Baltic operation

Baltic operation

Part of: Eastern Front , World War II

date	September 14th to November 24th, 1944
place	Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland
output	Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, formation of the Kurland basin

Parties to the conflict
German Empire	Soviet Union
Commander
Ferdinand Schörner	Hovhannes Baghramjan Andrei Jerjomenko Ivan Maslennikow Leonid Goworow
Troop strength
730,000 soldiers 7000 guns and mortars 1200 tanks 400 aircraft	900,000 soldiers 17,500 guns 3,000 tanks 2,500 aircraft
losses
k. A.	around 280,000 soldiers, including around 61,000 dead 522 tanks 2593 guns 779 aircraft

The Baltic Operation ( Russian Прибалтийская операция ) was a battle between units of the Red Army and units of the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front , which lasted from September 14 to November 24, 1944 and as a result almost the entire Baltic was occupied by the Soviets.

prehistory

Mid July 1944 moved the troops of the Soviet 4th Shock Army after the railway Daugavpils- Rezekne had interrupted, from the northwest to Daugavpils before. On the left flank, the 43rd Army crossed the Mitau - Kaunas railway line and advanced with the 6th Guards Army behind it on Schaulen . The troops of the 4th Shock Army, which advanced along the western Daugava in cooperation with the formations of the 6th Guard Army , reached the town of Daugavpils on July 27th. At the end of July 1944, the attack of the 51st Army with the 3rd mechanical corps under General Obuchow reached the breakthrough to the Baltic Sea near Tuckum . The Doppelkopf company , the German counterattack from the Schaulen area towards Tuckum, was able to restore the lost land connection between the 3rd Panzer Army and Army Group North on August 20, 1944 . The planned reconquest of Mitau was not achieved by the Wehrmacht . The Soviet high command tried the next breakthrough to the Baltic Sea, again west of the Latvian capital Riga.

Troop strength

The German Army Group North under Ferdinand Schörner and the German 3rd Panzer Army under Erhard Raus had a combined strength of around 730,000 soldiers, 7,000 artillery pieces and mortars, 1,200 tanks and 400 aircraft. Opposite it were four Soviet fronts ( 1st Baltic Front under Hovhannes Baghramjan , 2nd Baltic Front under Andrei Jerjomenko , 3rd Baltic Front under Ivan Maslennikow and the Leningrad Front under Leonid Govorow ) with a total strength of around 900,000 soldiers, 17,500 guns, 3,000 Tanks and 2,500 aircraft.

course

Riga Offensive September 14th to October 22nd

On September 14, 1944, the 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts opened the first phase of the Riga operation . The troops of the 2nd Baltic Front under Army General Jerjomenko were unable to break through the German defense between Doblen and Mitau in the first three days . Only in the western section did the 43rd Army and the 4th Shock Army under Lieutenant General P. F. Malyshev succeeded in penetrating Bauske with the 166th Rifle Division of the 22nd Rifle Corps under Major General Sergei Chernikov . The 1st shock army (General Sachwatajew ) of the 3rd Baltic Front broke through the defense of the German XXXVIII. Army Corps and advanced almost 50 kilometers by the evening of September 17th. The 12th Guards Rifle Corps under Major General Bunkow succeeded in conquering Valka (Walk) on September 19 . The Stawka pushed by this success, the 61st Army (Lieutenant General PA Belov ) to the reserve in the breakdown section.

The High Command of the German Armed Forces ordered the company Aster Army Division Grasser withdrawal from Estonia and the left flank of the 18th Army to withdraw from Võrtsjärv . On September 16 and 22, two unsuccessful German counter- attacks took place in the west, from the Saldus (Frauenburg) area, in order to defeat the hard-pressed XXXXIII. Army Corps south of Riga. The Soviet 10th Panzer Corps (Major General Shaposhnikov ) broke through on the front between the 21st and 31st Infantry Divisions and took the city of Valmiera (Wolmar) on September 24th together with the 12th Rifle Corps . From September 18 to 23, the 18th Army had withdrawn from the Pernau-Valka-Schwanenburg line to the Sigulda defense line (Segewold position), which extended in a semicircle around Riga at a distance of about 60 to 80 kilometers.

