned over to the NKVD. The bulk of the captives were taken to camps in Valdai Hills.
[edit] Aftermath
After May 9, 1945, somewhere around 180,000 to 203,000 troops of Army Group Courland began moving to Soviet prison camps in the East. The majority of them never returned to Germany[citation needed].
The Soviets lost approximately 390,000 dead, wounded, or captured fighting the German forces in the Courland Pocket. In addition the Soviets lost about 2700 tanks, 720 aircraft, 1120 artillery items, and more than 1500 small arms.