Meanwhile, the 3rd Baltic Front went into pursuit in the east. On September 19, succeeded the 1st Shock Army in space Baldone the 205th Infantry Division of the First Army Corps in the Eastern Dvina -Brückenkopf in Ķekava to surpass only by his retreat to Vecmuiža general could Mellenthin connection to the 215th Infantry -Restore division . On September 22nd, the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front managed to break in, but together with the 3rd Baltic front they were able to be stopped at the southern Sigulda position. On September 25th, the Army detachment of General der Infantry Grasser took over the security of the land corridor to Tuckum to the right of the Kleffel Corps Group deployed west of Riga .

Around Riga around 25 divisions of the Wehrmacht defended, the front section from Auce to Memel was only held by 8 divisions of the German 3rd Panzer Army under Colonel General Raus . Therefore, the Stawka decided to move the next attack south to the 1st Baltic Front .

Tallinn Operation September 17th to 26th

On September 17, 1944, the armies of the Leningrad Front under Marshal Govorov, supported by the Baltic Fleet, started the so-called Tallinn Operation . The 8th Army under Lieutenant General Starikov captured Rakvere on September 20 . The Estonian 8th Rifle Corps under Lieutenant General Lembit Pern was able to take the Estonian capital Tallinn (Reval) on September 22nd in cooperation with the 72nd Rifle Division of the 117th Rifle Corps (Major General Vasily A. Trubachev) . On September 23, Pernau was occupied by the 108th Rifle Corps (Lieutenant General Vitali Polenow ), so that the superior 2nd Shock Army under Lieutenant General Fedjuninski had reached the Gulf of Riga . The German navy shipped the remains of the declining II. Army - and III. Army from September 17th in Reval and Pernau . SS Panzer Corps , whose troops were brought to Courland .

Memel offensive October 5th to 22nd

On October 5th, the 1st Baltic Front under Army General Baghramjan, with the support of the 39th Army of the 3rd Belarusian Front, began the Memel operation over a width of 90 kilometers . The positions of the XXXX. Armored corps between Schaulen and Kursenai (Kurschenen) were overrun by the onslaught of the Soviet 6th Guard Army (Colonel General Tschistjakow ). The Soviet 43rd Army under General Beloborodov , which was deployed directly on Klaipėda in the middle , reached the Venta sector after a 17 km deep penetration . South of Kelma the troops penetrated the 2nd Guard Army over the Dubysa 7 km deep into the German front. On the southern sector, the 39th Army under General Lyudnikow was against the front of the IX. Army corps set up on Tauroggen . On October 6, the front of the 3rd Panzer Army was torn open to a width of 90 kilometers. General Tschantschibadze already crossed the Jūra section. The advance of the 5th Guards Panzer Army under Lieutenant General Wolski reached the coast of the Baltic Sea near Polangen on October 9, together with the 51st Army (General Kreiser ) , so that Army Group North was finally cut off. On the same day troops of the 2nd Guard Army (Major General Tschantschibadze) reached the coast to the Curonian Lagoon near Heydekrug , the advance on October 10th via the Minija (Minge) to Memel brought the capture of Proekuls and the complete enclosure of the city. The first Soviet attempt to take Memel in a coup by October 12th failed due to the support fire of the heavy cruisers Lützow and Prinz Eugen . The troops of the cut off XXVIII. Army Corps (General Gollnick), with three divisions ( Pz.-Gren.Div. Greater Germany , 7th Panzer - and 58th Infantry Division ) held out in the Memel bridgehead until January 1945.

Battle of Riga October 6-15

After the renewed regrouping of the Soviet units, the second phase of the attack against the German positions around Riga was initiated under the general command of Marshal Leonid Goworow . On the night of October 6th, the 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts began their renewed attack. On Schörner's orders , the evacuation of Riga began at the beginning of the fighting with Operation Donner . The situation became even more critical when the 2nd Baltic Front launched a new general attack on October 10th. By October 16, about 20 divisions including war material were withdrawn through a 45 km long and 6 km wide corridor via the Tuckum position to Courland. The batteries of the 6th Flak Division took over the security of the sales movement.

The Army High Command 18 (General of the Infantry Boege ) was withdrawn with the General Commands I. and XAK to Courland and handed over command on the eastern bank of the Daugava to the 16th Army. General of the infantry Hilpert defended himself on October 13th in Riga with about 15th divisions ( II. , XXXXIII. And L. Army Corps ).

The actual battle for the Latvian capital began on October 12, and the next day the 1st Shock Army (Lieutenant General Sachwatajew) and the 67th Army (General Romanowski ) penetrated the eastern part of the city. On the afternoon of October 13th the advance guard of the 374th Rifle Division under Colonel Gorodetski managed to cross over to the left bank of the Daugava and cut off the lines of retreat of the 16th Army . On October 14, the Latvian 130th Rifle Corps (Lt. Gen. broke Brantkaln ) of 10th Guards Army (Lieutenant General Kazakov a) on the southern outskirts into the city center. The 245th Rifle Division advanced from the north, the 212th Rifle Division from the east. On October 15, the capture of Riga was completed after heavy fighting. The 87th and 227th Infantry Divisions were the last German formations to stand on the eastern bank of the Daugava, covering the retreat to the west.

On October 16, the 3rd Baltic Front was disbanded and the troops of the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts continued the offensive in the direction of Windau and Saldus in the 1st Battle of Courland . Between Dzukste and the sea, the Kleffel Corps Group with the 205th, 227th Infantry and 281st Security Divisions took over the cover of the right flank of the encircled Army Group North. The Soviets caught up on the Tukum defense line by October 22, when the 67th Soviet Army remained in the Riga area as security.

Moonsund Operation September 27th to November 24th

Soviet conquest of the islands of Moon and Ösel in 1944

By September 26, the Leningrad Front had occupied all of Estonia with the exception of the islands of Dagö , Ösel and Moon . From September 27 to November 24, the 8th Army on this front carried out the Moonsund operation together with the Baltic Fleet , as a result of which the islands still occupied by the Wehrmacht were conquered. The Estonian 8th Rifle Corps under Lieutenant General Pern , which consisted of conscripts and volunteers, was used again during this campaign as part of the Soviet armed forces. The 23rd and 218th Infantry Divisions and various Estonian units were involved in the defense of the Baltic Islands . On November 24th, the last troops under German command embarked on the southern tip of the Sworbe peninsula .

Losses and consequences

The Red Army advanced up to 300 kilometers to the west on a front 1,000 kilometers wide, occupied Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania , smashed 26 German divisions (three of them completely), and blocked 27 other divisions in the Kurland Basin , where they were located on August 8. May 1945 finally surrendered. According to its own information, the Red Army lost 218,622 soldiers (including 61,468 dead and missing), 522 tanks and assault guns, 2,593 artillery pieces and 779 combat aircraft.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Прибалтийская наступательная операция (14.09-22.10.1944)
2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
3. ↑ GF Krivosheev, Soviet Casualties in the Twentieth Century, London 1997, p 149 u. P. 263.

literature

When looking at Soviet sources, with the exception of samizdat and tamizdat literature that was published up to 1987, the activities of the Soviet censorship authorities ( Glawlit , military censorship) in revising various contents in line with Soviet ideology must be taken into account. (→ censorship in the Soviet Union )

• Duncan Anderson, Stephen Walsh, Lloyd Clark: The Eastern Front , Zenith Imprint (2001), ISBN 0-7603-0923-X .
• D. Muriyev: Preparations, Conduct of 1944 Baltic Operation Described , Military History Journal (USSR Report, Military affairs), 1984-9.
• Alexander Stilwell, Max Hastings: The Second World War: A World in Flames , Osprey (2004), ISBN 1-84176-830-8 .
• W. Melzer: The struggle for the Baltic islands .
• G. Niepold: tank operations Doppelkopf and Caesar .
• EF Ziemke: Stalingrad to Berlin .
• Bagramyan: So we went to victory .

Web links

Commons : Baltic Operation  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Baltic Operation in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Russian)
• Прибалтийская наступательная операция on wwii-soldat.narod.ru